Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 01:01:52 EDT
From: JGraeb@aol.com
Subject: Khalifa Returns
CALIPH OR KHALIFA - SPELLING IS DEFUNCT?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
In some prior e-mails the notion of the "Caliph" or "Khalifa" was discussed. The points raised were very important, and need to be presented again with a bit more focus on scholarly annotations, for those unfamilar with some of the material.
The term "Caliph" is the Latin rendering of the term, while "Khalifa" or "Khalipha" is a transliteration of the Arabic itself. The term generally means "successor" and can refer to either a temporal successor or a spiritual successor. It generally refers to a temporal successor (i.e. temporal power) in the Sunni tradition of Islam, while it generally means spiritual successor in the Shi'ite tradition of Islam.
The prior message had suggested that the dicotomy between the Sunni Islamic view of the office of Caliph and the Shi'ite Islamic view of the office of Khalifa can provide an historical background to current events happening in the OTO and Thelemic Community. I am using different spellings to highlight the different emphasis given the same office in the two major lineages of Islam.
The analogy with Islam is something that Crowley himself took up and incorporated into much of the OTO. Some of the degree initiations have an arabic motif present in them at some point, titles and initiatory progress is often expressed using the Islamic religion as the basis for an analogy, and much of Crowley's own initiatory work, especially in North Africa, Tunis, Egypt, etc, entailed Islamic and Arabic motifs. Crowley himself loved "One Thousand Nights and A Night" and I suggest that if one is not familar with may analogies below, that Crowley's own writings will provide some support.
Certainly, the importance of the Arabic traditions and Islam were passed on as an oral tradition in OTO and related Thelemic circles, and a detailed study of Islam and the Arabic traditions, especially as set forth by Corbin, Cittwick, Schimmel is recommended.
In Islam, the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite is essentially that with the death of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) two schools of thought arose. The first stated that (a) with the death of Muhammad there is no spiritual authority to determine spiritual questions, thus the question of "succession" to the Prophet deals with temporal authority only. Others disagreed. They are called Shi'ites and much of OTO's lore depends on this tradition. The Shi'ites hold that (b) there is a spiritual successor to the Prophet, and that such an important task would not be left to democratic vote, etc. Therefore, on the Shi'ite view, the question of successor deals with spiritual authority (and also temporal authority). In Shi'ite Islam it very much took on the tone of spiritual successor, since the Shi'ites did not do as well as the Sunni when it came to temporal authority.
As outlined above, point of view (a) is the Sunni point of view while (b) above is the Shi'ite point of view. This is a generalization, but other than detailed points, this brief discussion is accurate enough.
So, upon the death of the Prophet, the Sunni Muslims "elected" a Caliph. Similarly, in OTO history, certain heads of the OTO have been "elected".
Now interestingly, Crowley appears to have picked up something good from the Sunni side of this split, i.e. that each individual should decide spiritual issues for his or her self, without reliance upon others. This is set forth in The Comment to the Book of the Law which states in part:
All questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself.
Anyone who does not honor this Comment, dishonors our Prophet. Luckily, Thelemic punishments are not like Islamic ones (or are they?).
Unfortunately, as in Sunni Islam, the "organization" soon picked up a legalistic trait, and "orthodox" viewpoints were selected, therefore giving rise to the opposite notion of "heresy" and all the fun that comes with that sort of thing. Some of you can start to see my analogy already I'll bet.
The Shi'ites claim that one day Muhammad (upon whom be peace) was riding with his son in law Ali (Ali is married to the Prophet's daughter Fatima and a matrilineal element is present in Shi'ite Islam). The Prophet (or Islam) stopped, stood up, reached for Ali's hand and said:
O Messenger! Make known that which hath been revealed unto thee from thy Lord, or if thou do it not, thou will not have conveyed His message.
The Shi'ites take this "hadith" or story as the grounds for the "Imam" or spiritual successor in the full sense. That is, for Shi'ite Islam, the Imam is the spiritual representative on earth, and is the embodiment of the spiritual current and is responsible for making sure that Islam continues.
Now this gets its own problems, but we see this sort of thing in Tibetian Buddhism with the Dalai Lama, in Christianity with its Pope (a rather bad case) and in other ways. Generally, the Shi'ites tend towards Sufism and Mysticism and this doctrine is part of that basis. The full title of Imam is the office of spiritual successor (and the exclusive one) and we don't really buy into that piece of monotheism, but "Khalifa" as spiritual successors, entrusted with a duty, etc, is generally acceptable, provided, that person doesn't get carried away with the role and think that he or she is some font of all initiatory power, etc.
The Sunni of course deny that this event took place at all! So if you thought that the idea of denying that your opponent has an "oral tradition" or that the points they are making are not in some book somewhere, this is not new stuff. The Sunni's rely on the Koran - oh yea, and they have figured out "THE" correct interpretation of the Koran too - wasn't that thoughtful of them. So, don't disagree, or make changes! Don't rock the boat! This is a classic method to deny any basis or validity to your opponents point of view.
For a more detailed but less esoteric discussion of Islam and Ismaili Shi'ites see:
http://globale.net/~heritage/Source/0583.html#37
There is also a good web site at www.kheper.auz (I need to double check that one, but type "Ismaili Mysticism" into a search engine and you'll get it).
So, the Shi'ite see Ali as the first "esoteric" leader of Islam, after the Prophet. Ali is the first "Imam" in Shi'ite terms. He is also a "Khalifa" but lets wait a bit. Ali is a "Khalifa" in the sense that he tries to hold the two lines (temporal and spiritual together). The emphasis, is of course on the spiritual successor aspects, as these are Shi'ites (Indeed they are Ali's family and they believe in lineages, in the personal transmission of the "Baraka" or spiritual initiatory force from Master to Student, etc).
So if Ali is the "esoteric" leader, then who is the Prophet while he is alive? He must be both a temporal or exoteric leader AND the spiritual or esoteric leader. That is, he holds two aspects or two pillars (for Tree of Life fans). He establishes a new "Law" on the exoteric, and yet also lays the basis for a new esoteric understanding.
Here is where I drew the analogy to Crowley. As a Magus 9=2, Crowley operated as a Prophet for the New Aeon. He gave a word "Thelema" and he gave a new sacred book Liber Al vel Legis. He gave a law, and all the stuff you need to build an exoteric religion. I am suggesting that the task of a 9=2 Magus is, in part, to establish (or modify) a religion on the exoteric levels. This means making the spiritual connection "simple" enough for people to understand and accept, without all the esoteric study, etc., that occultists tend to like. Crowley accomplished that task successfully and is the Prophet of an Aeon, a 9=2 Magus to use A:.A:. terminology.
There is also another side, the esoteric, and I suggest that Crowley took on this role also. That is, in his role as an 8=3 he tended his "garden of initiates" in the A:.A:. , studied rare material, got well versed in esoteric Kabbalah, Tarot, Enochian, etc, etc. Crowley synthized material from all over, and created or helped to create an esoteric rennaissance, that we are enjoying today. This esoteric aspect is just as important as the exoteric aspect. I am further suggesting that as a Prophet, a Magus, both the exoteric and esoteric sides are successfully worked. I am suggesting that that is how Islam sees their Prophet and their Imam, that after the death of the Prophet, not only did the temporal/exoteric aspect need to be passed on, but the esoteric was also passed on to an Imam or successor.
I am also suggesting that most "mere" Masters of the Temple do not really do well at both aspects. That the A:.A:. grade of 8=3 tends to have initiates that tend to go to one side or the other (don't worry about the middle pillar - they did fine). Historically people and that includes MT do some things better than others. Some are wonderful corporate executives with great exoteric organizational skills. Others tend to the esoteric, to the personal mystical work, hermeticism, etc. My analogy is probably made, and I mean sincerely that having the one does not "exclude" the other, its just that that is not where that person is at their initiatory best.
What this comes down to is that if the leader or head of a magickal current takes his or her role as an organizational leader, an OHO if you will, as an exoteric task, this will indeed set up a situation whereby another will be drawn to fill the esoteric gap. This "magickal truth" seems to me to be the root of the A:.A:. controversy. That the esoteric (A:.A:.) is being touched as an exoteric organization, and the inner planes are working their work.
Anyway, back to Islam. The Shi'ites belief that with the death of the Prophet, Ali became the immediate successor as identified by the Prophet.
Just as Grady L. McMurtry came to be a "Caliph" by "selection" by Crowley, so he took on the role of a Khalifa and spiritual heir (technically an Imam - but Grady had the Socratic good sense to always avoid the more grandiose titles, because the task of that role is very demanding - more on this later). However, in the history of Islam the Sunni hold that Ali is the 4th Caliph, not the 1st, and indeed, Ali is the 4th temporal or exoteric leader of Islam.
So what then is the Shi'ite version? What about the 3 men who held power over the Islamic world prior to Ali? Where they Caliphs? Well, in Sunni circles yes, but in Shi'ite circles they were temporal Caliphs only. They did not take on the roles of Imam or Khalifa as a spiritual successor. That Ali was the Imam and Khalifa (as spiritual successor) all the time is the Shi'ite version ( you may guess by now that the Sunni and the Shi'ite don't get along to well - but that only supports my analogy). The Shi'ites hold that Ali did not "also" gain temporal authority until his time as "Caliph", at which point he was able to unify the two aspects.
We see therefore the two types of systems. Those that hold that the "primary" role is the spiritual leader, who may or may not be the temporal ruler, and the Sunni or legalist tradition that holds that temporal rulers are all you get, wake up and smell the coffee. We see this in modern Islam.
Those dangerous "fundamentalists" that the American media is always warning us about happen to be Shi'ite fundamentalists, and they have an Imam. So, the Shi'ite side can take on some less than pleasant tones.
Indeed, this split is essential to understand the analogy and the history. In Pre-Islamic times, Zoroastrian religion held that there were two extremes: a Good God and an Evil God, light and darkness, etc. The whole world of Becoming requires a duality to exist (0=2). This dualism is picked up by the Manicheans and transmitted to the Ismaili Gnostics and the Ismaili Shi'ites (they are diffferent!). So this notion of two pillars, two aspects, is fundamental to a magickal understanding of the universe or cosmos. When one side gets out of balance, the other side will compensate. Its a universal law, and is fundamental to the Sunni - Shi'ite split and the current polarization in the OTO.
So, back to magick. The split in Islam occurs and most of the "esoteric" stuff runs down the Shi'ite traditions, especially into the Ismaili Gnostics. They take over a lot of the Hermetic and Gnostic pre-Islamic material, and come up with some wonderful systems of thought.
See, Henry Corbin's books in general or specifically _Cyclical Time and the Ismaili Gnosis_. (Now I particularly like Avicenna or Ibn Sina, although Ibn Faribi is also a favorite).
This is relevant to you because if you are OTO and if who have taken your III* in OTO then you've seen a lot of this already, although it may not have been pointed out to you. If your not in OTO or haven't taken the III*, read Henry Corbin, you'll be in good shape either way. Now, legend has it that the Knights Templars meet up with a particular Shi'ite sect called the "Assassins" or as we liked to say when McMurty was Caliph,"the "hash hasheens" (See Crowley's "The Hashish Eater"). There is a connection between the Ismaili Gnostics and the Assassins under the leadership of Sal el Din
(Saladin), but that takes us too far afield.
So, Ali was the first Imam. There is a succession of Imams in Shi'ite Islam. Similarly, I am suggesting that we have a series of "khalifa" or successors to our Thelemic Prophet - Aleister Crowley. This line of succession runs through Grady L. McMurtry, and to those choosen by him as successors. (Well that should raise some heads) More below. The line of succession as a spiritual successor may or may not be the same as the line of succession of the OHO or Acting OHO or whatever name you want to give to the temporal authority in charge of OTO.
What I am suggesting is that the current OTO leadership has knowingly or unwittingly choosen the analogy of the Sunni path and has rejected the inner spiritual traditions of the 93 Current in doing so. For example, it is written in our sacred text "The word of sin is restriction" (I:41) but we see free speach threatened everywhere today, email lists are being shut down, and an approach is being sanctioned that is the opposite of "Thelema" and the notion of Freedom that it represents.
The decision to turn the OTO into a legalistic copyright machine, analogous to the Sunni legalist doctrines, with the emphasis upon the temporal power of copyrights, trademarks and similar matters is heart breaking for any true follower of the spiritual traditions of Aleister Crowley, and to me as a student of Grady and the tradition that he passed on from Aleister Crowley. Any harsh words of anger merely hide my sense of
loss. That such blatant disregard for the magickal and esoteric traditions of Aleister Crowley, in favor of some mythic "Blue Equinox Interpretation" of the Pre-Crowley Reuss 1917 "Constitution", is beyond my comprehension.
Again by way of analogy, the current OHO appears to have set himself up as a kind of Sunni "Caliph" a temporal leader of the OTO corporation, duly elected (I hope I am wrong) It appears to me that HB sees his magickal connection as coming through an entirely different line than through Aleister Crowley's OTO, or through Grady L. McMurtry the acknowledge "Khalifa" of the Prophet Ankh f na Khnosu. Instead it is seen as coming through some the
A:.A:. lineage - and I only hope, and I mean this sincerely, I only hope that you have tapped into the A:.A:. and are not deceived.
Again to use the Sunni analogy, it appears that our tradition has come to conclude that there is one and only one way to do things, all others being heresy. Expulsions seem to occur to the "heretics" and the OTO is considered to be in a state of "war" or Jihad, with its enemies. What a terrifying vision of the universe, what an terrible image to project onto those whose opinions differ, especially in relation to "Thelema" the word of the Aeon.
The analogy with the Shi'ite versus Sunni split is so plain it is very hard to remember that this is all just an analogy. For example, Cornelius argues that he is being martyred like Mansur el Hallaj, and is being made a heretic by the orthodox. This and other points merely show the fruitfulness of these analogies. Just as personal mystics were killed by the Sunni orthodox, so dissadent OTO members will be expelled. But, then again, I see myself and my fellows as the Thelemic counterparts of Shi'ite Islam.
The topic was first raised many years ago when Patrick King XI* Meithras established the Rite of Shiraz for the XI*. Then Khalifa Grady L. McMurtry who himself never claimed or wanted to be an XI*, recognized Patrick King to the degree. Yet how could such a thing occur if Grady himself did not hold such a degree? Simple - because he was the Khalifa, the spiritual successor to the Prophet, he could bestow or "recognize" the genuine article and allow the XI* to reformulate itself under his auspices.
Indeed, a major reason for my raising the Sunni versus Shi'ite analogy goes to the question of what happened to the XI* in the OTO. The XI* as reconstituted by Meithras had problems, but none so deadly as the new Caliph, Hymenaeus Beta.
HB wanted the XI* as a kind of "Inner Head of the Order" degree - which it is,
sorta, well not exactly . Indeed, a lot of background needs to be laid so lets pause and establish some of that background.
In Crowley's time the IX* was "synthetic" as it says in the Blue Equinox.
What that means is that any, thats right any "full" IX* could establish an entire OTO, since the "full" powers of the IX* include the ability to initiate into all grades and degrees of OTO, without external charter.
Khalifa Grady L. McMurtry knew that (that was his power - that and his Khalifa papers), and he therefore took the precaution to call all of his IX* that he made "provisional" IX*, rather than full IX*, with the provisio that they would become full IX* upon Grady's death (hence their ability to select a new Caliph - they were after Grady's death now each "full" IX* that is full "successors" - get it?).
Well the new Caliph had to deal with this problem and so he eliminated most of the "full" IX* from Crowley or Grady's time by having them swear loyalty under a ritual guise. Only a few didn't do that, and those few are still trouble to HB today. All the IX* created by HB are not "full" in the old sense, and the distinction is not recognized as valid, in fact, there is nothing written by Crowley to indicate that there is a distinction between full IX* anyway, so why should the orthodox Sunni school follow some vague oral teaching - just look at the Sunni treatment of the interaction between the Prophet Muhammad and Ali discussed above, the Sunni say "it just didn't happen!!!"
So, the same sort of problem arises with Patrick King, Meithras XI*.
That damn Grady acting as a Khalifa creates what - another "full" initiatory sex magic degree! Well, with the expulsion of Meithras (who did have some unsaintly traits - LOL) that left Graeb as the Acting Head of the XI*.
Graeb was soon suspended, and told that should he ever tell, that he would surely be expelled. Graeb finally figured that, with expulsion likely anyway, it was time for some history to be told. Graeb is also an interesting case because he is both a Grady L. McMurtry IX* (From Crowley to Grady to Graeb) and a Meithras XI* (Crowley to Grady to Meithras to
Graeb), so his claims at Shi'ite succession have some ring to them. Of course there is El Rizuli, Pasq, Deerfield and others that might get a restart going.
So, this whole business of Khalifa came up in the first place during a discussion of the XI* of OTO. Lets go back and review, the theory is that by analogy with the Islamic Prophet and then the Sunni and Shi'ite traditions that:
- Thelema had its Prophet - Aleister Crowley 9=2 Magus of the Aeon.
- Crowley also acted as an esoteric Imam or Khalifa (8=3) and as an esoteric teacher, in addition to founding an exoteric religion.
- Crowley passed on the esoteric line to a spiritual successor (Khalifa) who also had temporal power as a Caliph (just like Ali did), that is Grady L. McMurtry.
- McMurtry had the wit to pass on an emergency Khalifa, and arranged for an election of a temporal Caliph. A new Caliph was elected.
Whether or not he was also a Khalifa in the spiritual sense, is currently the issue in debate. - If the OHO is not the Khalifa in the analogous sense used above, or if he forfeited that position by leaning too much of the exoteric side of things, then the natural correction that the universe itself will make is to find another Khalifa (or reform the current organization - either way).
This "Khalifa" may or may not be a person. It may be a group of people.
The energies find their instruments, the instruments don't choose this or that.
Anyway, this relates to the IX* and the XI* as follows:
- The IX* is the highest sex magick degree in the OTO;
- The X* is generally considered an administrative and honorary position (and I am open to correction on this)
- The XI* is the reversal of the IX* formula.
Now everyone states that the XI* is this, that and the other. Here is my understanding from Grady and Meithras: Basically, you do have heterosexual vs homosexual aspects, you have oral versus anal aspects, but the main issue is that the IX* is a degree relating to the manifestation in the objective universe of the will or the subjective universe of the operator(s). The magician(s) take a subjective universe and manifest it in the objective world - something that I was told was a "demiurgic" magick. That is, the IX* "secret" is so damn powerful because it really can change the objective world.
The XI* on the other hand, is focused on the subjective state of the magician(s) so as to modify or alter another subjective state. That is, the magician(s) works on him or herself, for initiatory transformation. The IX* focuses on the outward, the XI* focuses on the inward, and thats the big secret. So, when Crowley took over the OTO in 1922 his sex magick workings would lead him to posit an XI* which is the initiatory or self transforming (yes,
Xepering) operation par execellance. The XI* should not be some "rare" degree, but persons holding the IX* have doubtless figured out the XI* (and it does not have to be homosexual, etc) and, as Crowley indicated, the upper sex magick degrees of OTO are something the person already "knows" and is recognized as holding, they are not "conferred" on someone who doesn't have it worked out already.
So, back to Sunni and Shi'ites. The Sunni aspect is the exoteric or IX* aspect of sex magick and the Shi'ite aspect is the esoteric or XI* aspect of sex magick. That is a pretty bald statement, and should be refined, but at the end of this long treatise composed on line, I'll have to explain it more later. That is, the outward Caliph is a "metaphor" for the IX* operator and the "Khalifa" is a "metaphor" for the XI* operator, in many aspects.
This starts to tie into the idea that the XI* is the "Inner Head of the Order". The XI* is certainly "inner" oriented, and a good name for the head of that degree would be Inner Head of the Order, although other significant connotations also exist. The Outer Head of the Order would be in charge of all the IX*. So, the upper sex magick degrees would have two aspects: inner and outer, just as they have two pillars in Pre-Islamic gnosticism.
Well, this treatise was necessary to explain myself. It was composed on line and I hope that my critical audience will forgive some of my errors to the speed of composition and the timing. I sincerely feel that these issues and ideas need to get out to more people, so that we old dinosaurs pass on some of our learning. I hope that my more aggresive remarks will be taken with some moderation. Indeed, I do still hold to some vague hope that somehow all the Sunni versus Shi'ite problems will be resolved through mutual understanding and friendship.
The notion of "Jihad" is a personal struggle or war with one's own inner demons or lower nature, it, like everything else these days, it seems to be moving to an exoteric manifestation, yet need not. I hope some of my ideas have awakened some of you, I am sure that they shocked some of you. Please feel free to write if you have any questions.
Love is the law, love under will.
James T. Graeb
