I stumbled upon these two LPs a few years ago, upon dropping the needle I was instantly taken by the period piece quality to the service on the 1st. Transistor organ, call and response hymnals, talk of vibrations and colors...Who were these people?? Ann Davies cuts an interesting figure on the 1st LP- a somewhat androgynous and harsh looking leader of an esoteric group that was at one time based in my then neighborhood of Highland Park...I'd have to look into it...
Soon after finding these LPs,my mother-in-law mentioned stopping into a very interesting shop near her house, where one of the original Gold Dawn students, a Paul Foster Case, had started his own "Church of the Tarot" back in the 30's. This was especially interesting to her as she herself had been raised by a man who had a huge library of orig. Golden Dawn manuscripts and pamphlets, a few of which she still has...Turns out this church was the same place that put out these two LPs. Intriguing indeed, the group was still around! We decided to attend a couple of their "open to the public" Sunday ceremonies.
The temple is set up with a platform at the front, to the stage right there is an organ, near the center is a small podium. The stage is flanked by black and white pilars (liken to the temple of Solomon) and on the walls surrounding this stage are are reproductions of the major arcana cards from the Tarot. The ceremonies were very similar to the LPs- great transistor organ, prayers in the dark, and a short sermon. Afterwards, I was introduced to a fellow who runs the show these days, he was excited to hear that I had the LPs as he sings on at least one of them...
Oddly enough, Gary Usher produced the second LP, you can tell on some of the vocal pieces as the have a touch of the 'lyte-psyche'. He also painted the cover, so he must have been heavily involved with the group.
In 1954, Paul Foster Case "was summoned to another state of conciousness" and Ann Davies took over as Prolocutor General for BOTA, she seems to have really expanded on Case's original ideas-they still play her taped lectures a couple times a month. She passed on in 1975, the year of my birth!...
Very cool design on both releases, with my tastes leaning toward the first one, minimal and succinct...
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Paul Foster Case (1), Bota (1), Occult (13), Weird (31), Private Press (4), Ann Davies (1), Gary Usher (1), Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn (1)Recent Posts From Mr. Chadwick
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Yes, Joyce Chesterman also gave the LP at the top, which I keep religiously. Many years ago I asked a friend to transfer it from the turn-table to mp3 on my computer (which just 10 years ago involved a lot of paraphrenalia and cables) and I find its vibrations amazing. Sometimes we also play it to replace our Service in Sydney. I generally don't deal well with women's energies, but Ann Davies is very special. Cheers! L.V.X. Isabel
I also just stumbled up;on a mint condition pressing of the 1961 Qabbalistic Service. The label on my copy is gold-colored, and says 1961. The record itself is a dark shade of red. On the upper right corner of the album cover "$5.00" is printed. A very trippy record, and VERY California.
I came across the second album yesterday and it is very trippy. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. It's in perfect shape. I really like the jewery Doc. Ann is wearing, and those eyebrows are very intense. These may be the last photos taken of her if she died in 1975, as this is the printing date of my copy.