so ya wake up with a stranger you have known all your life, its 6am and in an hour and a half a taxi will arrive to carry her away to the airport, ya snuggle and cuddle, you fuck with wild abandon, and ya stare at the ceiling, the sounds of breathing synchronized, the racing of blood through the body, the pounding hearts and smell of sex and the scent of izzy mayaki on the pillows. she's an alien sex goddess, the perfect playmate for a freakazoid like yourself. you feel sad she's leaving but the distance will consolidate things for you. you help her pack the remanents of clothes and books that lay around the lounge room floor, ya carry her bags down the steps, ya watch her smoke a french cigarette and then you see the taxi pull up.
goodbyes can be easily compromised, people say and do strange things in the final seconds but this was a clean goodbye, you put her in the taxi, you smile and you know that whatever exists between ya is strong enough to trancend distance and time.

happy new year people

well its been an action packed week, meredith kinda moved in and the deal was closed almost immediatly, she's the bees knees.
I 've started to feel slightly more radient after all my solar plexus is bright yellow pulse and now its time to work on my red charkra, energy runs through me,i can feel it on the ends of my fingertips, so can meredith. I'm thinking she may be able to assist in some crowley like experiments, she kinda has a gothik look about her. I aslo want to use her as a model in some photographic ideas. She's leaving for Adalade tomorrow so i guess we have run out of time, but then there's always next time, i seem to think she has the perfect potential, but i better take my time and see how she really feels, she's obviously been let down, hurt and somewhat frasgile, i don't want to take advantage of that.

i've been having some strange dreams, all based around the church, in one i saw a live show played in a small club, it was amazing except there was a guy nearby telling me about a show he had seen previously, i was kinda experiencing two shows simulatiously.
The other dream was in newtown where i walked into a cd shop looking for a rare cd as MWP walked out, i said hi, but he seemed preoccupied with his purchase. On the walls were some Clash records and i recognised one that i have was worth $500.

over the last few weeks i have been corisponding with a girl from adalade, meredith. she was going off to reunite with her boyfriend in paris and i kinda felt sad that she was leaving as i really enjoyed our internet exchanges but she had a great oppurtunity to be with the man she loved, it's hard to begrudge some one that. anyway christmas eve i got a call from her saying she was in sydney,things with her man had not worked out. she told me she was staying in collroy, a suburb not far from me. so we arranged to meet on christmas eve.
xmas eve was wet and slightly cold, it was raining heavily as i pulled up outside a bar called surf rock, i went in not really knowing what to expect and at the bar, away from the crowd stood the most stunning girl you can imagine, she was drop dead georgous to coin a phrase.
we both had a quick drink at the bar and made various excuses to go some where else so i drove to DY where we went for dinner. Not only was meredith georgous but she was smart, she smelt good and was very funny. a girl with a sense of humour is the most wonderful thing, i mean i am a hard person to amuse but meredith had swept me of my feet even before the waitress had taken our orders. anyways after dinner we ended up having a white russian or two in the bar and i was easing into being relaxed, i felt like i'd known meredith for years and years, it was like we were best friends. actually i had known meredith for years, as a cyber pen pal, we had chatted on and off for some time but never actually met, she ignored all my invites and despite my spending hours gazing at her profile, never replied to me, though we chatted online and flirted a fair amount.
Anyways she's leaving for adalaide in one week, we been texting one another a lot and it appears the attraction is mutual. i hope she's going to visit me tomorrow, the plan is to sweep her of her feet and keep her at mission control untill at least 2047.

just back from the space rock xmas show the church put on at the basement, unfortunatly there was no peter knoppes but the set list was an amazing collection of fantastic songs,
Ritz
Tantalized
Child in Time (deep purple cover)
Block
Brainstorm (Hawkwind)
Silver Machine (Hawkwind)
Seven by Seven (Hawkwind)
Magician
Cortez (Neil Young)
Astonomie Domonie (Floyd)
It was brilliant MWP playing some awesome stuff. I ended up filming for tiare, but i had a good spot and enjoyed the task, it was nice to catch the band backstage and say hi although i hate feeling like i'm in the way. i did give steve some herbs but i think he was exhuasted and wasn't in the mood for chit chat so i kinda left him alone.
Nice to see andrew and tiare and some other friendly faces in the crowd.

"There's a race of men who don't fit in
A race that can't stand still,
So they break the heart of kith and kin
And roam the world at will."
--Robert Service

"There are three kinds of men who die poor: those who divorce, those who incur debts and those who travel."
--Senegalese proverb

these last few weeks have drifted by and i feel like i am caught in a vortex, sucked into the inevitable confrontation with the nemesis i work with, after many years of being subjected to her hostility and erratic behaviors, after the team have basically all accepted their fear i am about to meet her in a grievance meeting offering a full account of her behavior to me. many of my colleagues including my boss have attempted to talk me out of this. everyone wants to avoid the issue, everyone wants to stick their head in the sand, people feel threatened and scared by her and the fact she is pregnant means she will be on maternity leave soon. Although 12 months without her would offer relief its not the right course of action for me. I need to confront this.
my main point of fear is the fact is i have evidenced her behavior and have wittnesses and i also have documented points that will 'destroy' her totally. however in all good conscience that's not what i want to do.

other news in downtown babylon, i made two ned friends with a husband and wife team from the UK. Jules and Nik, whom i have to say i really enjoy chatting to. Our mutual friends, Steve and Linda often meet and have a good laugh and chat about things and i find myself quite stimulated by their take on life. Its very unusual to have this level of conversation with people.
Jake has finished his course and now is waiting for the next round, he has been working a bit and occassionally we cross paths for lunch. i'm not sure what his plans are for xmas but i hope i get a chance to see him at some point.

the internet dating experience is insane, three dates in a few days, all of them relativly nice people but there was no chemistry, both ways. For me the whole thing is chemistrey, that pheremone exchange when some weird impulse gets switched on and the game is afoot. Well there was none of that happening, in fact it was all abit mundane.

My brother Martin seems to be on his way out, ETA Feburary, so i am looking forward to meeting him again, we have some ideas to do some kinda work together, perhaps a deeporg corperate course. Who knows what could happen, my stuff is very radical and he's the window in to that world being from the corperate world.

Saturday night is the space rock vegan bash with the church, so i am looking forwards to that. I'm giving steve an xmas present and payment for blogging.

Yesterday i surfed despite the choppy and messy waves, i managed to catch a few but nothing spectacular, later in the evening i fell asleep into a long needed deep dream filled nocturnal journey, i awake well rested.
I've recently finished two books on ayahuascia, one was a sort of new age womans journy with the medicine, and i have to say was totally self aborbing, more like trappsing through someones diary, the other by melzer was fantastic, offerring many points of veiw it was informative and now has me wanting to do another ceromony.
Anyway heres something my brother sent me, its gonna be intersting to see how it all pans out....?

Revealed: the Saudi-Pakistan plan to counter Iran's nuclear ambitionsBy :
Editorial
06/12/2006

It is becoming clear that the first 21st century clash of civilisations – if
there is to be one – will not pit Christians against Muslims but one branch of
Islam against another. In yet another escalation of the Middle East crisis
sparked by the disastrous American-led occupation of Iraq, The Business has
learnt that, in response to Shia Iran’s ambitions to possess a nuclear arsenal,
Sunni Saudi Arabia has plans to create a nuclear capability of its own. In a
development that risks turning the Middle East into a nuclear powder keg,
Western and Middle Eastern sources have told this magazine that, if and when it
is clear that Iran has the bomb (or is close to it), the Saudis will respond by
buying one from Pakistan, a fellow Sunni state. They would also likely purchase
Pakistani ballistic missiles to replace the Chinese ones they bought in the
1980s. Everything is already in place for this to happen.

When it comes to nuclear weapons, the Saudi-Pakistan connection has been close
for some time. Western intelligence services are now convinced that Saudi Arabia
played a large role in financing Pakistan’s nuclear bomb project. Riyadh’s aim
was to guarantee it immediate access to a nuclear arsenal to counter the
emergence of a nuclear-armed Iran. The Business has learnt that British
Intelligence (MI6) already regards Saudi Arabia as a surrogate nuclear power,
able to join the club whenever it chooses.

Riyadh’s long-standing links with the Pakistani bomb are only now being
scrutinised. A senior Saudi who defected to America in the 1990s warned
Washington that Riyadh was financially supporting the nuclear ambitions of
Islamabad to ensure access to nuclear weapons of its own in the future. The
Pakistani nuclear scientist and leader of the world’s biggest nuclear
proliferation ring, AQ Khan, was invited to Saudi Arabia by its Defence
Minister, who toured Pakistan’s nuclear facilities in 1999 and 2002 (the 1999
visit prompting a diplomatic complaint from Washington). A Saudi Prince was a
guest of honour at a 2002 Pakistani missile test. Pakistan was given almost
$2bn-worth of Saudi oil after the international community initiated sanctions
against Islamabad following its 1998 nuclear test.

By buying a nuclear arsenal off the shelf from Pakistan, the Saudis would
instantly acquire a deterrent without the hindrances that accompany developing
one from scratch. It would wrongfoot any countermove: the country would be in
the nuclear club before any effort to prevent it could be mounted. The Saudis
would then likely embark on fully developing their own nuclear weapons
facilities. They have already announced plans to develop a civilian nuclear
energy programme, despite being the world’s largest oil producer sitting on the
globe’s biggest reserves.

Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. If it
wished to stay within the letter of its obligations Riyadh could demure from
acquiring the weapons itself and instead invite Pakistan to station nuclear
weapons in the Kingdom. But, considering the volatile nature of the situation in
the Middle East, especially following Iran’s emergence as the Gulf region’s
first nuclear power, the Saudis will likely opt for direct command and control
of any deterrent. Indeed, the current Saudi posture already marks a shift away
from the late King Fahd’s strategy of countering any Iranian bomb with an
explicit American guarantee that Saudi Arabia fell under the US nuclear
umbrella. Riyadh fears that Washington no longer provides a credible guarantee.

It is no surprise that Iran’s bid for regional hegemony, including the
leadership of Political Islam in the area, is causing extreme concern in Riyadh.
But few have forecast the extent to which it would force the Saudis to
reconsider their approach to Iraq, the United States and – most strikingly –
even Israel. The largely-Sunni Saudis have already seen Shi’ites sympathetic to
Iran coming to power in Iraq. Iranian-backed Shia militia now control much of
southern Iraq, which borders Saudi Arabia. Indeed, Riyadh is acutely aware that
it is now sharing a 500-mile border with what is rapidly becoming an Iranian
vassal. The implosion of Iraq has swept away the traditional bulwark against
Iranian expansion and regional ambitions. If Iran was to become the only Muslim
Middle Eastern member of the nuclear club, it would be the Gulf’s sole
superpower, able to assert itself throughout the region (as it is doing
already). This would be a historic humiliation for Saudi Arabia and (in Riyadh’s
view) the Sunni branch of Islam.

Animosity between the Sunnis and Shi’ites dates back to the schism of 655 AD.
The one country where the Shi’ites gained power was Iran; in the rest of the
Middle East, Sunnis ruled Shi’ites. The British Empire, which favoured
politically powerful minorities as part of its divide and rule strategy,
sanctioned this state of affairs. Until the invasion of Iraq, the Sunni minority
– roughly 20% of Iraq’s population – had all the political power. With the rise
of Shia Iran and Iranian-backed Shia power in Iraq, Sunni rulers across the
Middle East are deeply fearful about Iran’s ability to stir up their Shi’ite
minorities. Recent elections in Bahrain, where a majority Shi’ite population is
ruled by Sunni royals and government, have underlined the stirrings of anger and
resentment against the Sunni ascendancy.

Many Sunnis feel that a new Shi’ia crescent is emerging that will span Iran,
Iraq and Lebanon, a development which the Saudis wish to counter. Earlier this
summer, the Gulf monarchies were noticeably silent during the early weeks of the
conflict in the Lebanon because they wanted to give Israel time to knock out
Iran’s proxy, the Shi’ite terror group Hezbollah. It was only when it became
apparent that Israel was incapable of doing so that they joined in the
criticism.

A further sign of changing times came with a meeting between Israeli and Saudi
Arabia to discuss the Iranian threat in September. Bizarrely, this went almost
unnoticed in the West, despite its huge significance. Some Israeli strategists
now speculate that Israel, which is also desperate to prevent the Iranian regime
from getting the bomb, and Saudi Arabia, which shares the same goal, could even
form an anti-Tehran alliance. That is probably far-fetched but the fact that it
is even being discussed is a stark illustration of the extent of Saudi fear at
the thought of an Iranian nuclear hegemony.

Any Middle East intra-Islamic war of religion, if it comes, would be a horrific,
bloody and protracted affair. In Iraq, the Shi’ite- Sunni divide is already on
display at its most brutal. Sunni terrorists bomb Shi’ite Islam’s holiest
places; Shi’ite death squads torture and murder as many Sunnis as they can get
their hands on. Shia hardliners believe that the only way to break the historic
Sunni stranglehold on Iraq is with genocidal violence. Even in majority Sunni
countries, such as Pakistan, communal violence is worsening despite government
crackdowns. As Sunni-Shia ethnic cleansing grimly gathers pace in Iraq, Saudis
worry about the concentration of its Shi’ite minority in the oil-rich east of
the country (concerns heightened when Shi’ite turnout in the recent municiˇpal
elections was double that of the Sunni).

So far the Saudis have taken a low-key approach to Iraq: they are keen not to
anger their American patrons and aware of how instability could so easily flow
back over their border. Efforts have been made to stem the flow of young Saudis
heading to fight in Iraq. But, with the Saudis uncertain about America’s
willingness to stay the course, they are beginning to reconsider. In an article
in the Washington Post last week, Nawaf Obaid – a Saudi government adviser –
floated a new, more proactive Saudi policy. He stated that if America left Iraq,
there would be a “massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shi’ite
militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis.”

So far the Saudis have taken a low-key approach to Iraq: they are keen not to
anger their American patrons and aware of how instability could so easily flow
back over their border. Efforts have been made to stem the flow of young Saudis
heading to fight in Iraq. But, with the Saudis uncertain about America’s
willingness to stay the course, they are beginning to reconsider. In an article
in the Washington Post last week, Nawaf Obaid – a Saudi government adviser –
floated a new, more proactive Saudi policy. He stated that if America left Iraq,
there would be a “massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shi’ite
militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis.”

The piece was timed to coincide with a proposal from the US State Department for
a so-called 80% solution in Iraq that would involve effectively ignoring the
Sunni population and instead working exclusively with the Shi’ite and Kurdish
leadership. Such an approach would mean, in practice, Sunnis being forced out of
mixed areas in Iraq and denied a share of Iraq’s oil revenues. Through Obaid,
the Saudis were making clear publicly that they would not accept such a plan,
especially since it would undermine the existing regime in Riyadh. The Saudi
Royals are well aware that if they are seen to be ineffective in protecting
their fellow Sunnis in Iraq, another bin Laden-like figure could emerge as the
leader of a mujahideen to protect Iraq’s Sunnis, challenging the legitimacy of
the House of Saud.

As the Saudis look to Pakistan for nuclear insurance against Iran, so they are
also contemplating deploying the oil weapon against their regional rival. Obaid
claimed that Saudi Arabia could afford to cut the price of oil in half, a move
that would bankrupt Iran. In 2005 the Saudis initiated a $50bn scheme designed
to increase their oil production by 1.5m barrels per day and give Riyadh more
leverage over prices. Iran has nothing like the same clout: its oil industry has
weakened considerably. Iran is currently producing 5% less than its OPEC quota
because of technical difficulties; the oil minister has warned that without
substantial investment, production will collapse by 13% a year. Yet, because of
the difficulties of attracting foreign investment and expertise to Iran, it is
hard to see where the money would come from, especially since Tehran has little
cash in its own coffers.

All this accentuates the strategic logic of Saudi Arabia purchasing the bomb. At
a stroke, the Saudis would have undercut the nationalist and religious appeal of
Iran’s bomb. They would also be challenging Tehran to an arms race in which it
could not afford to compete. But a Middle East with a nuclear Iran and Saudi
Arabia vying for supremacy would be an intolerably dangerous and unstable place,
especially when the Israeli dimension is added. The old cold-war nuclear
certainties of deterrence and mutually-assured destruction are less than
reassuring in a region where ancient hatreds and religious fervour are so
strong. Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, let us note, prayed openly for the
apocalypse at the UN General Assembly.

Iraq could easily turn into the battlefield for a proxy war between Iran and
Saudi Arabia, with disastrous consequences for global oil supplies and the world
economy. Such a conflict would involve countries that produce 13.4m barrels of
oil a day – 20% of world oil production – and have 43% of the world’s proven oil
reserves. The result would be a price of oil far above $100 a barrel and a deep
economic shock for the rest of the world, triggering chaos and crisis from China
to Chile.

The Bush Administration’s post-Iraq legacy is clear to see and it is a grim one:
a Middle East in which countries are no longer prepared to rely on American
guarantees of protection, where Iran is emerging as the regional superpower and
where the ancient Sunni-Shi’ite divide is becoming the defining issue, with both
sides set to arm themselves with weapons of mass destruction. If Iran is
prevented from going nuclear, catastrophe might be avoided. But after the
debacle in Iraq, it is hard to see who will stop Iran. It is difficult to blame
Riyadh for seeking its own insurance policy.

a cold morning developed into a hot afternoon, walked pan down the street read the stupid morning herald with its pathetic commentry on sydney, ate some brushetta, had a chai latte, drove to babylon to discuss polotics with steve and linda, later joined by jake, and later still it was me and evan, chatting about addictions and the scurge of people who push dumb drugs as opposed to smart ones and the foolishness of those who take them.
all in all its een a day filled with conversation and chit chat. Jake is looking well, its great that finally he is meeting my friends and getting a dose of reality. anyway, with a bit of luck i'll catch up with him again tomorrow.

ENERGIZED ENTHUSIASM

A NOTE ON THEURGY


I

I A O the supreme One of the Gnostics, the true God, is the Lord of this work. Let us therefore invoke Him by that name which the Companions of the royal Arch blaspheme to aid us in the essay to declare the means which He has bestowe
d upon us!

II

The divine consciousness which is reflected and refracted in the works of Ge nius feeds upon a certain secretion, as I believe. This secretion is analogous to semen, but not identical with it. There are but few men and fewer women, those women being invariably androgyne, who possess it at any time in any quantity.
So closely is this secretion connected with the sexual economy that it appears to me at times as if it might be a by-product of that process which generates semen. That some form of this doctrine has been generally accepted is shown in the prohibitions of all religions. Sanctity has been assumed to depend on chastity, and chastity has nearly always been interpreted as abstinence. But I doubt whether the relation is so simple as this would imply; for example, I find in myself that manifestations of mental creative force always concur with some abnormal condition of the physical powers of generation. But it is not the case that long periods of chastity, on the one hand, or excess of orgies, on the other, are favourable to its manifestation or even to its formation.
I know myself, and in me it is extremely strong; its results are astounding. For example, I wrote "Tannhauser," complete from conception to execution, in sixty-seven consecutive hours. I was unconscious of the fall of nights and days, even after stopping; nor was there any reaction of fatigue. This work was written when I was twenty-four years old, immediately on the completion of an orgie which would normally have tired me out.
Often and often have I noticed that sexual satisfaction so-called has left me dissatisfied and unfatigued, and let loose the floods of verse which have disgraced my career. Yet, on the contrary, a period of chastity has sometimes fortified me for a
great outburst. This is far from being invariably the case. At the conclusion of the K 2 expedition, after five months of chastity, I did no work whatever, barring very few odd lyrics, for months afterwards.
I may mention the year 1911. At this time I was living, in excellent good health, with the woman whom I loved. Her health was, however, variable, and we were both constantly worried.
The weather was continuously fine and hot. For a period of about three months I hardly missed a morning; always on waking I burst out with a new idea which had to be written down. The total energy of my being was very high. My weight was 10 stone 8 lb., which had been my fighting weight when I was ten years younger. We walked some
twenty miles daily through hilly forest. The actual amount of MSS. written at this time is astounding; their variety
is even more so; of their excellence I will not speak. Here is a rough list from memory; it is far from exhaustive:

(1) Some dozen books of A.'. A.'. instruction, including liber Astarte,
and the Temple of Solomon the King for "Equinox VII."
(2) Short Stories: The Woodcutter.
His Secret Sin.
(3) Plays: His Majesty's Fiddler
Elder Eel
Adonis . written straight off, one
The Ghouls. after the other
Mortadello.
(4) Poems: The Sevenfold Sacrament
A Birthday.
(5) Fundamentals of the Greek Qabalah (involving the collection and
analysis of several thousand words).

I think this phenomenon is unique in the history of literature.
I may further refer to my second journey to Algeria, where my sexual life, t
hough fairly full, had been unsatisfactory.
On quitting Biskra, I was so full of ideas that I had to get off the train at El-Kantara, where I wrote "The Scorpion." Five or six poems were written on the way to Paris; "The Ordeal of Ida Pendragon" during my twenty-four hour
s' stay in Paris, and "Snowstorm" and "The Electric Silence" immediately on my
return to England.
To sum up, I can always trace a connection between my sexual condition and the condition of artistic creation, which is so close as to approach identity, and yet so loose that I cannot predicate a single important proposition.
It is these considerations which give me pain when I am reproached by the ignorant with wishing to produce genius mechanically. I may fail, but my failure is a thousand times greater than their utmost success.
I shall therefore base my remarks not so much on the observations which I have myself made, and the experiments which I have tried, as on the accepted classical methods of producing that energized enthusiasm which is the lever that moves God.

III

The Greeks say that there are three methods of discharging the genial secret
ion of which I have spoken. They thought perhaps that their methods tended to
secrete it, but this I do not believe altogether, or without a qualm. For the
manifestation of force implies force, and this force must have come from somewhere. Easier I find it to say "subconsciousness" and "secretion" than to postulate an external reservoir, to extend my connotation of "man" than to invent "God."
However, parsimony apart, I find it in my experience that it is useless to flog a tired horse. There are times when I am absolutely bereft of even one drop of this elixir. Nothing will restore it, neither rest in bed, nor drugs nor exercise. On the other hand, sometimes when after a severe spell of work I have been dropping with physical fatigue, perhaps sprawling on the floor, too tired to move hand or foot, the occurrence of an idea has restored me to perfect intensity of energy, and the working out of the idea has actually got rid of the aforesaid physical fatigue, although it involved a great additional labour.
Exactly parallel (nowhere meeting) is the case of mania. A madman may struggle against six trained athletes for hours, and show no sign of fatigue. Then he will suddenly collapse, but at a second's notice from the irritable idea will resume the struggle as fresh as ever. Until we discovered "unconscious muscular action" and its effects, it was rational to suppose such a man "possessed of a devil"; and the difference between the madman and the genius is not in the quantity but in the quality of their work. Genius is organized, madness chaotic. Often the organization of genius is on original lines, and ill-balanced and ignorant medicine-men mistake it for disorder. Time has shown that Whistler and Gauguin "kept rules" as well as the masters whom they were supposed to be upsetting.

IV

The Greeks say that there are three methods of discharging the Lyden Jar of
Genius. These three methods they assign to three Gods.
These three Gods are Dionysus, Apollo, Aphrodite. In English: wine, woman and song.
Now it would be a great mistake to imagine that the Greeks were recommending a visit to a brothel. As well condemn the High Mass at St. Peter's on the strength of having witnessed a Protestant revival meeting. Disorder is always a parody of order, because there is no archetypal disorder that it might resemble. Owen Seaman can parody a poet; nobody can parody Owen Seaman. A criticis a bundle of impressions; there is no ego behind it. All photographs are essentially alike; the works of all good painters essentially differ.
Some writers suppose that in the ancient rites of Eleusis the High Priest publicly copulated with the High Priestess. Were this so, it would be no more "indecent" than it is "blasphemous" for the priest to make bread and wine into the body and blood of God.
True, the Protestants say that it is blasphemous; but a Protestant is one to whom all things sacred are profane, whose mind being all filth can see nothing in the sexual act but a crime or a jest, whose only facial gestures are the sneer and the leer.
Protestantism is the excrement of human thought, and accordingly in Protestant countries art, if it exist at all, only exists to revolt. Let us return from this unsavoury allusion to our consideration of the methods of the Greeks.

V
Agree then that it does not follow from the fact that wine, woman and song m
ake the sailor's tavern that these ingredients must necessarily concoct a hell-
broth.
There are some people so simple as to think that, when they have proved the religious instinct to be a mere efflorescence of the sex-instinct, they have destroyed religion.
We should rather consider that the sailor's tavern gives him his only glimpse of heaven, just as the destructive criticism of the phallicists has only proved sex to be a sacrament. Consciousness, says the materialist, axe in hand, is a function of the brain. He has only re-formulated the old saying, "Your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost."!
Now sex is justly hallowed in this sense, that it is the eternal fire of the
race. Huxley admitted that "some of the lower animalculae are in a sense immortal," because they go on reproducing eternally by fission, and however often you divide "x" by 2 there is always something left. But he never seems to have
seen that mankind is immortal in exactly the same sense, and goes on reproducing itself with similar characteristics through the ages, changed by circumstanceindeed, but always identical in itself. But the spiritual flower of this process is that at the moment of discharge a physical ecstasy occurs, a spasm analogous to the mental spasm which meditation gives. And further, in the sacramental and ceremonial use of the sexual act, the divine consciousness may be attained.

VI
The sexual act being then a sacrament, it remains to consider in what respect this limits the employment of the organs.
First, it is obviously legitimate to employ them for their natural physical
purpose. But if it be allowable to use them ceremonially for a religious purpose, we shall find the act hedged about with many restrictions. For in this case the organs become holy. It matters little to mere propagation that men should be vicious; the most debauched roue might and almost certainly would beget more healthy children than a semi-sexed prude. So the so-called "moral" restraints are not based on reason; thus they are neglected.
But admit its religious function, and one may at once lay down that the act must not be profaned. It must not be undertaken lightly and foolishly without excuse.
It may be undertaken for the direct object of continuing the race.
It may be undertaken in obedience to real passion; for passion, as the name implies, is rather inspired by a force of divine strength and beauty without the will of the individual, often even against it.
It is the casual or habitual --- what Christ called "idle" --- use or rather abuse of these forces which constitutes their profanation. It will further be obvious that, if the act in itself is to be the sacrament in a religious ceremony, this act must be accomplished solely for the love of God. All personal considerations must be banished utterly. Just as any priest can perform the miracle of transubstantiation, so can any man, possessing the necessary qualificati
ons, perform this other miracle, whose nature must form the subject of a subsequent discussion. Personal aims being destroyed, it is "a fortiori" necessary to neglect social and other similar considerations.
Physical strength and beauty are necessary and desirable for aesthetic reasons, the attention of the worshippers being liable to distraction if the celebrants are ugly, deformed, or incompetent. I need hardly emphasize the necessity for the strictest self-control and concentration on their part. As it would be blasphemy to enjoy the gross taste of the wine of the sacrament, so must the celebrant suppress even the minutest manifestation of animal pleasure.
Of the qualifying tests there is no necessity to speak; it is sufficient to say that the adepts have always known how to secure efficiency. Needless also to insist on a similar quality in the assistants; the sexual excitement must be suppressed and transformed into its religious equivalent.

VII
With these preliminaries settle in order to guard against foreseen criticisms of those Protestants who, God having made them a little lower than the Angels, have made themselves a great deal lower than the beasts by their consistently
bestial interpretation of all things human and divine, we may consider first the triune nature of these ancient methods of energizing enthusiasm.
Music has two parts; tone or pitch, and rhythm. The latter quality associates it with the dance, and that part of dancing which is not rhythm is sex. Now that part of sex which is not a form of the dance, animal movement, is intoxication of the soul, which connects it with wine. Further identities will suggest themselves to the student.
By the use of the three methods in one the whole being of man may thus be stimulated.
The music will create a general harmony of the brain, leading it in its own
paths; the wine affords a general stimulus of the animal nature; and the sex-excitement elevates the moral nature of the man by its close analogy with the highest ecstasy. It remains, however, always for him to make the final transmutation. Unless he have the special secretion which I have postulated, the result will be commonplace.
So consonant is this system with the nature of man that it is exactly parodied and profaned not only in the sailor's tavern, but in the society ball. Here for the lowest natures the result is drunkenness, disease and death; for the middle natures a gradual blunting of the finer feelings; for the higher, an exhilaration amounting at the best to the foundation of a life-long love.
If these Society "rites" are properly performed, there should be no exhaustion. After a ball, one should feel the need of a long walk in the young morning air. The weariness or boredom, the headache or somnolence, are Nature's warnings.

VIII

Now the purpose of such a ball, the moral attitude on entering, seems to me
to be of supreme importance. If you go with the idea of killing time, you are
rather killing yourself. Baudelaire speaks of the first period of love when the boy kisses the trees of the wood, rather than kiss nothing. At the age of thirty-six I found myself at Pompeii, passionately kissing that great grave statue of a woman that stands in the avenue of the tombs. Even now, as I wake in the morning, I sometimes fall to kissing my own arms. It is with such a feeling that one should go to a ball, and with such a feeling intensified, purified and exalted, that one should leave it. If this be so, how much more if one go with the direct religious purpose burning in one's whole being! Beethoven roaring at the sunrise is no strange spectacle to me, who shout with joy and wonder, when I understand (without which one cannot really be said ever to see) a blade of grass. I fall upon my knees in speechless adoration at the moon; I hide my eyes in holy awe from a good Van Gogh. Imagine then a ball in which the music is the choir celestial, the wine the wine of the Graal, or that of the Sabbath of the Adepts, and one's partner the
Infinite and Eternal One, the True and Living God Most High!
Go even to a common ball --- the Moulin de la Galette will serve even the least of my magicians --- with your whole soul aflame within you, and your whole will concentrated on these transubstantiations, and tell me what miracle takes place!
It is the hate of, the distaste for, life that sends one to the ball when one is old; when one is young one is on springs until the hour falls; but the love of God, which is the only true love, diminishes not with age; it grows deeper and intenser with every satisfaction. It seems as if in the noblest men this secretion constantly increases --- which certainly suggests an external reservoir --- so that age loses all its bitterness. We find "Brother Lawrence," Nicholas Herman of Lorraine, at the age of eighty in continuous enjoyment of {29} union with God. Buddha at an equal age would run up and down the Eight High Trances like an acrobat on a ladder; stories not too dissimilar are told of Bishop Berkeley. Many persons have not attained union at all until middle age, and then have rarely lost it.
It is true that genius in the ordinary sense of the word has nearly always showed itself in the young. Perhaps we should regard such cases as Nicholas Herman as cases of acquired genius.
Now I am certainly of opinion that genius can be acquired, or, in the alternative, that it is an almost universal possession. Its rarity may be attributed to the crushing influence of a corrupted society. It is rare to meet a youth
without high ideals, generous thoughts, a sense of holiness, of his own importance, which, being interpreted, is, of his own identity with God. Three years in the world, and he is a bank clerk or even a government official. Only those who intuitively understand from early boyhood that they must stand out, and who have the incredible courage and endurance to do so in the face of all that tyranny, callousness, and the scorn of inferiors can do; only these arrive at manhood uncontaminated.
Every serious or spiritual thought is made a jest; poets are thought "soft"
and "cowardly," apparently because they are the only boys with a will of their own and courage to hold out against the whole school, boys and masters in league as once were Pilate and Herod; honour is replaced by expediency, holiness by hypocrisy.
Even where we find thoroughly good seed sprouting in favourable ground, too often is there a frittering away of the forces. Facile encouragement of a poet or painter is far worse for him than any amount of opposition. Here again the sex question (S.Q. so-called by Tolstoyans, chastity-mongers, nut-fooder and such who talk and think of nothing else) intrudes its horrid head. I believe that every boy is originally conscious of sex as sacred. But he does not know what it is. With infinite diffidence he asks. The master replies with holy horror; the boy with a low leer, a furtive laugh, perhaps worse.
I am inclined to agree with the Head Master of Eton that paederastic passions among schoolboys "do no harm"; further, I think them the only redeeming feature of sexual life at public schools.
The Hindoos are wiser. At the well-watched hour of puberty the boy is prepared as for a sacrament; he is led to a duly consecrated temple, and there by awise and holy woman, skilled in the art, and devoted to this end, he is initiated with all solemnity into the mystery of life.
The act is thus declared religious, sacred, impersonal, utterly apart from amorism and eroticism and animalism and sentimentalism and all the other vilenes ses that Protestantism has made of it.
The Catholic Church did, I believe, to some extent preserve the Pagan tradition. Marriage is a sacrament.> But in the attempt to deprive the act of all accretions which would profane it, the Fathers of the Church added in spite of themselves other accretions which profaned it more. They tied it to property and inheritance. They wished it to serve both God and Mammon.
Rightly restraining the priest, who should employ his whole energy in the miracle of the Mass, they found their counsel a counsel of perfection. The magical tradition was in part lost; the priest could not do what was expected of him and the unexpended portion of his energy turned sour.
Hence the thoughts of priests, like the thoughts of modern faddists, revolved eternally around the S.Q.
A special and Secret Mass, a Mass of the Holy Ghost, a Mass of the Mystery of the Incarnation, to be performed at stated intervals, might have saved both monks and nuns, and given the Church eternal dominion of the world.

IX

To return. The rarity of genius is in great part due to the destruction of
its young. Even as in physical life that is a favoured plant one of whose thou
sand seeds ever shoots forth a blade, so do conditions kill all but the strongest sons of genius.
But just as rabbits increased apace in Australia, where even a missionary has been known to beget ninety children in two years, so shall we be able to breed genius if we can find the conditions which hamper it, and remove them.
The obvious practical step to take is to restore the rites of Bacchus, Aphrodite and Apollo to their proper place. They should not be open to every one, and manhood should be the reward of ordeal and initiation.
The physical tests should be severe, and weaklings should be killed out rather than artificially preserved. The same remark applies to intellectual tests.
But such tests should be as wide as possible. I was an absolute duffer at school in all forms of athletics and games, because I despised them. I held and still hold, numerous mountaineering world's records. Similarly, examinations fail to test intelligence. Cecil Rhodes refused to employ any man with a University degree. That such degrees lead to honour in England is a sign of England's decay, though even in England they are usually the stepping-stones to clerical idleness or pedagogic slavery.
Such is a dotted outline of the picture that I wish to draw. If the power to possess property depended on a man's competence, and his perception of real values, a new aristocracy would at once be created, and the deadly fact that social consideration varies with the power of purchasing champagne would cease to be a fact. Our pluto-hetairo-politicocracy would fall in a day. But I am only too well aware that such a picture is not likely to be painted. We can then only work patiently and in secret. We must select suitable material and train it in utmost reverence to these three master-methods, or aidingthe soul in its genial orgasm.

X
This reverent attitude is of an importance which I cannot over-rate. Normal
people find normal relief from any general or special excitement in the sexual
act.
Commander Marston, R.N., whose experiments in the effect of the tom-tom on the married Englishwoman are classical and conclusive, has admirably described how the vague unrest which she at first shows gradually assumes the sexual form,
and culminates, if allowed to do so, in shameless masturbation or indecent advances. But this is a natural {33} corollary of the proposition that married Englishwomen are usually unacquainted with sexual satisfaction. Their desires are constantly stimulated by brutal and ignorant husbands, and never gratified.
This fact again accounts for the amazing prevalence of Sapphism in London Society.
The Hindus warn their pupils against the dangers of breathing exercises. Indeed the slightest laxness in moral or physical tissues may cause the energy accumulated by the practice to discharge itself by involuntary emission. I have
known this happen in my own experience.
It is then of the utmost importance to realize that the relief of the tension is to be found in what the Hebrews and the Greeks called prophesying, and whih is better when organized into art. The disorderly discharge is mere waste, a wilderness of howlings; the orderly discharge is a "Prometheus unbound," or a L'age d'airain," according to the special aptitudes of the enthused person. But it must be remembered that special aptitudes are very easy to acquire if the driving force of enthusiasm be great. If you cannot keep the rules of others,you make rules of your own. One set turns out in the long run to be just as good as another.
Henry Rousseau, the duanier, was laughed at all his life. I laughed as heartily as the rest; though, almost despite myself, I kept on saying (as the phrase goes) "that I felt something; couldn't say what."
The moment it occurred to somebody to put up all his paintings in one room by themselves, it was instantly apparent that his "naivete" was the simplicity of a Master.
Let no one then imagine that I fail to perceive or underestimate the dangers of employing these methods. The occurrence even of so simple a matter as fatigue might change a LasMeninas into a stupid sexual crisis.
It will be necessary for most Englishmen to emulate the self-control of the
Arabs and Hindus, whose ideal is to deflower the greatest possible number of virgins --- eighty is considered a fairly good performance --- without completing the act.
It is, indeed, of the first importance for the celebrant in any phallic rite to be able to complete the act without even once allowing a sexual or sensual thought to invade his mind. The mind must be as absolutely detached from one's own body as it is from another person's.

XI

Of musical instruments few are suitable. The human voice is the best, and the only one which can be usefully employed in chorus. Anything like an orchestra implies infinite rehearsal, and introduces an atmosphere of artificiality.
The organ is a worthy solo instrument, and is an orchestra in itself, while its
tone and associations favour the religious idea.
The violin is the most useful of all, for its every mood expresses the hunger for the infinite, and yet it is so mobile that it has a greater emotional range than any of its competitors. Accompaniment must be dispensed with, unless a harpist be available.
The harmonium is a horrible instrument, if only because of its associations;
and the piano is like unto it, although, if unseen and played by a Paderewski,it would serve.
The trumpet and the bell are excellent, to startle, at the crisis of a ceremony.
Hot, drubbing, passionate, in a different class of ceremony, a class more intense and direct, but on the whole less exalted, the tom-tom stands alone. It combines well with the practice of mantra, and is the best accompaniment for any sacred dance.

XII

Of sacred dances the most practical for a gathering is the seated dance. One sits cross-legged on the floor, and sways to and fro from the hips in time with the mantra. A solo or duet of dancers as a spectacle rather distracts from this exercise. I would suggest a very small and very brilliant light on the floor in the middle of the room. Such a room is best floored with mosaic marble;an ordinary Freemason's Lodge carpet is not a bad thing.
The eyes, if they see anything at all, see then only the rhythmical or mechanical squares leading in perspective to the simple unwinking light.
The swinging of the body with the mantra (which has a habit of rising and falling as if of its own accord in a very weird way) becomes more accentuated; ultimately a curiously spasmodic stage occurs, and then the consciousness flickers and goes out; perhaps breaks through into the divine consciousness, perhaps is merely recalled to itself by some variable in external impression.
The above is a very simple description of a very simple and earnest form of
ceremony, based entirely upon rhythm.
It is very easy to prepare, and its results are usually very encouraging for the beginner

XIII

Wine being a mocker and strong drink raging, its use is more likely to lead
to trouble than mere music.
One essential difficulty is dosage. One needs exactly enough; and, as Blake points out, one can only tell what is enough by taking too much. For each man the dose varies enormously; so does it for the same man at different times.
The ceremonial escape from this is to have a noiseless attendant to bear the bowl of libation, and present it to each in turn, at frequent intervals. Small doses should be drunk, and the bowl passed on, taken as the worshipper deems advisable. Yet the cup-bearer should be an initiate, and use his own discretion before presenting the bowl. The slightest sign that intoxication is mastering the man should be a sign to him to pass that man. This practice can be easily fitted to the ceremony previously described.
If desired, instead of wine, the elixir introduced by me to Europe may be employed. But its results, if used in this way, have not as yet been thoroughly studied. It is my immediate purpose to repair this neglect.

XIV

The sexual excitement, which must complete the harmony of method, offers a more difficult problem.
It is exceptionally desirable that the actual bodily movements involved should be decorous in the highest sense, and many people are so ill-trained that they will be unable to regard such a ceremony with any but critical or lascivious
{37} eyes; either would be fatal to all the good already done. It is presumably better to wait until all present are greatly exalted before risking a profanation.
It is not desirable, in my opinion, that the ordinary worshippers should celebrate in public.
The sacrifice should be single.
Whether or no ...

XV

Thus far had I written when the distinguished poet, whose conversation with
me upon the Mysteries had incited me to jot down these few rough notes, knocked
at my door. I told him that I was at work on the ideas suggested by him, and
that --- well, I was rather stuck. He asked permission to glance at the MS. (f
or he reads English fluently, though speaking but a few words), and having done
so, kindled and said: "If you come with me now, we will finish your essay." Glad enough of any excuse to stop working, the more plausible the better, I hast
ened to take down my coat and hat.
"By the way," he remarked in the automobile, "I take it that you do not mind
giving me the Word of Rose Croix." Surprised, I exchanged the secrets of I.N.
R.I. with him. "And now, very excellent and perfect Prince," he said, "what follows is under this seal." And he gave me the most solemn of all Masonic tokens. "You are about," said he, "to compare your ideal with our real."
He touched a bell. The automobile stopped, and we got out. He dismissed the chauffeur. "Come," he said, "we have a brisk half-mile." We walked through
thick woods to an old house, where we were greeted in silence by a gentleman who, though in court dress, wore a very "practicable" sword. On satisfying him, we were passed through a corridor to an anteroom, where another armed guardian awaited us. He, after a further examination, proceeded to offer me a court dress, the insignia of a Sovereign Prince of Rose Croix, and a garter and mantle, the former of green silk, the latter of green velvet, and lined with cerise silk. "It is a low mass," whispered the guardian. In this anteroom were three or four others, both ladies and gentlemen, busily robing.
In a third room we found a procession formed, and joined it. There were twenty-six of us in all. Passing a final guardian we reached the chapel itself, at whose entrance stood a young man and a young woman, both dressed in simple robes of white silk embroidered with gold, red and blue. The former bore a torch of resinous wood, the latter sprayed us as we passed with attar of roses from a cup.
The room in which we now were had at one time been a chapel; so much its shape declared. But the high altar was covered with a cloth that displayed the Rose and Cross, while above it were ranged seven candelabra, each of seven branches.
The stalls had been retained; and at each knight's hand burned a taper of rose-coloured wax, and a bouquet of roses was before him.
In the centre of the nave was a great cross --- a "calvary cross of ten squares," measuring, say, six feet by five --- painted in red upon a white board, at whose edge were rings through which passed gilt staves. At each corner was a
banner, bearing lion, bull, eagle and man, and from the top of their {39} staves sprang a canopy of blue, wherein were figured in gold the twelve emblems of the Zodiac.
Knights and Dames being installed, suddenly a bell tinkled in the architrave.
Instantly all rose. The doors opened at a trumpet peal from without, and a herald advanced, followed by the High Priest and Priestess.The High Priest was a man of nearly sixty years, if I may judge by the white beard; but he walked with the springy yet assured step of the thirties. The High Priestess, a proud, tall sombre woman of perhaps thirty summers, walked by his side, their hands raised and touching as in the minuet. Their trains were borne by the two youths who had admitted us.
All this while an unseen organ played an Introit. This ceased as they took their places at the altar. They faced West, waiting. On the closing of the doors the armed guard, who was clothed in a scarlet robe instead of green, drew his sword, and went up and down the aisle, chanting exorcisms and swinging the great sword. All present drew their swords and faced
outward, holding the points in front of them. This part of the ceremony appeared interminable. When it was over the girl and boy reappeared; bearing, the one a bowl, the other a censer. Singing some litany or other, apparently in Greek, though I could not catch the words, they purified and consecrated the chapel.
Now the High Priest and High Priestess began a litany in rhythmic lines of equal length. At each third response they touched hands in a peculiar manner; at each seventh they kissed. The twenty-first was a complete embrace. The bell
tinkled in the architrave; and they parted. The High Priest {40} then took from the altar a flask curiously shaped to imitate a phallus. The High Priestess knelt and presented a boat-shaped cup of gold. He knelt opposite her, and did not pour from the flask.
Now the Knights and Dames began a long litany; first a Dame in treble, thena Knight in bass, then a response in chorus of all present with the organ. This Chorus was:
EVOE HO, IACCHE! EPELTHON, EPELTHON, EVOE, IAO! Again and again it rose and fell. Towards its close, whether by "stage effect" or no I could not swear, the light over the altar grew rosy, then purple. The High Priest sharply and suddenly threw up his hand; instant silence.
He now poured out the wine from the flask. The High Priestess gave it to the girl attendant, who bore it to all present.
This was no ordinary wine. It has been said of vodki that it looks like water and tastes like fire. With this wine the reverse is the case. It was of a rich fiery gold in which flames of light danced and shook, but its taste was limpid and pure like fresh spring water. No sooner had I drunk of it, however, that I began to tremble. It was a most astonishing sensation; I can imagine a man feel thus as he awaits his executioner, when he has passed through fear, and is all excitement.
I looked down my stall, and saw that each was similarly affected. During the libation the High Priestess sang a hymn, again in Greek. This time I recognized the words; they were those of an ancient Ode to Aphrodite.
The boy attendant now descended to the red cross, stooped and kissed it; then he danced upon it in such a way that he seemed to be tracing the patterns of a marvellous rose of gold, for the percussion caused a shower of bright dust to fall from the canopy. Meanwhile the litany (different words, but the same chorus) began again. This time it was a duet between the High Priest and Priestess. At each chorus Knights and Dames bowed low. The girl moved round continuously, and the bowl passed.
This ended in the exhaustion of the boy, who fell fainting on the cross. The girl immediately took the bowl and put it to his lips. Then she raised him, and, with the assistance of the Guardian of the Sanctuary, led him out of the chapel.
The bell again tinkled in the architrave.
The herald blew a fanfare.
The High Priest and High Priestess moved stately to each other and embraced, in the act unloosing the heavy golden robes which they wore. These fell, twin lakes of gold. I now saw her dressed in a garment of white watered silk, lined throughout (as it appeared later) with ermine.
The High Priest's vestment was an elaborate embroidery of every colour, harmonized by exquisite yet robust art. He wore also a breastplate corresponding to the canopy; a sculptured "beast" at each corner in gold, while the twelve signs of the Zodiac were symbolized by the stones of the breastplace.
The bell tinkled yet again, and the herald again sounded his trumpet. The celebrants moved hand in hand down the nave while the organ thundered forth its solemn harmonies.
All the knights and Dames rose and gave the secret sign of the Rose Croix.
It was at this part of the ceremony that things began to happen to me.
I became suddenly aware that my body had lost both weight and tactile sensibility. My consciousness seemed to be situated no longer in my body. I "mistook myself," if I may use the phrase, for one of the stars in the canopy.
In this way I missed seeing the celebrants actually approach the cross. The bell tinkled again; I came back to myself, and then I saw that the High Priestess, standing at the foot of the cross, had thrown her robe over it, so that the cross was no longer visible. There was only a board covered with ermine. She was now naked but for her coloured and jewelled head-dress and the heavy torque of gold about her neck, and the armlets and anklets that matched it. She began to sing in a soft strange tongue, so low and smoothly that in my partial bewilderment I could not hear all; but I caught a few words, Io Paian! Io Pan! and a phrase in which the words Iao Sabao ended emphatically a sentence in which
I caught the words Eros, Thelema and Sebazo. While she did this she unloosed the breastplate and gave it to the girl attendant. The robe followed; I saw that they were naked and unashamed. For the first time there was absolute silence.
Now, from an hundred jets surrounding the board poured forth a perfumed purple smoke. The world was wrapt in a fond gauze of mist, sacred as the clouds upon the mountains.
Then at a signal given by the High Priest, the bell tinkled once more. Thecelebrants stretched out their arms in the form of a cross, interlacing their fingers. Slowly they revolved through three circles and a half. She then laid
him down upon the cross, and took her own appointed place. The organ now again rolled forth its solemn music.
I was lost to everything. Only this I saw, that the celebrants made no expected motion. The movements were extremely small and yet extremely strong. This must have continued for a great length of time. To me it seemed as if
eternity itself could not contain the variety and depth of my experiences. Tongue nor pen could record them; and yet I am fain to attempt the impossible.

1. I was, certainly and undoubtedly, the star in the canopy. This star was an incomprehensibly enormous world of pure flame.
2. I suddenly realized that the star was of no size whatever. It was not that the star shrank, but that it (= I) became suddenly conscious of infinite space.
3. An explosion took place. I was in consequence a point of light, infinitely small, yet infinitely bright, and this point was "without position."
4. Consequently this point was ubiquitous, and there was a feeling of infinite bewilderment, blinded after a very long time by a gush of infinite rapture (I use the word "blinded" as if under constraint; I should have preferred to use the words "blotted out" or "overwhelmed" or "illuminated").
5. This infinite fullness --- I have not described it as such, but it was that --- was suddenly changed into a feeling of infinite emptiness, which became conscious as a yearning.
6. These two feelings began to alternate, always with suddenness, and without in any way overlapping, with great rapidity.
7. This alternation must have occurred fifty times --- I had rather have said an hundred.
8. The two feelings suddenly became one. Again the word explosion is the on
ly one that gives any idea of it.
9. I now seemed to be conscious of everything at once, that it was at the same time "one" and "many." I say "at once," that is, I was not successively all
things, but instantaneously.
10. This being, if I may call it being, seemed to drop into an infinite abyss of Nothing.
11. While this "falling" lasted, the bell suddenly tinkled three times. I instantly became my normal self, yet with a constant awareness, which has never left me to this hour, that the truth of the matter is not this normal "I" but "
That" which is still dropping into Nothing. I am assured by those who know that I may be able to take up the thread if I attend another ceremony.
The tinkle died away. The girl attendant ran quickly forward and folded the ermine over the celebrants. The herald blew a fanfare, and the Knights and Dames left their stalls. Advancing to the board, we took hold of the gilded carr
ying poles, and followed the herald in procession out of the chapel, bearing the litter to a small side-chapel leading out of the middle anteroom, where we left it, the guard closing the doors.
In silence we disrobed, and left the house. About a mile through the woods
we found my friend's automobile waiting.I asked him, if that was a low mass, might I not be permitted to witness a H
igh Mass?
"Perhaps," he answered with a curious smile, "if all they tell of you is true."
In the meanwhile he permitted me to describe the ceremony and its results as faithfully as I was able, charging me only to give no indication of the city near which it took place.
I am willing to indicate to initiates of the Rose Croix degree of Masonry under proper charter from the genuine authorities (for there are spurious Masons working under a forged charter) the address of a person willing to consider their fitness to affiliate to a Chapter practising similar rites.

XVI

I consider it supererogatory to continue my essay on the Mysteries and my an
alysis of "Energized Enthusiasm."

it seems like i was cought in some strange whirlwind and sort of typhoon that took me to autistic central where yet again i experience difficulties with the non disabled. its funny the non disabled so called staff are actually more disabled than the people i work with. there's a real fucked up, power control trip that people seem to get on, me, its not my sence at all. never really has been. anyway fro the last three days i have been sucked into work reality and now, sunday night, i'm going to have a drink and a spliff just to kick back with and ease into myself again. The weather here is remarkable, fri. morning i was surfing nakid in hot sunny glorious summer, sunday night its the ice age zooming in. i hate the cold, its my enemy, i like to sweat.
i see old steve kilbey answered my question about the piano on mistress, fuck its him playing, the guys a freaking genuis, why don't they give him the recognition he desreves, fuck its criminal, instead we get sports heroes and legends. anyways i'm procrastinating my way through sunday evening, i should be invoking some cash and working on me base charkras, especially that red one. as i rolled a number i heard that that familiar voice of my guardian angel saying, 'mmm, grass = leaky aura'
strangly enough i had P=A playing at mission control.

its been a huge day, the surf this morning was wild and outta control, waves coming from all sides, the washing machine (the term i call the white wash that i have to swim through to get to the waves) i struggled with my exhuastion to get there and then got wiped out by some rougue wave, it was nuts today, i found myself just sitting on the beach laying flat out watching the joggers (specifically the girl ones) gazing at the cloudless skies, head filled and emptied at the same time.........

oh the day has passed me by, its been a long day, starting when i went down to walk Pan and saw the cafe was filled with people trying to order so i sat down, with a day to kill, and read the papers, 30mins later the old sicilian woman woman comes out and starts yelling at me.
'hey if you donna tell me what ya want i aint gonna serve ya.'
'oh i was just waiting for the crowd to go.'
'well i don't know whata ya wanta unless youa tell me.'
'but i always have a bananna smoothie'
'no youa used to drinka coffee.'
'yeah four weeks ago', i say
'wella i dunno.'

then my phone rings its my new surfin buddy, ro ro. he's up for a surf, so i meet him in babylon and we see that the surf is outta control, so we have a cuppa tea then i meet with nick and jules, steve and linda, some expats with coffee addictions. i have a very stimulating chat with nick, who i greatly admire and like. we are talking sci fi, he's very well read and has a good whimsical outlook, and best of all a twinkle in his eyes. anyway we head out seperate ways and i find myself minding some ladies shopping bags when my friend charles stops by, sits next to me
we talk about ayahusca, how its really changed us both, i explain what happened to me in a very coherent way and inform charles of my solar plexus work, and lo and behold charles is also doing plexus work. i explain my side of things, the whole trip and charles spills his guts to me about his changes, and we both say to one another 'i want to do it again.'
its amazing people, please get down yr local shaman and do the trip.

then my new pal from across the bridge comes along to visit and we have an intresting conversation about god, magick the jewish messanic beliefs. its really intresting cos she's well edukated on the whole biblical thing and was able to answer my questions about the roots of the arab israeli conflict, that comes from the story of abrahams sons, Issac and Esau and jakob and some dude with the unfortunate name of hagar. anyways it was all very intresting and kinda shocking that the jews freaking were a bunch of crooks according to the book. ha. thats a weird fuckin thing, anyway its a strange thing the old testament cos there's absolutly no humor in it, not the god i met, the god i met was a funny dude, else i wouldn't have anything to do with him.

absolutly exhuasted after a long stint at work with a demanding client and lots of drama, fortunatly the drama didn't really involve me but i can't help but get dragged in by the team who seem to love the very popular excuse of not taking responsibility.
anyways after work i zipped straight into newtown to catch marty and steve play the last of their shows, i gotta say it was brilliant, both on fine form, cracking jokes telling stories and playing the best music ever. i had a short chat with steve about ayahusca and igbane and dmt and i think even ecstacy slipped in to the conversation.
Anyways my stress and strain of the last 48 hours slipped away as i started laughing and enjoyng the show, at about 2am when i arrived home i was feeling so energized i stayed awake playing my guitar for an hour, then i think i must have crashed into a deep deep sleep.

up at 8am to walk pan and have my bannana smoothie which has replaced caffine for the last 3 weeks. later jake rang and we went shopping together, looking at books and cds, we had some lunch, both being veggies we are very fussy and then i dropped him off. he's finished his course and is working part time so hopefully we can hang out a bit more. He told me he's reading thomas pyncons book V, i told him about my trudging through gravity's rainbow and we both agreed he was a demanding author. i was aslo surprised to hear that jake didn't finish 'house of leaves' as he got to freaked out. I must admit i didn't think of the fear factor when i recommended it to him, but i felt the same way after reading it. I didn't tell him the ending as i thought he may re investigate the book later.

ahhh surfing everyday, catching waves at avalon, riding the tigers back with one fin and one flipper, my solar plexus charkra is burning like the sun, radiating positive vibrations. i'm now attuning the red one, it's in need of some adjusting.
all well at mission control, my books are somewhat taking over the rooms, but its okay, i guess it gives Mission Control that lived in look. I just finished reading a story called 'the man that folded himself' by david gerrold, the man that wrote the best episode of star trek ever 'trouble with tribbles' Its a classic time travel story that delivers the goods on what happens if you change the past, its very simply written but the story gets more and more complex as it progresses.
The other book i read was a non fiction project called 'they lied to us at sunday school' Now this looks at the bible and its inconsistancies and time descrepancies, it looks at the books ommitted from the bible, the delibrate mis transalations by the greeks and romans, it looks at how the original message has been distorted totaly by the vatican and the various orders that manipulate truth.
although i agree in most of what the autor proposes i find he makes incredibly dumb assessments about the old testement. for example no jews believe in the literal transalation of the old testament, we know the earth was not created in 6 days, we also know that it is highly probable that there is extra terrestrial nvolvement with the roots of our religion, this could be either drug induced or an actual historical fact. we also know that the new testament has been alterred dramatically to the actual events, jesus didn't die on a cross, he married and travelled to india. we also know he was part of an essene cult that practiced healing and we also know he was a kabbalist. The author mistakenly adopts a very typical hostile attitude towards the jewish part of the book, he makes amazingly unfair and unresearched statments but never the less there are lost of good bits in this book and i would recommend it to most people who are intrested in a different perspective. I must admit there was nothing i didn't already know in this book but i'm glad i read it.
It's strange to think that i decended from a tribe of Baal worshipers.

a friend gave me a pirate copy of the famous James Ellroy story The Black Diliah which has been filmed by Brian de Palma, its a great story and based on a real unsolved murder, the dvd was obviously filmed in a cinema and the quality is dreadful, sound and vision. I may have to see it at the movies to really enjoy it but its a great film none the less.

ideas for a mini series - an alien race approach earth, they are very advanced and are only intrested in peace, however they have little knowledge about humanity and see us as nothing more than pets, they are here to visit octopi.
We see world leaders scoot around making speeches and the UN discuss the impact of these aliens but the aliens are ignoring our precense, they really only are focused on the octopi. the sereis basically follows the sociological, political and religious impact this type of snub has on humanity. suddenly our insignificance is confirmed.

ideas for a painting, i have had this idea for a number of years. Imagine a huge canvass with a novel printed upon it. another similar idea, canvass with a description of an image in words.

strange dream about me and my dad, we were in a huge house, not somewhere i recognise except it was in england, we were watching a movie, laying down on a huge mattress, i found it comfortable but dad was complaining it was to hard and difficult to find a relaxing position, the movie was some kinda horror film, but the real horror was happening while we watched the movie. the house was a huanted house and all sorts of supernatural stuff was occuring but we couldn't see it, only people watching the movie of us watching a movie could see the doors opening, strange shapes lurking, we were watching tv movie in which a family were on a ride at a strange circus, they went on a sort of roller coaster ride and were ascending, as they rised higher and higher they could make out the fact they were in some sort of weird horrid carnivale. then i woke up.

DEEP IN THE HEART of the Amazonian rainforest grows a sacred vine known for its magical powers. This vine is known by many names, but the most well known of them all may be ayahuasca (aye-yah-wah-skah). In the Quechua language, aya means spirit or ancestor, and huasca means vine or rope. It is reputed that those who consume this vine of the souls are bestowed with the ability to commune with spirits, diagnose illness, treat disease, and even predict the future. While the existence of this vine is certainly no big secret, it is only recently that western science has decided to study the magical properties of this sacred medicine. Archaeological evidence may date ayahuasca use in Ecuador back five millennia. However, western knowledge of ayahuasca dates back only as far as 1851 when a group of Tukanoan Indians invited British botanist and explorer Richard Spruce to participate in a ceremony which included a visionary drink they called caapi. Spruce only drank a small amount of the "nauseous beverage," but he couldn't help noticing the profound effect it had on his new friends. The Tukanoans showed Spruce the plant from which the caapi was made, and he was able to collect good specimens of the plant in full flower. Spruce named the plant Banisteria caapi, and further research led him to conclude that caapi, yage, and ayahuasca were all Indian names for the same potion made using this one vine.

Since these early findings, indigenous use of various ayahuasca potions has been reported throughout the Amazon as far east as the R’o Negro in Brazil and as far west as the Pacific coastal areas of Colombia and Ecuador. It is also found as far north as the Panama coast, and southward into areas of Amazonian Perœ and Bolivia. At least 72 indigenous groups have been found to use similar preparations known by a total of over forty different names.

Shamanic Use of Ayahuasca

The Shamans of the Peruvian Amazon generally refer to themselves as vegetalistas. These plant-doctors help the people of rural areas and the urban poor who often have no other available help in critical situations requiring medical attention. Most vegetalistas tend to specialize, using just one or few plant teachers in their practices. Thus there are tabaqueros who use tobacco; toeros who use various Brugmansia species; catahueros who use the resin of catahua (Hura crepitans); paleros who use the bark of various large trees; perfumeros who use the scents of various fragrant plants; and ayahuasqueros who use ayahuasca.

The shamanic use of ayahuasca is usually within the context of healing. The shaman or ayahuasquero takes ayahuasca to better diagnose the nature of the patient's illness. Vegetalistas claim they receive their healing skills from certain plant teachers, who are believed to have a madre or spirit-mother. The role of the shaman is to mediate the transmission of medicinal knowledge from the plant teacher to the human world for use in curing.

The plant teachers are believed to teach the neophyte shaman a number of power songs or supernatural melodies called icaros, either during an ayahuasca session or in dreams following the ingestion of other plant teachers. The plant teachers give the magical songs to the vegetalista so that he or she may sing or whistle them during healing sessions. Some shamans place so much emphasis on the healing power of the icaros that once he or she has learned a good number of them, the ayahuasca is no longer necessary for healing.

When a person becomes sick, their energy pattern becomes distorted. Under the influence of ayahuasca, the shaman can see the distortion in the patient's energy pattern and attempt to restore a healthy pattern using suction, massage, medicinal plants, hydrotherapy, and restoration of the patient's soul. The similarities between these shamanic methods and techniques used in traditional Chinese Chi-Gong, or "energy directed" medicine, should be noted. Interestingly, a shaman usually chooses medicinal plants based on visible characteristics, like shape or color. For example, a plant which produces flowers shaped like an ear may be used to treat ear diseases. Part of the novice shaman's training involves scrutinizing nature to learn about the properties or "hidden virtues" within the surrounding plants and animals. See as well POWER OF THE SHAMAN: Where Does It Come From, How Does It Work?.



Preparation

Ayahuasca potions are normally prepared by soaking or steeping lianas of Banisteriopsis caapi or related species for various lengths of time. The specific method varies from group to group, but the simplest method is a cold water infusion where pieces of the stem are first pounded and allowed to stand in cold water, after which the plant material is strained off and the remaining potion drunk. Some groups will immerse the pounded stems in hot water, cooking the plant material anywhere from an hour to all day long. The longest of these preparation methods involves repeated boiling and filtering of the plant matter and extract until only a thick concentrate remains. This process normally comprises a whole day's work, taking up to fifteen hours to prepare a single batch.

Banisteriopsis caapi is often the only plant used to make ayahuasca. However, it is not an uncommon practice to add one or more admixture plants to the brew during its preparation. Admixture plants help to flavor the experience of each specific batch of ayahuasca, and often contain stimulants or visionary compounds, like caffeine, nicotine, or DMT (di-methyl-tryptamine). In ayahuasca potions made using DMT-containing additives, it is most likely that DMT is the key visionary ingredient, responsible for most if not all of the potion's powerful entheogenic effects. See Branched Calalue. See also Aushadhis, Awakening and the power of Siddhis through herbs.

Pharmacology of Ayahuasca

DMT was first synthesized in 1931, fifteen years before it was discovered to be a naturally occuring compound. DMT is found in many psychoactive Amazonian snuffs prepared from the resin of numerous species of Virola trees, and was first naturally extracted from a shamanic snuff made from the crushed seeds and pods of Anadenanthera peregrina in 1955. In 1956, Stephen I. Szara and colleagues became the first to experience the effects of the hydrochloride salt of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine via intramuscular injection at doses ranging from 0.7 to 1.1 mg per kg body weight. He found the drug to produce what he described as a "psychotic effect partially similar to that caused by mescaline or LSD-25." Szara found that after injecting 50 to 60 mg of DMT, entheogenic effects commenced within two to three minutes, lasting about 45 minutes to an hour. He described the effects thus: "Eidetic phenomena, optical illusions, pseudo-hallucinations and later real hallucinations, appeared. The hallucinations consisted of moving, brilliantly colored oriental motifs, and later I saw wonderful scenes altering very rapidly. The faces of the people seemed to be masks. My emotional state was elevated sometimes up to euphoria..."

By 1977, it was established that smoking DMT free base produces a more potent and rapid effect than does injection. Thirty mg of DMT smoked was found to produce almost instant peak effects, lasting a total of only five to ten minutes. However, DMT has been tested in doses of up to an entire gram ingested orally without producing any effects whatsoever. So the question remained: Since DMT appears to be completely inactive orally, how can the average 29 mg found in an orally ingested dose of ayahuasca produce a visionary effect?

The answer to this question lies in the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO). This enzyme normally functions in our digestive systems to break down any monoamines present within the foods we eat so that they do not upset the balances of monoamine neurotransmitter metabolism going on in our brains. DMT, being a monoamine, is completely oxidized and decomposed by MAO in the gut when it is ingested orally. However, the §-carboline alkaloids from the Banisteriopsis liana are know to inhibit MAO to the point where the accompanying DMT from the admixture plant can survive in the digestive tract and make its way to the brain.

The structure of DMT (as well as those of other entheogenic compounds) is remarkably close to that of the important modulatory neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT). Such neurotransmitter shuffling is thought to bring about the disinhibition of normally controlled and regulated processes within the brain. The binding of serotonin-like molecules to the 5-HT receptors affects serotonergic neurons which can stimulate a wide range of things - from repressed emotions and memories to the brain's image-processing system. This unique combination of neural stimuli results in a wondrous explosion of transcendent emotion and internal kaleidoscopic imagery.

Modern Interest in Ayahuasca

From the first written mention of ayahuasca by a Jesuit priest near the end of the 17th century to current research dealing with ayahuasca, our knowledge of this ancient Amazonian ethnomedicine has grown considerably. In just the last few decades, a fair number of publications have been written on the topic; anthropologists have begun studying how ayahuasca is used to heal; and research groups have started studying the potion's long-term physiological and psychological effects. Another interesting modern phenomenon is the growing number of Christian churches throughout South America who have opted for ayahuasca as their sacrament during communion instead of the usual symbolic bread and wine sacraments. These churches claim that the potion helps to promote intense concentration and direct contact with the spiritual plane.

The first of these ayahuasca churches were initially formed in the 1920s in Brazil, and today two groups, the Uni‹o de Vegetal (UDV or 'Herbal Union') and the Santo Daime [see related article], continue to flourish. These neo-Christian churches now mainly exist in urban areas, and represent the modern movement of ritual ayahuasca use from the primal rainforest into the big city.

In these churches mass is held once a week. The church members cultivate the plants needed to make the potion, and oversee its preparation and storage. On special occasions, ayahuasca is dispensed in small cups at communion. The dose is only a couple of ounces, but the ayahuasca they produce has been reported to be very strong. As the celebration usually lasts all night long, it is not unusual for members of the church to take several doses during the course of the evening.

In 1985, the Brazilian government added the ayahuasca liana to its list of controlled substances. The UDV soon petitioned the ban and the Brazilian government appointed a commission to investigate the issue. The commission found no evidence of social disruption associated with the sacramental use of ayahuasca (which the commission members tried themselves) and ayahuasca was removed from the Brazilian controlled substances list in August of 1987. More problems arose in 1988 when an anonymous source alleged that the churches consisted of fanatics, drug addicts, and ex-guerrillas given to smoking Cannabis and taking LSD during their rites. Yet another study of the issue was ordered by the government, this time to investigate the physiological aspects of ayahuasca's pharmacology. The conclusions of this study prompted the Brazilian government in June of 1992 to exempt Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis - as well as the ayahuasca potion - from its illicit substances list. This legal decision has opened the doors to the further expansion of these churches, which have since held ceremonies in several cities all over the world. An international scientific research team, the Hoasca Project, has recently begun studying the long term effects, both psychological and physiological, of chronic ayahuasca use by these church members.

Ayahuasca and the Future

It is hard to say what the future may hold for ayahuasca. It could prove to be a useful tool in helping science better understand the biochemistry of consciousness and the genetics of pathological brain function. Pharmaceutical MAO-inhibitors are widely used in western medicine as anti-depressants, and further research into the psychotherapeutic benefits gained from the tryptamines remains to be done.

As far as religion is concerned, the potential for expansion of ayahuasca-using churches seems unlimited. Incorporation of a powerful psychoactive sacrament into religious ceremonies could have far-reaching effects on modern spiritual practices and beliefs. However, it remains to be seen whether entheogen users here in the U.S. would be attracted to the idea of psychedelic Christianity.

All in all, ayahuasca represents a unique plant-based medicine. The fact that its traditional use by Amazonian Indians has survived the continual influence of Western acculturation is testimony to the central and important role it has in their world-view. In fact, in many Amazonian tribes the first thing the parents will give a newborn baby is a drop of ayahuasca - right in the mouth. To them it is the supreme medicine, and a true gift from the gods.

awake to a smoke filled world, the stink of bush fires hanging around the whole of the northern beaches, i walk down through the park, visibility almost zero, like bankok, even pans disorientated, the fires in the blue mountains caused this, strong winds make everthing unpredictable, its gonna be a long hot summer.
last night i saw steve and marty play at the snadringham, ohhh it was fantastic, selection of songs that went as far back as seance and included, 'maybe these boys' it was fun, lots of laughter and excellent music.
its always lovely to see tiare, laticcia and the rest of the church family. steve and marty were on fine form, these guys need their own show they are entertaining, and smart and refreshing in a sea of mediocraty.

November 22, 2006
Silencing the truth
Sir Harold Evans, the legendary former editor of the Sunday Times, recorded a telling incident – indeed, it was actually quite astounding – in a speech he gave recently to the Hudson Institute, as reported here by the New York Sun:

When I spoke at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival a couple of years back and criticized newspapers that headlined suicide bombers as martyrs, I was told by two angry leading intellectuals that I had lived too long in America. Something similar happened at this year’s Hay-on-Wye festival, sponsored by the Guardian, where a five-person panel discussed ‘Are there are any limits to free speech?’ One of the Muslim panelists said if anyone offended his religion, he would strike him. A lawyer, Anthony Julius, responded that Jews had lived as minorities under two powerful hegemonies, Christian and Muslim, and had been obliged to learn how to deal nonviolently with offense caused to them by the sacred scriptures of both. He started by referring to an anti-Semitic passage in the New Testament — which passed without comment. But when he began to list the passages in the Koran that denigrate Jews, describing them as monkeys and pigs, the panelists went ballistic. One of them, Madeline Bunting of the Guardian, put her hand over the microphone and said words to the effect, ‘I am not going to sit here and listen to any criticisms of Muslims.’ She was cheered, and not one of the journalists in the audience from right or left uttered a word about free speech — not hate speech, mind you, but free speech of a moderate nature.

…The free pass is extraordinary in light of the deaths in Britain, the conviction last week of a man plotting to blow up the London subways, and the public warning last week by the head of British intelligence, who traditionally remains anonymous, that 30 more plots were in the offing. These are the topics that should be worrying the press and broadcast organizations — that for all their brilliant staffers, resources, and reputation for authenticity, they can be fooled, and it is left to investigative web sites to shout foul. In the Lebanon war this past summer, celebrated newspapers and television stations worldwide carried pictures showing that Israel had targeted two International Red Cross ambulances — a fabrication of Hezbollah that investigative Web sites ultimately exposed.

At least one newspaperman grasps that, rather than its historic mission to tell truth to power, the media now uses its enormous power to silence the truth.

surfing each morning this week, waves are perfect, lots of speed, beautiful shapes, my mind getting clearer and i seem to be shedding some excess fat, which is a very good thing, thoughts assemble themselves in a stream of conciousness way, climaxing in my solar plexus as i radiate a bright yellow glow in the wave, i am blinding to look at, brighter than the life guards yellow vests, brighter than the sun, i feel the energy in my spirit and i transmit it to those i meet, girls smile my way, i notice heads turning, i seem to be attracting a lot of attension, i wish i could attract that cute french girl i been waiting for but in the meantime lets see what comes up.

two days off and i am enjoying the space, the peace, the love, tonight i'm seeing steve and marty play at the sandringham hotel, i burnt steve a couple of bowie cds, buddha of suburbia and the unreleased version of outside.

oscar wilde anyone:

Oscar on women and men

Women are sphinxes without secrets

American women are pretty and charming: little oases of elegant unreasonableness in a vast desert of practical common sense.

Many American women, on leaving their native land, adopt the appearance of chronic ill health, under the misapprehension that illness is a form of European refinement.

All women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy; no man does, that is his.

Never trust a woman who tells you her real age; a woman who tells you that would tell you anything.

Women are meant to be loved, not understood.

A woman will flirt with anyone in the world, so long as other women are looking on.

Women can discover everything except the obvious.

If a woman wants to hold a man, she has merely to appeal to the worst in him.

Crying is the refuge of plain women and the ruin of pretty ones.

If you really want to know what a woman means, which is dangerous, always look at her but never listen.

For fascinating women, sex is a challenge; for others, it is merely a defence.

35 is a very fattractive age: London society is full of women who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years.

Women give to men the very gold of their lives; but they always want it back in small change.

I like men who have a future, and women who have a past.

If a man is a gentleman he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is likely to be bad for him.

Men become old, they never become good.

I sometimes think that God, in creating man, rather overestimated His ability.

Oscar on love and marriage

The Niagara Falls is simply a vast amount of water going the wrong way over some unnecessary rocks; the sight of that waterfall must be one of the earliest and keenest disappointments in American married life.

A man can be happy with any woman, so long as he does not love her.

The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married.

The husbands of very beautiful women usually belong to the criminal classes.

London if full of women who trust their husbands; one can always recognise them because they look so thoroughly happy.

Twenty years of romance makes a woman look like a ruin; twenty years of marriage makes her look like a public building.

The three women I have most admired are Queen Victoria, Sarah Bernhardt, and Lillie Langtry. The first had great dignity, the second a lovely voice, and the third a perfect figure; I would have married any one of them with the greatest pleasure.

The only real tragedy in a woman's life is that her past is always her lover, and the future is invariably her husband.

In married life, three is company, two is none.

The proper basis for a marriage is mutual misunderstanding.

There is nothing in the world like the devotion of a married woman; it's a thing that no married man knows anything about.

When a woman marries again, it is because she detested her first husband; when a man marries again; it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck, men risk theirs.

I have always been of the opinion that a man about to get married should know either everything or nothing.

Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious; both are disappointed.

Oscar AT LARGE

Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend; it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friends' success.

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

Perhaps, after all, America has never been discovered; I prefer to think that is has merely been detected.

Of course America has often been discovered before Columbus, but is was always hushed up.

The youth of America is their oldest tradition; it has been going on now for three hundred years.

If you find a box labelled American Dry Goods, you can be reasonably sure it will contain nothing but their novels.

Education is a wonderful thing, provided you always remember that nothing worth knowing can ever be taught.

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information around.

Ignorance is a rare exotic fruit; touch it, and the bloom, has gone.

The only duty we owe history is to rewrite it.

The English country gentleman galloping after a fox - the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.

Democracy is simply the bludgeoning of the people for the people by the people.

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

I find that alcohol, taken in sufficient quantities, produces all the effects of intoxication.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.

Fashion is what one wears oneself; what is unfashionable is what other people wear.

No great artist ever sees things as they really are; if he did, he would cease to be an artist.

Society often forgives the criminal but it never forgives the dreamer.

Thre is no such thing as a moral or immoral book; books are well written or badly written.

Examinations consist of the foolish asking questions the wise cannot answer.

Punctuality is the thief of time.

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

Oscar on life

The book of life begins with a man and woman in a garden; it ends with revelations.

The good end happily and the bad unhappily; that is what fiction means.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Experience is the name we all give to our mistakes.

The only thing worse in the world than being talked about is not being talked about.

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time, they judge them; rarely is ever do they forgive them.

The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.

Nothing succeeds like excess.

In this world there are only two tragedies; one is not getting what one wants, the other is getting it.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

To get back one's youth, one merely has to repeat one's follies.

Young people nowadays assume that money is everything, and when they get older they know it.

It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.

No man is ever rich enough to buy back his past.

A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies.

Every great man nowadays has his disciples, but it is always Judas who writes the biography.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR

When I had to fill in the immigration papers, I gave my age as 19, and my profession as genius; I added that I had nothing to declare except my talent.

I have put my genius into my life, whereas all I have put into my work is my talent.

I can resisy everything except temptation.

I have very simple tastes, I am always satisfied with the very best.

I like talking to a brick wall, I find it is the only thing that never contradicts me.

Whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong.

One half of the world does not believe in God, and the other half does not believe in me.

Praise makes me humble, but when I am abused I know I have touched the stars.

I shall have to die, as I have lived, beyond my means.

To regain my youth I wold do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or become respectable.

If this is the way Queen Victoria treats her prisoners, she doesn't deserve to have any.

I shall never makes a new friend in life, though I rather hope to make a few in death.

I have had my hand on the moon; what is the use of trying to rise a little way from the ground?

This wallpaper will be the death of me; one of us will have to go.