Mandrake Speaks Newsletter

• What is Tantra? (Conference) / Tantra Sadhana

• Howling "Grimoires"

• The Chemical Wedding (Film Review) Julian Doyle & Bruce Dickinson

• OTO Matters (more on that)

• Falcon Press Rising

• Lectures Talks

• Groups Meetups

• Conferences & Exhibitions (click to view)

• Tree Ogham Camp
• Druid Camp (Forest of Dean)
• Northern Rites - SunKaos
  Colours of Chaos - Conference (London);
• What is Tantra? (London)
  Thelemic Symposium (Oxford)

SPRING UPDATE
Ashé Journal / Rebel Satori Press
http://www.ashejournal.com

Ashé Journal #7.1 Now Available

ISBN: 978-0-9790838-4-6
Paperback, 120 pages, 6x9, $12.95

PUNK BUDDHISM

Howlings / Scarlet Imprint

210 pages hardback journal, nicely bound in gold blocked turquoise wibaline. £33 plus postage from scarletimprint@...

This particular number focused on grimoires of various ages, with essays on The Picatrix, The Goetia, or Lesser Key of Solomon, Four Books of Occult Philosophy;
The Voudon Gnostic Workbook; Liber 231, Qutub, And the Grimoire itself by David Rankine, Donald Tyson, Peter Grey, David Beth, Stafford Stone, Paul Hughes-Barlow
Krzysztof Azarewicz, Jack Macbeth, Thea Faye, Aleq Grai, and Zaheer Gulamhusein. So a nice range of material, written by practitioner experts. The whole well illustrates the notion that Pagans are very much into their books. I was particularly interested in the twenty-five pages on "Liber 231", of which information is scarce, apart from Kenneth Grant's celebrated, if at times impenetrable (not to mention out of print) "Nightside of Eden". "Liber 231" is one of the more obscure of Aleister Crowley's "Holy Books". Basically it's a table showing two sets of 22 sigils corresponding to the twenty-two tarot trumps and paths on the Kabalistic "Tree of Life". Given that the spheres and paths on the tree are clearly derived from the Ancient Egyptian "Book of Gates" - the array suggest two tunnels through the underworld, one under the patronage of Horus; the other of Seth. It is the Sethian tunnel that has received most attention, I guess because the "Journey of Horus" is well covered by the conventional Tarot sequence.

There is a colour section of four full colour realisations of the "Nightside Tarot" cards, based I would guess on the prototypes in Kenneth Grant's "Nightside of Eden". "Liber 231" itself has no images apart from the very enigmatic sigils, drawn, so it is said, by Crowley's devoted disciple, Major J F C Fuller. Those in "Howlings" were created by Stafford Stone, who has been exploring and painting the cards and the related "Tunnels of Seth" for several years, during which time "his parents, a close aunt and uncle, a best friend and two pet cats all died." He lost his wife and young son, his home and most of his possessions,"close friendships imploded, relationships crumbled, jobs were lost, debts incurred, stupid actions undertaken and grave errors of judgment made." But hey, "Je ne regrette rien". All of which explains, in some perverse way the attraction of this and indeed other grimoires, although for others it might be a good reason to leave well alone. Although some sort of precaution in terms of banishing might be in order, of the kind recommended in the lead article by Krysztof Azarewicz of the Mihrab Camp OTO. He also suggests yogic exercises to calm the ego, before starting. There was much other useful information in this essay, including advice on how to colour the sigils if you decide to dispense with other people's full blown versions and just use the basic sigils and corresponding couplets. The later seems to be the original intention of "Liber 231", as a basic test or "mind gym" for the initiates astral skills.

Well, if the other sections are as meaty as the above, which my friend the cunning man Jack Daw assures me they are, then this is a nifty little volume and well worth the asking price of £33+ My suggestion for the next number would be to maybe make better use of the gold blocking for a more eye catching cover. But on the whole - highly recommended [Mogg]

OTO Matters

For those of you who missed it then you may be interested to know that the various incarnations of the O[rdo] T[empli] O[rientis] have been again skirmishing in the UK courts, one (the Caliphate) having just succeeded in establishing a OTO religious symbol (The Rose Cross Lamen) as a UK trademark; as well as the initials OTO. The other, (the Typhonian) had un-successfully opposed this. I've not seen the actual court ruling, just various press releases, which naturally enough tend to spin in favour of this or that organisation. For the record, let me say, that IMO, there are indeed several OTO organisations and neither of them is spurious, although some, such as the Caliphate, seem to be newer, more brash players on the scene. Aleister Crowley died in 1947 leaving his particular dispensation to Karl Germer, who on his death bed and knowing all of the candidates - plumped for Marcello Motta's (Societas) OTO. Again naturally enough - this is disputed by some - who point out that the only witness to Germer's last will and testament, was his wife, and she was after all "just a woman and not even a member".

I should say that I was a sometime member of Kenneth Grant's OTO, and was expelled for reasons not too relevant here, although I still regard myself as a Typhonian. So I have some sympathy for their refusal to lay down and die. I suspect that justice is never blind, but takes into account the relative size of competing organisations and that as the Caliphate was the bigger, richer organisation, it might have had more clout with the legal officers. But there again, when has the law ever been the friend of secret societies? Caliphate types are already swaggering that they are now the only one, but few reasonable people will agree. I read their press release on what appears to be a Caliphate friendly site, and a comment appended by a "Rodney", reveals part of their motivation is to "lessen the confusion many new people feel when they enter the world of Thelema…" Which I interpret as meaning that the world needs just one view of Thelema. As a pagan, I'm very nervous of attempts to block and negate other approaches to magick and enlightenment. So "Rodney" (whoever he might be) now thinks its safe to "assume . . . that there will only be one Order calling itself O.T.O. in future." Well that would truly be a shame but there again, I really doubt it somehow.

The Caliphate press release ends with the very encouraging remarks that they will "continue — now with fewer distractions — [their] publications program." Which includes the completely restored “Confessions” . Which is to say - the Caliphate is currently engaged in a programme of re-editing various Crowley works and at the same time suppressing what it sees as aberrant approaches to the "master". Bit of a shame I think. For me, Symonds and Grant's edition of "Liber ABA" is a handy little volume and the Caliphate's new "unabridged" version, the so-called "blue brick", is no great improvement. But there again, I'd say there is room for both. But in the interests of "avoiding confusion" - that cannot be allowed. After all, one person's "diversity " is another's “confusion". Adding deleted scenes, and "footnote fodder" has it place, but is it really that important? Roll on the expiration of the Crowley copyright - just a few more years "my people". [Mogg]

Postscript:

In an elist discussion of the above events I asked the question as to whether there was any mechanism by which the Caliphate's own membership might bring its leadership to account, should they find themsevles not totally in agreement with their Order's approach to other Thelemic groups. I received the following interesting reply:

"Although I've heard OTO members put out different interpretations, I myself believe, and have had members of US Grand Lodge confirm, that the only "secrets" within OTO are those directly related to initiations. So, I consider myself free to talk about anything but the specific contents of initiations, and perhaps specific confidential bits of information I may be privy to that would be a violation of another persons privacy--but the latter is just basic ethics.

There really is no direct mechanism within OTO for the general membership to hold the leadership accountable. Ostensibly, they could rally others within the higher grades to take up their cause, but that's pretty much it. Lacking that, the only recourse a member unhappy with actions not directly related to them has one course--leaving. In this way, OTO is truly hierarchical, and I wouldn't want to suggest otherwise. When I made my point earlier I only trying to suggest that it is not monolithic (just as the Catholic church is not really monolithic despite its centralization around the Vatican). My own observation has been that members within the lower grades who have issues with the leadership's actions usually are able to gain a voice in policy, if at all, through informal channels, as there is no formal channel for doing so.

Now, if a member feels that they have a grievance that relates directly to them, there are formal channels for addressing that through an Ombudsman's office, at least within US Grand Lodge. So, if you feel directly harmed, you can seek to bring the leadership to account for that through specific formal channels. But if you simply disagree with the direction, all you can really do is make your disagreement known.

One potential exception, of course, is the office of the revolutionary, whose job it is to depose the current sovereign within a grand lodge. So, if one is in strong disagreement, one could potentially secretly join the cause of the revolutionary. There are supposed to be two revolutionaries within any grand lodge. I think US Grand Lodge is the only lodge that currently has an appointed revolutionary (there is only one, and it is a recent appointment), and the identity of that revolutionary is secret. Based on my conversations and interviews, I'd say that some members do seem to hold the belief that if they are in strong disagreement with the present leadership, it is not merely their right, but their duty, to try to topple that leadership--either from without or within. I'd have to go back into my notes and transcripts to really get specifics on this--I don't have time for that kind of detailed work, but this is one of the questions I do hope to address in formal writing in the future.

Let me add, though, that my own knowledge is primarily based on local body participation and observation of actions on the grand lodge level in the United States. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the specific workings of the International Leadership or about other grand lodges. When I set out my project as a researcher, I constrained myself to the specifics of looking at the order on a local body level, and really only concerned myself with even grand lodge issues as they affected the local body. Of course, I have my own knowledge of those workings because I've been a member for quite some time and because I work as editor of Agape, the US Grand Lodge newsletter.

I hope that helps address your questions. The institutional mode of management is definitely one of my areas of interest, and I hope to specifically address in my future writing some of how members understand the hierarchical structure of the order to integrate with the seemingly individualist ethos of Thelema. Again, though, a responsible account of that requires a kind of detailed work I won't be able to do for some months.

Regards, Grant Potts (gpotts@...)

PS: the Caliphate "Press Release", with its not so thinly veiled warning, is posted on http://abrahadabra.net/2008/06/19/oto-wins-trademark-case/

PPS: Caliphate annual report: http://oto-usa.org/usgl_annual_report_IVxv.pdf for the USA lodge, the largest with a membership of approx 1500, a growth of 40% since its founding in 1996. So a relative small organisation compared with other neopagan groups and its membership seems according to its report to be fairly static.

Turning in his grave?

Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 aka Grady Louis McMurtry who shed his earthly vehicle and died twenty-three years ago in California on July 12, 1985. He was lying in his hospital bed at Brookside Hospital in San Pablo, discussing forms of meditation with a friend when he softly said, “I think my path is more the Sufi Path.” When questioned what he meant, he simply looked up and said, “I don’t know.” He then closed his eyes and quietly passed away. Grady once wrote that; “The moment of ultimate self-embarrassment is when you die. That is when you wake up.” In other words, you get to review your whole incarnation for all its good and bad, shake your head and then prepare for the next. On July 15th, his body was prepared at the Apollo Crematory in Emeryville, California. He was dressed as Saladin, in a turban with his favorite red robe. A bouquet of roses was placed in his arms shortly before he was cremated. Grady’s ashes remained in the possession of the O.T.O. for almost a year. Then, on July 12th 1986, a large group of individuals boarded a boat rented at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. About three miles past the Golden Gate Bridge, with help of the Neptune Society, his ashes were spread out across the Pacific Ocean. It was written, “From the fire of cremation to the waters of the great sea, by formula and verse did we rejoice him on his way.” A single rose was then tossed into the water, cut from the same bush as the bouquet that had been placed in his hands when he was cremated. As his ashes slowly vanished beneath the waters, one of Grady’s poem was read to send him off on his last voyage -The Redeemer That is in the Waters.

THE REDEEMER
THAT IS IN THE WATERS

O who will go with the mermen bold
With the mermen, wild and free
O who will rule from the castle old
In the Chasm of the sea
And who will brave the abyssal cold
For all eternity?

O I will go with the mermen bold
With the mermen, wild and free
And I will rule from the castle old
In the Chasm of the sea
And I will brave the abyssal cold
For one eternity!

Falcon Press Rising

To Our Friends,
Hi everyone, this is Nick Tharcher, formerly of "New Falcon Publications" and Linda Miller, the widow of Alan R. Miller, Ph.D. (aka Christopher S. Hyatt). Today we are announcing the opening of a new press: "The Original Falcon Press".

WHO IS "THE ORIGINAL FALCON PRESS"?
Because of recent events, some of which are described below, we have felt compelled to create "The Original Falcon Press".

Linda and Nick are well-qualified to do so. They created "Falcon Press" with Alan and a small team around 1980. Linda was his wife for 30 years and is a highly respected and experienced registered nurse; Nick was his friend for over 35 years and managed the day-to-day operations at Falcon for the last 20 years.

"The Original Falcon Press" begins operations with the release of Dr. Hyatt's audio and video works, among them the Energized Hypnosis and Radical Undoing series. This includes the newest, Radical Undoing Volume 4: The Core. In the months to come, we will add many of his books as well as previously unreleased material and titles from other well-known authors such an Antero Alli...

We're delighted to be back and invite you to visit our website at http://www.originalfalcon.com

WHAT HAPPENED TO "NEW FALCON PUBLICATIONS"?
First, Who's "In Charge"? His name is Michael Robert Miller. He is the biological son of Alan and his first wife, and works at Los Angeles City College as Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach. He is a successful community college basketball coach, but has no experience, background, training or interest in book publishing, metaphysics, psychology or philosophy. According to him, he has never read any of the books published by New Falcon Publications, including Dr. Hyatt's.

SO, HOW DID MICHAEL MILLER COME TO CONTROL "NEW FALCON PUBLICATIONS"?
The story is very sad and quite sordid.

"New Falcon Publications" is a division of a California religious corporation called "The United States Ecclesiastical Society and Seminary" ("USESS"). Alan was the sole director of USESS. As it turns out, his being sole director was a critical weakness in the organization.

In July 2007, Alan was diagnosed with inoperable, metastatic esophageal cancer. As the year progressed, his condition worsened despite an aggressive course of chemotherapy. His wife, Linda, took a leave of absence from her work to care for him full time. Nick continued to run the business. And despite Alan's increasing weakness, he and Nick tried to create as much new material as possible...while there was still time. No thought was given to the directorship of USESS: Alan had legally appointed Nick as his successor many years earlier and it was planned that Nick would carry on New Falcon and its publishing traditions after Alan's death.

By December, Alan was largely bedridden. He suffered from numerous issues related to the cancer, including blood clots. Despite medication he began suffering small strokes. By January 2008, he had become increasingly non-communicative and was unable to care for himself. In mid-January he was taken to the hospital for treatment of dehydration. Just one day after he was released, he fell out of bed and was again taken to the hospital. Neurological tests, including an MRI and CT scan, confirmed that he had suffered at least 7 distinct strokes. A physician explained that it was as if someone had fired a shotgun into his brain. The tests showed that he was both neurologically and cognitively impaired. He was released from the hospital on home-hospice care. Around this time Michael came to stay at Alan and Linda's home.

>From January 22nd through the 25th (just 2 weeks before Alan's death on February 9th, and without the knowledge or approval of Alan, Linda or Nick), Michael called Alan's lawyer of many years. The attorney, Paul Basile, had handled many matters for Alan over the years, including drawing up and filing the corporate documents for USESS as well as handling all of Alan's personal, trust, estate and succession planning.

Michael informed Basile that his father was gravely ill, and instructed Basile to prepare a document appointing himself as the sole director of USESS/Falcon. He had not been authorized to do so, nor was Basile authorized to so much as talk with Michael about USESS' business. Nonetheless, Basile did not attempt to contact Alan, Linda or Nick to verify what Michael had told him. Instead, he prepared the document and sent it to Michael. On January 26th Michael had a notary and a witness come to Alan and Linda's home where he had his nearly-comatose and heavily-medicated father "sign" the document. Based entirely on this, and with the support of Paul Basile, Michael acquired control of USESS and Falcon. To add to the unsavory quality of the situation, Nick and Linda were informed of this by Basile in a face-to-face meeting on February 13th, the day after Alan was buried. Michael was not present.

Within a few days Michael began to cut Nick off from Falcon's bank accounts, warehouse, mail and website. Consequently, on March 31, 2008, Nick resigned from USESS/Falcon.

You may ask why we don't simply go to a judge and have the document declared invalid. That was our initial thought, too, but we soon learned that such an action would be very expensive and could take years...by which time we expected nothing would be left. Such is the U.S. legal system.

For those who have speculated that Alan intended this to happen, or that he left Falcon to Michael "in his will," etc., nothing could be further from the truth.

Other than the "document" that Michael Miller put under his dying father's hand on January 26, there is not the slightest shred of credible evidence to suggest that Alan ever intended Michael to be involved with Falcon in any way. To the contrary, there is abundant evidence that he did not.

Nonetheless, as of today, Michael is "in charge", and in just a few short months "New Falcon Publications" has gone from a respected publisher to a travesty. He is selling "magickal artifacts" which he claims were Alan's...but which neither Linda nor Nick recognize. He claims to be selling books from the "Regardie Library"...though we know of no way he could legitimately have acquired them...if, in fact, they are books Regardie ever owned. And his treatment of customers and authors has been nothing short of outrageous.

THE ORIGINAL FALCON PRESS
So we are here to restore the Falcon Press that once was: "The Original Falcon Press". We deeply appreciate the support that so many of you have given us in recent months (thank you all!), and invite you to visit us soon.

Warmly,

Nick Tharcher & Linda Miller

PS: Of course, this is only the barest description of what has happened. If there is enough interest, we will create a forum to fully detail these and subsequent events including documentation to support our claims.

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The Chemical Wedding (Film Review) Julian Doyle & Bruce Dickinson

reviewed by Ivor Davies

Fun trailer, but bereft of the usual hype associated with the launch
of a movie, I arrived at the Apollo West End to see the Chemical
Wedding with mainly my own great expectations.

Stormtroopers from Star Wars greeted moviegoers at the doors as it
was the final night of a Sci-Fi festival and after a few beers at the
bar we all sat in the theatre and waited. Two simultaneous screenings
in adjacent theatres in the same cinema – cast and crew in Screen 4,
us common people in the one next door in Screen 5. After a personal
introduction by Bruce Dickinson (screenwriter), Julian Doyle
(director) and Simon Callow (lead actor) we all looked forward to the
film.

The story begins with the arrival of American scientist Mathers from
Cal Tech to supervise the installation of a virtual reality simulator
suit at Cambridge University. For the very first time this state-of-
the-art piece of equipment is being hooked up to a revolutionary new
British supercomputer, the Z93, which unbeknown to anyone, has been
programmed with a virus by lab assistant Victor who has reduced the
rituals of Aleister Crowley into binary code and infected it with
them.

The film time shifts back to when mild mannered university lecturer
Professor Haddo (Simon Callow) is willingly persuaded into the suit
by Victor for its first trial run. Haddo goes missing immediately
after his experience in the suit and turns up the following day at a
lecture theatre to give a talk on Shakespeare's "Hamlet" – except
that clearly he is no longer the man he used to be, no longer the
meek stammering lecturer he was before his VR suit experience but now
an outrageous sexually explicit speaker who urinates on his audience.
The film goes on to imply that the Z93 supercomputer virus composed
by Victor has actually caused Haddo to become the reincarnation of
Aleister Crowley and so begins a tale of the apparent depths of
depravity that a person possessed by the soul of Aleister Crowley
would sink to.

This is the crux of the problem that this film has – just what would
someone possessed by the late Aleister Crowley do all day long? "Sex
and murder" unfortunately is this film's disturbing answer and then
just how outrageous can this character become? The implication in the
trailer was that this portrayal of Crowley might be tongue-in-cheek
or humorous, but the result is far more worrying than that.

Numerous examples of exactly "just how evil could a person possessed
by Aleister Crowley be" continue in a procession of visual and
conceptual shocks ranging from relatively innocuous excrement
deposited on an office desk to the crucifixion of a prostitute. Now,
controversial a character as Crowley was, I really must ask what
Bruce Dickinson is up to here. I listened to Callow emphasise that
his portrayal of Haddo was "Playing the part of someone possessed by
Crowley… and not actually Crowley Himself" but I see this as a pre-
emptive excuse on his part for what we saw on screen and some of the
issues that we might have with it.

As for the characters: shallow, meaningless and undefined. Haddo
comes over as nothing and we don't care that he's been possessed by
Aleister Crowley (n.b. Simon Callow's performance is a delight – I
just wish the script had been up to it.), Lia the journalist is our
damsel in distress and you don't care if she's rescued or not,
Aleister Crowley is just pure evil and doesn't deserve to be
reincarnated, Victor is just a virus writing geek and got what he
deserved.

Deeply offensive, blatantly sensationalist, Bruce Dickinson's script
leaves me with questions about the target audience of this film –
fans of Simon Callow (?), fans of Bruce Dickinson (heavy metal fans
who will be disappointed by the soundtrack), fans of Aleister Crowley
(please note, only those who specifically want to be thought of as
evil and twisted) or practicing occultists (who will be annoyed by
this film's cold and completely non-spiritual content).

Three words describe this film: "Straight", "To", "DVD".

The Chemical Wedding - Official Trailer (Crowley Film):

Tantra Sadhana
a practical introduction to Kaula Magick
By Mogg Morgan

Mandrake, 2008, 178pp, £10.99
ISBN 978-1-869928-421

A ‘Sâdhana’ is an instrument that leads to a particular goal. In Tantra, it is a technical term denoting worship or spiritual practice.

Tantra Sâdhana is a collection of related instructional papers designed to aid the aspirant through a foundation practice.

The work was originally conceived as leading to a practice over the course of one lunar month. In addition, the author had added several useful appendices
- including the previously unpublished Tantrik Knuckle Bone Oracle.

The reader might find this a good general primer combined with some more unusual, perhaps advanced material.

Contents:

Introduction / / What is Tantra? / Sâdhana/practice / Mantra / Mandala or Yantra / MudrA / NyAsa / DhyAna / PUja / DIkshA / Magick and Liberation / Svecchacara / Tantrik traditions and sects / Recommended Reading / The opening rite / Yoga of the voice / Quarter Guardians / Visualisation / The Astral Temple / The Kamarupa Temple Meditation / The Kalas / The Ganesha Practice (Sadhana) / Ganesha rupa / The ‘Demon’ Doctrine and the roots of Tantra / Invocation of Kundalini / IV The Serpent Power /The Kaulajnana -Nirnaya of the School of Matsyendranath / Yoga Sutras of Patanjali / Grammar of Tantra / The VAma-keshvari-matam / Oracles / Tantrik Knuckle Bone Oracles / Pronounciation / When Your Guru Goes Gaga / Hindu Lunar Calendar

Review from White Dragon

"I first became interested in Tantra years ago when I read AGHORA, At the Left Hand of God by Robert E. Svoboda. The ideas of breaking out of social conditioning, becoming yourself, all appealed to me. Since then though my interest waned due to the New Age inundation of, ‘tantra for lovers’ type waffle. Then comes Tantra Sadhana for me to review and I once again find myself inspired. This e-book takes the form of an introduction to the subject and then gives the reader some basic ritual to work through. First published as a fact-sheet for AMOOKOS, Arcane and Magickal Order of the Knights of Shamballa, so you know the information in chapter one is solid enough. The inclusion of the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual was not to my taste, It’s a personal thing, but I would rather the author had used the version from the PGM, from which the GPR is a more rubbish version. I know why it’s there, but it didn’t work for me. What I did find very useful was the extensive appendix, for me, this is the best part of the book, and with a little imagination can be used to form your own Tantric rites. I was very pleased to see the Ganapati Upanishad text included, I was at a private ritual years ago where Phil Hine did this and I found it very moving. Anyone interested in Tantra beyond the New Age tripe will enjoy this book and I would recommend it without reservation. I would also say it’s worth reading for people interested in Chaos Magick, because reading it, it becomes obvious how Tantric ideas have shaped the Chaos Current that we have today. "

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