by Marco Visconti
My recent interest in the Hellier phenomenon has received its fair share of snarky comments from many Serious Thelemites™, especially as I kept discussing it publicly and even organised a well-attended online seminar on it during the months of lockdown. Even Thelemic Union, which keeps on providing decent content for the increasingly disappearing Thelemic milieu, has taken a jab at the concept with one of their latest memes. Still, over at my Patreon, a lot of interest is focused precisely on this type of magical investigation.
So much that I think it’s time to address the elephant in the room: does the search for Ultraterrestrials have anything to do with Thelema?
I think this might be one of those times when going back to Crowley might help clarifying the matter beyond any reasonable doubt.
In a letter to the only effective heir he ever properly designated, Karl Germer, he states:
“Magick is getting into communication with individuals who exist on a higher plane than ours. Mysticism is the raising of oneself to their level.”
It would seem then that the Master Therion, the Prophet of Thelema, the one infallible source that every Serious Thelemite™ relentlessly quotes to death, had his mind pretty clear on the topic: the end game is to use the tools of Magick and Mysticism to open a channel of communication with beings that exist beyond the shackles of the human condition.
Aiwass, the minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat and the voice that dictated the Book of the Law, was one such being: he describes it in a way that could well be considered the first modern sighting of a “Man In Black”. And so were Amalantrah and Abuldiz, intelligences contacted by Crowley during two fundamental magical Operations of his career.
It was through these subsequent Operations that he received the drawing above, called LAM. It has been heavily inferred by Kenneth Grant to be, in fact, Crowley’s artistic rendition of Aiwass itself. Surely it has inspired more than 2 generations and counting of magical pioneers with its enigmatic stare.
We could just admit that, Crowley being Crowley, simply drew the image of a penis entering a vagina, or maybe even an anus. Maybe as a way at hinting at the sexo-magical IX and XI Operations of O.T.O. which he used constantly after the penny-drop-moment with Theodore Reuss in 1912 -if we have to believe Crowley’s timeline, which as usual is sketchy and doesn’t add up. But that’s a story for another day.
In Arabic, “Lam” means “not” – and “not”, Nuit, is certainly a cardinal point in the Current. Crowley memorised and recited Surah al Iklahs while doing Enochian work in Algeria and claimed to have recited it over a thousand times. The word Lam appears 3 times in that surah. Incidentally, the same surah appears also at the beginning of Liber ARARITA, one of the most mysticals and insightful Holy Books of Thelema.
Let’s look at the goode olde Gematria now: Lamed Aleph Mem adds to 71.
71 is, obviously, the value of a lot of stuff, but notably of ADONAI spelt in full: the Lord of Liber LXV, and another cardinal figure/concept in the Holy Books.
Also the most used combinations of Lamed Aleph Mem are MILA, “circumcision” and MAALA “full”, but also “pregnant”.
Maybe it’s a drawing of human genitals conjoined, after all…
Maybe it’s a hint of the kind of Operation needed to get in touch with these “individuals who exist on a plane higher than ours”.
After all – SPOILERS! – that’s how Hellier ends, too: with the intimation hidden in the cypher to learn and perform the Star Sapphire, that is the sex magick.
And so what’s exactly the problem with the Serious Thelemites™?
In a nutshell, the ongoing secularisation of Thelema as planned since the late 90s by O.T.O. Inc. and its efforts, now completely frustrated, to embrace the all-American mega-church model: one where Thelema was nothing else but a pseudo-psychological self-help system, where Magick was just a more complex mindfulness meditation technique, and where the very focus of Thelema – the search and connection with praeter-human intelligences the very way Crowley, Dee, Kelley and countless other magicians and Adepts did – was best to left forgotten in the name of respectability.
And to that, I say: fuck off.
This OTO-indoctrinated, mainly American, flock still mock Grant because “he claimed that LAM was a REAL ALIEN” and that’s almost always their jumping point.
This is not true at all, since it’s clear to anyone that has even read just a couple of Grant’s books that LAM is used as a glyph, a focus point that turns into a gateway for those in tune with this specific current. Is this so hard for them to take in or is it the first time they hear about such a technique in the occult? Is it because they haven’t read any Grant at all or is it because they fail to understand what he was writing about and what he actually meant by all that?
Could be any of the above, but this isn’t really about LAM, it is about Grant. Sure, Grant made mistakes and exaggerations, but I think it’s pretty obvious they just follow a common propagandistic narrative in order to ridicule his legacy. They must feel pretty threatened by what he represents.
Their religion might start crumbling down in case more people start getting interested in sitting down and reading all the material available. O.T.O. Inc. has not published any Crowley in the past 20 years, and recently has been trying to move from the neoliberal megachurch model into full neofascist theocracy with Gunther and his Dominionist worldview (and alt-right troll squads) at the helm. Is the strategy to keep people dumb on purpose?
Furthermore, Kenneth Grant’s most relevant and significant points were that Pseudo-Masonic Magical Orders are redundant in the modern age, and that magical ability is not dependent on gender. But that’s inconvenient to some people, who prefer to emphasise or distort his other notions in the course of dismissing him for their own purposes.
In conclusion… no matter what you think of the Hellier phenomenon, no matter what your understanding (or lack thereof) of the “secret cypher of the UFOnauts” might be, no matter your personal opinions on people like Allen Greenfield, Kenneth Grant, and no matter if you think that all ghost-hunting television is essentially garbage (I am not a huge fan myself), I urge you to stop and realise that these kind of experiences are precisely the magick you look for.
Suspend the disbelief, and embrace the strange.
Unless you want to be yet another edgelord on Discord claiming to be a Magister Templi looking for absolute, rational Truth: they are a dime a dozen these days.
For a fantastic explanation on the plight of the Serious Thelemites™,I recommend the essay by Rodney Orpheus on the matter, here.
Other articles by Marco Visconti:
- Heteronormativity And Gender Essentialism In Thelemic Ritual And Communities
- 5 Things To Expect After Leaving OTO
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“If I told you what I privately believe, you’d say I was crazy” “Yes. But only for telling me.”
I can honestly say I do not know I listen,I look,I learn and I stay open to all ideas until I know if it sits with me. I found this interesting and remain open .Thank you.
There are some very serious issues with the Hellier docuseries that are coming to light. Among these:
-the abuse of an academic who was doxed and lost his job after agreeing to be a consultant for the Hellier team,
-the abuse of a woman who was medically and legally incapable of consent yet was featured in the series,
-the misuse of dangerous technological equipment by untrained persons and the promotion of dangerous activities,
-trespassing by the team and problems with disclosure / consent,
-the problem of ownership of the Hellier intellectual property.
Other issues are being investigated by several parties. Among these include an alleged suicide and possible shell corporations designed to funnel money associated with the project into an as-yet unknown coffer.
There is also the problem of the team dabbling with far right ideology. The name “Terry Wriste” or “Terry Rist” or “Terry Wrist” is often used by members of the ultra-right-wing anarchistic “Sovereign Citizen” movement in the United States. The guy the Hellier team is searching for doesn’t exist but only because he does–as an identity used by multiple people who are affiliated with the Sovereign Citizens.
Sovereign Citizens often engage in their own form of magical thinking, often involving their desire to abrogate the established laws of the United States, the several states thereof, as well as their local counties and municipalities. They are attached to outlaw biker gangs and other groups that practice their own form of occultism and hold to their own occult views (such as those espoused by Alex Jones of InfoWars).
For more on the Sovereign Citizen movement, please see this page:
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/sovereign-citizens-movement
That Terry Wriste is a fake name connected to SC is nothing new, and has been discussed. Your old pal Greenfield mentions it obliquely already in the book. Everyone is aware of the potential right wing looney connection, as with most of the realities in American UFOlogy…
Bruh, there is literally nothing in that documentary that has anything to do with anything “far right.” The sovereign citizens are funny and yes, they’re totally whacked out, but clutching your pearls over a handful of cop-killings spread out over multiple decades just makes you look like a old church lady. Most of the “far right” groups are actually just edgy libertarians. Half of the proud boys are nonwhite, gay, or have mixed race kids. It’s shocking to see this kind of slave morality and slavish support of the status quo so prevalent amongst thelemites.
That fact is known and it’s something of a non-issue when it comes to the Hellier team. You only really need to go as far as Greg and Dana Newkirks Twitter accounts to see that they in no way, shape or form support the sovereign citizens movement or anything remotely like it. In fact, they’ve denounced far right ideology very explicitly multiple times!
The accusation of the Hellier team dabbling with far right ideology is, to be quick honest, just grasping at straws and ignores what the docuseries is actually investigating and exploring.
These are all incredibly wild accusations that will require much more proof – unless one wants to just attract slander and liber suits.
Do you have any of it? I am very interested in reading about some of the claims above in detail: the suicide, this alleged academic. The rest seems just random stuff thrown at the Hellier crew just to invalidate their project.
As for the “shell corporation”, I am laughing. But still willing to listen to the conspiracy theory.
Much is coming to light. More will emerge as time goes on. Shell corporations are real things and not conspiracies—they are legal but unethical business entities in America. Be careful with this Hellier business—I do not believe that tin cans and burst balloons are true signs of any order.
I’ve always liked LAM, because I was born in 71. I just got Maximillien de Lafayette’s ‘From Zeta Reticuli To Earth’. bloomski.wordpress.com/2021/02/10/zeta-reticuli/
I can say that watching Hellier was a different experience to me. I was just starting to get into practicing magick and Thelema in general at the time and Hellier, quite honestly, added something to it. The idea of magick being connected to ultraterrestrial contact, the UFO phenomenon as well as certain paranormal phenomenon is not exactly something new as many others such as Jacques Vallee, John Keel, etc. have explored this area decades ago. As the author has pointed out so has Kenneth Grant but also Michael Bertiaux and Nema. I would be curious to know what Crowley and maybe even Jack Parsons would have written about it had they been around much later. Of course, Parsons may have some writings somewhere either in a private collection, unpublished or destroyed but I digress here.
I think there is most certainly a connection that should be explored with an open mind. I know of some individuals who have explored this in workings with some very interesting results. There have also been others I’ve read about who, unfortunately or fortunately, do not publish their findings. All that being said, I think that as magicians and especially Thelemites we should push the boundaries and see what we find!
Crowley wrote in his journals “I have drawn my dream, the birth of LAM, earth, or impregnated dung…, a mass of blood and slime, being emitted from her hairy arse… … The perfumed messiah of the musselman, born… …per nefandum. As with every messiah, there will be endless confusion as to his method and nature.”
UDAMRIGHT
The way is paved for Contact.