ON TECHNICAL INFORMATION and ON CURRICULUM

by Grady L. McMurtry

Originally published in The Magickal Link volume II, number 6 (June 1982) on pages 1-2, this essay is part of a short series of consecutive monthly articles, "On Technical Information and On Curriculum," which will be serialized in this column much as they were first presented twenty years ago in the Link.

On Technical Information
part one

by Hymenaeus Alpha 777

I never cease to marvel at the amount of technical information Crowley has tucked in the back of his head. And the simplicity with which he had it organized. Once you have this computer matrix firmly in mind, you can spin in any direction. Crowley worked Thelemic Magick. How did he think? Let's take the formula

Seven letters, seven planets. Simple. Maybe. Let's take a comparison check using Earth, Asia, Asiah, Material world:

Check columns II through XLI just off hand. The seven Chakras are assigned to the Sepheroth (column CXIII).

Now you have a matrix. You might as well get used to working with it. It will be your paradigm for how this knowledge is organized. As Regardie has observed, "In writing 777, Crowley invented a whole new literature." Or, "Universes destroyed, created, and maintained while you wait."

With Revelation 4:4 we start getting twenty-four a lot. Twenty-four equals the number of "Elders" of the Apocalypse, suggesting a Judgmental factor in the relation of ARIK ANPIN = 422 and ZOIR ANPIN = 478, since twenty-four divided by two equals Twelve Signs of the Zodiac (column CXXXVII) of which we each have one, Twelve Tribes of Israel (column CXLI), Twelve Stars of the Crown, etc. Also a lot of sevens. Seven Torches, Seven Spirits of God, Seven Seals (and we will remember Aleister Crowley's Seven Rites of Eleusis), Seven Horns, and Seven Eyes to be studied in relation to the Seven Cities of Earth in your matrix, seven being the number of Venus in the Sephiroth and Zain in the Paths. Also seven is considered to be an "unstable" number, Venus being a weak planet that low on the Tree -- and for other reasons that make Venus what She is -- and Zain equals Sword / Mind / Gemini / Air.

With Revelation 7 we start getting a lot of fours. Four Angels, Four Corners of the Earth, Four Winds, Four Living Creatures, Four Corners (note that diagonal lines through the center would give you a Saint Andrews / Templar Cross) of the Golden Altar -- and that Golden Altar can talk, man! (Revelation 9:13) -- sounds like one of those far-out trips on Star Trek where they find the whole thing is run by some out-of-date computer -- or waking up to the idea that this whole universe is really just some kid playing Pacman at the local arcade -- four being solidity (see four of Disks, Thoth deck, for the Four Gated City / Map of Atlantis / Buddhist stupa / Pyramid etc.) -- Jupiter -- two squared -- Chesed in the Sephiroth -- Venus in the Paths -- etc. Also more sevens. Why was it necessary to shut up what the Seven Thunders had to say? The Angel who delivers it has got to be the "Sag" card in the conventional deck. And that far-out "small scroll" -- about the size of Liber AL, I would say off-hand -- "sweet as honey but bitter to digest" (Revelation 10:9). Pure speculation -- it says here -- until we start running into those "three-and-one-half times trips" (Revelation 11:9, etc.), when it starts becoming pretty obvious that we are talking about your own Psychic Body and how to construct it -- a la Egyptian Pharaoh style -- but then we are heavy into the Egyptian trip -- Ank-f-n-Khonsu having been a Prince of Egypt -- and who was that other guy? Oh, yeah, Moses. Three-and-one-half being the number of times the Kundalini serpent coils about the base of the spine, thus providing the Lead (Saturn card, Atu XXI) for the alchemical transformation into the Gold of Tiphereth (see Caduceus in Levi's BAPHOMET) and other purposes.

More on 777 next time.

Written at Hrumachis Encampment in the Valley of Salt Lake City, where I slept below the salt and drank Androgyny Apple Juice in the Garden of Eve. May they see the clear Light of the Void. And you also.

Originally published in The Magickal Link volume II, number 7 (July 1982) on pages 1-2, this is the second part of a series of monthly articles "On Technical Information and Curriculum."

On Technical Information
part two

by Hymenaeus Alpha 777

With Revelation 11:3 we start getting twos. Two witnesses / olive trees / lamp stands. As if we didn't already have two Eyes of Horus, two prophets, and with Revelation 11:8-9 we get that "great City (Pyramid / Stupa / map of Atlantis / etc.) whose mystical name is Sodom and Egypt (land of Ank-f-n- Khonsu) -- where their Lord also was crucified (Osiris risen)." Seems crucifixion of a God is not new to Christianity. Also two is Chokmah / Ajna chakra, and also a possible solution as to how one "raises" the Third Eye. If you will take a detailed look at the Yogin psychic body chart you will note that the two leaves on each side of the "Third Eye" bulb are marked with the same letters as the two leaves on each side of the Sahasrara chakra, the Venus path (Binah-Chokmah) being the horizontal component (a position Venus seems to appreciate) and the Sahasrara chakra being at the top of the Sushumna fire column in the middle of the spine as the vertical component. Certainly explains the Kundalini serpent on the Tau cross Moses raised in the desert, apparently his form of the Ankh. And another "three-and-one-half days," Revelation 11:9.

With Revelation 12 we get a lot of mystical creatures that can be variously explained, and "seven heads, ten horns." (One is tempted to say "tin horns.") So seven heads equals seven chakras; ten horns equals ten Sepheroth. So what else is new? Maybe the fact that Koran and Kabbalah come from the same source. Koran / Quran -- = 350 (the horn; head). Now a horn is an instrument of communication and for transmitting or receiving energy. If you had ten of them working in synchro-mesh you would be rather formidable. Even if you only had four. Like that far-out computer complex / golden altar, with a bullhorn ("now hear this!") on each corner, must be some raunchy broadcasting station. Or only two -- Pan only has two -- like our Baphomet. When a certain forever-young lady of the Order recently said to me, "I've always thought of my Angel as having horns," I immediately thought of Pan / Hermes / Baphomet, and of course Alexander (the Great, not "the Grape") and the bust showing him wearing the "Horns of Amoun." They look like a conventional ram's horns curled back above the ears; but in Egypt those horns would be the Feathers of Amoun. They are two, pointing up, facing away, and thus equal the two wings of Maat / Balance / Justice / Truth. And since Libra is blindfolded like any candidate to the Mysteries, Justice / Truth obviously must have a different way of knowing than our usual rationality / monkey brain. More like a sense of direction, like Cupid and His far-out Shaft of Flowers. Those feathers remind me of the upright antennae of some moths. Obviously sensing organs. But in what dimension?

As for Kabbalah / Qabalah -- = 132 (to receive). Again, communication. But how to receive? Look at the words: and . Both begin with Qoph -- = 100 (back of the head) -- Pisces / two moons connected / the feet (thus establishing a power-pole connection between the back of your head and your feet) / Eliphas Levi's Baphomet pointing at two moons / etc. Beth -- = 2 (house) -- Magus; and Lamed -- = 30 -- Libra (balance). So when you have reached that state of Initiate Innocence where you have with great labor balanced the male / rational / solar part of your nature with the female / lunar / intuitional side, you just might achieve what in Scotland has been known for centuries as "developing the second sight," the ability to see "on the astral" (whatever the hell that is). If so, you might start hearing voices and seeing things that are not there. If so, for gods' sake don't tell anyone. In this country you could end up spending the rest of your life committed to an insane asylum. In the old days they used to burn nice little old ladies at the stake because they couldn't tell them how they knew that certain plants were medicinal. They just knew. So keep your cool and don't be fuel.

So far we have emphasized 777, but Liber D equals Sepher Sepheroth, and every time I number a word you are expected to check that number, since Sepher Sepheroth is the ship's code book -- be the first kid on your block to have a copy of the Ship's Code Book! -- with your very own Eye of Horus seal ring! -- Ship -- = 66 -- "The Aleph Fish Creates the Window." And it's a far-out Code Book. Sort of like Dungeons and Dragons. You want to know about Dragons? Try 450 = -- the Dragon. Sounds like a big mother. Dragons -- = 560 (and 550). Draco Magnus -- = 553. Draco -- = 510 (and see 440). But what is a dragon, daddy? Well, kids, it seems that a dragon is very much like your mother (Saturn be praised) when She used to go to the beauty parlor to her Her hair curled (shades of Medusa), because that is exactly what it means: = 440 -- the Great Dragon, means "curls." Cute name for a Dragon. Or how about mountains. Want a mountain? Try . = 571 -- the Mountain of Zion. = 156 -- the City of the Pyramids (Equinox I:5, page 103) / BABALON, the Victorious Queen / Jane Wolfe's number.

Oz, as in Liber Oz, equals 77 (goat), but for 888 = Jesus (Greek numeration) we have to go to Equinox I:5, page 107.

Originally published in The Magickal Link volume II, number 8 (August 1982) on pages 1-2, this piece is part of a series of articles "On Technical Information and Curriculum," lately reprinted in these pages.

On Curriculum

by Hymenaeus Alpha 777

What I have been doing in the last two articles "On Technical Information" is to acquaint you with a small portion of the plethora of information you are facing, and the simplicity with which it can be organized. There will be more, but at this point we consider how to study. That is curriculum.

When I submitted "On Technical Information (2)," der Heidrick said, "Grady, this is impossibly compressed."

I: How many of the kids do you think will get it?

He: About a quarter.

I: That's the whole idea. The bright ones will get it; the rest will ask questions. That's why they invented dictionaries. It's time we got them out of Sand Box I. They want to be Thelemic Magicians. Let them learn how to organize the material of their discipline so they can apply it. For our purposes Magick is defined "The Physics of Metaphysics."

Curriculum is your specific course of study. It is divided into the subjects of your discipline. Take a shoe box (the one you swiped your rolling lid from), and a handful of file folders. Mark each folder with the name of a subject: Kabbalah, Tarot, Crowley, Latin, Sepheroth (Liber D), Astrology, etc. Set aside a stack of 8" by 11" three-hole punched pads for work sheets that will be filling these folders. The three-hole note paper is so you can later file them in your three-ring binder as your "executive loose leaf notebook." After all, that is your Thoth Tarot deck. An executive's loose leaf notebook on the pyramid mysteries of Egypt. Seen via the computer grid that is 777.

Next set aside a separate folder and tear out twenty-two pages from your pad. Mark each page "Z" to "A." Put "A" on the bottom and "Z" on top. Words in the Hebrew code are spelled right to left so it is easier to read them back to front. Gets you to thinking upside-down like a typesetter. Believe me, this will stand you in good stead when you start revolving the cycles. Then as you go through and start numbering the Hebrew words in your 777, 418, Kaballah Denudata, Masonic readings, etc., you will start to build your knowledge of the Ship's Code Book and you will start getting acquainted with words like ZRO ( = 277). Why is that important? According to Crowley, in his story Atlantis, the production of ZRO (that is, "sow, propagate; seed, semen") was the principal object of the priests of Atlantis. Crowley was not always kidding. I suggest you take him seriously. Also other goodies:

ZION = 156

Will-Power = 346

Vrihl = 251

The Understanding (Binah) = 67

The Tree of Life = 228

Torrentes Aquarum = 291

(O yez -- get a Latin-English dictionary.)

Skull (Golgotha) = 466

NUIT, THE STAR GODDESS = 75

Long of Nose = 352

The end; appointed time = 190

Controversia Domini = 217

Choronzon = 333

Aquarius = 44

And how do we get all those groovy English equivalents from the Hebrew- Egyptian fire alphabet? Well, you just invent your own, like Tarzan learning to read from a book he found in a jungle hut. But it's handy to have a guide. Ours happens to be:

Let's take a practical example. Crowley says someplace that the Tree of Life and the Thirty Aethyrs coincide only at certain points. So take the Index of Aethyrs in your 418. Note which ones relate to a Thoth card. On a work sheet start with:

        >Atu I, The Magus Third Aethyr, ZON for the paths and work down. Also start a separate sheet for the Sepheroth with:

        >(1) Kether Aethyrs 21 and 16

You will find quite a different universe. A world of planes and islands where reality exists only where certain vibrations coincide. Rots of ruck, and good hunting!

Oyez -- If you prefer to use "X" for Aleph and save "A" for the Greek

Kabbalah, Ararita would look like this:

X Th ' R X R X

---- H. A. 777

Inspired by Hadit Encampment, where they know NOT ( = 129) what they do.

Originally published in The Magickal Link volume II, number 9 (September 1982), pages 1-2, this little essay is the conclusion to a series of monthly articles lately reprinted in these pages, whose combined title was "On Technical Information and Curriculum."

On the Physics of Metaphysics

by Hymenaeus Alpha 777

If some of you think my articles "On Technical Information and Curriculum" are off the wall, wait until you get to comparing universes as an exercise in theoretical alchemy. In that world all is fantasy; nothing but the equations are real. Or, as Niels Bohr has been quoted as saying to an aspiring physicist, "Young man, your idea is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be real." Welcome to the plenum.

Take, for example, the Hadit point of view: "One point is all points; all points are one point." Imagine a laserium show: a single light source from one krypton tube painting all the colors of the spectrum above you in the planetarium. "Yep, folks, it's Allegory of the Cave time again! -- for those of you who thoughtfully skipped Philosophy 1A, that is in Plato's Republic -- in which what we call reality is explained as a shadow-play on the screen, while 'true' reality lurks behind the projector?" So who is behind the projector? As in the movie Wizards. Who is the script writer? -- the Director? -- the Producer? -- but most important of all, who is the audience? -- i.e. who is paying to see it? Well, you might ask your H.G.A. "who finds added perfection when invoked by his client, the gold of Tiphereth" (col. XVIII, the Empress Scale, 777 Revised). Whereupon we get into a lot of Rosy Crosses (col. XLI), Mysteries of the Crucifixion (col. XLV) and so on. If so, then the "hollow earth" theory is as true as any, since so far as your eyes are concerned the universe is hollow like the Innocence of the God Harpocrates, and everything you see is being maintained by a projected Force the Sages of India have referred to as the tanmantras, but which we prefer to illustrate as the animated humanoid "programs" of the movie Tron. Show me the difference. And if you want to see the Projector, all you have to do is look at the Resh card in the Thoth deck or the tanka "Buddha in Meditation" (Rietberg Museum, Zurich). Same-same.

Okay. Now let's try a universe of planes and islands. According to Crowley, "the Tree of Life and the Thirty Aethyrs coincide only at certain points." Let's run that down.

Notice that , "The Whirling Virgin Sun", is a description that will do just as well for a beanie as Schechinah ( = 385), since it means a wheel ( = 66), and 50 = "curls" ( = 440) = white whorl ( = 412) = the thousand-petaled lotus of the Sahasrara Chakra, since "one thousand" just means "from then on" in this instance. Notice that the aethyrs are not in sequence with the Sepheroth. Obviously they are coming in at an angle. A third universe created by the interlacing of two others. How many more such are there? And a mathematics based on a triangle (see Three of Disks, Thoth deck) instead of a single point. Interesting thought.

Same for the paths, starting from the top:

The only obvious point of coincidence being the Sixteenth Aethyr, LEA, accommodating both Kether and Mars ( = 85 = Blasted Tower). Of course this study is incomplete. You may find many more. But what are you going to do with a universe of islands and planes? I suggest you study it and see how Crowley related it to the study and development of your own psychic body.

Speaking of which -- the study and development of the psychic body -- I wonder if it has occurred to anyone in our State Department that the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a declaration of psychic warfare? Since we Americans are not into developing the psychic body it would never occur to us that the most valuable thing Afghanistan has to export is not oil but hashish. This takes us back to the beginning of our tradition, when the Templars met the Saracen during the Crusades and got turned on to a lot of groovy condiments that are freely available to anyone in the Orient. But more of this another time.

Copyright © O.T.O., 1982, 2002