Description
Jerry Edward Cornelius
Privately Printed, Berkeley, California, USA 2022 Paperback. 442 pages. Second printing, one of only 111 copies printed. Brand new!
WHO IS FRATER ACHAD AND WHY SHOULD WE STUDY HIM?
Besides Aleister Crowley, Frater Achad is the single most important Thelemite in our history. He discovered the secrets of which Crowley was oblivious and he proved that Crowley did not write The Book of the Law. His discoveries about the number 31 and how 31 (AL) x 3 gods = 93 is critical. He discovered the 93 Current. Crowley so loved his discovery that he changed the cover of ‘Liber L vel Legis’ to ‘Liber AL vel Legis.’ Achad also joined the A.’.A.’. in 1909, only a few years after Crowley established the Order. He, like Crowley, swore the Oath of the Abyss and became a Magister Templi. He was already in the A.’.A.’. when Crowley was approached by Reuss to join the OTO. Crowley’s letters to Achad in these early years are the clearest description of how OTO sex magick works. Equally important are Crowley’s views on women. Achad’s breakup with Crowley is discussed in-depth, as is the debacle in Detroit, the Cefalu period and Achad’s involvement in the Universal Brotherhood. We also address the question, “Who is Maat?”
Charles Stansfeld Jones (1886-1950), better known as Frater Achad, was undisputedly one of the most unique Thelemites in modern magick. He signed the Oath of a Probationer into Aleister Crowley’s AA on December 24th, 1909.
In 1916 Jones recorded in his diary – “11.34 pm Proclamation of M.T.” He had sworn the dreaded Oath of the Abyss and declared himself a Magister Templi. Upon hearing this Crowley Proclaimed Achad to be his Magickal Son as prophesied in Liber AL vel Legis. It is no secret that Achad’s personal life and behaviour after taking the Oath of the Abyss took him down a dark road which at times clearly called his mental stability into question. The problems were rooted in his interpreting everything from a magickal point of view.
Achad wrote many articles and books, most notably Q.B.L., or The Bride’s Reception: A Short Qabalistic Treatise on the Nature and Use of the Tree of Life (1922), The Egyptian Revival (1923), and The Anatomy of The Body of God (1925). He also wrote such Thelemic classics as Liber 31, The Master of the Temple, and Stepping Out of the Old Aeon into the New.
On April 2nd, 1948 Jones proclaimed Aleister Crowley’s Aeon of Ra-Hoor-Khuit “over” and replaced with his Aeon of MAAT, or MA-ION.
We cannot ignore the wealth of material that he left us in regard to the dangers of assuming the degree of Magister Templi. The bottom line, he has proven that everyone has the undisputed right to take this degree, but not everyone can fulfill it.