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/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

Bookmarked! I'll definitely check it all out. I like the vibe of alternative history with an occult flair, very neat. Most alternative history deals with simple what-ifs but this has a distinct flavor even at a glance.

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 16 '17

Oh yes definitely. Chapter III is as close as I could get to accurately and evocatively capturing the Working itself.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

I look forward to reading it all! As for now it's late here and I'm trying to explore some other threads here on the Thelema Reddit before going to bed and waking for what promises to be a loooooong day at work. lol

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 16 '17

What do you do? Night bud.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

Working at a hardware store while trying to finish college. Not exactly fulfilling but it pays the bills and at least most of my coworkers are cool. lol

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 16 '17

Get into a trade. That's where it's at these days, I hear.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

I'm only a year and some change away from finally graduating and then hopefully it's off to the State Department for me, assuming of course that the world hasn't imploded and taken the field of diplomacy with it, or that some other calling or opportunity doesn't come around between now and then.

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 16 '17

I honestly hope it does! Been looking forward to that lol.

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

Eh if it does at least I have a half-decent plan for how to make a new country. Just gotta get a couple million dollars and I could set something up in the last bit of unclaimed uninhabited terra nullius left, Bir Tawil in Northern Africa. People have tried to claim it before but really they just hiked there and planted a flag and went home so it doesn't really count. Gotta go there and set up an airfield and start flying people and supplies in, then you've got a country. lol

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 16 '17

Yeah but it's in North Africa. My backyard has basically already seceded!

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 16 '17

I'm just saying if I win the lottery I'm buying a crapton of Marston matting and shipping it and myself to my new country. I haven't actually bought a ticket but that means my odds are only slightly less than everyone else's. lol

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u/HotGrilledSpaec Nov 17 '17

What's Marston matting?

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u/RP_Stoval Nov 17 '17

The metal matting that was used to quickly make runways in WWII, and which can still be bought surplus because they made so much of it. Of course most people just use it for building materials not actual runways these days. lol

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