Freemason Letter On Crowley Status

Book: Freemason Letter On Crowley Status by Aleister Crowley

Letter from the Supreme Council of Freemasonry about Crowley's supposed status in the Masonic Order.

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Jack Parsons And Oto

The Ordo Templi Orientis was co-founded by Theodor Reuss, a member of the german secret service. O.T.O. is a magical group practising tantric sex magic, kabbalistic rituals and drug experimentation. On April 21, 1912, twelve years before the founding of MGM, Aleister Crowley was appointed National Grand Master General of O.T.O. for Great Britain and Ireland. In 1925 Crowley became Outer Head of the Order(OHO).

Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) (Order of the Temple of the East, or the Order of Oriental Templars) is an international fraternal and religious organization. For its teachings and principles of organization, it was the first organization to accept the Law of Thelema, as re-presented by Crowley, which is expressed as ODo what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.O

In the early 1940s the U.S. based O.T.O. Lodge, Agape, was led by 'Jack' Parsons (1914-1952), a Los Angeles based rocket sciententist. Parsons was co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JLP) with Ed Forman. Along with Forman and Frank Malina the 'suicide squad' tested rocket fuel in the Mojave desert and developed a successful rocket technology which was taken up by the US Military at the end of WW2. During his early years, when Parsons dreamt of space travel to the moon, he developed a relationship and exchange of ideas with german rocket scientist Wernher von Braun.

The O.T.O. structure is initiatory, with a series of degree ceremonies, which the U.S. Grand Lodge, Ordo Templi Orientis states is similar to that of Freemasonry. The O.T.O. also includes the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica or Gnostic Catholic Church, which is the ecclesiastical arm of the Order. Its central rite, which is public, is called Liber XV, or the Gnostic Mass. O.T.O. claims over 3000 members in 58 countries; about half of these are in the United States.

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Little Essays Toward Truth

Book: Little Essays Toward Truth by Aleister Crowley

I love this wee book because it is the foundation of Aleister Crowley's philosophy. You will not find 'magick' in here... no formulas, no magickal mumbo-jumbo, just a straight-forward 'this is how the world/universe works' collection of Philosophical essays on various topics.

Crowley wrote this treatise as a commentary to the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster. Depths of Insight are contained herein, making this an ultimately excellent text-book of the experiences of the Inward and Outward Paths - anyone interested in this book should try to join the A.'.A.'.'s subtle plan to raise the levels of Mankind's Spirituality above any past levels in the rememberable History.

Being a long-time fan of Aleister's I, too, have had to deal with the plethora of obfuscation in his prolific expression of genius. Always looking for that kernal of 'just what is it this man believes?' has been painstaking indeed. And then I stumbled across this book and purchased it. What a great find!

This book is for anyone inquisitive about what Aleister believed in, and what he based his entire life's work & journey on, whether it was writing, mountain climbing, or magickal doings. The book is small, only 87 pages, which proves a virtual miracle of succinct genius for Aleister to be so short-winded! There is a small Glossary in the back, which is very helpful, along with a Bibliography and Index. There is also included, in the front, a picture of the Tree of Life.

The essays themselves, 16 in all, are titled thusly: Man, Memory, Sorrow, Wonder, Beatitude, Laughter, Indifference, Mastery, Trance, Energy, Knowledge, Understanding, Chastity, Silence, Love, and lastly, Truth.

This book ultimately puts in context, and to rest, all those wild claims about Aleister being a Beast, or 'the most dangerous man alive'. Anyone to have penned these philosophical musings knows more about love, life, and the universe than any carnally depraved hedonist could possibly know, even if they possessed an ounce of desire to know it.

This book should be considered as THE FIRST book to read concerning Aleister. It will provide a firm foundation for Understanding just 'why' Aleister did all the things he did, persevered in the face of failure and condemnation, and ultimately attained to great success {in our eyes, if not in his own}.

The second book of Aleister's to read is: 'The World's Tragedy'. Once those two have been consumed, let the formal magickal work begin, and not until.

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Between A Rock And A Soft Spot

I am having a multi-venue discussion now about these questions of Thelema as religion, and how it might relate or not to other religions, especially Christianity. By the way, Keith418, if you have something to offer on these points, pro or con, offer it here as well, so I can reply. The following is something I posted to my Facebook wall. The reference below to Jesus' lesson is in reply to someone who made this claim—that it could be summed up in part as an encouragement to be more than we let ourselves be.:

In Christianity and Thelema, which we should recall are respective heresies of an older tradition, there is an idea that is central, and which is generally ignored by alleged adherents. This is the idea of surrender, and of diminishment and indeed destruction of self to serve the Great Work.

I think if Jesus' lesson was that we can be more than we let ourselves be, it would not be much different than the US Army's "Be All You Can Be". Yet I think their encouragements would have very different aims. So maybe their messages are also not very alike.

Jesus was mainly concerned that the spirit of the Law had been lost, because worship of the Laws had replaced concern for the Will of God, particularly as that might work through any human being. As for forgiveness, that was offered simply enough, but not without qualification. For example, a person, whose behavior clearly demonstrated he had not been salvaged, even after he affirmed faith by the magic words, was not saved. Nevertheless, no human was to judge this shortcoming in any cosmic respect in another, since who can know the ultimate plan, which may incorporate evil people and their ways (as Gandalf pointed out as well).

As for Thelemites, they are caught between the occult rock, upon which Thelema is built and which they generally do not understand, and the soft place of their cultural sensibilities, towards which they will escape and from which they will interpret Thelema, to conform it to their respective, respectable, zones of comfort. A pointless exercise. If there is an Aeonic change coming, it will be unbelievably destructive, not comforting or sustaining.

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Liber 044 The Mass Of The Phoenix

Book: Liber 044 The Mass Of The Phoenix by Aleister Crowley

Liber CCCXXXIII (The Book of Lies); and Appendix VI in Book IV.

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Babalon The City Of The Pyramids And The Night Of Pan

Choronzon is the dweller within the Abyss, and his purpose is to trap the traveller in a meaningless world of illusion. However Babalon is just on the other side, beckoning (in the sphere of Binah on the Tree of Life). If the adept gives himself to her—the symbol of this act is the pouring of the adept’s blood into her graal—he becomes impregnated in her (a state called "Babe of the Abyss"), then he is reborn as a Master and a Saint that dwells in the City of the Pyramids.

The City of the Pyramids is the home to those adepts that have crossed the great Abyss, having spilled all their blood in the Graal of Babalon. They have destroyed their earthly ego-identities, becoming nothing more than piles of dust (i.e. the remaining aspects of their True Selves without the self-sense of "I"). Within, they take on the name or title of Saint or Nemo (Latin for No-Man). In the system of A.'.A.'. they are called Masters of the Temple. It is a step along the path of spiritual purification, and a spiritual resting place for those who have successfully shed their attachments to the mundane world.

Of these adepts, it is written in The Vision and the Voice (Aethyr 14):

These adepts seem like Pyramids—their hoods and robes are like Pyramids And the Beatific Vision is no more, and the glory of the Most High is no more. There is no more knowledge. There is no more bliss. There is no more power. There is no more beauty. For this is the Palace of Understanding: for thou art one with the Primeval things.'

The Master of the Temple accordingly interferes not with the scheme of things, except just so far as he is doing the Work which he is sent to do. Why should he struggle against imprisonment, banishment, death? [...] The Master of the Temple is so far from the man in whom He manifests that all these matters are of no importance to Him. It may be of importance to His Work that man shall sit upon a throne, or be hanged.

I was instantly blotted in blackness. Mine Angel whispered the secret words whereby one partakes of the Mysteries of the Masters of the Temple. Presently my eyes beheld (what first seemed shapes of rocks) the Masters, veiled in motionless majesty, shrouded in silence. Each one was exactly like the other. Then the Angel bade me understand whereto my aspiration led: all powers, all ecstasies, ended in this—I understood. He then told me that now my name was Nemo, seated among the other silent shapes in the City of the Pyramids under the Night of Pan; those other parts of me that I had left for ever below the Abyss must serve as a vehicle for the energies which had been created by my act. My mind and body, deprived of the ego which they had hitherto obeyed, were now free to manifest according to their nature in the world, to devote themselves to aid mankind in its evolution. In my case I was to be cast out into the Sphere of Jupiter. My mortal part was to help humanity by Jupiterian work, such a governing, teaching, creating, exhorting men to aspire to become nobler, holier, worthier, kinglier, kindlier and more generous.

The City exists under the Night of Pan, or N.O.X. The playful and lecherous Pan is the Greek god of nature, lust, and the masculine generative power. The Greek word Pan also translates as All, and so he is “a symbol of the Universal, a personification of Nature; both Pangenetor, "all-begetter," and Panphage, "all-devourer" (Sabazius, 1995). Therefore, Pan is both the giver and the taker of life, and his Night is that time of symbolic death where the adept experiences unification with the All through the ecstatic destruction of the ego-self. In a less poetic symbolic sense, this is the state where one transcends all limitations and experiences oneness with the universe.

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Rosa Coeli

Book: Rosa Coeli by Aleister Crowley

A Poem with an Original Composition by Auguste Rodin. Published under the pseudonym of H. D. Carr.

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Thelema Is Religion Or Philosophy

No, I don't intend to give you a deep scourging in answering this perennial question. In fact, the question was once again asked a few weeks ago on a Facebook group, and I answered it concisely, and in a manner I thought might be helpful to people wanting to cut to some kind of chase.

So, I will repost it here:

This question gets asked a lot, and the same answers given:

1. Religion.
2. Philosophy.
3. Both.
4. Neither.
5. Something else (additionally or instead)).

So, what gets learned or settled?

What makes something a religion?
What makes something a philosophy?

Greek philosophers were rejecting or avoiding a religious worldview and adopting another brand, which invited skeptical inquiry and disputation.

I think most philosophers would be bothered and find dubious a commandment such as "Do what thou wilt", especially given its alleged origin, a praeternatural entity. They would not only want to know why such a commandment is correct for humans to follow, but they would question its authority per se.

Crowley of course answered that objection. He said if Aiwass said do something, it doesn't matter what you think about it. It's the Law.

And that isn't a philosophical attitude. It's religious.

Thelema is fundamentally a religion. It does incorporate a lot of aspects of Nietzschean philosophy (as Crowley understood that), but the only reason these have any authority in Thelema is because they align with something Aiwass said about the nature of the Law.

Someone asked in reply what I could cite in support of Aiwass saying do what you're told.

And I replied:

"Magick Without Tears", in a letter entitled "Morals of Liber AL" (Crowley is answering regarding moral "difficulties" of Liber AL):

"You disagree with Aiwass—so do all of us. The trouble is that He can say: 'But I'm not arguing. I'm telling you.'"

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Liber 078 A Description Of The Cards Of The Tarot

Book: Liber 078 A Description Of The Cards Of The Tarot by Aleister Crowley

"A description of the card of the tarot with their attributions; including a method of divination." A complete treatise on the Tarot giving the correct designs of the cards with their attributions and symbolic meanings on all planes. See also: Equinox I viii, p.143.

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Thelemic Mysticism

Thelemic mysticism is a complex mystical path designed to do two interrelated things: to learn one's unique True Will and to achieve union with the All. The set of techniques for doing so falls under Crowley's term Magick, which draws upon various existing disciplines and mystical models, including Yoga, Western ceremonial ritual (especially invocations and eucharistic ceremony), the Qabalah, and several divination systems, especially the tarot and astrology.

The path to mystical attainment or enlightenment was initially developed by Crowley largely based on the meditation/mystical techniques found in Buddhism and also the Tree of Life, especially as it was examined by Eliphas Levi in the 19th century and later by various members in the occult society, the Golden Dawn. In 1904, Crowley claimed to have transcribed, via "direct-voice transmission" from a "praeternatural intelligence" named Aiwass, The Book of the Law, which he eventually called the central sacred text of Thelema, heralding a new Aeon for mankind.

Between 1907 and 1911, Crowley wrote a series of other small texts which he considered to be "inspired" in that they were written through him rather than by him, which were afterwards collected together and termed the Holy Books. The final text added to the list was The Vision and the Voice, a vivid account of Crowley's astral travels through the thirty Enochian Aethyrs. These texts formed the final mystical backbone of Crowley's system.

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The General Principles Of Astrology

Book: The General Principles Of Astrology by Aleister Crowley

This first full-scale reconstruction of his essential text has waited 85 years to appear as he originally intended it. This new tome from notorious occultist Crowley was originally two books with Evangeline Adams as its author. According to the introduction by H. Beta, Crowley was in New York for sometime and met with Adams whom they were to write a book on astrology together. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Adams took the material that Crowley wrote, reworked, omitted and added her own material and eventually became an authority on the subject. The two books by Adams, "Your Place in the Sun" and "Your Place Among the Stars" (written 1927 and 1930 respectively) are essentially the works of Aleister Crowley. This edition by Samuel Weiser brings back Crowley's original writings in their original form and in one book. In a similar format as magick Book 4, 'The General Principles of Astrology' is bound in a nice maroon hardcover cloth book with a sigil embossed on the cloth cover in metallic gold (looks like a modified Mercury symbol). Crowley's writing at many times is elusive even for the most astute occultist, however, as in Magick 4, he is making great efforts to be clear to a larger audience. The text was written in 1915 before the discovery of Pluto, so for some astrologers that may be your only set back.

In my opinion and from what I know of Crowley, the work is largely unfinished, however, what is presented is entirely a workable system. Crowley probably had the least amount of faith in astrology as a science among all the occult arts, but because he was so verse in many subjects, he is not one to let it be unexplored. Astrology seems as vast a subject as Kabbalah, as so much is written about it, that it seems that no one person can legitimately claim authority. My preference is Alan Leo's work even though much of his work is before Pluto as well. Crowley stands as a modern authority on much occult work that this was a book I could trust in giving a clear exposition on the subject.

The book is broken up similarly to the many astrology books out there on the market today. Beginning general aspects of the houses, different signs to be aware of and their meanings and a correspondence with his tarot deck. Then a discourse on the meanings of the planets, rising signs, sun signs with each of their attributes and characteristics. After a large section taken up by each planey in a sign, he ends with 100 or so famous people and their horoscopes. So in my opinion, Crowley could have easily enlarged this already big work (596 pages!). In sum, the book is well presented and will look sharp on any bookshelf, and for any serious astrologer to consider this excellent entry into the large world of the study of the astros.

Long before there was Linda Goodman, long before astrology bestsellers turned up in supermarkets, there was Aleister Crowley, the most important astrological scholar and authority of the early 20th century. Ghostwriting for Evangeline Adams, it was Crowley who wrote the vast majority of her classic textbooks, Astrology: Your Place in the Sun (1927) and Astrology: Your Place Among the Stars (1930). General Principles of Astrology finally acknowledges Crowley’s authorship.

Crowley’s goal was to abandon traditional assumptions, so he based his findings on actual charts and how they were expressed in people’s lives. In his characteristically clear and elegant prose, Crowley discusses each planet from a scientific and mythological point of view. He provides an exhaustive analysis of astrological types, drawing conclusions for over 180 astrological nativities of well-known artists, poets, musicians, philosophers, politicians, and business leaders from the 18th to the 20th century.

This new book is composed of painstakingly gathered work, primarily ghostwritten by Crowley, and published in various early twentieth-century texts. It is published here in one volume for the first time, in an undertaking endorsed by both the Adams and Crowley estates.

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Aleister Crowley And Ron Habbard

Hubbard had clear connections to the occult. Even in the first publication of dianetics in "Astounding Science Fiction", Hubbard in explaining how he did his "research" into what the mind was doing, says he used "automatic writing, speaking and clairvoyance" (1) to discover what the mind's memory banks were doing. Automatic writing is an occult method of communicating with the spirit world, although psychologists consider its products to arise from subconscious thoughts of the writer. Whichever is correct, it is hardly a method used by competent scientific researchers.

Hubbard's connection to the occultist aleister crowley is quite clear and noteworthy. Crowley called himself the Anti-Christ, the Beast of Revelations, and 666. Russell Miller has adequately chronicled Hubbard's connection in 1945 to John W. Parsons, who headed Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis chapter in Los Angeles. (2) Hubbard was an active member in this group for several months, and first met his second wife there. The Church of Scientology claims that Hubbard was actually infiltrating this group in order to break it up, but the following should suffice to dismiss this claim.

In the Philadelphia Doctorate Course lectures taped in 1952, Hubbard discusses occult magic of the middle ages, and recommends a current book - "it's fascinating work in itself, and that's work written by Aleister Crowley, the late Aleister Crowley, my very good friend." (3) The book recommended was The Master Therion, (published in London in 1929) later re-released as magick in Theory and Practise. L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. asserts that during the time when the Philadelphia course was given his father would read Crowley's works "in preparation for the next day's lecture..."

There are interesting similarities between Crowley's writings and the teachings of Hubbard. Dianetics' Time Track, in which every incident in a person's life is chronologically recorded in full in the mind, is quite similar to Crowley's Magical Memory. The Magical Memory is developed over time until "memories of childhood reawaken" which were previously forgotten, and memories of previous incarnations are recalled as well. Hubbard gives examples in the Philadelphia Doctorate Course of several people remembering lives earlier on earth, some up to a million years ago. The similarity between the Magical Memory and Time Track, then, is that they both can recall every past incident in a person's life, they both can recall incidents from past lives, and they both must be developed by certain techniques in order to make use of them.

Both Hubbard and Crowley consider it important to have the person recall his or her birth. "Having allowed the mind to return for some hundred times to the hour of birth, it should be encouraged to endeavour to penetrate beyond that period" (Crowley). "After twenty runs through birth, the patient experienced a recession of all somatics and 'unconsciousness' and aberrative content." "Thus there was no inhibition about looking earlier than birth for what Dianetics had begun to call basic-basic" (Hubbard).

Both Hubbard and Crowley are avowedly anti-psychiatry. "Official psychoanalysis is therefore committed to upholding a fraud... psychoanalysts have misinterpreted life, and announced the absurdity that every human being is essentially an anti-social, criminal, and insane animal" (Crowley). Hubbard considered that psychiatry controlled most of society and was struggling to create their own 1984 world.

Hubbard and Crowley both posit the ability of the person to leave his or her body at times. Crowley states that the way to learn to leave your body is to mock up a body like your own in front of your physical body. Eventually you will learn to leave your physical body with your "astral body" and travel and view at will without physical restrictions. Hubbard teaches the same, and his method of "exteriorization" is to tell the person to "have preclear mock up own body", which will send the person outside his body .Both Crowley and Hubbard use an equilateral triangle pointing up in a circle as one of their group's symbols. Both use Volume 0 instead of Volume 1 to begin enumerating their works. One could go on for quite some time listing the similarities between Crowley's and Hubbard's theories and writings, but for more the reader is encouraged to look for him or herself.

In Crowley's Organization are several grade levels. To reach the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus "The Adept must prepare and publish a thesis setting forth His knowledge of the Universe, and his proposals for its welfare and progress. He will thus be known as the leader of a school of thought." It is apparent that Hubbard has fulfilled this requirement.

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The Equinox Vol Iii No Ii The Gospel According To St Bernard Shaw

Book: The Equinox Vol Iii No Ii The Gospel According To St Bernard Shaw by Aleister Crowley

A fascinating study of Christianity by Crowley, built around a critique of Shaw's Androcles and the Lion. Published by Crowley's follower, Karl Germer.

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Liber 194 An Intimation With Reference To The Constitution Of The Order

Book: Liber 194 An Intimation With Reference To The Constitution Of The Order by Aleister Crowley

Any Province of the O.T.O. is governed by the Grand Master and those to whom he delegates his Authority, until such time as the Order is established, which is the case when it possesses eleven or more Profess-houses in the province. Then the regular constitution is automatically Promulgated. The Quotation is slightly adapted from an address in one of the Rituals. See also: Equinox III i; III x. This is an O.T.O. document.

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Gargoyles

Book: Gargoyles by Aleister Crowley

Gargoyles, Being Strangely Wrought Images of Life and Death by Aleister Crowley. Bound holograph manuscript with revisions in the hand of Aleister Crowley. Also printed in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley, Vol. III, Page 84, Society for the Propagation of religious Truth, Boleskine, Foyers, Inverness, 1907.

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Liber 165 A Master Of The Temple

Book: Liber 165 A Master Of The Temple by Aleister Crowley

Frater Achad's magical diary with comments by Crowley. See also: Equinox III I, p. 127

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Babylon And Ishtar

Perhaps the earliest origin is the ancient city of Babylon, a major metropolis in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah in Iraq). Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu (bab-ilu), meaning "Gateway of the god". It was the "holy city" of Babylonia from around 2300 BC, and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian empire from 612 BC.

One of the goddesses associated with Babylonia was Ishtar, the most popular female deity of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon and patron of the famous Ishtar Gate. She is the Akkadian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and the cognate to the northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. The Greeks associated her with Aphrodite (Latin Venus), and sometimes Hera. Ishtar was worshipped as a Great Goddess of fertility and sexuality, but also of war and death, and the guardian of prostitutes. She was Also Called the Great Whore and sacred prostitution formed part of her cult or those of cognate goddesses. Many have associated Ishtar with the figure in the Book of Revelation of Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and Abominations.

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Olla An Anthology Of Sixty Years Of Song

Book: Olla An Anthology Of Sixty Years Of Song by Aleister Crowley

The last book Crowley published before his death. An Anthology of Sixty Years of song by Aleister Crowley. Poetry. Aleister Crowley's best poems selection.

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Will In Thelema

Will is at once an exceedingly simple and amazingly complex subject. It took me years to get to the understanding I currently possess, and I am fairly certain I am not yet done with my learning on this matter. Suffice it is to say that this page will not be able to cover fully my Life's lessons regarding Will.

Will constitutes that which a person means to do. For example, if you feel you need to open a window, then, in a sense, it is your Will to do so.

However, Will is not some casual and flippant representation of every passing whim of the individual (See Brother R.B.'s thesis on the matter for a countering viewpoint). Understanding Will absolutely demands an understanding of respect for all things. To execute one's Will, one must actively seek to respect the Will of others.

The theory is that if every person were following their true Will, there would never be any unneccessary conflicts between persons, because the nature of the Universe, with all its complexity, includes these interworking Wills. Conflicts which do occur are generally caused by either someone straying from their True Will, or are conflicts which need to happen to further the evolution of humanity.

Will is not frivolous in nature. It represents a very serious commitment to understanding one's role in the Universe, and to acting on that commitment.

Some people seem to think it is their Will to force others to do as they demand. Though it is possible that their True Will includes such activities, I personally find it more likely that people who lean on this as justification for their actions are generating false rationalizations.

An example: A friend of mine was heavily involved with the local wiccan community, and hosts the ceremonies for the Sabbats. One year, she was caught in a public place discussing the upcoming ceremony in the presence of the head of a new Thelemic organization in town. He pointedly asked her if he would be invited to come to the event. It was a bit rude to ask like that, in a public place, because any answer other than in the affirmative would certainly be rude, given his status at the time. So she invited him to the Sabbat.

He showed up with several of his underlings, and during the preceremony gathering, they all proceeded to get drunk. During the ceremony, they began to urinate -- and I don't have all the details on this part, as to whether it was on the altar, or in the circle, or what have you -- and thought this was just the funniest thing that they'd ever seen happen.

My friend's mate was a fairly well grounded Thelemite, and, incidentally, a member of the O.T.O., and he approached these jerks. Their response? "Why, were just doing our will, brother. You should let us continue."

His response was "If you continue to dishonor and desecrate a ceremony that all these people", and he gestured to the crowd behind him, "hold sacred, then it'll be my Will to kick your asses out of here."

They were stunned. Descriptions of their stunnedness suggest that perhaps this condition was prolonged by their collective inebriated stupor. My friend's mate then leaned forward, gave a small half wave and said "93!". He turned his back on the jerks and returned to whatever function he was performing before the distraction.

After awhile, the drunkards wandered away.

I'm convinced that it wasn't really their True Will to pee in the circle, but of course I'll never know. I'm sure they were just using the Law of Thelema as a shield to hide behind, in a vague and immature attempt to justify their ascinine actions.

One of the clearest signs I have come to recognize that someone is falsely justifying their action as being in accord with their True Will is when they try to use that argument to other people in defense of their actions.

A Thelemite doesn't concern himself with justifying his actions to anyone. What does it matter what those other people think? The only thing that matters is that the action was in league with the Thelemite's understanding of his own True Will. Noone else dictates it, and it caters to noone else. Therefore, what they think of it is of no concern to the Thelemite.

So when I hear people defending their actions, presenting as their strongest, and frequently only, evidence the fact that they are doing their Will, all sorts of red flags go up.

Not that it matters what I think; in fact, spending any amount of time on the matter of the True Will of another being is pretty much wasted time anyway; the focus of a Thelemite is his own True Will. Period.

Ironically, after much time spent in pursuit of understanding Will and attempting to describe Will to others, I have discovered that I actually learned more about Will when I was focusing on the Will of others, rather than myself and my own Will; the difference was that I was trying to find ways to not infringe upon the Will of others, as opposed to trying to ascertain what it was. It was then, and only then, that I began to develop any sense of understanding my own Will, and understanding Thelema as a concept unto itself. And so, only by spending a lot of time looking into the Will of others was I able to see what a waste of time worrying about the Wills of others was, and yet, it was only by this means I could have come to the realization.

And so Will is actually quite a complicated subject. To know what one's True Will is takes a lot of introspection, and to execute one's Will requires a great deal of patience and care.

The Law of Thelema is all about learning one's True Will and executing it.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Morwyn - The Golden Dawn
Aristotle - On The Soul
William Godwin - The Lives Of The Necromancers

Thelemic Holy Days

Part of the spiritual discipline of a Thelemite consists in the coordination of his personal, individual, terrestrial life with the great cosmic cycles that regulate the life of the earth and humanity. Accepting the Law of Thelema is itself such an act of coordination or alignment with the cosmic cycle known as the precession of the equinoxes. Crowley implies that the New Aeon of Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child, which began with the self-revelation of Aiwass at the Vernal Equinox, 1904 e.v., corresponds to the advent of the astrological Age of Aquarius. By aligning one's personal life with the universal life mediated by these cycles one becomes a vehicle of the manifestation of the universal life, thus making oneself a channel of higher spiritual forces which in turn accelerate one's natural spiritual evolution and affect the karma of the planet.

Other cycles with which the Thelemite aligns his life are the diurnal motion of the Sun, specifically, sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight; the diurnal rising of the star or constellation rising in his horoscope; the diurnal rising of the lunar orb; the monthly lunar cycle, especially the new and full moons; the monthly entry of the sun into the signs of the zodiac; the annual solar cycle of the equinoxes and solstices; and an annual calendar of holy days prescribed in the Book of the Law, as follows:

The First Night of the Prophet and His Bride, corresponding to the consummation of the marriage of Aleister Crowley and Rose Edith Crowley on August 12, 1903 e.v.;
The Writing of the Book of the Law, on April 8, 9, and 10, 1904 e.v.; and
The Supreme Ritual, commemorating the successful Invocation of Horus on March 20, 1904 e.v.

All these times are celebrated by means of rituals, in which energy is generated, and feasts, in which energy is both discharged and absorbed. In addition, Aiwass' directs that the birth, puberty, and death of Thelemites and their children are to be celebrated. Many Thelemites also observe the "quarter-days" of the wiccan religion, viz., Samhain (November 1 eve), Imbolc (February 1 eve), Beltaine (May 1 eve), and Lammas (August 1 eve). Finally, the Book of the Law alludes to a mysterious feast of Tahuti, which has never been satisfactorily explained.

The Problem of Aleister Crowley's Reputation:

Many criticisms of the Law of Thelema are based on a moral critique of the personal character and conduct of Aleister Crowley. These accusations generally resolve themselves into seven basic assertions: that he was a pornographer, traitor, sexual deviant, sado-masochist, womanizer, drug addict/alcoholic, or even psychotic. Each of these accusations can be discussed in the context of the evidence. It is certainly true that Crowley published or wrote pornographic poems and stories, and was extremely interested in extreme sexual experimentation; that he wrote apparently pro-German propaganda in America during the First World War;

that he engaged in sexual relationships with both men and women; that he engaged in physically and psychologically abusive sexual relationships; that he professed contempt for women; that he drank heavily and became severely addicted to heroin in middle-age; and that he experienced ASCs, generally induced rather than spontaneous.

Strictly speaking, however, the truth or falsehood of any of these claims is unrelated to the truth or falsehood of the Law of Thelema, just as the truth or falsehood of the Tractatus Philosophicus is unrelated to the fact that Wittgenstein was an homosexual. As every first year philosophy student learns, truth or falsehood is not a moral quality or a function of the personal psyche, and it is quite possible for a morally mean or even psychologically dysfunctional person to experience and express insights that are both beautiful and true.

The history of Western civilization provides numerous examples, many of whom are studied in universities. Crowley himself regards the pursuit of spiritual realization as a science, in which moral considerations are either secondary or entirely irrelevant. Crowley himself writes, "Since the ultimate truth of teleology is unknown, all codes of morality are arbitrary. Therefore the student has no concern with ethics as such." Philosophically, then, aleister crowley is an amoralist.

Nevertheless, the Law of Thelema does imply an ethical teaching. The doctrine of the Black Brothers itself implies a kind of moral judgement. The essential ethical teaching of the Law of Thelema is that each and every individual has an absolute and inalienable right to pursue his own True Will without restriction by others, and that no one has the ethical or moral right or duty to compel another to pursue any other path, or even the capacity to criticize them. A Thelemite who knows his True Will can however guide others in accordance with universal principles, but the relationship should not be one of imitation. If Aleister Crowley violated his own or any other individual's True Will at any time, he simply violated his own law and paid the karmic price, but this does not invalidate the Law itself.

Great art and true philosophies are both created by scoundrels, but we balk when a scoundrel creates a true religion. The imitative tendency, which Crowley despised, is deep. Since imitating the moral example of a founder is not the ethical teaching of the Law of Thelema, every Thelemite is free to imitate Aleister Crowley's personal lifestyle or not as they choose, although Crowley himself advises against it, warning that those who try to do so will be possessed or obsessed by the "vision of the demon Crowley" (Crowley, who was an amateur artist, even drew a sketch of this particular demon). Unfortunately, as the history of the Law of Thelema shows with great clarity, Crowley's advice was accurate, and numerous heedless Thelemites have been devoured as a result.

The True Will represents the inertia of the universe, and is irresistible (if not, that simply proves that it is not the True Will). However, no one may restrict the True Will of another, unless another chooses, without coercion, to be so restricted.

Aleister Crowley should be understood as a natural phenomenon, without moral judgement. A prophet is himself merely a symptom of the zeitgeist. A storm is not "evil." Aleister Crowley was a storm, which may yet sink the ship of the Judaeo-Christian civilization that he despised.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Aristotle - On Dreams
Frater Hoor - A Thelemic Calendar
Aleister Crowley - Duty