/lit/ - Literature

>>4856150
I know, I know.

But these are the original source materials translated into English for the first time. I've been pretty HYPE about this one for a while.

>The Secret School of Wisdom - The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati

Much has been claimed for and against the Order - its name synonymous with secrecy, intrigue, and mystery in the modern context, despite a poverty of concrete evidence in the English language. Little has been said about the factual structure and development through its life cycle. The Secret School of Wisdom - The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati, is a ground-breaking text. It marks the first time that a comprehensive ritual book for the society has been re-assembled. Every degree, its instruction and associated texts, has been included and assembled in chronological order of progression. The reader will be guided along the same path as many of Germany's most enlightened men, as they did in the years immediately prior to the French Revolution. They will ascend from one level of knowledge to the next. Much of this material has never been published, let alone translated into English. Supplemental texts are included to gain further historical insight into the Order. The documents have been checked for accuracy with the original archival texts, and carefully translated into English.

>The first book in history to publish the complete rituals of the Illuminati
>The doctrine of the Illuminati in their very own words
>The regalia and jewels of the Order completely revealed for the first time
>The development of the rituals and teachings of the Order
>The secret goals of the Order to reform society - exposed in detail
>The rituals that went on to become part of modern day Freemasonry
>The secret signs, grips and passwords of the Illuminati revealed

http://www.lewismasonic.co.uk/the-secret-school-of-wisdom-the-authentic-rituals-and-doctrine-of-the-illuminati.htm

>>4219739
http://archive.4plebs.org/x/thread/13610471/

For those interested in reading through the full Illuminatus Major degree.

>>4219717

>>4219704

>>4219701

>>4219690
Sure thing.

>>4219655
I'll give this a bump on the off chance someone has something.

>>4219639
>They also say that only 650 copies of the first one, and 666 copies of the second one, were even printed.
Yeah, I had a chat with Vere the first few months after it came out. Those were the 'special editions', that still doesn't mean there aren't copies sitting with Weiser (I can see them for sale, I just don't want to dump fifty that could go toward Blazing Dew of Stars, or Equinox 5:3).

That said, I find copies of The Red Goddess or Masks of Eternity without much issue.

It's just frustrating. Of the two, the only ones I've got personal interest in are Progradior Correspondence and Concordance (I want to cross reference it with Mystery of the Numbers).

Interlibrary loan may well be an option, provided I can scan without fucking up the binding. Thanks for reminding me. I usually only use it for my textbooks and school work.

Hey, /lit/. Been a while.

I wouldn't post here, but you folks are resourceful, I'm looking for a few books to toss on my mega and I cannot find them anywhere. Not on Grimoar. Not on any number of pdf book search services. Not on TO.bz. You're my last hope, barring buying them and scanning them myself (and I'd really like to spend my money on more important texts). They are editions from Teitian Press.

Lunar and Sex Worship
By Ida Craddock, Edited and with an Introduction by Vere Chappell.

The Progradior Correspondence, Letters by Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett, C. S. Jones, & Others.
Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett; Charles Stansfeld Jones; Leilah Waddell; Leah Hirsig et al, & Edited and with an Introduction by Keith Richmond.

A Concordance to the Holy Books of Thelema - Edited & With an Introduction by Colin D. Campbell with a Foreword by Dr. Richard Kaczynski

The Kabbalah, Magick, and Thelema. Selected Writings. Volume II.
By Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral), Edited by Dr. David Shoemaker, Gregory Peters and Rorac Johnson, and with a Foreword by Lon Milo DuQuette.

If anyone even has a lead on digital copies of these, please lend a hand.

>>4101160
>so in a way it's like self-hypnosis that brings about positive changes in yourself?
*Could be*. I'd prefer not making a judgement with any kind of concretism until more data has been gathered.

But yes; in the psychological view, that would be the gist of it. See the academic works of Andrew Newberg w/r/t glossolalia.

>>4101060
>Magic is not empirically demonstrable.
Actually, if we're talking about the phenomenology of the neurological states, these can be demonstrated, and not as madness.

Furthermore, as with any with any other system you can derive statistics from, you can at least test validity and reliability, internal and external, using the same techniques that psychology, sociology, pharmacology, sports, and economics. (Will x practice give y result given z variables?)

This is why we keep record. You're expected to map trends and findings in your own experimental work (at least in my system).

So, can these phenomena be *described* in terms of pure number? We can do that, and the stigma is lowering. Can we demonstrate anything beyond a one-to-one neurological correlation, not yet.

And even then, I'm not particularly interested in the empirical demonstration of all of this: We know that there is at LEAST an interesting phenomena happening. To me, it's the transformative experience of these mystical phenomena that are important; if the mind is capable of producing something at the scale of what's described as Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel....then that's just as compelling to me as there being a verifiable spiritual force behind said experiences (which I actually suspect).

You can call me anything...I don't really care. I try not to pin myself with too many labels. It's bad enough carrying around the implied baggage of "Thelemite" without adding to it.

>>4100766
Not necessarily. Attainment of Boddhisattva (and the requisite cultivation of Bodhicitta) is the litmus test for Mastership of the Temple. There's a reason why we place the Buddha in the City of Pyramids.

>>4100747
The best way to live is without rules.

The best way to break rules is to know them...intimately.

I would agree that you work from your own, with no system other than your own, after a certain point.

The complexity is often a point; it's a wall for you to crash into, over and over, trying to surpass. Or a way to help develop intense, single pointed interest.

>>4100680
I should reiterate here that I'm not trying to convince anyone to actually do any of the practices in the library; that's up to the individual. My reasoning/thoughts should have zero bearing on whether or not someone wants to pick up these practices. If you're doing this stuff because some dude on the internet convinced you it's a good idea, you may want to re-prioritize.

>>4100659
>I see absolutely no point in devoting my life to a belief that has close to no guarantee of yielding results.
The system does not deliver results, your working of it does. It's not the hammer that drives the nail, it's your work.

>If magic is useful, why isn't it more widespread?
Centuries of reductionism, positivism, materialism, whatever they're calling it these days.

>>4100410
Yes and no. It depends on the individual. Yoga is core to Thelema.

>If not, why engage in a years- or decades-long practice of study of arcane systems
I hate to break it to you, but it takes WAY more than 15 minutes of work a day to get proficient with any mystical system. It'll take years and decades at the feet of a guru in the ashram just as it will take years and decades at the feet of a guru in any other context.

> rather than more directly confronting the psychological and/or spiritual enlightenment you seek?
That (should be) a direct stated aim of whatever mystical tradition you're entering, at least in the modern day.

>why occupy yourself with shit like "angel languages"
Same reason for occupation on mantra or yantra or tattvas; to help impart the focus needed to get the job done.

> and dozens of degrees of mediated indoctrination rather than just meditating?
Any ideological system is going to indoctrinate to some point. You're going to find the same things like Nath; or even Zen.

>>4100449
It's not for everyone. Some people are just fine working the exoteric practices. Some people don't need a systematized process to attain (though Divya are rare). Most of us, though, are vira, who are only going to benefit from the struggle up the path.

>>4100093
>93
It's not to difficult to use the internet and find some sort of instruction. The A.'.A.'. Wikipedia page has links to all extant online lineages of A.'.A.'.

Then, of course, groups like ToS or Cultus Sabbati, all have an online presence.

>>4099989
I've heard the exact same thing (he's actually nice in real life) about Dave Bersson.

>>4099956
That's why Z and I post on 4chan. We're not going to net a ban for having an unpopular opinion about Gunther, Breeze, Jim E., Shoemaker, or anyone else.

Overjoyed. Been waiting for over a decade. So glad he finally got it all squared away. More waiting, sure, but it's finally over.

>>4099894
Men, my problem with heruraha is Jim himself.

Bump.

>>4099297
Really, everything you SHOULD need is there. It gets really flaky outside of core texts and academic work.