Zero Equals Two is a blog on magical news and culture sponsored by U.S. Grand Lodge, O.T.O. A diverse collective of contributors comb the worlds of magick, art, science, history, philosophy, and more every day for articles and events of interest to Thelemites and other modern free-thinkers and explorers, collecting them on this blog for your enjoyment.
Recent posts
- Music Wanted For 2nd Volume of Fundraiser Album For Genesis P-Orridge
2019/02/19Kevin Thorne is announcing on his FB page:
“Just 10 spaces remaining for volume 2 of WOLFPACK23, the fundraiser for Genesis P-Orridge.
“Bands/artists, please pm me for how to send in your original music (or cover of GPO song).
“All proceeds go directly to Gen”
- Is Thelema Binary?
2019/02/19Did Crowley truly see himself as solely male? Are we trying to see the path of the New Aeon from an Old Aeon perspective? Are we trying to force the New Aeon into models that don’t fit?
“Was Aleister Crowley (Baphomet) non-binary in terms of gender identity? A few sources seem to suggest he did not identify exclusively as ‘male’ (in this life, or previous ones) despite his biological sex. If so, this potentially challenges theories that the Gnostic Mass is written as a ‘male-centric’ ritual from a ‘man’s perspective’ and that people who are not ‘men’ like Crowley should create their own rituals to express their own mysteries.” In Thelemic Union, Sib. Ayin discusses Crowley’s views and experiences on gender as conveyed in his writings, the Gnostic Mass, and the New Aeon.
- Sputnik1985 Featuring David Tibet Art In Their Clothing Line
2019/02/19David Tibet of Current 93 (among many other distinctive musical ensembles) recently announced that his art would be used in a clothing line. He posted to FB:
“Hello and hurrah; this is David Tibet. My good friends, the wonderful and talented and inspirational Sputnik1985, have honoured me by using a series of my recent paintings for a collection on their lovely label. I am utterly OverMoon with this, and have seen the prototypes of what will be a magnificent series of t-shirts and hoodies and sweaters and socks and flags and picnics and comets and stars and sunsets and sunrises.
“They also asked me to put together a playlist of some of my favourite songs. I have picked over 3 hours of music that moved me and shaped me and my worlds and my works when I was growing up, and Current 93 was starting to form and mouth and teeth in my head and heart. I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do, and see your face in them, maskless and free.
“Thank you for listening, thank you for reading, and I and C93 hope to see you again in Russia very soon. And thank you again to Evgenia and Oleg and Sergei (AlphaBetically) and all at Sputnik1985—it is a dream come true and groovy. ”
David Tibet, Hastings, 7 II 2019
Check out his mixtape:
Check out the Sputnik1985 store (I don’t think the Tibet-inspired clothing line is available quite yet – BE PATIENT!)
https://sputnik1985.com/?fbclid=IwAR0EgF0LZsnOwsrU_kd525-HVBrFA_QatWFVd6uj-96P0k6ltAwMSesc9yU.
- Your Brain on Sonoran Desert Toad Venom
2019/02/18As anyone who’s read a decent amount of Aleister Crowley’s work knows, he was no stranger to drug use – for serious medicinal purposes, recreation and spiritual research, with ether being a favored aid in the lattermost. There are a significant number of his writing stemming from such experiences. Ergo I think he might have appreciated author Michael Pollan’s essay in the New York Times Book Review of the problems he faced in properly putting his own experiences under the influence of LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca and Sonoran Desert Toad venom (these being administered on separate occasions!) into the written word. Here’s an excerpt:
“I was reminded of an experience Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. had on ether, in which he discovered, and managed to write down, ‘the one great truth which underlies all human experience.’ His notes, which he’d struggled to jot down in his drugged state, read: ‘A strong smell of turpentine prevails throughout.’
“Now, there are two ways to regard such an observation. The first is obvious, at least to our sober selves: as risible proof of the emptiness of chemically mediated ‘insight.’ O.K., fair enough. But might it be worth our while at least to try to imagine a mental state in which the smell of turpentine actually explains something? A state in which all our metaphysical ideas simply dissolve in the presence of overpowering sensory experience? That, it seems to me, is something for which the smell of turpentine is a decent metaphor.
“What I realized, reading over my own dubious epiphanies, is that there is an inside and an outside to a psychedelic experience, and that one way to write about it would be to honor both perspectives more or less simultaneously. I wouldn’t take sides, in other words, but would instead attempt to cultivate a measure of intellectual generosity, a kind of negative capability, toward my mental doings, however bizarre, and at the same time frankly acknowledge the reader’s skepticism, which in fact I shared. I would be of two minds. (This is a little like the memoirist, who recounts the naïveté of her younger self from the more knowing perspective of the grown-up author. But here it is not time but type of consciousness that separates the two voices.)”
Read the whole essay here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/books/review/psychedelics-how-to-change-your-mind.html.
- Colin Campbell Presents at William Blake Lodge
2019/02/18On Saturday, 23 February, join William Blake Lodge in the Valley of Baltimore for a discussion of Thelemic ethics and values led by Colin Campbell, followed by a potluck Open House. The Open House is a chance to learn more about Thelema and William Blake Lodge through Q&A and informal conversations with members and officers. There is no monetary charge for this open event, though contributions to the potluck feast and the bar are encouraged.
Colin Campbell is the author of five books on magick, including The Magic Seal of Dr. John Dee: The Sigillum Dei Ameth, A Concordance to the Holy Books of Thelema, The Offices of Spirits, Of the Arte Goetia, and Thelema: An Introduction to the Life, Work & Philosophy of Aleister Crowley. He has given lectures across the country on both a local and national level, speaking a number of times at NOTOCON, the biannual conference of the Ordo Templi Orientis, of which he has been a member for seventeen years.
Learn more about Colin Campbell:
- Llewellyn Publishes “Thelema: An Introduction to the Life, Work & Philosophy of Aleister Crowley” by Colin Campbell
- New Episode of “Thelema, Now!” Featuring Colin Campbell
- Teitan Press Publishes the Soft Cover Edition of Colin Campbell’s “The Magic Seal of Dr. John Dee”
- New Release: Colin Campbell’s “Of the Arte Goetia”
William Blake Lodge has served the greater DC-Baltimore area Thelemic/magical community for over 26 years, offering a monthly Gnostic Mass, classes, social events, and much more in a jubilant and welcoming environment. You can learn more about William Blake Lodge, including its many upcoming activities, at the official website: https://www.williamblakeoto.org/
