Symbol for salt.
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OAHSPE
Dr. John Ballou Newbrough's Kosmon
Bible (copyrighted 1882), which he produced by automatic typing during a half
hour every dawn, over a span of 52 weeks. It is purported to mean "Sky, Earth
and Spirit" and lists Christ, Gabriel (founder of Mohammedanism), Brahma and
Budha (sic) as "The Four False Gods." Its full title is A New Bible in The
Words of Jehovih (sic) and his Angel Ambassadors. A Sacred History of the
Dominions of the Higher and Lower Heavens on the Earth for the past 24,000
Years, being from the Submersion of the Continent of Pan in the Pacific Ocean,
commonly called the Flood or Deluge, to the Kosmon Era. Also, a brief History of
the Preceding 55,000 Years, Together with A Synopsis of the Cosmogony of the
Universe; The Creation of Planets; the Creation of Man; The Unseen Worlds; the
Labor and Glory of Gods and Goddesses in the Etherean Heavens; with the New
Commandments of Jehovih to Man of the Present Day. With Revelations from the 2nd
Resurrection, Formed in words in the 33rd Year of the Kosmon Era.
OBEAH
Obi is the West Indian God of Evil and an
"obeah" man or woman is a type of sorcerer, proficient in Voodoo and other forms
of magic.
OBELISK
Not just a phallic reminder, but the solar
power of regeneration. Cirlot points to its shape as similar to that of a
sunbeam. Indeed, for the Egyptians, it is Ra, himself. Its substance is the
essence of earth (stone). But it is earth as it reunites with heaven and
embodies myths of "solar ascension amd of light as the penetrating spirit." Its
uprightness and pyramidicity also point to the celestial impulse. (See PYRAMID.)
OCCULT
The occult today is in ruins because it has
been prematurely made public. It is a body of knowledge that is too fragile for
those without wisdom. Because of power being placed in the hands of the
ignorant, the word "occult" has, largely through the bullying of the Christians,
falsely become a synonym for "evil." It is for that very reason that the term
was originally chosen. The occult has always been a secret study that should
never be made public. It deals with sacred truth and the public, being composed
mostly of fools, can only pervert it.
At this point, however, we have no choice but to move forward with it, to try
to undo the harm by providing more light on the subject.
In general, occultism has three basic tenets: 1) man is in the process of
evolving to higher spiritual states of being; 2) the cosmos is energy; 3) there
are hierarchies of intelligence above and below human intelligence, which
control or influence the cosmos for good and evil, as human intelligence, of
course, in its own right also does.
ODE
From Greek hodos, "way." A method is "a way
beyond." Examples: Ontode -- vehicle of entification; Pathode -- disease
carrier; Theode -- god-producer; Biode -- life object.
ODIN
The Norse God, who, like Hermes and Thoth, is,
amongst other things, God of Magic. He differs from Hermes and Thoth in also
having been a God of self-sacrifice. He hanged himself voluntarily on the Cosmic
Tree, and for a much more important purpose, long before Christ was supposed to
have been crucified. For the sake of wisdom, he paid his right eye (everyday
vision) which was never regained. He rules over Asgard and is called "the
Allfather."
One of Odin's tricks was his ability to "knot" men's minds in battle so they
could not fight or, by the same token, to untie them, in order to provide them
with greater strength. He has two wolves called "Ravener" and "Greed" and two
ravens Hugin and Munin.
OLAM
Hebrew for "world" or "universe," but it derives
from a root meaning "hidden" or "occult."
OLANISM
(From O'Keefe's Stolen Lightning.)
Tatar phenomenon. "A compulsive imitation of some forceful gesture could seize a
whole cossack regiment. The first purpose of the Asiatic shaman, it is assumed,
was to check just such chain reactions."
OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS
Head of the 11th Century Sufic
order of Hassan Sabah in Persia, whose assassins used hashish to produce visions
of paradise.
OL SONUF VAORESAJI
"I reign over ye." The first sentence
of the first Key of the Enochian system. (See AETHYRS.)
OLYMPIC PLANETARY SPIRITS, THE
(Given in the
classical order of the planets): Mars -- Phaleg; Sun -- Och; Venus -- Hagith;
Mercury -- Ophiel; Moon -- Phul; Saturn -- Arathor; Jupiter -- Bethor.
OM MANI PADME HUM
Tibetan mantra "Hail to the Jewel in
the Lotus." OM or Aum is a mystical vibratory word the 3 letters
of which represent Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Mani padme ("the jewel in
the lotus)," superficially means "Buddhism (the jewel) in the world (the
lotus)," but in a deeper sense it is the divine lingam in yoni. (See LOTUS.)
It has still deeper meanings, however, relating to unlocking the walls
separating self from other.
OMEN
Strictly, a sign conveying an earnest of the
future, either good or bad. Actually associated with evil portents. To designate
good portents use "auspicious."
OMNISCIENCE
(See COSMIC
SWITCHBOARD.) There are no "imponderables." Everything being the creation of
the human psyche, all mysteries are soluble.
ONTOLOGICAL ANARCHISM
Hakim Bey's term for
overcoming Taoism's excessive passivity and withdrawal. He feels that to be
really different invites repression by the Establishment. One should not think
of oneself as a Liberal, but as a criminal.
OPHIDIAN CURRENT
The use of heterosexual energies
to transmit magical changes internally and externally. Celestially indicated by
the Ophiuchan link between Capricorn's climax and Scorpio's detumescence. The
Yezidic power line, purged of Osirian (or Xtian) death. Grant says that the
Elder Gods or Maatians when manifesting as the Forgotten Ones constitute the
Ophidian Current. The Draconian and Typhonian currents are variations on the
O.C., Od, or the Fire Serpent is a vehicle of it.
OPHIR
The highest stage of refined gold; a land
abundant in fine gold. Also the Hebrew name for the element, "earth."
OPHITES
(From ophis, "serpent.") A Gnostic
sect believing that Christ was the incarnation of the serpent of paradise. Since
the demiurge tried to prevent Adam and Eve from acquiring knowledge, Christ as
the serpent persuaded them to disobey the evil creator and eat the fruit.
ORDINARY CONSCIOUSNESS
We are accustomed to seeking
special mental powers from the unconscious, the deep psyche or some
transcendental state induced by yoga or drugs. In fact, the ordinary mind is
itself unplumbed, 99% terra incognita. It can provide an infinite number of
undeveloped talents bordering on the supernatural.
ORFFYREUS
Latinized name created for himself by
Johann Bessler (1680-1745) by writing the letters of the alphabet in a circle
and selecting the 13th letter after each letter in Bessler. He invented a
perpetual-motion wheel which interested the governments of England and Austria,
who offered to buy it. But, when they attempted to examine the axle in order to
discern its secret, Orffyreus destroyed it and vanished into the underground.
ORGANISM
Whitehead's vision (as shared by Shaw in
Back to Methuselah) that life pervades nature, not as Bergson's
"vitalism" did (by squeezing into matter osmotically from outside), but by
definition: Nature is alive: "bodies" are alive, and the mind is more alive
still. All nature (including inorganic matter) is a single organism, one living
body composed of biological cells (that is, events). This is not hylism, on the
contrary, but pneumism or spiritism.
ORGONE
Primordial Reichian cosmic substance, energy,
ether, "vibes," etc. surrounding everything in the universe. An orgone
accumulator is a box in which one sits to receive the focus of health-giving
rays of orgone heat from space. Orgone energy can be revealed by Geiger-Müller
counter, the electroscope and thermic experiments. Oranur is orgone energy
produced by nuclear activity.
ORICHALCUM
"Mountain copper." The shiny metallic
compound used in Atlantis, mentioned by Plato, said to be comprised of bronze,
gold and silver.
ORTHRUS
(Greek Orthros, "the dawn in the
west.") God Pluto's dog. In Kenneth Grant's usage, he is the "Devil dog," or
"hound of hell," the twin of Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog at the gates of
Hades. He has an Egyptian origin in the monster Oms, the "hound of
Typhon," guardian of the Judgment Hall. Cerberus's three heads, no doubt, derive
from the fact that Oms was a tri-partite mixture of hippopotamus, crocodile and
dog. In many cultures, the dog is a companion of the dead in their crossing of
the great Abyss and such is the function of the dog in the zeroeth arcanum. (See
HELL
HOUND.)
ORTHOLEXIA
Correct reading. For example, the
phrase, "By their fruits shall ye know them," means not that we should judge
others, but merely that we should see people as the products of their
accomplishments. Another example is "As ye sow, shall ye reap," which means that
the reaping is the sowing and occurs in the present, not the future.
OSIRIS
King, judge and reincarnator of the dead (via the metamorphosis of
earth). That he is a "Dark God" is one of the ancient mysteries. One of his
aspects is the jackal god of the dead, Anubis. With Set he completes the
universal pair of conflicting brothers, representing culture and freedom. It is
important to realize that these things take place away from the sun. For these
and other reasons, Osiris is generally thought of as the God of "Black Magic"
and "The Occult," who has been cut up into many pieces and buried (i.e.,
"hidden"). Only Isis is able to put him back together again.
O.T.O.
The Ordo Templi Orientis, an offshoot of
Crowley's Golden Dawn, inherited by Karl Germer. Refers to the rising
solar/phallic power. It relies on the 3 tantras of autosexuality (viii),
heterosexuality (ix) and homosexuality (xi). Later efforts to reshape the
O.T.O.'s insights (notably Grant's) attempted to eliminate the 3rd of these,
particularly its attribution of the number eleven. The formula for ix is (+1) +
(-1) = 0.
Apparently the purpose of the O.T.O. is the development of personal
evolution. There are many versions (sexual, puritanical, Fascist, Gnostic, etc.)
in Europe and America, all of which tend to factionalize. The American lodge in
Berkeley disputes the " authenticity" of the British order. The British O.T.O.,
headed by Kenneth Grant, is probably the most interesting and its rulership was
conferred on him by Germer himself. In 1955, however, Grant renamed his group
the New Isis Lodge and produced a manifesto stating that the earth is being
bathed in rays emanating from the transplutonian planet, Isis, which is exerting
a new spiritual force upon mankind. The degrees of the Lodge have been
redesigned to help aspirants make use of the "subtle radiations." Grant also
stated at that time that there was a sister lodge in Germany run by Eugen
Grosche, a long-time enemy of Germer's because of the former's deliberate
perversion of Crowleyian practice. Germer now attempted to expel Grant, but
failed. Next, a "magical war" broke out between Grant and Gerald Gardner, the
former leader of the chapter and in this contest, Gardner employed the services
of artist, Austin Osman Spare to create an evil talisman which ultimately
resulted in the death of a water-witch member of the temple.
OXYOPIA
Keen eyesight.
OZ
A full statement of Thelemic law. See Crowley's
Liber 77 (77 being the number of Oz). It is a Semitic root for
"strength." Liber Oz was printed originally in 1942 and deals with
Thelemic politics. During the creation, monsters from Unive rse B were
irresponsibly unleashed, referred to in the Bible as Nefilim, "Giants"
(literally, "fallen ones"). Says K. Grant, "The generic name for them is Oza,
[of numerical value] 78, [the value] of Aiwass and of the influence from Kether
(Mezla). The Oz is the entity that casts its monstrous and ape-like shadow over
The Magician in Crowley's design of the Tarot Pack (Atu II, ascribed to Mercury
and hence the Ape of Thoth)." All manifestation is illusion, including the words
of creation, and the Dog-Headed Ape mocks even the languages of the Gods.
Personal revelations indicate that Oz is the "home of the Beast-Doom" (Typhon as
shown on the Tenth Enigma of the Book of T), i.e., the lowest circle of Hell,
Hades.
Preface A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
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