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© Darren White 2022
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The official podcast of Toronto Thelema, exploring the occult writings of Aleister Crowley and various other authors, and the Thelemic system of Magick, mysticism and philosophy.
71 Episodes
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Karma is commonly described as the results of one’s actions in one form or another, and often gets thought of as a cosmic justice system. But how is it seen from a Thelemic perspective? And how can the concept inform one’s pursuit to know and to do the True Will? Given in the August of 2025 e.v., this workshop explores how one can know who they are, how individual tendencies influence experience, and how to decide one's future.
‘The Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw’ is Crowley’s exhaustive response to Bernard Shaw’s preface to his play, Androcles and the Lion. Both pieces analyze the Jesus of the Gospels, with Crowley’s diving into the parallels with the life of the Mystic as well as the Dying God mythos, with abundant quotations from J.G. Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough.’
Plenty of emphasis gets placed on the importance of Banishing Rituals, especially as part of a greater overall Magical Ceremony. But not as much is said about Purification and Consecration, in spite of being integral elements of Ceremonial Magick. Edward Mason and I will take a look at these Magical applications of Water & Fire.
Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente, or The Book of the Heart Girt with a Serpent, is an inspired text written by Aleister Crowley that recounts the experience of union with his Holy Guardian Angel. Michael and I will delve into Chapter Five, along with Crowley’s Commentary on the text to help us elucidate its mysteries.
Jeremy Crow is a longtime proponent and practitioner of Luciferianism, and his Novus Ordo Luciferi and Flambeau Noir initiatives have helped promote the Lightbearer ethos internationally. We’ll chat about Jeremy’s ‘Promethean’ efforts, find out what Liciferianism actually is, as well as discuss the overlap between Luciferianism and Thelema.
When tales tap into the subconscious, their themes can transcend the arbitrary boundaries set by the rational mind. Michael and I will delve into the lore of Twin Peaks, and see if we can read a Thelemic fable into the film, Fire Walk With Me, and the first season and a half of the television series, as we inaugurate our spinnof series, ‘Spinning Stories.’
Liber Resh vel Helios is a Thelemic ritual adoration of the Sun. Performed at the four stations of dawn, midday, sunset and midnight, it is used as a regular Invocation of God-forms and as a mindfulness practice, by Thelemites the world over. Edward Mason and I will chat about this staple Thelemic practice.
Crowley considered Friedrich Nietzsche a prophet and forerunner of Thelema, and Nietzsche looms large at a critical point of transition for Western philosophy. We’ll dive into a chapter from his book Beyond Good & Evil that lays out the evolution of Western philosophy up to his day, and beyond.
Is Crowley’s approach to Yoga still relevant? And who was Crowley’s Yoga teacher? Did famed comedy film director Preston Sturges’ mother dictate Book 4 to Crowley at the behest of an entity called Abuldiz? And what can we learn from the record of their communication with Abuldiz? Stay tuned for the answers in the Season 4 Finale, ‘Frothy Sexy Summer Reading List.’
The Magical & Mystical System developed by Aleister Crowley and George Cecil Jones, commonly denoted as the A∴A∴, consists of Eleven Grades or Degrees; these in turn compose Three Orders. Edward Mason and I will take a look at these Three Orders, and how they apply to the Path of the Initiate.
The Magical Formula of I.A.O. first occurs in the Adeptus Minor Initiation of the Golden Dawn, during the Analysis of the Keyword. This evolving Formula is the subject of a chapter from Crowley’s Magick in Theory and Practice, and hints at the blueprint for a Ritual of Initiation.
Annie Matan is an ordained clergy of a methodology in Judaism that recalls ancient Jewish traditions that honour the sacred feminine. We’ll explore the subject, and how it resonates with Thelemic ideas, as we delve into the place of Lilith within this framework.
Crowley points to David Hume’s essays as ‘the Classic of Academic Scepticism.’ Having previously dipped into Hume, we’ll now move our attention to his ‘Of Miracles’, where he considers the application of reason to the evidence of testimony.
In December of 2024 e.v. I gave the first of a series of talks on the Thelemic philosophy. I focused on some of the core concepts and practices I feel are worth having in the forefront of the mind while engaging with Thelemic materials, including Crowley’s thoughts on channeling ‘genius,’ the skeptical approach, and discipline in mystical and Magical Practices.
The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster as collated by W. Wynn Westcott are a highly influential, and yet fairly obscure, set of pithy phrases. Gathered from the texts of numerous ancient writers, these ‘oracles’ seem to hint at an entire schema for the cosmos. We’ll dip our wings into the darkly-splendid waters of these ‘oracles,’ perchance to glimpse the light of the fire therein.
The study of the Occult, the Qabalah, Meditation and Magick can occasionally lead one to get caught up in intangibles, or maybe too much ‘in their head.’ But the Physical Body is no less a part of the equation of our continuing Initiation. Edward Mason and I will take a look at Groundedness, and appreciation for the physical body, as correctives.
Liber Aleph, the Book of Wisdom or Folly, is addressed by Crowley to his Magical Son, Charles Stansfeld Jones — better known as Frater Achad. It covers the gamut of the Thelemic perspective on pretty much everything, and as such is an indispensable guide and reference. We’ll take a look at a set of chapters therein on the subject of the Will, and Sin.
In ‘The Book of the Heart Girt with a Serpent,’ more commonly known as Liber LXV, many parables abound which are instructive of Thelemic spirituality. But in chapter V we encounter a parricidal pomp of atheists. I’ll look at Crowley’s commentary and see how this passage exemplifies Thelemic thought, in the first of our episodes highlighting and delving into the Holy Books of Thelema.
Crowley calls the Pistis Sophia ‘an admirable introduction to the study of Gnosticism’, and includes it in the Curriculum of A∴A∴. But how does Gnosticism relate to Thelema? We’ll delve into the first half of this early-Christian text to see if we can find connections, and contextualize magical ideas about Gnosticism before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library.
Last time, Edward Mason and I discussed the subject of Kenneth Grant and the so-called ‘false Sephirah’ of Da’ath. Rather than coming to a strict end, our conversation flowered out into a fractal proliferation of further knowledge on the subject.
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