Temple of Our Lady of the Stars

http://www.ladyofthestars.ca/a-statement-from-the-warden-of-the-temple/

A Statement from the Warden of the Temple - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law Back in 1995, I took initiation with a Thelemic fraternity that then had a Temple in Toronto. Coincidentally, at the same point in time, I met David Shoemaker, who had begun his work in Thelema a year or two earlier. I stayed with that …

Basic Stuff We Forget

Basic Stuff We Forget - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law The following notes are from a public talk I never gave. They summarise a lot of what my own teachers dinned into me in the first couple of years I was working a Thelemic system. I should know all this material by heart now, …

Realisation is different to getting a vision. Among other things, it requires a good brain.

Brainpower - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law The disagreement I had with a friend last week stays with me. Her view was that very many people experience visions, or samadhic realisations, and not just people in mystery schools or who pursue one of the major mystical paths. I agreed, but insisted....

http://www.ladyofthestars.ca/verily-thou-art-not/

Verily, Thou Art Not - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The practice of the Via Negativa is an old one in mystical schools. Whatever the idea, or precept, or proposition, the aspirant questions or denies it, moving every further away from a specific affirmation of belief. For people who insist that faith i...

Intersecting Aeons.
We tend to think each of the Aeons pushed its predecessor aside as it emerged. The reality is a little more complicated.
http://www.ladyofthestars.ca/intersecting-aeons/

Temple of Our Lady of The Stars - A Western Mystery School Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. An esoteric school in Toronto that instructs the initiated in the ways of Thelema & the Western Mysteries.

Angels: A look at what they are, and aren't, in the context of magick.

Angels - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. It’s Christmas, even for Thelemites. So, the topic of angels seems apposite. What are they, and how do magicians assume they function? The Qabalistic World of Yetzirah – Formation – is about the activity that puts intent and form into motion. Br...

http://www.ladyofthestars.ca/false-connections/

False Connections - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The term apophenia was coined by a psychiatrist called Klaus Conrad in a 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia (as it was then understood). He defined it as “unmotivated seeing of connections [accompanied by] a specific feeling o...

On the uses and perils of excessive introspection:

Hesse's Inner Gaze - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Recent months have offered not so much an opportunity for introspection as an unrelenting insistence on it. For many of us, there isn’t a lot more to look in upon. A recent essay by M.M. Owen on Hermann Hesse on the Aeon website takes …

Self and the Digital City.
We talk a lot about the distractions of online life, especially during this quarantine. But how does it affect not just our behaviour but our actual sense of self?

Self and the Digital City - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Few things are as disconcerting to people who train in a Thelemic system as being asked to memorise a chapter of one of the Holy Books. We live in a time when anything and everything is available online, and memorising anything seems irrelevant. A …

Loneliness in a time of isolation.

Loneliness - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law Where I live in Mexico, we’re still self-quarantining on a voluntary basis. As a result, while I keep myself alone at home most of the time, I do meet one or two friends for safely distanced walks or conversations every few days. I had …

A few thoughts on the waves of fear rolling over and around us right now:

Times of Panic - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. As the pandemic spreads, we’re all challenged to look at what’s happening in terms of our professed beliefs and attitudes. Most Thelemic groups are cancelling or minimising meetings and ceremonies, for example, but there’s obviously a raft of is...

http://www.ladyofthestars.ca/clarity-and-clouds/

Clarity and Clouds - Temple of Our Lady of the Stars Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. To some extent, Crowley’s discovery of yoga parallels the use of depth psychology in most mystery schools today. Used discerningly, psychological insight helps us bring the mind to quietude, which is also the aim with yoga: after all, Patanjali’s ...