A Performance Commentary on the Gnostic Mass
To Perfect This Feast
A revised and expanded second edition is now available.
These copies are smythe-sewn paperbacks
for a lifetime of hard use.
This second revised edition has been reformatted to a more convenient 6 x 9 trim size. Most important, the paperback binding is smythe-sewn for lifetime durability.
While the most important content remains unchanged, we have buttressed our arguments for our more traditional methods of Mass performance. To this end, we have licensed a 1933 photograph of the sole Gnostic Mass Temple as it was set up during Aleister Crowley's lifetime.
Aleister Crowley wrote the Gnostic Mass in 1913. He described it as the central ritual, public and private, of the O.T.O., the first of the ancient orders of antiquity to embrace the teachings of the Book of the Law. Received in 1904, the Book of the Law proclaims a new set of spiritual directives for the modern era.
Crowley envisioned the Gnostic Mass as a celebration of the wedding of scientific truth and religious aspiration. The message of the Mass, as a symbolic template of the teaching of the Book of the Law, eschews the irrationality, superstition, and restrictive dogma characteristic of previous revelations. The Mass is designed to lead celebrants to an appreciation of the glorious nature of reality.
Crowley anticipated that the Mass would be a regular part of the activity of O.T.O. groups worldwide (before becoming even more widespread). Today it is regularly celebrated by a fraternal order that flourishes in over fifty countries.
Drawing on nearly half a century between them of performing the ritual—and the countless classes and training sessions they have conducted during their O.T.O. careers—James and Nancy Wasserman offer a detailed examination of the mechanics of the Mass. Their purpose is to outline a means to perform the ritual according to Crowley’s instructions. And they provide missing keys to its geometrical intricacies.
Their point by point instructions will be of interest to ritualists, congregants, and students of Crowley, as well as those interested in Gnosticism and the activities of modern spiritual movements. The authors have striven to understand the meaning of Crowley’s text—penned in the white-hot fury of his inspiration—and to extract the relevant spiritual teachings and performance keys embedded within.
In addition to a detailed commentary, they offer a corrected, uninterrupted Mass Missal suitable for use by individuals and groups interested in working with the ritual, along with valuable insights into magical ceremonies in general, and the Gnostic Mass in particular.
Published by Sekmet Books
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ISBN 978-0-9718870-3-9
February 1, 2009 e.v.
Received this today -- an extraordinary work! Buy it... Serious Crowley students will not be disappointed...
(webmaster@lashtal.com) http://www.lashtal.com/
February 13, 2009 e.v.
93
I read "To Perfect This Feast" in full last night. This is a text that I'm going to be spending some serious study time with; the commentary, particularly the choreography and clarification of states and aspects to be sought and attained at various points is of great value - I'm an abstract and conceptual thinker by nature, and one of the challenges I face as a magician is understanding and triggering physical states without concrete descriptions to pin them to- TPTF has those concrete markers.
93 93/93
See extended review:
http://hausderluege.org/content/20090217/book-review-perfect-feast-commentary-liber-xv-gnostic-mass
February 18, 2009 e.v.
93
I finished reading To Perfect This Feast and found it to be delightful. Your insights and recommendations were intriguing.
The section on self-preparations is excellent advice. They reminded me of the "neglect not" from the chapter "De Cultu" in Liber Aleph.
Your desciption of an elevation to a state of godhead made me reflect on the phrase "Deus et Homo." From my impressions, the O.T.O. seems to be about this realization and one could contemplate if this God takes on the form as the Lord of the Aeon, your HGA, or both. The secret center of every star being Hadit. Other awakened thoughts came when I recognized the part about speaking words as truth from Liber Israfel, the vertical column from chapter XV in Liber ABA, and I couldn't help but see the Gnostic Mass in terms of devotion to one's God as is done with Liber Astarte.
Thank you for writing this book.
93 93/93
March 29, 2009 e.v.
Do what wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The Great Beast 666 instructed us to treat each moment in our lives as a sacrament, a veritable feast for the union of Man and God in God-Man and his going forth in his glory, as he takes his pleasure among the living. One might arguably claim that the Gnostic Mass holds the key to this "life intense with knowledge and extreme bliss which is untouched by" the seed of sorrow." "To Perfect This Feast" then becomes a treasure of insight into this central public and private ritual of the O.T.O.
What is so great about this book is that it shows that the Gnostic Catholic Church is a living and breathing tradition with lots of variety, not only among the celebrating clergy, but also among the supervising Bishops. Just as each life is our own to live and consequently there will be variations in how to express this "Perfect Feast," there is also a great deal of individual Genius involved in expressing this central mystery of the Law of Thelema. This is how it should be and it is heartening that more and more Bishops share their insight into our holy Magick, particularly when they disagree with each other.
At the same time as this book itself argues, the forces of maintenance must balance those of transgression, revolution must be balanced by tradition and it is in their union that humans thrives the most and is able to evolve. This is confirmed by all findings in biology and psychology and consquently we find that while we are encouraged to express our individual Genius in our celebration of the Eucharist, in order to achieve evolution and true expression this Genius needs structure or discipline. Consequently while each celebrant is bound to the words of the Canon of the Mass, each one of us will bring something unique to it in our partaking of the Eucharist, be it as part of the congregation or any of the five officers.
My colleagues the Very Illustrious Tau Tahuti and Tau Mara provides an insightfull and exciting introduction to their findings on the mysteries of the Gnostic Mass. Forged as these findings are in the athanor of more than three decades worth of officiating in the Mass at all levels and as supervising clergy, it bristles with that contagious energy that just makes you want to go our and celebrate the Gnostic Mass immediately.
This book is centered as all our writings should be as per the Tunis Comment, on the central teachings of the Great Beast 666 and is layered with many good tips on how to "Perfect this Feast," some of which I will be introducing to the clergy I supervise, in the coming months and which no doubt will continue to spread throughout the Order as more and more reads this book. It is my hope that it will inspire more Bishops to express their own insights, forged by their own experience, in the years that come.
Love is the law, love under will.
In the Bonds of the Order,
Tau Omphalos