Latest Work - Rosicrucians & Alchemists of la Belle Epoque
Sample Pages below ......
rosicrucians & alchemists
of la belle Époque

steven ashe
Warburg-Maple 2011
Sample Pages  - Coming soon                                                                                                     14th July 2011

Hermetic Alchemy has experienced something of a rough ride in terms of the history of the past one hundred years. Entering the Atomic Age, an epoch of startling discoveries in the physical sciences, demonstrated the possibility of the transmutation of elements; albeit in a volatile radioactive form. Since then, it seems the materialist school of Alchemy has provided the general focus of attention to the Western audience.

Any truly philosophical interest seems to have become entangled in the embryonic pseudo-jargon of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century psychologists such as Freud, Jung, Adler, Reich and Leary.

However, what we might somewhat amusingly refer to as the ‘Heavy Metal’ school of Alchemy and its more speculative philosophical counterpoint are far from being the only examples of Alchemy practiced today. Amongst the more interesting derivations from the image of practical Alchemy conjured up by the mundane imagination number approaches embracing sexual Tantra, the cultivation of narcotics, disciplines of Yogic abstinence and other quite diverse preoccupations.

As bizarre as many of these devotions may seem, a common thread runs through each of them. That is the realisation that, no matter the approach, the end towards which these quite diverse means are seen to be directed is one closely bound up with the issue of the expansion of Human Consciousness.

Even the materialism of the Heavy Metal school of Alchemy enshrines an innate belief in the essential transformation of the Alchemist as a pre-requisite to the transformation of metals. Other approaches, such as the Sexual Alchemy of Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic Tantra, as expounded by Kenneth Grant - a personal friend and disciple of the self styled Great Beast - are more directly concerned with the issue of consciousness change. Here, brazenly orgiastic rites of sexual ecstasy and the intoxication of wine and strange drugs induce hormonal stimulation of states of altered consciousness.

Timothy Leary’s LSD inspired visionary initiatives of the 1960s provided a slightly less cult like expansion of Crowley’s Tantric Alchemy, although these devotions paid to the new gods of Sex and Drugs were more culturally sensitive; bringing a rising awareness of the place of sensuality within the urge towards spirituality.

Although Leary quickly fell from grace and academic respectability, the work of other researchers into the chemical nature of consciousness such as Dr John Lilly, famous for his researches into neural meta-programming employing psychotropic agents within sensory deprivation tanks, proved more lasting in the domain of orthodox research.

Eastern schools of Alchemy similarly focus upon the hormonal processes as being the tools of transformation within the physical laboratory of the human body. Whereas some of these alchemic methods involve the stimulation of altered states of awareness through strict self denial, others utilise explicit sexual stimulation and taboo breaking practices of sexual congress designed to exhaust the everyday consciousness and thus allow the free flow of supra-mundane energies to rise through the Chakras. These latter mentioned rites of orgiastic yoga are clearly depicted within the temple sculptures of the temples of southern India.

At first glance, all of these widely differing practices might seem so far removed from accepted traditional notions of the alchemical art that any attempt to link them appears fanciful. However, from the mid Nineteenth Century until just prior to the Second World War, embryonic aspects of every one of these alternatives to the heavy-metal school of Alchemy were the subject of intense investigation amongst the occult underground of Parisian salon society.

Indeed, it is most revealing that the patrons of three Parisian Bookstores - L’Art Independant, the Vega bookstore and The Bookstore of the Marvellous - and the esoteric societies using these well-springs of philosophical literary treasure seem to have provided the catalyst for the explosion of interest in Alchemy from the dawn of the Twentieth Century to the present day.

The importance of the influence of the Continental School in the development of western hermetic lore has been much overlooked by the English speaking audience. Yet it is from the crucible of esoteric culture emanating from the above mentioned three esoteric bookshops that a melting pot of experimentation with alchemic metallurgy, sexual tantra and even psychedelic drug use has emerged to inform the occult tradition.

On June 5th 1926 an Alchemic work entitled ‘The Mystery of the Cathedrals’ was published by Jean Schemit, Paris, under the authorship of the pseudonymous Fulcanelli.

This was a collaborative work purporting to reveal an alchemic interpretation of symbolic codes enshrined in Gothic Cathedral architectural design. The core of the work was based upon detailed notes entrusted to the book’s illustrator Jean Julien Champagne by Rene Schwaller, whose more detailed later investigations of the architecture of early Egyptian monolithic design brought him fame.


Unbeknown to Schwaller, who was amazed and taken by surprise by the appearance of The Mystery of the Cathedrals, Champagne had incorporated material pertaining to the ‘Language of the Birds’ (the jargon of the Hermetic Adepts) from the pen of Pierre Dujols; the proprietor of the Bookstore of the Marvellous.

Dujols was well connected in Freemasonic and pseudo-Rosicrucian circles and was the associate and confidant of incredibly wealthy and influential patrons of Parisian esoteric society.

The children of Ferdinand de Lesseps who had supervised the building of the Suez canal, occult illustrator of the Tarot Oswald Wirth, Freemasonic mastermind and, later, convert to Sufi Islam Rene Guenon and the Occult Master known as Papus: all numbered amongst the close circle surrounding him.

Dujols was a scholar of Greek literature and a fanatic proponent of the notion that ancient Greek and not Latin provided the linguistic origins of the French language.

These Greek roots provided Dujols with an etymology of Alchemic jargon which he termed Hermetic Cabala. This system provided an interpretive language of puns and Cant which became known alternately as the Green Language or the Language of the Birds.

This unorthodox approach to Alchemic linguistics proved popular as a focus of debate amongst the esoteric intelligentsia frequenting the classes held weekly at the Bookstore of the Marvellous. Dujols became a close associate of Jean Julien Champagne and later became an active member of his mystic society known as the Brotherhood of Heliopolis.

It was Dujols’ death in April 1926 that cleared the way for Champagne to incorporate the notes assembled by his friend into the body of The Mystery of the Cathedrals. This was something of a final straw for Dujols’ widow Yvonne, who had been previously quite friendly and sympathetic to the alchemic illustrator. She withdrew from all contact with Champagne and his circle at this point and passed his personal alchemic research journals to Champagne’s pupil Eugene Canseliet.

An example of the Green Language system, so characteristic of Pierre Dujols, contained in the text of The Mystery of the Cathedrals,intuited in Fulcanelli’s treatment of the alchemic term Sel- more ordinarily translated as ‘Salt’ in English. Here we find the terma homophone of Scel translates as Seal.

Pierre Dujols’ health had deteriorated some thirty years prior to his death and he had become sporadically bed ridden, sometimes previously for years on end.

During these periods he came to rely upon Champagne as the courier of charitable gifts of money from admirers. Champagne, a talented and classically trained Artist, was also an alcoholic who sometimes spent the money en route.

The bed-ridden scholar would however devote endless hours in the company of Champagne to discussing the finer points of the alchemic method. In 1914 he had assembled and published the Mutus Liber, regarded as a classic of Alchemic erudition. Dujols shared a passion for the medieval period with Champagne and also an abiding fascination with the Alchemic lore surrounding Basil Valentine and France’s most legendary Alchemist Nicholas Flamel.

Champagne had gained quite a reputation amongst the Hermetic intelligentsia of the day. His extraordinary talent for visionary draftsmanship combined with his evident artistic talents led to his gaining lucrative design contracts for the de Lesseps family. He was placed in charge of the revolutionary high-tech design of a turbo powered propeller system intended for a polar sled. He also undertook the developmental design of a future model farm built with the de Lesseps’ money.

Champagne’s renowned skill in the material science of Metallurgic Alchemy lay behind his initial introduction to the de Lesseps who also frequented the esoteric gatherings organised by Dujols’ at the Bookstore of the Marvellous.

The canal builder’s sons offered Champagne the regular use of a chemical laboratory and in 1911 even hosted Champagne in the de Lesseps mansion as a house guest whilst he continued his experimental alchemic spagyrics and work upon the polar sled, on a stipend of 500 Francs per month. On this income, Champagne lived the high life of Salon society amidst the sunset years of La Belle Époque.

In 1913, whilst wining and dining at Closerie Delilas cafe in Montparnasse, Champagne by chance met with Rene Schwaller, a young man nine years his junior and a fellow artist of sober disposition.

The two were as different as chalk and cheese and although relations between them were friendly, they were never friends. Schwaller had been a pupil of the Artist Matisse and it is likely that a certain rivalry stood between the Bohemian Champagne and the quietly erudite Schwaller.

Champagne had taken on professional responsibilities as a book-valuer and archivist for the Chacornac brothers’ bookstore, having been recommended for this post by his friend Dujols. It was whilst performing these duties that he came upon a six page document inserted into a rare and collectable volume dealing with Alchemy, written by Isaac Newton.

This partially coded manuscript alleged to be the journal of an Alchemist who had successfully discovered the methods of producing the red and blue stained glass of the Rose window of Chatres Cathedral; a mysterious process which had resisted the study of the the great minds of the ages.

The wily alchemist had clandestinely appropriated the manuscript and spent fruitless years in experimental frustration attempting to uncover its secrets.

At the time of their fateful meeting, Schwaller’s reputation was waxing: his first book A Study of Numbers was in pre-production by the Press associated with L’Art Independent Bookshop.

René Schwaller’s studies had led him to a deep study of the symbolism of the Gothic Cathedrals; especially Notre Dame, which he visited regularly. His work A Study of Numbers the geometric harmony of the medieval masterpieces in stone.

Champagne, knowing of Schwaller’s reputed brilliance in chemistry, and no doubt aware of his fortune and business success, arranged to show the younger man sample pages from the manuscript.

Schwaller had gained financial independence from rewards gained through his shrewd handling of the financial affairs of Louis Allainguillaume, a wealthy coal merchant.  Generous dividends were granted to Schwaller allowing him to provide the opportunistic Champagne with a stipend similar to that obtained from the de Lesseps and which would continue to be paid for the next seventeen years.

The partnership would, at the agreement of both parties, remain completely secret. Schwaller took possession of the manuscript and agreed to decode its secrets. Champagne agreed to perform the laboratory work using medieval alchemic methods.

The outbreak of World War in 1914 saw René Schwaller mobilised into research science on behalf of the military. His scientific background led to a wartime career engaged in nutritional research, whilst he maintained a correspondence with Champagne in which he revealed piecemeal the secrets of the processes discussed in the manuscript. Champagne laboured in the de Lesseps laboratory, testing Schwaller’s theories.

René Schwaller continued to be active in Parisian occult circles, frequenting meetings of the Theosophical Society between 1913 and 1916. It was whilst attending these meetings that he closely befriended the Lithuanian nobleman and poet Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz (1877 - 1939).

Both men were deeply fascinated by the symbolism of heraldry referred to each other as ‘Brothers in Arms’. The French Chemist introduced Milosz to the metaphorical treasures of Alchemy and, in turn, Milosz bestowed a knighthood and the right to bear his family’s Coat of Arms on the re-christened René Schwaller de Lubicz.

Whilst spending his leisure hours intensely studying the mathematical, geometric and sculptural mysteries of Notre Dame, Schwaller focused his incredible mind upon the task of bringing together some of the esoteric elite of the Parisian underground.

Jean Germaine would eventually marry Schwaller, some ten years later upon the death of her husband. She became known as a mediumistic spiritual seer and visionary who published many books upon the spiritual lore of ancient Egypt under the mystical name of Isha.

Schwaller had hijacked the cream of the Theosophical Society’s elite, even enticing the editor of Le Theosophe  to change the name of this journal to Le Veilleur. The name was taken from the title of an unpublished novel Les Veilleurs de la Nuit (The Watchers of the Night) by Nicolas Beaudoin.

Les Veilleurs met at a house once owned by Balzac and articles published by the order were signed in the name ‘Aor’, Schwaller’s initiatory name which translates as Light. He was able to focus upon his spiritual interests thanks to the benevolence of his employer Allainguillaume and still amass considerable savings whilst paying a stipend to Champagne who had maintained a detailed and regular correspondence on the subject of their secret collaboration throughout the war years.

Champagne was a regular guest at the meetings held by Les Veilleurs and also at a number of other gatherings hosted by rival Hermetic bodies. After 1915, he was almost continually accompanied by the then sixteen year old scholar of Greek literature Eugene Canseliet who had attached himself to the master as an apprentice.

Canseliet would prove to be central to the Fulcanelli affair, and a major catalyst to the historical mystification of the identity of Fulcanelli throughout the twentieth century.

He was introduced to the opulent high society who met at the home of the de Lesseps, and to the circle who attended Pierre Dujols to study the Green Language of Cabala. A keen student of Alchemic symbolism and something of a genius in the disciplines of artistic calligraphy, Eugene Canseliet gained great respect amongst his peer




END OF SAMPLE PAGES

I have walked the winding road
Which twists throughout the silent hills
That slumber; mute in fey abodes
Of secret woes and ancient ills.
Upon a time, so long ago
A gentle shadow lingered here,
A whisper upon winds which blow
To cool the heart of ancient tears.
But then the light of rason came
To banish hopeful subtleties
And blind the glow of ancient flames
Which stirred within our faculties.
Where once dwelt faith in hearts of men
The sword of certainty was drawn:
A dread dark science made its den
And from the cross the rose was torn.

                Steven Ashe. Alet le Bains. 14th Sept 2009

Hi Everyone,

At the moment I'm recommending anyone with any penchant for literary collections gets hold of a signed copy of The Steel Remains or 'Black Man' ('Thirteen' in the States) from Richard Morgan's site http://www.richardkmorgan.com/news.htm

Richard won the Arthur C Clarke novel of the year award in 2008 and is one of the most exciting writers I have come across. I read his books again and again and find his approach to the craft of writing inspiring to a degree I simply haven't come across for many a year (and then only in one or two cases - I'm not going to drop any names as this might give the wrong idea by association but I can say that Richard's approach has redefined Sci-Fi and Fantasy (the latter in the case of The Steel Remains) to a degree consonant with Michael Moorcock's contribution to the evolution of the art in the 60s & 70s.

Not to put too fine a point on it ... Richard Morgan has already demonstrated that he is probably the UK's most promising name in futuristic literature by his winning the Arthur C Clarke award.  A signed copy of any of his works is therefore a real investment and, the limited-time offer he's advertising relates to the author copies he has around the office which he is offering at jacket price on hardbacks and softbacks plus postage (so any enquiry to him should mention whereabouts you wish delivery to arrive at, so he can quote you postage).

Just for the record ... The Steel Remains is one of my favourite books with a toatally audacious (and quite outrageous) anti-hero.  As enthralling (in a quite original way from Takeshi Kovacs from Morgan's 'Altered Carbon' series).  The adversaries in the novel (known as the Dwenda) are similar to entities familiar to travellers in the shamanic Otherworld (well, to those shamanic journey travellers blessed with levels of imagination approaching genius).

I would ask any of my readers contacting Richard via his web site to mention that you heard about it here.  (I'm looking forward to a signed hardback copy of 'Thirteen' arriving any day now).

Reember to check my other web entries for Qabalah audio. 

More soon ..... & Thanks for reading me.
--Steven Ashe

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything here.  Having been so busy over the xmas period with the family and getting to grips with writing material for the FSR,I haven't really had the time for facebook or even very much correspondence. 

One of the projects that has kept me occupied and offline is the new material on the Planetary Magic of the Picatrix, culled from books two three and four of that ancient work.  My thanks go to William Kiesel (I have both volumes of the Ouroboros Press publication) and to various friends who have advised me on the sometimes convoluted aspects of Arabic (culled from our Glastonbury Books publication of the original Arabic Picatrix).  I can really recommend the Ouroboros Press English edition, despite its somewhat overly literal transliteration of certain terms from the Picatrix.  Some phrases in this latter work suffer from the same kind of literal translation that renders the some English language  translations of the Cairo Codex of the Qur'an.  The most obvious of these transliteration differentials is the translation of the word 'barakah'  as 'lucky' rather than 'blessed (of Allah)'.  This is the kind of thing that give us competing scholastic translations and makes life interesting for those of us who care about such matters.  Still, anyone who posesses the Kiesel publication will find our variant translation of the selections from the Picatrix diverting and stimulating.  Our first paper on the work which members of the FSR receive free of charge as part of their membership package - see http://uk.geocities.com/fraternityofthesanctumregnum is also available for sale to non-members in printed form and download (pdf) on http://www.lulu.com/Picatrix

Any one looking to buy the Ouroboros versionof the Picatrix should hurry (check their site and also eBay, where they advertise).  I was able to pick up a beautifully black leather bound edition of volume one for less than a hundred and fifty pounds from a short run of forty or fifty (I forget which) of a special edition of pages left over from their 1000 copy limited pressing, which makes it extra rare.  (Thank you Norma, for taking delivery whilst we were all over the place during Xmas). There are still a few copies left of this ultra rare edition remaining ... so anyone interested ... act fast.

On a more personal note ... we hope to be back in Glastonbury very soon. 

On the off-chance that any of my readers are keen guitarists, I want to recommend Lindo guitars.  I purchased a beautiful Gibson L15 copy just before Xmas and then bought their very cheap Statocaster copy which beats the hell out of any orignal Fender I've owned (including a lovely Mexican stratocaster I bought a while ago).  I was so impressed I bought all my older children Lindo guitars for Xmas (including a fantastic semi acoustic Bass guitar for my daughter Natalie, who has taken it up with enthusiasm).  Another purchase that put a smile on my face was a fantastic 80 watt Marshall Combo amplifier ... my pride and joy (talk about LOUD)!  It has been a very good music time lately.  Yesterday (thanks fo a site called Freecycle) a van from the Newcastle Symphonic turned up at our door and delivered a fantastic upright piano.  Of course I rushed out and purchased a tuning key and am having all sorts of fun learning The Band's 'King Harvest Has Surely Come' on the old ivories.

Thanks to all who read me .....

          After considerable thought and consultation with others the decision has been reached to reopen the Fraternity of the Sanctum Regnum to open membership.  Having received a steady stream of  enquirers writing to me asking for details of membership, there certainly seems to be enough interest to maintain a vibrant group that is visionary in its outlook and open minded enough to encourage stimulating interaction between those involved in the various specialties of the 21st century approach to Qabalah & Western Hermetics.

Those interested should consult http://uk.geocities.com/fraternityofthesanctumregnum/

To illustrate the nature of study within the FSR (for those who may not have read my books) the below is from 'Qabalah of 50 Gates' and illustrates the approach to Gemetria (Qabalistic Numerology) pursued by the FSR.

The concepts of the Hermetic Qabalah are ideal tools to assist in the mining of the sub-contextual ideas inherent in the mix of our everyday personal reality.  These allusions of subcontext, elements of the racial-unconscious or archetypes of timeless relevance which commonly furnish our dreams are often revealed in feelings of Deja-vu, synchronicities of time and space and numerological coincidences which plague us.  This is the stuff of mythic personal signs and augurs fathomed only by the circumstance of the individual. 

          The  system of correspondences of the Hermetic Tree of Life can lend essential diagnostics tools to the task of elucidating the significance of the landscape of personal mystery that faces each of us when we stare out into the universal reality which is deeper than its surface appearance.

          Qabalistic numerology, known as gemetria, brings a lateral logic to the meaning of words with the same composite value of the numerological value of their integers:

          Qabalistic gemetria is something greater than the concept of equivalence of number values applied to words.  According to received lore (QBL) the whole of Creation was brought into existence by the expression represented by the divine utterance.

          The spoken utterances of God in the the creation described in the Old Testament Book of Genesis and in the Qabalistic work of the 2nd century 'Sepher Yetzirah' or Book of Formation shaped and fashioned the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life; intimately binding the relationship of words to numbers and resulting in our universe of combinatorial potentials and possibilities.

          In exploring the mysteries of the divine Hebrew alphabet - each of whose letters has an integer value - the Qabalist has the task of searching for meaning and value in significant phrases or words; particularly when some word values can be variable - seven letters of the Hebrew alphabet having two possible values.  The letter M, for example, has the integer value as 40 in it's simple value, but if it appears at the end of a word then its value can be 600.

          The Hebrew word for 'sign' or 'name', Shem (Shin-Mem) can be either 340 (Shin has a value of 300) or it can equal 900 (if we value Mem final as 600).  Similarly, the word Golem (gimel/3-vau/6-Lamed/30-Mem 40/600) can equal either 79 or 639.

  The surprising source of revelation concerning the phrase

Shem Golem (340/900 or 79/639) is laid out below.

 

 Sign/Name +340 = 979

 Golem          639

          or

 Sign/Name +900 = 979

 Golem            79

 

          The two variant value combinations of the phrase 'Sign (or name) of the Golem each equal 979

          According to an account of the Creation in the Book of Genesis, and agreed in the Koran, the creation of Adam (the first generation of Man)  was metaphorically referred to as employing Clay (meaning from the Earth).  The word Golem signifies a sculpted body of clay in the form of a man.

          In Qabalah myth, the Golem may become summoned to life when a scroll containing the word Truth (EMTh) is placed in its mouth.   When the letters of the word are revolved to spell METh (Death) the Golem is no longer animated.    In alternate legends, the scroll contains the 72-fold combinatorial name of God:  the Shemhamphorash.

          The act of giving the name to the Golem can,by such Qabalistic logic,  be associated with the number 979. 

          This number is also linked to the concept of the awakening of the fully realised self unto the glory of the Creator according to the following Qabalistic logic.

          The root of our unconscious centre is held to be the base of the brain/top of spinal column, where the neural-electric and glandular systems communicate. 

          Upon the Tree of Life this is represented as Daath (more of a void in the Abyss than a Sephirah proper), whose constituent letters have a value of 474.

          Gan Eden (the Hebrew name of the Garden of Eden described in the Book of Genesis) representing the manifest universe equals 177.

          A phrase describing the commands of the Creation Eleh Ha-Davarim, which translates as "These be the Words" and is the title of the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy equal 297.

          Strangely, when one deducts 297 from 474 we have 177 yet when we add 297 to 474 this yields 771 - the numeric total of the phrase SEIR ANPIN (Shin-Ayin-Yod-Resh) + (Aleph-Nun-Peh-Yod-Nun) 'The Bearded Countenance'.

          This indicates a special relationship between the numbers 474, the root of experiential consciousness (Daath) and the 'words of Creation' (297).

          If one adds the value of the God-name AL (31) to 474, 177 and 297 we obtain the value 979.

          In Qabalistic terms, naming the Golem (awakening the dross body to the glory of the Creation) and conspiring with the Creator as a fully aware participant in the Creation amount to one and the same thing.

An extensive preview of' Lucifer in Paradise: Qabalah of the 32nd Path is available on http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=3088453 (copy and paste into your browser).

If we think of the Mind as mechanism then the driving force of that mechanism is the Will.  

By the use of the term Mind, I am referring to the composite of sentient perception and sentient response to perception which defines human experience and provides existential awareness.  By the use of the term Will, I am alluding to that which gives focus to the functioning of the Mind mechanism.

The quest of the individual seeking self-awareness relies upon attuned sensitivity to which focus of influence the Will is operating from within the probability of several thrones of potential influence existing within the human Mind.

The blueprint of the Qabalistic Tree of Life provides a thought provoking visual representation of the balance of human qualities which we recognise as illustrative of stereotypical moods and urges within the human condition.  

Because the Qabalah is fundamentally concerned with the measure and proportion which exists between letters and numbers, it can be thought of as a system of combinatorial values employing visual and poetic archetypes through which we can recognise understandable metaphors. The approach of the Qabalist is designed to provoke both an intellectual and emotional response to perception within the imaginative mind.

How the individual applies Qabalistic insight to the personal quest for the enrichment of conscious awareness is very much dependent upon the level of development each of the qualities present within the mind-set.  Thus the approach of each person involved in the practice of cultivating the qualities of the Self will differ by a factor of several degrees.

The 10 Sephiroth upon the Tree of Life represent conditions of Being which operate in combination.  There are influences from the material-sensual world of Malkuth, which demand the satisfaction of the need for food, clothes and shelter; alongside these there is the need to exercise the sexual, intellectual and emotional capacities (Yesod, Hod and Netzach) and the many other parts of the composite of sentient perception that is the Mind.

Each of these many areas of experiential involvement can be qualitatively influenced by the alchemy of urges to satisfy the appetites of the competing conditions of Being which define our focus at any snap-shot moment.  And so the initial work which needs to be addressed by the Qabalist depends upon the requirement of the essential need to be able to exercise informed discretion in the task of identifying the measure and proportion of each throne of influence present in the self .  This is the work of self-discovery.



What is my current 'message' to the World?  I guess it's this:  

"Look for the very latest questions of interest in all areas of contemporary philosophical spiritual enquiry."

And I'm including science and speculative fiction in the definition of what I call 'contemporary philosophical  spiritual enquiry'.

I remember my Professor at university making the point that it seems to be science that has all the interesting philosophical questions nowadays.  I don't see any reason why modern esotericists can't benefit from the ever evolving sophisticated paradigms of science .. especially Quantum Physic inspired commentators such as Donna Zohar the Oxford scientist and scholar.

I'm a big, big fan of the approach taken up by the makers and contributors of the 'What the Beep Do We Know' film makers and the highly intelligent contributors involved in its production.  I can't stress strongly enough the importance of taking on-board some of the concepts under discussion and 'process of discovery' throughout the film. Get the DVD if you want some esoteric stimulation that gets a little more sophisticated than drawing magic circles as a developmental pass-time.  (I know ... I have been known to cast the magic circle more than occasionally.  LOL.  I'm just saying that there's more to what we practitioners term 'magic' than the paradigms of medieval origin so beloved by the mystery mongers amongst us .. and, ain't there a lil bit of mystery monger in even the most rational of us.  Many, like myself, who are inspired by the poetic and mythological models of philosophical speculation can see the value of glamour (and I'm talking about the technical application of the term glamour to the art of magic) as a catalyst .. an inspiration ... towards the intitative of reaching out and 'Becoming/Self-actualising'  on the multitudinous levels of our individual cosmic identity).

Whoah!!!!  keep it simple Steve.  LOL

Here's an example of what I mean.  I'm listening to Joni Mitchell's Heijira album as I was writing the above paragraph and the opening notes of 'Song for Sharon' sent a shiver down my spine, causing me a certain amount of elation.  This brought on a mood of mildly euphoric optimism about the world.  Now, as one interested in magic as an Art .. that is the kind of poetic/sonic inspiration that I can 'ride' as a surfer rides a wave.  I  can only reach out for concepts in trying to describe this feeling, but I'm confident that this feeling is in the remit of our commonality of perception - so many readers won't be struggling to catch my drift in this comparative description.  

I'm a subscriber to the definition of the Art of Magic given by Dion Fortune rather than by Aleister Crowley.  I respect Crowley's work deeply, but feel it is Dion Fortune who has left us with the most useful examples and technical advice despite her not being as 'advanced' in her personal exploration of many of the avenues of the mechanics of enlightenment as the self-styled Beast.

One of the most oft repeated questions I receive is for my opinion on Aleister Crowley (especially as I am not a member of the OTO and have produced a CD of Crowley’s Book of the Law).  

In the FSR (or, I should say, what remains of it) we pay particular attention to a situation we call ‘The Instrumentation Problem’.  Crowley’s AA work is particularly interesting in relation to this.  

The whole concept is related to observations made in astronomy during the 18th Century in which it became evident that the results of telescopic observations were being coloured by factors such as the design of optical lenses, the length of telescopes, related factors such as the consequences of the Earth’s movement in Space and indeed the movement of the Solar System in relation to the galaxies.

Once the problem was identified as a cause of distortion in observational results, boffins could calculate equations capable of calibrating more accurate conclusions from their results.

In the FSR, the initial outer work concentrated upon identifying which planetary and zodiacal calibrations affect the individual’s natal genesis is employed to bring the individual to an understanding of the specific elements needed to be identified and worked with in the task of increasing the degrees of spiritual cognition and sensitivity necessary for esoteric development.

This is one approach designed to sensitise the individual to the issues wrapped up in the ‘Instrumentation Problem’.

Some of Aleister Crowley’s AA work is interesting in that it is directly aimed at introducing the participant to confront the limitations of his present condition of Being and thus gain familiarity with what we term ‘The Instrumentation Problem’.

I consider Crowley to have been at his peak between the years 1900 – 1912 and respect the man’s approach, although I do not share it.  

I do embrace the notion of Thelema (self-directed Free Will), but as a concept open to adoption by individuals and applicable to efforts directed towards self-motivational transformation within the frameworks based upon Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs.

(Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is only a foundation for a more extensively defined system adopted by some of us for purposes of spiritual focus).

Finally, on the subject of those mythical entities known as the Secret Chiefs in the Golden Dawn tradition (a subject upon which I also receive a fair amount of email):

I believe the real issue here depends upon a notion which informs all Western traditions of both esoteric and esoteric religion and also the more ancient traditions of the East:  this is the notion of the Perfected Individual.

In the tradition of Judaism, we find Solomon fulfilling this role; in Islam we have Muhammed; in Christianity, Jesus;  in Buddhism, the perfected Siddhartha, in the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, in Hinduism, various avatars of Vishnu.  

This notion finds its way into the Qabalah, the philosophy of Alchemy, the praxis of Transcendental Meditation and has insinuated itself into the core threads of most developmental practices as diverse as the teachings of Gurdjieff and the spirituality of the Theosophists.  

However, this notion was ancient even in the lifetime of the most ancient of the illuminate listed two paragraphs above.  The twenty fourth Tirthenkara (Perfected Master) of the Jain religion had lived at least two hundred years before the birth of the Buddha and the concept of the Perfect Individual leading others ‘to the light’ was at least a thousand years old at that time.

(A search for the term Tirthenkara on wikipedia is recommended for those wishing to know more).

I am currently of the opinion that the mythos of the Tirthenkaras is the primary source informing the notional reality of the entities known as the Secret Chiefs to the GD & Theosophists of the Victorian era.

These audio teachings originally issued by the F.S.R. have been digitally recorded.. Students of Hermetic Qabalah familiar with the teachings of the Order of the Golden Dawn will find this a valuable aid to their study and practice.


Read by Steven Ashe. Printed version available within The Qabalah Codex (parts have also been reproduced in Qabalah of 50 Gates) - professional trade paperbacks - available from lulu.com/Qabalah and amazon. This and other recordings of Hermetic content are also available on the Qabalah Codex audio DVD listed on www.lulu.com/Qabalah (Paypal accepted).

Contents:

The Qabalah and the western Magical Tradition The philosophy of Magick and Mysticism Self Development and Occult practices Initiation and the Qabalah

The Sephiroth Belimah - Voices from Nothing Macrocosm and Microcosm
The Study of number philosophy & the sacred alphabet The Angels of the Schemhamphorash
History of the Literary Qabalah: Historical context of the Sepher Yetzirah and the Sepher Zohar
The Tree of Life as a system of classification of the classical gods
The Sephiroth upon the tree of life Malkuth and Daath: The Fall
The Four worlds of the Qabalist
The Rite of the Pentagram and the Balance of forces within the Microcosm (Full rite)
The Qabalah of 50 Gates (Theoretical model of the Tree of Life consistent with statements made by Dion Fortune)
The Three orders of Being - Psycho-Static; Psycho-Kinetic; Psycho-Telios (Gurdjieff/J.G.Bennett) The Value of basic Qabalistic exercises.

Here's my musical rendering of my favourite poem 'Shut Out That Moon' by Thomas Hardy.  I recorded two layers of guitar to get the harmonics I wanted.  Lyrics below:

Thomas Hardy (1904)
Shut Out that Moon
 
Close up the casement, draw the blind,
  Shut out that stealing moon,
She wears too much the guise she worse
  Before our lutes were strewn
With years-deep dust, and names we read
  On a white stone were hewn.
 
Step not forth on the dew-dashed lawn
  To view the Lady's Chair,
Immense Orion's glittering form,
  The Less and Greater Bear:
Stay in; to such sights we were drawn
  When faded ones were fair.
 
Brush not the bough for midnight scent
  That come forth lingeringly,
And wake the same sweet sentiments
  They breathed to you and me
When living seemed a laugh, a love
  All it was said to be.
 
Within the common lamp-lit room
  Prison my eyes and thought;
Let dingy details crudely loom,
  Mechanic speech he wrought:
Too fragrant was Life's early bloom,
  Too tart the fruit it brought!

I have uploaded a player below which will showcase some of the Qabalah work I have been involved in over past years. The first piece is a complete recording (all 50 plus minutes) of the content of my audio CD 'The Book of Calls' which is available from www.lulu.com/Qabalah.

The talk on the Qabalah of 50 Gates is a recording of a talk I gave on Feb 7th 1998 concerning the magical background underlying the themes of my work 'Qabalah of 50 Gates' (see Amazon).

Both of these (and more) are available on the three and a half hour audio DVD entitled 'The Qabalah Codex DVD' available (again) from www.lulu.com/Qabalah.

More soon ... and thank you for listening.

At the moment I am still recovering from the birthing of my lovely new  daughter Ziva.  Emma is even more exhausted, of course, but we are both really happy that she is safely with us.  Ziva was not 'presented' for birth completely satisfactorily and emma only narrowly avoided a caesarian section by the skill of Paul, the African consultant who impressed the entire theatre staff by managing to turn her little head and employing forceps when everyone thought this to be too difficult an option.  A great big thank you to the maternity staff at Newcastle's Royal Victoria hospital - especially midwife Louise, whose intervention and involvement went above and beyond the call of duty.

The last few months have been particularly trying and this has impacted upon our daily lives in no small measure.  Ziva is Emma's fourth child, and our second together (with  our daughter Siara).  This recent pregnancy term has been very debilitating for Emma and has involved a considerable involvement from me ... exhausting for both of us with the needs of 21 month old Siara and two boys of nine and twelve years.  

Sitting down to finish 'Lucifer in Paradise - Qabalah of the 32nd Path'  actually resulted in me becoming physically ill for around ten days after the final writing. As things turned out extra editing was needed, resulting in a couple of early prints getting circulated with minor  errors (I guess that this will make them rarities over Time) but I'm expecting the first batch of perfect copies any day now and early purchasers will get their replacment copies before long.  

The Lucifer book is something I'm really proud of and is likely to be the first of  a series now that I've got the formula perfected.  In many ways the  work is mythically autobiographical and I have employed real life  individuals in the drafting of some of the characters (grey haired  Govinda, for instance, who can be found most afternoons -weather permititng- busking with Japanese bamboo pipes in Glastonbury High Street and most evenings within the Tower upon Glastonbury Tor, piping the sun-set.

Despite Glastonbury being well known as something of a spiritual centre in England and attracting a plethora of commercial esoteric activity and business people, during my four years living there I found the real magick alive within the unlikliest people.  Although I still go and talk to people like David Walker (who ran Helios books for a number of years) and other 'gems' such as Debs from the Goddess and the Green Man shop (who has been a friend for many years previous to our mutual residence within Avalon -Glastonbury-)  I talk to a suprisingly large number of people whom so many visitors to the town tend to overlook as beneath their notice.  These are those beloved of Shiva - some of whom might seem to be mere rabble to the Goddess worshippers and Christians who flock to Glastonbury as a place of pilgrimage. To some of us, those of us with eyes to see beneath the surface structures of the world of appearances, many of these people have hearts of gold and the ever-burning flame of true spirituality alivewithin their hearts.

If you are lucky enough to visit Glastonbury ... go sit awhile outside the keep of the White Spring in Well House lane.  Talk to a few strangers ... especially those who you might not think of normally open a conversation with. Yes ... you might meet the odd nutter.  But, even amongst these, you will inevitably meet one of the spiritual gems I refer to above.  One or two will be smoking the pipe of peace (or something equally enchanting, LOL) but this place is sacred. 

The waters of the red spring (written of by Dr John Dee) and the waters of
the White Spring splash out onto the lane and travellers can always be found there, filling there water containers and bathing in the negative ions of the highly charged atmosphere.  Sometimes I used to go and sit here in the midnight hours,simply for the atmosphere ... and I have very very fond memories of happening upon James West and his dog

Bounder (the model for my Lucifer character) early in the dawn hours and gathering twigs to light a fire and boil a pan of water in the fields just above the White Spring to make a welcome early morning cup of Tea and chat merrily about things spiritual.

More soon ...... (my wonderful daughter calls).  Today, we collect Emma and Ziva form the hospital and there is much to be done.

Steven Ashe
www.lulu.com/Qabalah