Description
Phyllis Seckler aka Soror Meral(Author), David Shoemaker (Editor), Gregory Peters (Editor), Rorac Johnson (Editor), Lon Milo DuQuette(Foreword)
Temple of the Silver Star, 2020. Paperback. 312 pages. Edited by David Shoemaker, Gregory Peters, & Rorac Johnson. Brand New.
The Kabbalah, Magick, and Thelema is the second volume of writings by Phyllis Seckler to be published by the Temple of the Silver Star. Like the previous volume, The Thoth Tarot, Astrology, & Other Selected Writings, the work is edited and introduced by three of Seckler’s former students: Rorac Johnson, Gregory Peters, and David Shoemaker. The present volume also includes a short Foreword by another erstwhile student of Seckler’s, Lon Milo DuQuette, in which he reflects fondly on his teacher, and recounts with humor the trepidation that he felt prior to his first meeting with the seemingly mysterious “Soror Meral.”In common with her own distant mentor, Aleister Crowley, Soror Meral found short, pithy essays, written in the form of “letters,” to be an excellent and powerful teaching method. The main body of The Kabbalah, Magick, and Thelema comprises a series of these letters, which explore a wide range of topics from Kabbalah and the practice of ritual magick, through philosophical speculations, to commentary on the state of Thelemic culture at the time. Originally published in Seckler’s journal In the Continuum, they are here presented for the first time in book form, accompanied by redrawn and corrected diagrams. They give strong testament to her passionate determination to preserve and spread the ideas of Aleister Crowley and the principles of Thelema.The final section of the book contains a number of important letters between Seckler and other significant figures in the history of post-Crowleyan Thelema, including Karl Germer, Israel Regardie, Grady McMurtry, Gerald Yorke, and Marcelo Motta. These letters, which cover matters as diverse as the leadership succession of O.T.O. and the thefts of Karl Germer’s library, are published here for the first time. They are accompanied by a number of related photographs, the majority of which have not been previously published.
Phyllis Seckler (1917-2004) was introduced to the teachings of Aleister Crowley in the late 1930s and became a regular participant in the activities of Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis in California, and rose to become a Ninth Degree member of the “Sovereign Sanctuary of the Gnosis.” She was admitted to the A.’. A.’. under the tutelage of Jane Wolfe, eventually taking the now well-known magical name Soror Meral and was later confirmed as an Adeptus Minor by Crowley’s successor, Karl Germer. Seckler was a key figure in the reinauguration of the O.T.O. in 1969, and a few years later she founded the College of Thelema, with the intention that it would provide important background training and education for aspirants to the A.’. A.’. Seckler played a crucial role in the history of Thelema, not only through her efforts to explore and revive Crowley’s creed, but also by training a new generation of its students. Her legacy continues under the auspices of the Temple of the Silver Star, the magical organization she chartered shortly before her death, which serves as the repository of her literary estate, library and archives.
Dr. David Shoemaker is a clinical psychologist in private practice, specializing in Jungian and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. David is the Chancellor and Prolocutor of the Temple of the Silver Star (totss.org), a Thelemic initiatory and educational organization. He is a long-standing member of O.T.O. and A.’.A.’. (onestarinsight.org), and has many years of experience training initiates in these traditions. His widely praised Living Thelema book was published in late 2013. His 2016 publication, The Winds of Wisdom, contains a full record of his scrying of the Thirty Enochian Aethyrs, and his latest work, co-edited with Lon Milo DuQuette, is Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Ceremonial Magick. David has co-edited many volumes of the writings of Thelemic luminaries such as Phyllis Seckler, Karl Germer, and Jane Wolfe.
In addition to his work in magick and psychology, David is a composer and musician.
