Thelema

Thelema (/θəˈliːmə/) is an occult social or spiritual philosophy developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley, an English writer, mystic, and ceremonial magician.[1] The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα (pronounced [θélɛ:ma]), "will", from the verb θέλω (thélō): "to will, wish, want or purpose".

"Do what thou wilt" redirects here. For the album by Ab-Soul, see Do What Thou Wilt.

For the EP by Murder City Devils, see Thelema (EP).

Aleister Crowley's rendition of the unicursal hexagram, perhaps the best known symbol of, and certainly one of the most important symbols in Thelema, equivalent of the ancient Egyptian ankh or the Rosicrucian Rosy Cross but first derived in 1639 from Blaise Pascal's hexagrammum mysticum theorem

Crowley asserted or believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904.[2] By his account, a possibly non-corporeal or "praeterhuman" being that called itself Aiwass contacted him (through Rose) and subsequently dictated a text known as The Book of the Law or Liber AL vel Legis, which outlined the principles of Thelema.[3]

The Thelemic pantheon—a collection of gods and goddesses who either literally exist or serve as symbolic archetypes or metaphors—includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law: Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. In at least one instance, Crowley described these deities as a "literary convenience".[4]

Three statements in particular distill the practice and ethics of Thelema:

• "Do what thou wilt" shall be the whole of the Law, meaning that adherents of Thelema should seek out and follow their true path, i.e. find or determine their True Will.[5]
• Love is the law, love under will, i.e. the nature of the Law of Thelema is love, but love itself is subsidiary to finding and manifesting one's authentic purpose or "mission".
• Every man and every woman is a star, which is to say that in the 20th century era vulgaris cosmology, it is implied by metaphor that persons doing their Wills are like stars in the universe: occupying a time and position in space, yet distinctly individual and having an independent nature largely without undue conflict with other stars.

Among the corpus of ideas, Thelema describes what is termed "the Æon of Horus" (the "Crowned and Conquering Child")—as distinguished from an earlier "Æon of Isis" (mother-goddess idea) and "Æon of Osiris" (typified by bronze-age redeemer-based, divine-intermediary, or slain/flayed-god archetype religions such as Christianity, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Odinism, Osiris, Attis, Adonis, etc.). Many adherents (also known as "Thelemites") emphasize the practice of Magick (glossed generally as the "Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will").

Crowley's later writings included related commentary and hermeneutics but also additional "inspired" writings that he collectively termed The Holy Books of Thelema. He also associated Thelemic spiritual practice with concepts rooted in occultism, yoga, and Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah.[6]

Aspects of Thelema and Crowley's thought in general inspired the development of Wicca and, to a certain degree, the rise of Modern Paganism as a whole, as well as chaos magick and some variations of Satanism. Some scholars, such as Hugh Urban, also believe Thelema to have been an influence on the development of Scientology,[7] but others, such as J. Gordon Melton, deny any such connection.[8]

Historical precedents

The word θέλημα (thelema) is rare in Classical Greek, where it "signifies the appetitive will: desire, sometimes even sexual",[9] but it is frequent in the Septuagint.[9] Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will,[10] and even the will of God's created faith tester and inquisitor, the Devil,[11] but it usually refers to the will of God.[12]

One well-known example is in the "Lord's Prayer", "Thy kingdom come. Thy will (θέλημα) be done, On earth as it is in heaven." It is used later in the same gospel, "He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." In his 5th-century Sermon, Augustine of Hippo gave a similar instruction:[13] "Love, and what thou wilt, do." (Dilige et quod vis fac).[14]

In the Renaissance, a character named "Thelemia" represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican friar Francesco Colonna. The protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica (reason) and Thelemia (will or desire). When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic.[15] Colonna's work was a great influence on the Franciscan friar François Rabelais, who in the 16th century, used Thélème, the French form of the word, as the name of a fictional abbey in his novels, Gargantua and Pantagruel.[16][17] The only rule of this Abbey was "fay çe que vouldras" ("Fais ce que tu veux", or, "Do what thou wilt").

In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham,[18] where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club.[18] Rabelais's Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema (1878), and C. R. Ashbee in his utopian romance The Building of Thelema (1910).

Definition of "Thelema"

In Classical Greek

As the forerunner of today's concept of will, the Greek boule (βουλή) is considered by classic philology, not thelo (θέλω) or 'thelema'.

There are, in Greek, two words for will, which are used, for example, in New Testament partly synonym: thelema and boule .

• 'Boule' means 'will', 'intention', 'counsel', 'project' (i.e. a will with purpose)
• 'Thelema' is a rarely used word in classical Greek. There are very few documents, the earliest being Antiphon the Sophist (5th century BCE). In antiquity it was beside the divine will which a man performs, just as much for the will of sexual desire. The intention of the individual was less understood as an overall, generalized, ontological place wherever it was arranged.[19]

The verb thelo appears very early (Homer, early Attic inscriptions) and has the meanings of "ready", "decide" and "desire" (Homer, 3, 272, also in the sexual sense).

"Aristotle says in the book de plantis that the goal of the human will is perception - unlike the plants that do not have 'epithymia' (translation of the author). "Thelema", says the Aristoteles, "has changed here, 'epithymia'", and 'thelema', and that 'thelema' is to be neutral, not somehow morally determined, the covetous driving force in man."[20]

In the Old Testament

In Septuaginta the term is used for the will of God himself, the religious desire of the God-fearing, and the royal will of a secular ruler. It is thus used only for the representation of high ethical willingness in the faith, the exercise of authority by the authorities, or the non-human will, but not for more profane striving.[21] In the translation of the Greek Old Testament (the Septuaginta), the terms boule and thelema appear, whereas in the Vulgate text, the terms are translated into the Latin voluntas ("will"). Thus, the different meaning of both concepts was lost.

In the New Testament

In the New Testament in Koine thelema is used 62 or 64[22] times, twice in the plural (thelemata). Here, God's will is always and exclusively designated by the word "thelema" (θέλημα, mostly in the singular), as the theologian Federico Tolli points out by means of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament of 1938 ("Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"). In the same way the term is used in the Apostle Paul and Ignatius of Antioch. For Tolli it follows that the genuine idea of Thelema does not contradict the teachings of Jesus (Tolli, 2004).

François Rabelais

Main article: François Rabelais

François Rabelais

François Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532. There he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books. They tell the story of two giants—a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures—written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein.

Most critics today agree that Rabelais wrote from a Christian humanist perspective.[23] The Crowley biographer Lawrence Sutin notes this when contrasting the French author's beliefs with the Thelema of Aleister Crowley.[24] In the previously mentioned story of Thélème, which critics analyze as referring in part to the suffering of loyal Christian reformists or "evangelicals"[25] within the French Church,[26] the reference to the Greek word θέλημα "declares that the will of God rules in this abbey".[27] Sutin writes that Rabelais was no precursor of Thelema, with his beliefs containing elements of Stoicism and Christian kindness.[24]

In his first book (ch. 52–57), Rabelais writes of this Abbey of Thélème, built by the giant Gargantua. It is a classical utopia presented in order to critique and assess the state of the society of Rabelais's day, as opposed to a modern utopian text that seeks to create the scenario in practice.[28] It is a utopia where people's desires are more fulfilled.[29] Satirical, it also epitomises the ideals considered in Rabelais's fiction.[30] The inhabitants of the abbey were governed only by their own free will and pleasure, the only rule being "Do What Thou Wilt". Rabelais believed that men who are free, well born and bred have honour, which intrinsically leads to virtuous actions. When constrained, their noble natures turn instead to remove their servitude, because men desire what they are denied.[16]

Some modern Thelemites consider Crowley's work to build upon Rabelais's summary of the instinctively honourable nature of the Thelemite. Rabelais has been variously credited with the creation of the philosophy[31] of Thelema, as one of the earliest people to refer to it,[32] or with being "the first Thelemite".[33] However, the current National Grand Master General of the U.S. Ordo Templi Orientis Grand Lodge has stated:

Saint Rabelais never intended his satirical, fictional device to serve as a practical blueprint for a real human society ... Our Thelema is that of The Book of the Law and the writings of Aleister Crowley[34]

Aleister Crowley wrote in The Antecedents of Thelema, (1926), an incomplete work not published in his day, that Rabelais not only set forth the law of Thelema in a way similar to how Crowley understood it, but predicted and described in code Crowley's life and the holy text that he claimed to have received, The Book of the Law. Crowley said the work he had received was deeper, showing in more detail the technique people should practice, and revealing scientific mysteries. He said that Rabelais confines himself to portraying an ideal, rather than addressing questions of political economy and similar subjects, which must be solved in order to realize the Law.[35]

Rabelais is included among the Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.[36]

Francis Dashwood and the Hellfire Club

Portrait of Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, by William Hogarth from the late 1750s

Sir Francis Dashwood adopted some of the ideas of Rabelais and invoked the same rule in French, when he founded a group called the Monks of Medmenham (better known as the Hellfire Club).[18] An abbey was established at Medmenham, in a property which incorporated the ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1201. The group was known as the Franciscans, not after Saint Francis of Assisi, but after its founder, Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer. John Wilkes, George Dodington and other politicians were members.[18] There is little direct evidence of what Dashwood's Hellfire Club practiced or believed.[37] The one direct testimonial comes from John Wilkes, a member who never got into the chapter-room of the inner circle.[37][38] He describes the group as hedonists who met to "celebrate woman in wine", and added ideas from the ancients just to make the experience more decadent.[39]

In the opinion of Lt. Col. Towers, the group derived more from Rabelais than the inscription over the door. He believes that they used caves as a Dionysian oracular temple, based upon Dashwood's reading of the relevant chapters of Rabelais.[40] Sir Nathaniel Wraxall in his Historical Memoires (1815) accused the Monks of performing Satanic rituals, but these claims have been dismissed as hearsay.[37] Gerald Gardner and others such as Mike Howard[41] say the Monks worshipped "the Goddess". Daniel Willens argued that the group likely practiced Freemasonry, but also suggests Dashwood may have held secret Roman Catholic sacraments. He asks if Wilkes would have recognized a genuine Catholic Mass, even if he saw it himself and even if the underground version followed its public model precisely.[42]

Beliefs

Defining the Thelemite

The literal definition of the term "Thelemite" is, according to Merriam-Webster, "one who does as he pleases." One may take this definition to entail, by extension, "one who does his or her will".

However, there is no standard conception of what one must believe or do, or what, if anything, one must practice in order to be considered a Thelemite. In other words, there is no standardized Thelemic orthodoxy (Greek: ὀρθοδοξία orthodoxía, approx. "correct belief," from the ancient Greek: δόξα doxa, lit. "belief") or orthopraxy. (Greek: ὀρθοπραξία orthopraxia, approx. "correct practice".)

In the most basic sense, a Thelemite is any person who either does their will—if going by Crowley's conception, then their true or pure will, as opposed to the "mundane" will of the ego—or attempts to discover and do that will. This being the loosest conception of what makes someone a Thelemite, any individual who discovers and enacts their true will, or attempts to discover and enact it, knowingly or unknowingly, and whether or not they adhere to Crowley's system of Thelema as such, can be called a Thelemite. In the system of the Thelemic mystical order A∴A∴, for instance, Lao Tzu, Gautama Buddha, and Muhammad, all of whom predate the development of Thelema, are identified as individuals who, through spiritual attainment, became magi or possibly ipsissimi—i.e., in the Qabalistic sense, attained at least the magical grade of magus, having reached the stage of Chokmah on the Tree of Life; if not having become ipsissimi, which is equivalent of obtaining the stage of Kether—implying that they attained their True Wills.

In a stricter sense, a Thelemite is someone who accepts the Law of Thelema. In an even stricter sense, it is someone who accepts or adheres to The Book of the Law (which includes the aforementioned Law), however interpreted. And, in the strictest sense, it is someone who adheres to both the Book of the Law and, to some extent—greater, lesser, or complete—the remainder of Crowley's writings on Thelema.

In The Book of the Law, Crowley wrote, "Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth."

As Crowley leaves the contents of The Book of the Law up to individual interpretation, the "grades" of Hermit, Lover, and man of Earth can naturally be taken to signify different things. However, Thelemic writer IAO131 believes them to correspond to different stages of the mystical or spiritual path, one progressing from man of Earth to Lover to Hermit, culminating in enlightenment: According to him, the man of Earth symbolizes spiritual self-discipline, the Lover experiential communion with the divine, and the Hermit the dissolution of the ego.

Aleister Crowley

Main article: Aleister Crowley

Thelema was founded by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), who was an English occultist and writer. In 1904, Crowley claimed to have received The Book of the Law from an entity named Aiwass, which was to serve as the foundation of the religious and philosophical system he called Thelema.[3][43]

The Book of the Law

Main article: The Book of the Law

Crowley's system of Thelema begins with The Book of the Law, which bears the official name Liber AL vel Legis. It was written in Cairo, Egypt, during his honeymoon with his new wife Rose Crowley (née Kelly). This small book contains three chapters, each of which he claimed to have written in exactly one hour, beginning at noon, on April 8, April 9, and April 10, 1904. Crowley claims that he took dictation from an entity named Aiwass, whom he later identified as his own Holy Guardian Angel.[44] Disciple, author, and onetime Crowley secretary Israel Regardie prefers to attribute this voice to the subconscious, but opinions among Thelemites differ widely. Crowley claimed that "no forger could have prepared so complex a set of numerical and literal puzzles" and that study of the text would dispel all doubts about the method of how the book was obtained.[45]

Besides the reference to Rabelais, an analysis by Dave Evans shows similarities to The Beloved of Hathor and Shrine of the Golden Hawk,[46] a play by Florence Farr.[47] Evans says this may result from the fact that "both Farr and Crowley were thoroughly steeped in Golden Dawn imagery and teachings",[48] and that Crowley probably knew the ancient materials that inspired some of Farr's motifs.[49] Sutin also finds similarities between Thelema and the work of W. B. Yeats, attributing this to "shared insight" and perhaps to the older man's knowledge of Crowley.[50]

Crowley wrote several commentaries on The Book of the Law, the last of which he wrote in 1925. This brief statement called simply "The Comment" warns against discussing the book's contents, and states that all "questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings" and is signed Ankh-af-na-khonsu.[51]

True Will

Main article: True Will

According to Crowley, every individual has a True Will, to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego. The True Will is essentially one's "calling" or "purpose" in life. Some later magicians have taken this to include the goal of attaining self-realization by one's own efforts, without the aid of God or other divine authority. This brings them close to the position that Crowley held just prior to 1904.[52] Others follow later works such as Liber II, saying that one's own will in pure form is nothing other than the divine will.[53] Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law for Crowley refers not to hedonism, fulfilling everyday desires, but to acting in response to that calling. The Thelemite is a mystic.[52] According to Lon Milo DuQuette, a Thelemite is anyone who bases their actions on striving to discover and accomplish their true will,[54] when a person does their True Will, it is like an orbit, their niche in the universal order, and the universe assists them.[55]

In order for the individual to be able to follow their True Will, the everyday self's socially-instilled inhibitions may have to be overcome via deconditioning.[56][57] Crowley believed that in order to discover the True Will, one had to free the desires of the subconscious mind from the control of the conscious mind, especially the restrictions placed on sexual expression, which he associated with the power of divine creation.[58] He identified the True Will of each individual with the Holy Guardian Angel, a daimon unique to each individual.[59] The spiritual quest to find what you are meant to do and do it is also known in Thelema as the Great Work.[60]

The Stèle of Revealing, depicting Nuit, Hadit as the winged globe, Ra-Hoor-Khuit seated on his throne, and the creator of the Stèle, the scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu

Cosmology

Thelema draws its principal gods and goddesses from Ancient Egyptian religion. The highest deity in the cosmology of Thelema is the goddess Nuit. She is the night sky arched over the Earth symbolized in the form of a naked woman. She is conceived as the Great Mother, the ultimate source of all things.[61] The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit, conceived as the infinitely small point, complement and consort of Nuit. Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time.[61] He is also described in Liber AL vel Legis as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star".[62] The third deity in the cosmology of Thelema is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a manifestation of Horus. He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand. He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.[61]

Other deities within the cosmology of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates), god of silence and inner strength, the brother of Ra-Hoor-Khuit,[61] Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure, known as the Virgin Whore,[61] and Therion, the beast that Babalon rides, who represents the wild animal within man, a force of nature.[61]

God, deity, and the divine

Thelemites differ widely in their views of the divine, and these views are often tied to their personal paradigms, including their conceptions of what demarcates objective and subjective reality, as well as falsehood and truth: some hold unique, or otherwise very specific or complex views of the nature of divinity, that are not easily explained; many are supernaturalists, claiming that the supernatural or paranormal in some way exist, and incorporate these assumptions into their spiritual practices in some way; others are religious or spiritual naturalists, viewing the spiritual or sacred—or whatever they feel is, or may be, in reality, analogous to them, or their equivalents—as identical to the material, natural, or physical. Naturalists, whether religious or spiritual, tend to believe that faith in, or experience of, the supernatural is grounded in falsehood or error, or can be explained by delusion or hallucination.

The Book of the Law can be taken to imply a kind of pantheism or panentheism: the former is the belief that the divine, or ultimate reality, is coterminous with the totality of the cosmos, interpenetrating all phenomena, the sacred identical with the universe; the latter is the same but moreover holds that the divine, sacred, or ultimate reality in some way transcends the mundane.

The Book of the Law states, "there is no god but man", and many Thelemites see the divine as the inner, perfected individual state—a "true self" or "higher self" often conceived of as the Holy Guardian Angel (although certain Thelemites view the Angel as a separate entity)—that forms the essence of every person. But also in the Book Nuit says, "I am Heaven and there is no other God than me, and my lord Hadit".

Some Thelemites are polytheists or henotheists, while others are atheists, agnostics, or apatheists. Thelemites frequently hold a monistic view of the cosmos, believing that everything is ultimately derived from one initial and universal state of being, often conceived of as Nuit. (Compare the Neoplatonic view of The One.) The Book of the Law states that Hadit, representative, in one sense, of motion, matter, energy, and space-time—i.e. physical phenomena—is a manifestation of Nuit. (The Book of the Law opens with the verse, "Had! The manifestation of Nuit.") In other words, the cosmos and all its constituents are a manifestation of, and unified by their relationship to, the underlying divine reality, or monad. (Analogous to the Tao of Taoism.)

IAO131 writes, quoting 'the Book of the Law, "Thelema asserts in its own Bible ('The Book of the Law) that “Every man and every woman is a star” and that godhead is “above you & in you” and [that Hadit is] “the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.”"

In Thelemic rituals, the divine, however conceived, is addressed by various names, particularly mystical names derived from the Qabalah, including IAO (ιαω; the phrase is uttered during the Gnostic Mass)—an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton—and Ararita (אראריתא): A Hebrew notarikon for the phrase "Achad Rosh Achdotho Rosh Ichudo Temurato Achad", meaning, roughly "One is the beginning of his unity, the beginning of his uniqueness; his permutation is one." (אחד ראש אחדותו ראש יחודו תמורתו אחד. The phrase is uttered when performing the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram, a ritual found in Crowley's Liber O.)

'IAO is of particular importance in Thelemic ceremonial magick, and functions both as a name for the divine and a magical formula. Crowley associated this formula with yoga, and noted that its letters can signify the attributes of Isis, Apophis, and Osiris, or birth, death, and resurrection, respectively, stages of change which he believed, and many Thelemites believe, is analogous to the processes constantly undergone by the physical universe.

Crowley wrote in his Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4, that IAO is "the principal and most characteristic formula of Osiris, of the Redemption of Mankind. "I" is Isis, Nature, ruined by "A", Apophis the Destroyer, and restored to life by the Redeemer Osiris."

Crowley also created a new formula, based on IAO, that he called the "proper hieroglyph of the Ritual of Self-Initiation in this Aeon of Horus": VIAOV (also spelled FIAOF), which results from adding the Hebrew letter vau to the beginning and end of "IAO". According to Crowley, VIAOV is a process whereby a person is elevated to the status of the divine, attaining his or her True Will, and yet remains in human form and goes on to "redeem the world": "Thus, he is Man made God, exalted, eager; he has come consciously to his full stature, and so is ready to set out on his journey to redeem the world." (Compare the role of the bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism.)

Magick and ritual

Main articles: Magick (Thelema) and Thelemic mysticism

Thelemic magick is a system of physical, mental, and spiritual exercises which practitioners believe are of benefit.[63] Crowley defined magick as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will",[64] and spelled it with a 'k' to distinguish it from stage magic. He recommended magick as a means for discovering the True Will.[65] Generally, magical practices in Thelema are designed to assist in finding and manifesting the True Will, although some include celebratory aspects as well.[66] Crowley was a prolific writer, integrating Eastern practices with Western magical practices from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.[67] He recommended a number of these practices to his followers, including basic yoga; (asana and pranayama);[68] rituals of his own devising or based on those of the Golden Dawn, such as the Lesser ritual of the pentagram, for banishing and invocation;[66] Liber Samekh, a ritual for the invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel;[66] eucharistic rituals such as The Gnostic Mass and The Mass of the Phoenix;[66] and Liber Resh, consisting of four daily adorations to the sun.[66] Much of his work is readily available in print and online. He also discussed sex magick and sexual gnosis in various forms including masturbatory, heterosexual, and homosexual practices, and these form part of his suggestions for the work of those in the higher degrees of the Ordo Templi Orientis.[69] Crowley believed that after discovering the True Will, the magician must also remove any elements of himself that stand in the way of its success.[70]

The qabalistic tree of life, important in the magical order A∴A∴ as the degrees of advancement in are related to it.

The emphasis of Thelemic magick is not directly on material results, and while many Thelemites do practice magick for goals such as wealth or love, it is not required. Those in a Thelemic magical Order, such as the A∴A∴, or Ordo Templi Orientis, work through a series of degrees or grades via a process of initiation. Thelemites who work on their own or in an independent group try to achieve this ascent or the purpose thereof using the Holy Books of Thelema and/or Crowley's more secular works as a guide, along with their own intuition. Thelemites, both independent ones and those affiliated with an order, can practice a form of performative prayer known as Liber Resh.

One goal in the study of Thelema within the magical Order of the A∴A∴ is for the magician to obtain the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel: conscious communication with their own personal daimon, thus gaining knowledge of their True Will.[71] The chief task for one who has achieved this goes by the name of "crossing the abyss";[72] completely relinquishing the ego. If the aspirant is unprepared, he will cling to the ego instead, becoming a Black Brother. Rather than becoming one with God, the Black Brother considers his ego to be god.[73] According to Crowley, the Black Brother slowly disintegrates, while preying on others for his own self-aggrandisement.[74]

Crowley taught skeptical examination of all results obtained through meditation or magick, at least for the student.[75] He tied this to the necessity of keeping a magical record or diary, that attempts to list all conditions of the event.[76][77] Remarking on the similarity of statements made by spiritually advanced people of their experiences, he said that fifty years from his time they would have a scientific name based on "an understanding of the phenomenon" to replace such terms as "spiritual" or "supernatural". Crowley stated that his work and that of his followers used "the method of science; the aim of religion",[78] and that the genuine powers of the magician could in some way be objectively tested. This idea has been taken on by later practitioners of Thelema, chaos magic and magick in general. They may consider that they are testing hypotheses with each magical experiment. The difficulty lies in the broadness of their definition of success,[79] in which they may see as evidence of success things which a non-magician would not define as such, leading to confirmation bias. Crowley believed he could demonstrate, by his own example, the effectiveness of magick in producing certain subjective experiences that do not ordinarily result from taking hashish, enjoying oneself in Paris, or walking through the Sahara desert.[80] It is not strictly necessary to practice ritual techniques to be a Thelemite, as due to the focus of Thelemic magick on the True Will, Crowley stated "every intentional act is a magickal act".[81]

Ethics

Liber AL vel Legis does make clear some standards of individual conduct. The primary of these is "Do what thou wilt" which is presented as the whole of the law, and also as a right. Some interpreters of Thelema believe that this right includes an obligation to allow others to do their own wills without interference,[82] but Liber AL makes no clear statement on the matter. Crowley himself wrote that there was no need to detail the ethics of Thelema, for everything springs from "Do what thou Wilt".[83] Crowley wrote several additional documents presenting his personal beliefs regarding individual conduct in light of the Law of Thelema, some of which do address the topic interference with others: Liber OZ, Duty, and Liber II.

Liber Oz enumerates some of the rights of the individual implied by the one overarching right, "Do what thou wilt". For each person, these include the right to: live by one's own law; live in the way that one wills to do; work, play, and rest as one will; die when and how one will; eat and drink what one will; live where one will; move about the earth as one will; think, speak, write, draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build, and dress as one will; love when, where and with whom one will; and kill those who would thwart these rights.[84]

Duty is described as "A note on the chief rules of practical conduct to be observed by those who accept the Law of Thelema."[85] It is not a numbered "Liber" as are all the documents which Crowley intended for A∴A∴, but rather listed as a document intended specifically for Ordo Templi Orientis.[85] There are four sections:[86]

• A. Your Duty to Self: describes the self as the center of the universe, with a call to learn about one's inner nature. Admonishes the reader to develop every faculty in a balanced way, establish one's autonomy, and to devote oneself to the service of one's own True Will.
• B. Your Duty to Others: An admonishment to eliminate the illusion of separateness between oneself and all others, to fight when necessary, to avoid interfering with the Wills of others, to enlighten others when needed, and to worship the divine nature of all other beings.
• C. Your Duty to Mankind: States that the Law of Thelema should be the sole basis of conduct. That the laws of the land should have the aim of securing the greatest liberty for all individuals. Crime is described as being a violation of one's True Will.
• D. Your Duty to All Other Beings and Things: States that the Law of Thelema should be applied to all problems and used to decide every ethical question. It is a violation of the Law of Thelema to use any animal or object for a purpose for which it is unfit, or to ruin things so that they are useless for their purpose. Natural resources can be used by man, but this should not be done wantonly, or the breach of the law will be avenged.

In Liber II: The Message of the Master Therion, the Law of Thelema is summarized succinctly as "Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else." Crowley describes the pursuit of Will as not only with detachment from possible results, but with tireless energy. It is Nirvana but in a dynamic rather than static form. The True Will is described as the individual's orbit, and if they seek to do anything else, they will encounter obstacles, as doing anything other than the will is a hindrance to it.[87]

Contemporary practice

Diversity

The core of Thelemic thought is "Do what thou wilt". However, beyond this, there exists a very wide range of interpretation of Thelema. Modern Thelema is a syncretic philosophy and religion,[88] and many Thelemites try to avoid strongly dogmatic or fundamentalist thinking. Crowley himself put strong emphasis on the unique nature of Will inherent in each individual, not following him, saying he did not wish to found a flock of sheep.[89] Thus, contemporary Thelemites may practice more than one religion, including Wicca, Gnosticism, Satanism, Setianism and Luciferianism.[88] Many adherents of Thelema, none more so than Crowley, recognize correlations between Thelemic and other systems of spiritual thought; most borrow freely from the methods and practices of other traditions, including alchemy, astrology, qabalah, tantra, tarot divination and yoga.[88] For example, Nu and Had are thought to correspond with the Tao and Teh of Taoism, Shakti and Shiva of the Hindu Tantras, Shunyata and Bodhicitta of Buddhism, Ain Soph and Kether in the Hermetic Qabalah.[90][91][92][93]

There are some Thelemites who do accept The Book of the Law in some way but not the rest of Crowley's "inspired" writings or teachings. Others take only specific aspects of his overall system, such as his magical techniques, ethics, mysticism, or religious ideas, while ignoring the rest. Other individuals who consider themselves Thelemites regard what is commonly presented as Crowley's system to be only one possible manifestation of Thelema, creating original systems, such as those of Nema and Kenneth Grant. And one category of Thelemites are non-religious, and simply adhere to the philosophical law of Thelema.

Crowley encouraged people to think for themselves, making use of what ideas they like and discarding those they find inessential or unreasonable. In Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on The Book of the Law, Crowley wrote, "It is the mark of the mind untrained to take its own processes as valid for all men, and its own judgments for absolute truth."

Holidays

The Book of the Law gives several holy days to be observed by Thelemites. There are no established or dogmatic ways to celebrate these days, so as a result Thelemites will often take to their own devices or celebrate in groups, especially within Ordo Templi Orientis. These holy days are usually observed on the following dates:

• March 20. The Feast of the Supreme Ritual, which celebrates the Invocation of Horus, the ritual performed by Crowley on this date in 1904 that inaugurated the New Aeon.
• March 20/March 21. The Equinox of the Gods, which is commonly referred to as the Thelemic New Year (although some celebrate the New Year on April 8). Although the equinox and the Invocation of Horus often fall on the same day, they are often treated as two different events. This date is the Autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
• April 8 through April 10. The Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law. These three days are commemorative of the three days in the year 1904 during which Aleister Crowley wrote the Book of the Law. One chapter was written each day, the first being written on April 8, the second on April 9, and the third on April 10. Although there is no official way of celebrating any Thelemic holiday, this particular feast day is usually celebrated by reading the corresponding chapter on each of the three days, usually at noon.
• June 20/June 21. The Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
• August 12. The Feast of the Prophet and His Bride. This holiday commemorates the marriage of Aleister Crowley and his first wife Rose Edith Crowley. Rose was a key figure in the writing of the Book of the Law.
• September 22/September 23. The Autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
• December 21/December 22. The Winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The Feast for Life, celebrated at the birth of a Thelemite and on birthdays.
• The Feast for Fire/The Feast for Water. These feast days are usually taken as being when a child hits puberty and steps unto the path of adulthood. The Feast for Fire is celebrated for a male, and the Feast for Water for a female.
• The Feast for Death, celebrated on the death of a Thelemite and on the anniversary of their death. Crowley's Death is celebrated on December 1.[94]

Literature

Aleister Crowley was highly prolific and wrote on the subject of Thelema for over 35 years, and many of his books remain in print. During his time, there were several who wrote on the subject, including U.S. O.T.O. Grand Master Charles Stansfeld Jones, whose works on Qabalah are still in print, and Major-General J. F. C. Fuller.

Jack Parsons was a scientist researching the use of various fuels for rockets at the California Institute of Technology, and one of Crowley's first American students, for a time leading the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis for Crowley in America. He wrote several short works during his lifetime, some later collected as Freedom is a Two-edged Sword. He died in 1952 as a result of an explosion, and while not a prolific writer himself, has been the subject of two biographies; Sex and Rockets by John Carter, and Strange Angel by George Pendle.

Since Crowley's death in 1947, there have been other Thelemic writers such as Israel Regardie, who edited many of Crowley's works and also wrote a biography of him, The Eye in the Triangle, as well as books on Qabalah. Kenneth Grant wrote numerous books on Thelema and the occult, such as The Typhonian Trilogy.

Organizations

A Thelemic organization is any group, community, or organization based on or espousing Thelemic philosophy or principles, or the philosophy or principles put forth in The Book of the Law.

Several modern organizations of various sizes claim to follow the tenets of Thelema. The two most prominent are both organizations that Crowley headed during his lifetime: the A∴A∴, a magickal and mystical teaching order founded by Crowley, based on the grades of the Golden Dawn system; and Ordo Templi Orientis, an order which initially developed from the Rite of Memphis and Mizraim in the early part of the 20th century, and which includes Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica as its ecclesiastical and religious arm, and Mysteria Mystica Maxima as an initiatory order.

Since Crowley's death in 1947, other organizations have formed to carry on his initial work: for example, the Typhonian Order of Kenneth Grant and The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn. Other groups of widely varying character exist which have drawn inspiration or methods from Thelema, such as the Illuminates of Thanateros and the Temple of Set. Some groups accept the Law of Thelema, but omit certain aspects of Crowley's system while incorporating the works of other mystics, philosophers, and religious systems.

The Fraternitas Saturni (Brotherhood of Saturn), founded in 1928 in Germany, accepts the Law of Thelema, but extends it with the phrase "Mitleidlose Liebe!" ("Compassionless love!"). The Thelema Society, also located in Germany, accepts Liber Legis and much of Crowley's work on magick, while incorporating the ideas of other thinkers, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Sanders Peirce, Martin Heidegger and Niklas Luhmann.

The Temple of the Silver Star (not to be confused with the third or "inner order" of A∴A∴) is an academic or educational organization which prepares students to join the A∴A∴ proper. It was founded by Phyllis Seckler "in service to A∴A∴".

Other Thelemic organizations include Ordo Astri, Ordo Sunyata Vajra, the Temple of Our Lady of the Abyss, Axis Ordo Mundi Saturna,

Order of Chosen Priests and the self-initiatory Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn (founded by Christopher Hyatt).

Thelemites can also be found in other organizations. The president of the Church of All Worlds, LaSara FireFox, identifies as a Thelemite. A significant minority of other CAW members also identify as Thelemites.[88]

See also

• Bacchanalia
• Brethren of the Free Spirit
• Categorical imperative – "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."
• Libri of Aleister Crowley
• Wiccan Rede
• Works of Aleister Crowley

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Further reading

• Del Campo, Gerald. Rabelais: The First Thelemite. The Order of Thelemic Knights.
• Melton, J. Gordon (1983). "Thelemic Magick in America". Alternatives to American Mainline Churches, ed. Joseph H. Fichter. Barrytown, NY: Unification Theological Seminary.
• Starr, Martin P. (2004) A Hundred Years Hence: Visions of a Thelemic Future (Conference Paper presented at the Thelema Beyond Crowley )
• Starr, Martin P. (2003). The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites. Bolingbrook, IL: Teitan Press.
• van Egmond, Daniel (1998). "Western Esoteric Schools in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries". In: van den Broek, Roelof and Hanegraaff, Wouter J.: Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity To Modern Times. Albany: State University of New York Press.

External links

• Thelema 101 – a complete introduction to the spiritual philosophy of Thelema
• Thelema at the Internet Sacred Texts Archive – a collection of texts on the topic of Thelema
• The Law of Thelema – by Alexander Duncan
• Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn
• Thelema at Curlie