It took a lot of time and I thought of quitting a few times, but I am not one to admit defeat. I steadily persevered. It is what we do, as Magicians. I meditated. I evaluated the reason behind everything I did. I refused to do that which was not in line with my new path: work for work’s sake.
Soror Beth Shemesh (Beth Kimbell), TMI or Karma Yoga: A Fool’s Journey
“Our forefather, Aleister Crowley wrote that we “have the right to live by our own law.” This is not a call to anarchy, but to openly and shamelessly be whom we are, to demand the freedom to be this person, and to defend the rights of others to be their true selves. Here he also says that we “have the right to love whom we will, when, where, and how we will,” quoting from our Holy Book, The Book of the Law. What truer statement of individual freedom and spiritual expression can there be, when through the act of love we connect with the divine?”
— Beth Kimbell, Sexual Freedom, Spiritual Expression
Quote featured at FREEDOM IS IN PERIL from the Ministry of Information.
Manifest Thy Glory: Proceedings of the Eighth Biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference was recently released, and may be of interest. This book includes the text of presentations by many Hermetic Library fellows, including Sabazius, T Polyphilus, Colin Campbell, and Beth Kimbell, and touches many topics related to the subject matter of the library.
“Manifest Thy Glory offers a selection of papers from the eighth biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference (NOTOCON) of the United States Grand Lodge of O.T.O., held in the Valley of Detroit, Michigan, in 2011 EV. The papers cover diverse topics including the Holy Guardian Angel, talismans in magick, spatial orientation in ritual, and other magical methods; occult history and biography, including the Stèle of Revealing and Ida Craddock; promulgation of Thelema through publishing and podcasts; textual analysis from Catullus to ‘Liber Trigrammaton;’ a touching reminiscence from the incomparable Lon Milo DuQuette; and even space, the final frontier. Other highlights include a street guide to Thelemic historical sites in Detroit, and the address given by U.S. National Grand Master Sabazius. They represent some of best modern practical and scholarly work on Ordo Templi Orientis, Thelema, and the magick of Aleister Crowley.
The first NOTOCON conference took place in 1997 EV in Akron, Ohio, and has since been held on alternate years in different cities around the United States. Manifest Thy Glory is the third collection of papers from the national conference to be made available, following the inaugural volume Beauty & Strength for the 2007 EV conference.
Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal order of men and women devoted to the pursuit of individual liberty, the study of magick, and the promulgation of the Law of Thelema. Founded in the early twentieth century, it has been shaped by such leading lights as Carl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, Aleister Crowley, Karl Germer and Grady Louis McMurtry.” [via]
Hermetic Library fellow Beth Kimbell posts about the lack of sources and difficulty finding specialty crafted esoteric items of a serious nature on her blog at “Retail Frustration“.
“I have been thinking a lot lately about what I find frustrating in live or web occult retailers. Everywhere I go in this country I see white light, glittery fairy stuff, and not, say, the tools I need to call angels and demons, or walk the planes or carve out a small patch of sacred space.”
“Why can’t I get a statue of a licentious murder goddess carved by hand during the appropriate hours of the day or night on a specific day of the week during the chosen phase of the moon? What makes them think I want a resin cast of my gods when I can have their corresponding stone or wood, hand-crafted with love not mass produced? Why settle for print outs of the enochian tablets?” [via]
Hermetic Library fellow Beth Kimbell has posted about sacrifice necessary to follow one’s bliss at “Reflection“.
“As Thelemites, it is incubant upon us to seek that, and when we find it, to do that thing and not the myriad other amusements that tempt us from our path. We spend years in self-reflection trying to determine what this bliss is, sometimes catching glimpses, impressions, or feelings of that next step which will bring us closer to our goal.
In all that time, have you asked yourself what price you are willing to pay? Will you sacrifice the love and companionship of friends or family that actively work against your goal? Will you spend the years of effort, eschewing the quick and easy rewards, for your ultimate goal? Will you cast the dice, gambling your comfortable existence to answer the call of your soul?” [via]
Hermetic Library fellow Beth Kimbell [also] has started a new side project blog about “her very precise perspective on Portland as an outsider with strange proclivities” which may be of interest at “Hattie Does PDX“.
Hermetic Library fellow Beth Kimbell has recently posted on her blog about Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Precepts and Virtues, and inspired by Franklin offered a list of her own list based on Thelemic quotes, all taken from the works of Aleister Crowley, at “Virtues and Precepts or Using the Tools of Our Heroes…“
New post “Words, words, words… a meditation on meaning” by Beth Kimbell on her blog.
“Today’s A.Word.A.Day is refulgent meaning shining brilliantly. This reminded me of a poem by my favorite vampire from his pre-vamp foppish days …”
Revelation or Revolution: Ben Franklin, Prometheus Unbound by Beth Kimbell
“He returned home and ultimately became a revolutionary, not out of a desire for chaos or rebellion, but to secure Liberty for the citizens of a brave new land.” [via]
Beth Kimbell has a new essay up on her site: Sexual Freedom, Spiritual Expression. This was featured in BiWomen, Summer 2011, Vol 29, No. 3.
“What truer statement of individual freedom and spiritual expression can there be, when through the act of love we connect with the divine?” [via]