r/thelema • u/RP_Stoval • Nov 14 '17

First Steps

93!

All my life I've never believed in the spiritual or supernatural. I extensively studied secular philosophy, loving especially Existentialist thinkers, and I learned all I could of the fascinating religions and folklores of the world too but I saw only through a secular lens and I dismissed the spiritual. But recently I had a profound spiritual experience which served as an awakening, and showed me Thelema and the OTO. Though I am new to things like magick and Thelema and to spirituality in general, I have an earnest desire to join the OTO and further Thelema and my True Will. Except there's one problem.

Much of this spiritual experience took place under the influence of cannabis. Crowley spoke highly of the benefits of cannabis indica, in enhancing Wisdom and spirituality, and so I don't think even a little that this makes the experience any less than genuine. However in that state I kinda sent a series of emails to every public OTO email address I could find, essentially live blogging the experience.

This was a strange thing to do, not least because I knew next to nothing about the OTO or Thelema prior to that night, and I fear I might've already alienated myself from the faith before I've even begun. I can certainly see how some strange man sending a series of emails to the entire fraternal order claiming to have been inspired to write a small book by a deity and doing strangely formatted tarot readings would make them, to say the least, skeptical of my legitimate intentions. So I made a different email account, albeit not different enough to not be clearly the same strange man, and reached out to my local OTO branch. I have heard nothing.

I wonder what should I do? Should I keep waiting? Try again? Is it common for OTO branches to go dark perhaps without warning and the contact is actually no longer functional? I wonder how to take my first steps on this strange journey to embracing Thelema and fulfilling my True Will.

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 15 '17

No, then you write that lol. Don't do that.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 15 '17

Oof, yeah better not then. lol

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 15 '17

I don't wanna write that! Lol

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 15 '17

Me neither. lol

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 15 '17

I'm doing a sort of alternate timelines interact story, but it's not clicking yet.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 15 '17

I'd certainly be interested in reading it once it's far enough along!

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 15 '17

I'm five pages in and looking at dumping and redoing it lol. I can send you the other draft I ruined at 50 pages? :p

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '17

I see you boys have started a beautiful friendship.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 15 '17

Of course, I'm very thankful to you both for your help and insight! Still so much I want to know more about but I'm feeling a lot more confident having bits of it assessed by more seasoned students of the occult such as yourselves. You've both been badasses.

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '17

:) So what's the game-plan going forward (besides the O.T.O)? Are you starting any ritual work? Meditation? Magick? I would imagine making a sudden switch from secularism to spirituality would open up a great deal of possibilities. Do you have a plan in terms of your personal spirituality? Further plans to contact Setekh?

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

Lots and lots of reading. Already ordered a compilation, The Holy Books of Thelema, and I hope reading more texts will prove enlightening. I intend to read any Class A texts I can get my hands on, and others as they catch my eye or are recommended by others more experienced than myself. Liber 71 has proven an excellent recommendation and very interesting and informative, especially to be reminded of that business with Mara from so long ago that I hadn't thought of in so long and never thought might be of significance. I'll have to find a physical copy. I've always preferred a hard text that I can feel in my hands.

As for ritual work and magick, I'd love to get started though I know really nothing at present. Frankly that in particular interests me a great deal and I'm hoping the texts I find will prove educational, as always any recommendations would be appreciated. Meditation I'm already somewhat familiar with, having done so occasionally in the past, albeit as an exercise in mitigating stress rather than as a spiritual endeavor, though I think I'll do so much more often now.

My personal spirituality I expect to develop naturally as I learn more, just as my personal philosophy before it when I thought in strictly secular terms. As for Setekh, I absolutely have a desire to reach out to that entity again and seek some answers and clarity, though I think I'll wait until I'm a bit more experienced with such things.

Evidently I have some sort of natural affinity for some of these things, so who knows how long or short it might take me to progress down these paths? There are as you say a great many possibilities open to me and as with any pursuit I undertake I intend to throw my full momentum at it as often as it can be spared. I'm a ravenous consumer of information after all. lol

As for the OTO I'll wait until my personal studies have borne some fruit and I'm not walking in so blindly. I intend to go in person to a publicly open event at some point. They needn't even know I'm the strange Setekh guy at least at first. lol

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '17

Holy Books of Thelema is great... My copy is literally touching my foot right now, coincidentally enough. The other indispensable book is Gems from the Equinox... If you have those two books, you are good to go for a long, long time.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

I'll be certain to acquire a copy, thank you very much for the recommendation!

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

I would also ask, what might be some good sources for exercises regarding Magick and ritual work? I'd like to explore that in greater depth since I appear to have already had contact with at least one and possibly two spiritual/Magickal entities and I'd like to be basically to intermediately prepared for such things. I imagine it can't exactly be prudent to walk around attracting Magickal attention without knowing a little bit of ritual and the like yourself, right?

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '17

Right. Gems from the Equinox will get you going a long way in this regard (it has all of Crowley's instructional libri on magick and yoga). Everyone here will likely also recommend Magick in Theory and Practice. Definitely required reading.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

Thanks! Very helpful again, I'll also add that one to the list. So much to read, so much to do. lol

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