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Revision as of 21:24, 20 February 2025
- This article is about a Thelema personality
James Lees (August 22, 1939—2015) was an English magician who discovered the system he called English Qaballa.
Lees was born in Bolton, Lancashire. He established a career as an analytic chemist. In his search for truth, he also studied psychology. Not finding the answers he wanted from science, he turned to the study of astrology, even making a living for a time as a horary astrologer[Note 1].
Still determined to find more answers, Lees chose to study Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. He then began experimenting with invocations from the Key of Solomon. Pleased with the results, he undertook the 18-month work detailed in The Book of Abramelin using the Bornless Ritual. After claiming to have successfully invoked his Holy Guardian Angel, he focused on ascending the 'Middle Pillar' of the Tree of Life, culminating in an experience known as crossing the abyss.
Then, in November 1976, Lees constructed the "Order & Value of the English Alphabet." Following this, Lees founded the O∴A∴A∴ to assist others in pursuing their own spiritual paths. The first public report of the system known as English Qaballa (EQ) was published in 1979 by Ray Sherwin in an editorial in the final issue of his journal, The New Equinox. Lees subsequently took on the role of publisher for The New Equinox and, beginning in 1981, published additional material about the EQ system over five issues of the journal, extending into 1982.
In 1904, Aleister Crowley wrote the foundational document of his worldview, known as Liber AL vel Legis, The Book of the Law. This text contained the injunction found in verse 2:55: "Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them to," which Crowley understood as referring to an English Qabalah yet to be developed or revealed.
The "order & value" crafted by James Lees arranges the letters on the grid superimposed over the manuscript page of Liber AL, where this verse (Ch. III, v. 47) is found (sheet 16 of Chapter III). Also visible on this page are a diagonal line and a circled cross. The Book of the Law specifies that the book should only be printed with Crowley's handwritten version included, implying that there are mysteries in the "chance shape of the letters and their positions to one another" in Crowley's handwriting. Regardless of which top-left to bottom-right diagonal is read, the magickal order of the letters is revealed.
Little additional material on English Qaballa was published until Jake Stratton-Kent's 2011 release of The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187. This was followed in 2016 by Cath Thompson's The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer. James Lees and his group in England created, explored, and continued to research and develop the system until 2010, as detailed in her 2018 book, All This and a Book.
Notes
- ↑ Horary astrology is an ancient branch of horoscopic astrology in which an astrologer attempts to answer a question by constructing a horoscope for the exact time at which the question was received and understood by the astrologer.
The answer to the horary question might be a simple yes or no but is generally more complex with insights into, for example, the motives of the questioners, the motives of others involved in the matter, and the options available to them.
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:James_Lees_(English_magician) ]
Sources
| Ordo Templi Orientis | |
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| Outline of spirituality ● List of occult terms ● List of occultists ● Outline of spirituality |
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- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:James_Lees_(English_magician) ]
| Outline of spirituality ● List of occult terms ● List of occultists ● Outline of spirituality |
|---|
|
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:James_Lees_(English_magician) ]
External links
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