Richard Kaczynski
Richard Kaczynski, Ph.D., author of Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley, is a psychologist specializing in non-mainstream religious beliefs and practices. He has been a student of magick and mysticism since 1977, and has taught at Starwood since 1990. He is past Master of Blue Equinox Oasis, an ordained Priest of E.G.C., and an O.T.O. Certified Initiator Trainer. Over the years, his writing has appeared in various magazines (High Times, Neshamah, The Magical Link, Mezlim, Eidolon, Different Worlds,) and books (People of the Earth, Golden Dawn Sourcebook, Rebels and Devils). He is co-editor of The Revival of Magick and Other Essays (Oriflamme #2), and he provided editorial assistance on books like Magick, The Aleister Crowley Desk Reference, and Eight Lectures on Yoga. His latest project, an edited and annotated re-issue of Crowley's Sword of Song, will be released by Neptune Press later this year.
Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass and Other Eucharistic Traditions
Aleister Crowley's Gnostic Mass is a beautiful ritualistic homage to both the Christian Mass and his magicosexual worldview. Penned in St. Petersburg in 1913 and inspired by the Liturgy of St. Basil, it reputedly contains all the secrets of Ordo Templi Orientis, or O.T.O. But its form and content echo eucharistic and entheogenic traditions the world over. This lecture will compare and contrast the Gnostic Mass's striking similarities and obvious differences with Catholic, Gnostic, Classical and Tantric rituals that involve the creation and consumption of sacred objects. These will be explored in order to put the ritual into a broader context, and to help understand its historical roots. A Q&A session on the Gnostic Mass will follow.
Two Trees: Magical vs Rabbinical Treatments of the Kabbalah, and How They Can Work Together
In the 1400s, the Jewish mystical system called the kabbalah split into two very different streams: The magical system taught by western mystery schools like the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Golden Dawn, A.A. and O.T.O.; and the rabbinical system found in works by Aryeh Kaplan, Benjamin Blech and the like. This talk will delve into both traditions: It will begin by convering how the kabbalah is treated in the west, including the essential tools and building blocks needed to get the most out of one's initiations and magical studies (including the Tree of Life, tarot, correspondences, and how these relate to banishing rituals, the Middle Pillar, and Liber Resh). Next, it will cover teachings and methods from the "kosher" kabbalah that are rarely discussed by western magicians, but which enrich and expand the practice of kabbalistic magick, including the Lurianic Tree of Life, meditative exercises from Abulafia to the early Chasidic mystics, kabbalistic sex magick, and equidistant letter sequences.
