#germer

Inktober 20 : germer

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

The title to this essay may seem a little misleading, how can something be dead yet also alive? The fact is the AA is defined differently for different people and whilst the AA may be dead on one plane, it does not mean that the AA is dead on all the planes. It is my opinion and experience that the mundane outer orders known as AA are all defunct, lineage is questionable, and none have enforced the rules of the original order. Not even Crowley himself. Therefore every lineage of the AA is false on the mundane plane of existence. Luckily for the individual magician the true AA, the true order of the silver star, is beyond this plane and can still guide and inform the work of the magician.

The terrestrial face of the AA was formed by Crowley out of the debris of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn alongside one of his former mentors in that order, George Cecil Jones. Crowley stripped back the Golden Dawn system massively and added some raja yoga techniques. He also got away with the majority of initiation rituals and rewrote the two initiation rituals which he believed where the most important- The Neophyte ritual and the Adeptus Minor ritual which introduces an aspirant to the inner order.

The orders intention was to remove the social aspect which plagued the Golden Dawn and ensure that an aspirant only knew her superior in the order. This prevented gossiping and unnecessary chit chat and allowed for the individuals involved to simply get on with the work. As a rule the majority of Crowley’s students were failures. The AA did not work and it is my opinion the reason for this is that the majority of people are not designed or perhaps dedicated enough to put in the work to court the Angel. Of course the new aeon’s main purpose is to elevate the spiritual consciousness of all humanity so they are in fact in tune with the call of the Angel and therefore are aware of its Will which is simultaneously their True Will.

The AA proper is a spiritual current of consciousness. It is the forces which exist outside of space and time which guide the spiritual evolution of the whole of humanity. As this consciousness is transmitted down the planes it can take varying forms, or rather is given various masks. This is why multiple outer orders can in fact be connected to the AA, this is why multiple lineages of the terrestrial AA may be connected to the actual AA. The AA isn’t exclusive, it is inclusive. No one person or group may claim ownership to it, and if they do they are missing the point entirely. To pin the AA down to the mundane plane is to limit it’s scope. I would argue any person performing the work of contacting the HGA and subsequently crossing the abyss is interacting with the AA consciousness. Fancy lineages and signed documents mean nothing in comparison to the work being undertaken.

A lot of Thelemites seem to crave a lineage which goes back to Crowley, a pedigree line which can be traced to a recognised ‘master of the temple’ the issue is there have not been many of these and as mentioned earlier most of Crowleys students did not seem to attain all that much. I think it is fair to say there are three major lines which are often considered the most pedigree; Crowley, Achad, and Germer. All these men were master of the temple according to Crowley and had thus passed on to the third order where the AA proper resides. It is my intention to display why none of this matters in this day and age and highlight how every one of these failed to meet the standards of the original terrestrial outer order as set out by Crowley and George Cecil Jones.

Let’s start with Crowley. Crowley was a great magician, his contribution to 20th century occultism whilst often overstated cannot be overlooked. His works on magick and mysticism are masterpieces and worth the serious study of every occultist regardless of your judgement on the man’s troublesome personality. He did the work, he contacted his Angel and he crossed the abyss. He did make a connection with the third order. He was also a poor teacher- something he even admitted to himself. He was also of the opinion that initiation and advancement should be open to all, which is why he published all of the ritual texts for the AA.

But how did he not meet the mark? He did not produce an original Adeptus Exemptus thesis. He simply translated “The Key of the Mysteries” by Eliphas Levi into English and claimed it as his own since he believed he was Levi in a past life. This is a basic requirement of the AA prior to crossing the abyss. Now you may think that such a thing does not matter so long as the goal is met, and you may be right, however, it is stated clearly in the AA foundational documents that no aspect of any grade can be skipped and the next grade claimed. It is also my opinion that he failed to truly appoint an heir worthy of taking control of the order.

Another aspect of Crowley’s initiation which is murky is his claim of the grade of Magus. He did not produce a word upon initiation into the Magus grade, instead he claimed Thelema was his word and he had uttered it years earlier. Whilst this could be the case, I still feel it warrants some suspect. Finally another rule of the AA Crowley broke was that he charged money to certain students. This is grounds for expulsion according to the foundational documents he wrote up.

At Crowley’s death he had few students left, and the amount who he had recognised as attaining Knowledge and Conversation you could count on the fingers of one hand. His heir to both OTO and AA was Karl Germer. Crowley believed Germer had attained knowledge and conversation with sheer devotion during his imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp. He then gave Germer the IX degree papers at a time when Crowley was handing them out left right and centre for survival. He also subsequently recognised Germer as a Master of the Temple.

So where is the issue? Germer had not followed the system of AA. He had not done the work taught by the order, he was in no position to teach since he had not gone through the tasks himself. In fact in one letter written after his recognition of Master of the Temple and after Crowley’s death he claimed he didn’t know how to do a banishing ritual and had never done one. Germer therefore had never even performed a Lesser ritual of the pentagram, a basic technique even worked by probationers, yet he now headed the AA and was apparently in a position to recognise advancement in that order. The majority of modern lineages of AA claim some form of descent or interaction with Germer. Surely we should suspect Germer’s authority in judging advancement via working the AA system when he himself had never done so? Like Crowley, Germer also never wrote an Adeptus Exemptus Thesis.

Finally we come to Frater Achad. A Thelemite who did work the system, who produced some of the most original thinking in Thelema, and someone who dared to disagree with Crowley. Achad was Crowley’s magical son, probably his intended heir. He was recognised as a master of the temple by Crowley and was pivotal in Crowley’s ascension to the grade of Magus. Achad was the person Crowley believed had discovered the qabalistic key of the Book of the Law and even later in his life he never refuted Achad’s work with the Book of the Law, he simply refuted his deviation from the book. Achad and Crowley suffered a falling out and Crowley believed his works on qabalah to be nonsensical and all his subsequent works were tarred with the same brush.

Late in life Crowley expelled Achad from AA and OTO. Achad had already found an alternative path and belonged to the Universal Brotherhood before taking a leadership role in that order. Achad claimed the Aeon of Horus was over and the Aeon of Maat had been inaugerated early. Unlike Crowley, Achad also produced a word for his initiation into the grade of Magus, “MANIO”. It could also be argued that his works on Qabalah could be accepted as his thesis. The issue most people have is that Crowley expelled him, that he stopped working within the terrestrial AA, and that he was believed to have become Christian again later in life which appears to be nonsense, or at the very least not as simple as that.

I would say Achad is perhaps the most ideal candidate for succession, however, the only two students of worth which I can think of are CF Russell and Frank Bennet (who was subsequently taught by Crowley). Russell was also expelled and Bennet was officially recognised as an adept by Crowley and had also undertaken the work under his tutelage at the Abbey of Thelema. There are lineages which claim descent through Russell and Bennet and subsequently to both Achad and Crowley.

But does it matter? Does any of this matter? The terrestrial AA may expel you, but if you have done the work and attained no mere mortal can cut you off from the consciousness of AA. The work is all that matters and if your tutors have not done it, or the founders of the lineage have not done it, then what position are they in to teach you or recognise your advancement? Only one who has done the work can guide another through the same process. We can clearly see Crowley made the rules flexible for himself and others, sometimes for monetary gain. Therefore every lineage is suspect and every lineage is invalid on this plane of existence.

There has never been a lineage which does not descend from people who have skipped grades, not completed tasks, have not seated initiates under the grade they claim e.g. a magus must have a master of the temple beneath him in the lineage, and every lineage must have a living member who is at least an adept. Something which the majority of lineages after Crowley’s death did not have.

So what of the work of modern Thelemites? If their lineage is invalid is their work also invalid? No! What about Thelemites who do not belong to a terrestrial lineage, is their work invalid? No! The argument that a lineage is invalid is equally absurd as the argument that solitary work is invalid. All lineages are invalid by the foundational documents written by Crowley and Jones. The only thing that matters is individual work, and it is clear that many Thelemites in lineages and outside of lineages are doing the work. This exclusivity and warring between groups must stop- the AA is not terrestrial, terrestrial rules do not apply, and in most cases the terrestrial rules have not been met.

What all these people need to understand is that the Law is for all. Spiritual evolution is for all. Modern Thelema must stop with exclusivity and elitism and embrace all serious aspirants with open arms- both within groups and outside of them. Modern Thelema must rid itself of mystery and stop pretending there are secret documents and techniques stemming from Crowley- there are not. Pretty much everything is published or can be found with a simple google search. Mystery is the enemy of truth. Elitism is the enemy of promulgation. Thelema is for all, the law is for all, the AA is for all, and nobody can limit or inhibit the AA. No one has ownership. Any group which claims such ownership should be avoided like the plague.

Love is the law, love under will.

Frater ShLM, 1=10 (No longer affiliated with any lineage).

2017.5.18

" #_germe "

去年の11月よりオーダーいただいていた germerに納品。

約半年の間に落葉と芽吹きの季節を通過して…。

店主の岡本さんは 本場フランスでの修行を含め、パティシエ 、ブーランジェ 、料理人を通過して germer(芽吹き)をはじめた方。妥協のない食への向き合いはまさに鬼。

17/01/17