This week, we place ourselves in the hands of Sorcerix Helios Epicene, with essays on the subhuman, superhuman, or a Secret Third Thing:

Julian Jarboe’s “The Android That Designed Itself”

Susan Stryker’s “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix”

And it’s ok to give a somewhat less thorough reading to Donna Haraway’s longer essay, “A Cyborg Manifesto.” 

Helios’ word on the selections:

I chose the latter two essays because they have been instrumental in providing me the tools to build/understand my inner Divinity. Certainly, these works, chock-full of highly specialized academic terminology, do not easily give up their treasures for any magician hoping to understand the journey on which I have embarked. For that reason I have omitted the notes sections in both and I suggest my fellow wizards scan the Manifesto lightly and read My Words deeply. To summarize, these works have given me the tools to understand the non-dualism within my gender and identity, the key to interpreting cyberpunk fiction as thaumaturgy, and the first affirmation of my monstrosity that propelled me into greater workings. Susan Striker’s words, especially the poem, have been featured in my own ritual practice both public and private. Enjoy!

This Wednesday, we continue our discussion of the Headless Rite through time. If you have taken a stab at it, we are eager to hear about the experience.

To furnish the other half of the discussion, please read Israel Regardie’s so-called “cursory analysis” of the Headless Rite. He makes a number of assertions that are controversial but worth discussing.

Optional: If you’d like, take a look at Sorcerix Helios Epicene’s own variant, Song of the Headless Bornless One. They’ll be back this week and able to wade into the swamp with us.

In observance of a roughly annual tradition, we revive The Headless One! We’ll discuss the origins of this variously-named ritual and the forms it has taken across traditions and practices. Many of us have gotten amazing results with this one.

My note to you should say: Feel free to treat this as a buffet and read according to your own preference. If you’ve read some of the permutations by Wednesday, it will suffice to furnish a good discussion. Many of us have performed some variant of the ritual, but novices are heartily welcome.

First, take a look at Jake Stratton-Kent’s pamphlet on the ritual, The Headless One. Then look at the translations from the Greek and Demotic magical papyri: from the PGM, “The Stele of Jeu the Hieroglyphist” (pp. 103, PGM V. 96-172) and from the PDM (pp. 232, PDM xiv. 675-694).

The Golden Dawn adapted their own version of the rite, translated as “The Bornless Ritual”, found in The Golden Dawn, pp. 442.

Next we progress to Crowley, who first adapted the ritual as the “Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia”, and later expanded it as Liber Samekh. And finally, a variant of Liber Samekh many of us have celebrated to great effect, Frater Antichristos’ Liber Thagirion.

Wikipedia article on the PGM.

Israel Regardie’s comparative analysis of the versions of the ritual.

From Hans Dieter’s translations, the introductions to the Greek and Demotic papyri found at the beginning of the volume (pp. xlii and lv).

The Stele of Jeu (Rite of the Headless One) as it appears in Stephen Flowers’ Hermetic Magic (pp. 182-184).

Sorcerix Helios Epicene’s own variant, Song of the Headless Bornless One

Mme. Harrow’s preferred version: in song form and in textual form

This Wednesday, Soror Hermafetes will teach us a method of meditation which seems to have served them very well. I hear we’ll have about an hour of practice, with a bit of discussion afterward. They tell us:

I will be trying to distill the 120 hours of practice that I acquired at the Northfork Vipassana center into a single session. It involves three distinct forms of meditation. Day 1-3 we practiced Anapana or “awareness of breath” in which we spent a total of 36 hours observing our natural state of breathing and the sensations associated with it. This is an important foundation for the other two meditations, Vipassana and Metta Parna, which we will go over in class.

Please read the following: https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/vipassana

And I recommend everyone practice the technique outlined in this video for a minimum of 10 minutes (though longer is better): https://youtu.be/Oh5ii6R6LTM

Apologies for a slightly fatter assignment this time – we read through to the end of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. That’s chapters 10-13, pp.85-122. We eagerly await your presence.

We continue The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick! Please read chapters 6-9, pp.59-84.

This week, we continue to begin The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick. If you were with us last week, please read chapters 3-6, pages 27-58. If you’re joining us newly, read as much as you can of chapters 1-6, page 1-58.
In either instance, if you find yourself partway through the reading, do come anyhow! You are most heartily invited.

This week, we begin to read a masterwork: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick. What can be said of this brilliant artist that has not already been said? Unto him may there be granted the accomplishment of his Will.

Try to get through the first three chapters – through page 27 in our PDF. If you fall short, come anyhow!

This week, members have suggested a few works of poetry they would like to discuss with the Wizard Council. Read, ponder, and bring forth a few suppositions for us!

Two from the immortal William Butler Yeats: The Second Coming and Byzantium

The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski

TS Eliot’s The Hollow Men

Sometimes a Wild God by Tim Hirons

Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight by Galway Kinnell

A Name for All by Hart Crane

Prometheus by Lord Byron

Dormition and Dominion by David Tibet – with the transcribed lyrics on page 404.

Two from H.P. Lovecraft’s The Fungi From Yuggoth: XXXII. Alienation and XXXIII. Harbour Whistles

By Knight of the White Elephant of Burmah William McGonagall: The Tay Bridge Disaster