I love Cameron very much for her audacity and have decided to transport her personality back in time to become the young wife of old mage Dr John Dee. I think her sensuality is an ideal mismatch with his fogeyish ways and bookish misunderstanding of nearly everything that goes on.
I enjoyed this story very much, Peter. I'm looking forward to the day when the Parsons-Cameron-Hubbard circle connects with your Cornish Tanit group, even if only metaphysically.
I read the Parsons documents you linked to. Whew! The multiverse is real! We each live in our own overlapping realities. I don’t get the appeal all this has for you.It just feels creepy to me. But from the Ranveer interview I can see you would be a congenial neighbor. Blessings!
"Our Lady BABALON must descend to triumph" hints at an identification with Inanna, and recognizes the agency of the Goddess in contrast to models where she is a passive, or perhaps magnetic, object of magickal aspiration, only to be met with on the farther shore of the Abyss. I think even in OTO, personal devotion to Babalon has broken the bounds of "orthodox" Babalon transcendentalism. For instance, at our local OTO body, we installed a Babalon shrine with ceremony and an intense ritual to inspirit the statue which was beautifully and lovingly made by two local artists. It was certainly meant to be a collective act calling Babalon into incarnation among us.
Thanks so much for this fascinating essay. Lots to think about here, and I really can't wait to read what comes next in the series. Blessings!
Thanks for sharing that Tod, the Inanna connection is indeed made very apparent with that line. I don't think there is such a thing as orthodoxy in OTO, at least at local body level, just a broad confederation of Thelemites under the banner of the order. This can be a beautiful thing. All my best to you and your brothers and sisters. Hope you enjoy where this series leads.
Saw your interview with Ranveer. I aim to have neighborliness and friendship with all in our common humanity.
Your blood ritual comments made me glad for the blood of Jesus. Speaking of ancient gods and spirits - my experience of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus is that it connects me to the below one. For me that is the special ongoing effect of Jesus and of the gift of the Holy Spirit, knowing God the Father Whether I am knowing a Trinitarian Henotheism or Monotheism I can’t say for sure in this world. From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
“High God, in anthropology and the history of religion, a type of supreme deity found among many nonliterate peoples of North and South America, Africa, northern Asia, and Australia. The adjective high is primarily a locative term: a High God is conceived as being utterly transcendent, removed from the world that he created. A High God is high in the sense that he lives in or is identified with the sky—hence, the alternative name. Among North American Indians and Central and South Africans, thunder is thought to be the voice of the High God. In Siberia the sun and moon are considered the High God’s eyes. He is connected with food and heaven among American Indians.
Though the pattern varies from people to people, the High God usually is conceived as masculine or sexless. He is thought to be the sole creator of heaven and earth. Although he is omnipotent and omniscient, he is thought to have withdrawn from his creation and therefore to be inaccessible to prayer or sacrifice. Generally, no graphic images of him exist, nor does he receive cult worship or appear in the mythology. If he is invoked, it is only in times of extreme distress, but there is no guarantee that he will hear or respond. His name often is revealed only to initiates, and to speak his name aloud is thought to invite disaster or death; his most frequent title is Father. In some traditions he is conceived to be a transcendent principle of divine order; in others he is pictured as senile or impotent and replaced by a set of more active and involved deities; and in still other traditions he has become so remote that he is all but forgotten.
Some scholars consider the conception of the High God to be very old, preceding the creation of particular pantheons; some see the High God as secondary, both in importance and in chronology; and some see him as a very recent development stimulated by Christianity. Christian missionaries, naturally having a monotheistic bias, tended to overemphasize high gods. In recent times the figure of the High God has been revived among some African messianic groups.”
With respect, I don't share your opinions on the blood of Jesus.
Christianity has manifestly failed.
The God of Christianity is demonstrably a development from Judaism and the worship of a storm god or Baal, a 'god in a box' who was only to be approached at the tabernacle. He was a tribal god of a particular people, and NOT a universal god. Thus, in the Old Testament he states 'I am a jealous god'. Christianity, which began as 'the Jesus movement' grew up in the diaspora and universalised Judaism (particularly due to St Paul), destroying all competing religions and thought movements. It took on Platonism once the Academy had been driven out of existence and merged with elements of the germanic undying sun-god to become the dominant religion of the Roman empire by about 600 CE. The actions of Christianity were comparable to those of the Taliban. Statues and temples destroyed, women driven out of public life, extermination of all rivals as 'devils'.
Though one can argue that some of the worst aspects of the Bronze Age were reformed, (see Tom Holland's Dominion) Christianity has a bloody history of murder, child abuse, war and the suppression of the feminine in particular. We still bear those scars.
Though many continue to draw inspiration from the Jesus of the proverbs, with the message of Love and Peace, on balance I believe Christianity to have been a horror for mankind. The examples are manifold, from the Cathars to the Conquest of the Americas. Those actions are all a logical result of monotheism and the idea of a law giving monotheistic all-father.
I support your right to believe as you wish, and hope that your path brings you spiritual sustenance. However, mine is very much post-christian.
I have to agree. The insidious assault starting within the "family" which by all accounts appears to continue within this age has been a key mode of Christianity's relevance in shaping the thoughts and behaviours of its adherents and soxiety in general. From the get go, the crushing of any interpretation or novel reading that swayed away from the emerging "orthodoxy" was the paradoxical death knell for the faith, guaranteeing its monolithic and stubborn hierarchical structure. Thank you Peter for all these wonderful pieces and I look forward to reading more about Babalon.
Cameron lost most of it, and some was destroyed by one of her partners out of jealousy, that was Sherry Kimmel. The remaining documents got scooped up by OTO inc and the Cameron Foundation who have done a frankly shocking job of making it available.
However, if the Cameron foundation hadn't collected it, we would have lost almost everything, so they certainly deserve credit for that.
We have some copies of Parsons material at the Warburg Institute in London, and other fragments can be hunted out online with the judicious use of internet archive.
There is meant to be a collected works in progress, but given that even Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword is out of print, I have little hope for it.
Here's the link to the available Parsons material on sacred texts:
Well it’s a good thing you’re around to keep it all going. I have a few of your books. The Palo Mayombe one and others including Cameron’s witch book. I will check those archives. What do think of the supposed films that are mentioned in Sex and Rockets..that were found in a box after his death?
I love Cameron very much for her audacity and have decided to transport her personality back in time to become the young wife of old mage Dr John Dee. I think her sensuality is an ideal mismatch with his fogeyish ways and bookish misunderstanding of nearly everything that goes on.
I enjoyed this story very much, Peter. I'm looking forward to the day when the Parsons-Cameron-Hubbard circle connects with your Cornish Tanit group, even if only metaphysically.
Everything ultimately connects.
I read the Parsons documents you linked to. Whew! The multiverse is real! We each live in our own overlapping realities. I don’t get the appeal all this has for you.It just feels creepy to me. But from the Ranveer interview I can see you would be a congenial neighbor. Blessings!
It is really only for a few. But yes, happy to be a good neighbour!
"Our Lady BABALON must descend to triumph" hints at an identification with Inanna, and recognizes the agency of the Goddess in contrast to models where she is a passive, or perhaps magnetic, object of magickal aspiration, only to be met with on the farther shore of the Abyss. I think even in OTO, personal devotion to Babalon has broken the bounds of "orthodox" Babalon transcendentalism. For instance, at our local OTO body, we installed a Babalon shrine with ceremony and an intense ritual to inspirit the statue which was beautifully and lovingly made by two local artists. It was certainly meant to be a collective act calling Babalon into incarnation among us.
Thanks so much for this fascinating essay. Lots to think about here, and I really can't wait to read what comes next in the series. Blessings!
Thanks for sharing that Tod, the Inanna connection is indeed made very apparent with that line. I don't think there is such a thing as orthodoxy in OTO, at least at local body level, just a broad confederation of Thelemites under the banner of the order. This can be a beautiful thing. All my best to you and your brothers and sisters. Hope you enjoy where this series leads.
This was a very intriguing piece. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series of explorations.
Saw your interview with Ranveer. I aim to have neighborliness and friendship with all in our common humanity.
Your blood ritual comments made me glad for the blood of Jesus. Speaking of ancient gods and spirits - my experience of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus is that it connects me to the below one. For me that is the special ongoing effect of Jesus and of the gift of the Holy Spirit, knowing God the Father Whether I am knowing a Trinitarian Henotheism or Monotheism I can’t say for sure in this world. From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
“High God, in anthropology and the history of religion, a type of supreme deity found among many nonliterate peoples of North and South America, Africa, northern Asia, and Australia. The adjective high is primarily a locative term: a High God is conceived as being utterly transcendent, removed from the world that he created. A High God is high in the sense that he lives in or is identified with the sky—hence, the alternative name. Among North American Indians and Central and South Africans, thunder is thought to be the voice of the High God. In Siberia the sun and moon are considered the High God’s eyes. He is connected with food and heaven among American Indians.
Though the pattern varies from people to people, the High God usually is conceived as masculine or sexless. He is thought to be the sole creator of heaven and earth. Although he is omnipotent and omniscient, he is thought to have withdrawn from his creation and therefore to be inaccessible to prayer or sacrifice. Generally, no graphic images of him exist, nor does he receive cult worship or appear in the mythology. If he is invoked, it is only in times of extreme distress, but there is no guarantee that he will hear or respond. His name often is revealed only to initiates, and to speak his name aloud is thought to invite disaster or death; his most frequent title is Father. In some traditions he is conceived to be a transcendent principle of divine order; in others he is pictured as senile or impotent and replaced by a set of more active and involved deities; and in still other traditions he has become so remote that he is all but forgotten.
Some scholars consider the conception of the High God to be very old, preceding the creation of particular pantheons; some see the High God as secondary, both in importance and in chronology; and some see him as a very recent development stimulated by Christianity. Christian missionaries, naturally having a monotheistic bias, tended to overemphasize high gods. In recent times the figure of the High God has been revived among some African messianic groups.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/High-God
Thanks for engaging.
With respect, I don't share your opinions on the blood of Jesus.
Christianity has manifestly failed.
The God of Christianity is demonstrably a development from Judaism and the worship of a storm god or Baal, a 'god in a box' who was only to be approached at the tabernacle. He was a tribal god of a particular people, and NOT a universal god. Thus, in the Old Testament he states 'I am a jealous god'. Christianity, which began as 'the Jesus movement' grew up in the diaspora and universalised Judaism (particularly due to St Paul), destroying all competing religions and thought movements. It took on Platonism once the Academy had been driven out of existence and merged with elements of the germanic undying sun-god to become the dominant religion of the Roman empire by about 600 CE. The actions of Christianity were comparable to those of the Taliban. Statues and temples destroyed, women driven out of public life, extermination of all rivals as 'devils'.
Though one can argue that some of the worst aspects of the Bronze Age were reformed, (see Tom Holland's Dominion) Christianity has a bloody history of murder, child abuse, war and the suppression of the feminine in particular. We still bear those scars.
Though many continue to draw inspiration from the Jesus of the proverbs, with the message of Love and Peace, on balance I believe Christianity to have been a horror for mankind. The examples are manifold, from the Cathars to the Conquest of the Americas. Those actions are all a logical result of monotheism and the idea of a law giving monotheistic all-father.
I support your right to believe as you wish, and hope that your path brings you spiritual sustenance. However, mine is very much post-christian.
I have to agree. The insidious assault starting within the "family" which by all accounts appears to continue within this age has been a key mode of Christianity's relevance in shaping the thoughts and behaviours of its adherents and soxiety in general. From the get go, the crushing of any interpretation or novel reading that swayed away from the emerging "orthodoxy" was the paradoxical death knell for the faith, guaranteeing its monolithic and stubborn hierarchical structure. Thank you Peter for all these wonderful pieces and I look forward to reading more about Babalon.
Wonderful piece.
Who is possession of what was left behind by JP? What was left behind?
Cameron lost most of it, and some was destroyed by one of her partners out of jealousy, that was Sherry Kimmel. The remaining documents got scooped up by OTO inc and the Cameron Foundation who have done a frankly shocking job of making it available.
However, if the Cameron foundation hadn't collected it, we would have lost almost everything, so they certainly deserve credit for that.
We have some copies of Parsons material at the Warburg Institute in London, and other fragments can be hunted out online with the judicious use of internet archive.
There is meant to be a collected works in progress, but given that even Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword is out of print, I have little hope for it.
Here's the link to the available Parsons material on sacred texts:
https://sacred-texts.com/oto/lib49.htm
Well it’s a good thing you’re around to keep it all going. I have a few of your books. The Palo Mayombe one and others including Cameron’s witch book. I will check those archives. What do think of the supposed films that are mentioned in Sex and Rockets..that were found in a box after his death?
Were these the sex ones? If so, I am not sure that was repeated from a reliable source. Open to correction on this.
Yeah those. It’s probably fake salacious nonsense.