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From: nagasiva@yronwode.com (nagasiva)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.magick.order,talk.religion.newage,alt.magick.tantra
Subject: Max: TOPY and history
Date: 6 Sep 1997 12:33:51 -0700
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[from thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org: max@alamut.wilder.net]

tim maroney wrote:
> Perhaps the honored past sysop of Alamut BBS could tell us about
> reforms if he is present.

ah.
that would be me...
i haven't quite been following the discussion, i only just noticed
it because someone posted the greybook. and then i found a semi-tepid
flame war against topy and the fabled last passage of the greybook.
first off, i should point out that i resigned from topy a few years
ago, and have had no hand in defining any policies or activities since
then. however, i did have a very strong hand in defining the policies
of the temple during my involvement.
i was the person who wrote the topy bylaws and incorporated the temple
in the usa.

it was stated in the bylaws, and was always my philosophy, that the
Individual was the central unit of the temple. we stated clearly that
the temples primary mission was to encourage and engender personal 
growth by supporting an Individuals magickal efforts - WHATEVER THEY
MAY BE! 
further, we also clearly stated that if an individual wished to cease
being an active member their sigil file would be returned to them upon
request. this was also re-iterated in the info packets that were sent
upon receipt of an Individuals first sigil.

i was never very happy with the greybook as it stood. many sections of 
the book bothered me for their obviously personal attacks. the primary
message of the greybook (the use of the sigil ritual) is so poorly 
written that most Individuals have entirely the wrong idea as to its
purpose when they begin their sigil process.

we were beginning to address these problems directly by putting the
oral teaching of the temple into a new volume to replace the greybook
as our central text. then things changed.

these teachings still exist, and will yet see their way into print.

TOPYNA was, and i suppose still is, a specifically thelemic organization.
TOPYNA was, and i suppose still is, a teaching order - which tries to
teach a form of magick that is immediatly within the grasp of all
Individuals who dare to try.

Christeos Pir [cfeldman@mindspring.com] wrote:
> Entirely different topic: that of admission to a certain order being based
> on giving them the means, via a magickal link, of spiritual constraint or
> blackmail.

blackmail?
sorry. the primary ingredient for blackmail to work is guilt. hopefully,
no matter what magickal system you work - especially if it is thelemic -
guilt ceases to be an issue and so does blackmail.
of course, i could point out that every magicakl order i can think of
asks for a magickal link as a sign of belonging. 
am i wrong?

---
M:.x:.D:.
http://www.wilder.net/
you are no longer a slave.
-- 
(emailed replies may be posted);join the AMT syncretism!!;call: 408/2-666-SLUG!
see http://www.abyss.com/tokus; "Clement of Rome taught that God rules the world
with a right and a left hand, the right being Christ, the left Satan." - CGJung