Sip/56e

78e/yr.
MEZLA
V01.1
N<?ll
Spring
Equinox
Anno
LXXIV
Official Organ of the Ordo Templi Orientis
Do wluJt thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Nightside of Eden - a review
The opinion seems to be held in certain quarters that I have in my previous books revealed a little too much
of the Mysteries, and that the Veil of Isis has been lifted to an almost unseemly height. I therefore reiterate the fact
that the Mysteries, the true Gnosis, are of a predominantly psycho-sexual nature. I have merely made
available-perhaps for the first time in so plain a manner-knowledge which has hitherto been occult, i.e. hidden. In II
accordance with this fact I make no apology for having made these Mysteries clear to those who possess the
necessary insigh t.
That there are dark Mysteries here is undeniable, but also there are the keys to their understanding. Perhaps
this may be claimed for the present book even more than for the trilogy that preceded it, where certain operative
I formulae were withheld. 1
In this remarkable text, Grant ventures into the nearly uncharted region behind the Tree of Life to
I
reconnoiter for us those forces & energies which lie beyond the pylons of Daa'th.While Nightside of Eden may at
I first seem to be a break with the traditions of the OTO, it is in fact a learned theoretical & practical commentary to
Liber Arcanorum 'TC:;v A TU 'TaUTAHUTI quos villit ASAR in AMENNTl sub figura CCXXXI. Liber Carceromm
'TC:;vQLIPHOTH cum suis Geniis. Adduntur Sigilla et Nomina Eorum. 2
The first section of Nightside of Eden is devoted to a theoretical &qabbalistic treatment of the backside of
the Tree of Life. This is by no means light reading (a pencil &notepad will prove invaluable), but its fascination is
almost hypnotic as it draws the reader into a revelation of those Mysteries which most of us have been brought up
to consider evil. Modes of thought & channels of force which were either suppressed or forgotten during the
previous aeon have been hinted at by writers of occult & supernatural fiction such as Arthur Machen, Algernon
I Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. But while these writers were highly sensitive to vibrations
from the backside of the Tree, they did not comprehend the reality of their visions, nor did they have the esoteric
background to interpret what they sensed.
But Nightside of Eden is far more than an historical and theoretical treatise on the forces of the un-manifest
Universe. The second section of the book is a typhonian grimoire of the region beyond Daiith. There is one chapter
for each of the Tunnels of Set (the averse manifestation of which are the paths on the front of the Tree) in which
sigils are given, sentinels are named, colors, musical notes, and associated magical powers are delineated.
Information is not in tabular form like 777, but in essay form with copious footnotes and much-needed advice for
those who venture thither for the first time.
But the theoretical & practical implications of Nightside of Eden are almost certain to cause some violent
reactions from the so-called white magicians whose authority stems from the now defunct aeon of Osiris. There will
undoubtedly be serious & honest students of the magical path who will avoid Nightside of Eden because of
misinformation & slander directed by those who cannot accept the implications of the new aeon. To those who are
(unfortunately) swayed by such authority, let me end with a few quotes from Arthur Edward Waite:
As there is a door in the soul which opens to God, so there is another door which opens on the recremental
deeps, and there is no doubt that the deeps come in when it is opened effectually.
(and yet) Typhon, Juggernaut and Hecate were not less divine than the gods of the over-world, and the
offices of Canida were probably in their way as sacred as the peaceful mysteries of Ceres. 3
Nightside of Eden is available from Samuel Weiser, Inc., 734 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 for $15.00
plus 45i shipping (New York State residents please add applicable sales tax). Subscribers to Mezlamay order single
copies from Boleskine House, 210 Stewart Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850 for $13 (all shipping & taxes included) if
ordered at the same time as a year's subscription to Mezlafor the usual 78i.
NOTICE OF AFFILIATION
AUTUMN EQUINOX
1977 E.V.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Notice is hereby given that the Society of the New
Aeon (Sociedade Novo Aeon) registered in Brazil on
September 5th, 1975 e.v. by Euclydes Lacerda de
Almeida, has been recognized and duly chartered by the
Sovereign Sanctuary of the Ordo Templi Orientis under
the Seal and Signature of the O.H.O. - Aossic Aiwass,
718/Kenneth Grant.
Copies of the documents pertaining to the affilia-
tion of the Society of the New Aeon will appear in
Sothis Vol II no. 3.
Notice is also given here that official recognition
by the O. T.O. of any group aspiring to express and
transmit the 93 Current will obtain only in cases where
at least one member of the Governing Council of such a
group is already a fully established member, or affiliate,
of the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Delivered this day of the Autumn Equinox by the
Sovereign Sanctuary of the O.T.O. September 23, 1977
e.v.
Love is the law, love under will.
. ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ .
1. Excerpted from the Author's Forward to Nightside of Eden.
2. Liber CCXXXI is a publication in Class A which first appeared
in the Equinox, Vol I, No.7, pp 69-73.
3. Quoted on p.141 of Nightside of Eden.
~ 11 ~
Mezw. the Official Orpn of the Ordo Templi Orientls. isyublished twice
yearly at the Equinoxes. All material contained herein is {g1977 by MezZo
(unless prior @is held by individual author or the O.T.O.). No portion of
this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from
the publisher ",or author (except for brief excerpts used for reviewing
purposes).
What people (even some who call themselves
thelemites) do not realize is that a fundamental revolu-
tion in thinking is necessary. Like it or not, our society
has been conditioned by the Christian approach, bring-
ing to bear upon any given situation a rigid set of ideas
about right and wrong that strongly influence any given
reaction.
The whole point of 93 is its total adaptability to all
circumstances. Like the sea, it flows around, over and
wears away by the persistence of its constant flowing. It
offers no resistance; it is Pure Tao. On this Path of the
True Will there is no traveler, and-paradoxically-no
will.
True Will is the result of sincere Self Enquiry. One
must persistently look deeply into every aspect of every
question as it arises. If you want a very cogent example
of exactly how to go about it, you might ponder The
A wakening of Intelligence by J. Krishnamurti or better
yet should the opportunity arise attend a viewing of the
series of Dialogues With J. Krishnamurti (a series of
video-tapes that the Krishnamurti Foundation has made
available). The purchase-cost of the tapes is astronom-
ical, but fortunately for me The Lightfountain Book-
store (532 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, N.Y. 14222) bought
the series of tapes and has offered them to private group
viewing at a nominal cost. It is money well invested.
After 1 May, 1978 e.v. the Ellicott Station PO Box will
no longer be in operation. As of that date, please
address all correspondence concerning Mezla or the
OTO to the Ithaca address.
~ 11 ~ 11 ~ . ~ . ~ 11 ~ 11 ~ . ~
Single copies are 5611postpaid, with a wholesale discount of 40% available
on 11 or more copies of the same issue. SUbscriptions are 7811per year.
postpaid. Copies of most back issues are still available - write for details.
Please include your check or money order with aU orders as we are unable
to accept credit orders or ship c.o.d. to anyone. Editorial and subscriPtion
inquiries may be addressed to either of the following persons:
~. R. Ayers
P.O. Box 3004
Ellicott Station
Buffalo, NY 14205
Bill Sie hen
BolesIdne House
210 Stewart Ave.
Ithaca, NY 14850
The Dance of the Future
by Isadora Duncan
The dancer of the future will be one whose body
and soul have grown so harmoniously together that the
natural language of that soul will have become the
movement of the body. The dancer will not belong to a
nation but to all humanity. She will dance not in the
form of nymph, nor fairy, nor coquette, but in the form
of woman in her greatest and purest expression. She will
realize the mission of woman's body and the holiness of
all its parts. She will dance the changing life of nature,
showing how each part is transformed into the other.
From all parts of her body shall shine radiant intelli-
gence, bringing to the world the message of the thoughts
and aspirations of thousands of women. She shall dance
the freedom of woman.
Oh, what a field is here awaiting her! Do you not
feel that she is near, that she is coming, this dancer of
the future! She will help womankind to a new know-
ledge of the possible strength and beauty of their
bodies, and the relation of their bodies to the earth
nature and to the children of the future. She will dance
the body emerging again from centuries of civilized
forgetfulness, emerging not in the nudity of primitive
man, but in a new nakedness, no longer at war with
spirituality and intelligence, but joining with them in a
glorious harmony.
This is the mission of the dancer of the future. Oh,
do you not feel that she is near, do you not long for her
coming as I do? Let us prepare the place for her. I
would build for her a temple to await her. Perhaps she is
yet unborn, perhaps she is now a little child. Perhaps, oh
blissful! it may be my holy mission to guide her first
steps, to watch the progress of her movements day by
day until, far outgrowing my poor teaching, her
movements will become god-like, mirroring in them-
selves the waves, the winds, the movements of growing
things, the flight of birds, the passing of clouds, and
finally the thought of man in his relation to the
UnIverse.
Oh, she is coming, the dancer of the future: the
free spirit, who will inhabit the body of the new
woman, more glorious than any woman that has yet
been; more beautiful than the Egyptian, than the Greek,
the early Italian, than all the women of past centuries-
the highest intelligence in the freest body!
-excerpted from The Art of the Dance:Theatre Arts
Books, 1969
Submitted by Frater Ananael-I38
The Antecedents of Thelema
(cont'd from Mezla#10)
An essay by Aleister Crowley submitted by Frater
Ophidia-II with the kind permission of the Lilly
Library, Bloomington, Indiana.
IV
Was the mighty spirit of Alcofribas Nasier aware of
the prophetic fire of his immortal book?
He has fortunately left us in no doubt upon this
point; for he did not content himself with having
created in parable that Abbey of Thelema which his
eager gaze foresaw from the black abyss of those Ages
not yet thrilled by the Morning Star of the Renaissance,
and dimly heralded by the Wolf's Tail of the
Reformation.
He proceeded to envelop himself in the mist of
oracular speech, to fulminate his light through dark
sayings, to clothe the naked beauty of his Time-piercing
thought in the pontifical vestments of prophecy.
The reader of to-day plunged from the limpid
waters of his allegory into the glooming gulfs of
sibylline and subterranean song, is startled indeed when,
after repeated efforts to penetrate the mystery of his
versicles, he perceives the adumbration of dim forms-
and recognizes them, with something of terror, for the
images of the events of this very generation of mankind!
Writing at a period when the Divine Right of Kings
under the Supreme Governance of Almighty God was
yet unchallengea, Rabelais describes the rise of
Democracy. Idle people, he writes, will stir up social
strife, so as eventually to destroy all proper relations
between classes and individuals. The ignorant will have
as much political power as the instructed. The dullest
and the most stupid people will be entrusted with
government.
Just as we see it to-day! For genuine knaves are
rare enough in governments; real capacity, even for
dishonesty, is baffled by our political machinery. A
clever man must at least pretend to be stupid to attain,
and act with consistently dense imbecility to maintain,
his place among the rulers of the world. No sooner is he
suspected of possessing even one spark of intelligence
than the herd distrust him, butt him from his pedestal,
and trample him to death beneath their hooves!
The style of the oracle at this point becomes
unfathomably obscure; it is hard to discover what exact
process Rabelais describes as the means of the terrestrial
catastrophe which culminates in universal revolution.
But, the horror at its height, the Master becomes
admirably lucid in his description of the avenging
lightning which Destiny has prepared for the salvation
of the race.
A great flame will spring up, he says, and put an
end to this flood. What clearer reference could be
desired to the Aeon of Horus? Is not Horus Force and
Fire, the victorious foe of the dark waters of the Nile. Is
not TO MEr A 8HPION, the Great WildBeast, the Lion
of the Sun, the destined conqueror of IHCOYC, the
Fish?
And so at last the elect, the sons self-chosen of
Freedom, come to their own, and the false slaves of
Restriction stripped of their knavish spoils, their
hoarded dross of stupidity, and put in their proper place
as slaves of the true men of the Race. Nor does the great
Magician of Touraine stop with any mere symbolic
identification; he indicates the Master Therion by name!
The very last verse of his oracle runs thus:
0
Ci
He who is able to endure unto the end, he insists, is to
be blessed with worship. And what is this I will endure
unto the en~ but PERDURABO, the magical motto at
his first initiation of the Master Therion?
To be concluded in Mezla#12
Concerning the A. ..A. '.
If as Frater Achad claimed the System -of the
A.' .A.'. had fallen apart during his own lifetime while he
held the grade of Magister Templi, then surely now after
his death & that of Crowley, the Catina is no longer
complete, though some members may remain in isolated
grades, the A.'.A:. no longer exists as an initiating
Order, for all practical purposes.
According to Frater Achad, who researched the
matter rather thorougWy, there was a time when an
actual chain existed in the Outer, up to and including
the grade of Magus l)'>=2.The G.'.D:. was the Outer
Court up to 5=6 and the Grades were all legitimately
filled. Mathers himself was 7"=4,Oscar Eckenstein
(according to Crowley) was an Ipsissimus 10"=10whose
. death around 1921 enabled Crowley to go on to the
supreme Ordeals, which he claims to have transcended
in 1924 when he became or assumed, the grade of
10"=1. These Ordeals, which were truly awful, and
which constitute a great chunk of the remaining and
unpublished portions of his Magical record, thus made
the chain complete in the Outer, for Frater Achad, by
virtue of his extreme daring assumed the grade of a
Master of the Temple 8"=3so that Crowley could make
the transition to the Grade of Magus l)'>=2D. All this is
documented. What may be in doubt, is whether or not
Crowley actually attained this Grade l)'>=2D.
Supposing, however that he did indeed become a
Magus, then, when Eckenstein died, he was free to go on
to the ultimate pinnacle or final in the System of the
A.' .A.'. and become that Supreme & Silver Star, that
Argenteum Astrum, which has been identified with
Sothis (Sirius) and which is indeed the vehicle of
Aiwass, and the full Concentration of the 93 Cu"ent,
which is an Ipsissimus 10"=1A:.A:. (with all that this
implies in the sense in which only Wei Wu Wei of all
European Adepts, has made unequivocally plain.
Further, Frater Achad claimed that the System of
theA:.A:. fell apart (in the outer) long before 1924.
Any person who now sets up as an authority of
A.' .A.'. must either be able to furnish the necessary list
of Grade membership, naming both his immediate
superior & immediate inferior (giving their names in the
outer) or admit that no Catina exists in the Outer in
which case they are consciously fostering a fraud. The
grade requirements are most exacting and easily verified.
Merely reprinting Crowley's lovely statements rallying
candidates to the standard of the A:.A:. does not in
any way prove the validity of any such announcement,
in fact it would tend to cast doubt upon it.
Consult Magick pg. 332 "The Adept must prepare
and publish a thesis setting forth His knowledge of the
Universe, and his proposals for its welfare and progress. .,
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Conquering Child Publishing Co., Box 1343 Cincinnati,
Ohio 45201, has produced a lovely poster entitled The
Ritualists. The second edition of the Cincinatti Journal
of Ceremonial Magick is now available, continuing the
tradition of excellence which gavelife to Vol I no.1.
We apologize for the endless delay in the production of
the Commentary On Liber Oz and thank all who have
ordered it for their continuing patience.
T-Shirts, white imprinted with black logo 666 & image
of A.C. are available from The Graven Image, Box 413,
Bloomington, Indiana 47401 at $6. post paid. Specify
size.
Lucky Hoodoo: A short course in Voodoo power
secrets by Michael Bertiaux, is available from Absolute
Science Institute, Suite 5A, 30 E. Division, Chicago, m.
60610.
Love is the law, love under will.
Soror Tanith- 789
FraterOTzPTN- 690
Type8etttna by LUNA PublicatiOI1l