The following accurate material was provided by Alexander
Duncan, B.A. (Hon.) (Dept. of English, York University, North York, Ontario,
Canada) Permission to copy, reproduce, or distribute this material is freely
granted provided there is no charge and the name and e-mail address of the
author is included in every copy. Alexander Duncan can be contacted by email at
sethian@rogers.com.
The Law of Thelema was revealed to the world by a
praeterhuman Intelligence calling himself Aiwass in Cairo, Egypt in March and
April, 1904 e.v. Aiwass appeared first to Rose Edith Kelly nee Crowley,
in an altered state of consciousness (ASC), and subsequently to the British
poet and magical adept, Aleister Crowley (born in Leamington, England on
October 12, 1875 e.v.). Aiwass proceeded to demonstrate his objective existence
independently of the psyches of both Crowley and Rose, by leading them to the
stele of Ankh-af-na-khonsu, a Theban Egyptian priest of the 8th
century B.C.E., in the Boulak Museum, where they had never been. He then
dictated a sacred text to Crowley called the Book of the Law. For five years
thereafter Crowley resisted the Law of Thelema and the mission of Thelemic
prophet laid upon him by Aiwass, regarding the Cairo Working, as it is called,
as an "astral vision" (i.e., a purely imaginative – but not
"imaginary" – experience). However, Crowley’s subsequent attainment
of the grade of Master of the Temple in the Supreme College of the Great White
Brotherhood resulted in his acceptance of the Law of Thelema and of his own
prophetic role as described in the Book of the Law. Crowley proclaimed
himself as the prophet of a new eon for humanity for the first time in his long
mystical poem, Aha! (1909), which has been compared in beauty and
profundity to the Bhagavad-Gita. Thereafter he signed his correspondence
and formal instructions with the two main slogans of the Book of the Law,
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” and “Love is the law, love
under will.”
Crowley founded a magical society, the A. ..A.
.., took over the leadership of another, the O.T.O., and wrote a series
of formal instructions promulgating the Law of Thelema, as well as teaching
Scientific Illuminism and Magick. Many of these formal instructions were
published during his lifetime in his Equinox periodical and elsewhere.
Crowley believes that the Law of Thelema resolves all spiritual quandaries,
harmonizes science and religion, and supersedes all historical dispensations,
establishing a new cultural epoch for humanity, which he calls the New Aeon of
Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child. According to Crowley, the New Aeon
will endure for at least several hundred years, possibly for as long as two
thousand years.
During his lifetime Crowley succeeded in attracting a small
following, mainly in Germany and America, of no more than one or perhaps two
hundred souls (counting all those who adhered to Crowley at any time, for any
length of time; a much smaller number remained faithful to Crowley at the end
of his life). Crowley lost many followers due to his troublesome personality
and libertine lifestyle, especially after he came to the attention of the
British tabloid press following the First World War. After his death, Crowley
left behind him a disorganized and demoralized O.T.O. movement which has since
split up into several competing factions, notably the American Caliphate
founded by McMurtry, the Swiss O.T.O. founded by Metzger, the English O.T.O.
under the leadership of Kenneth Grant, and a Brazilian O.T.O. founded by
Marcelo Ramos Motta. A very few members of the original A. ..A.
.. also carried on the work in a very limited way, but the A. ..A.
.. organization qua organization did not survive Crowley, at least
not openly.
A larger number of revivals of the O.T.O., A. ..A.
.., and other self-professed Thelemic groups, without any clear
historical link to Crowley, with various, sometimes divergent points of view,
have also come into existence since a revival of interest in Crowley’s work
associated with the counterculture revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Today the
Law of Thelema has attracted several thousand adherents worldwide, as well as a
larger following of curiosity seekers, including several prominent rock stars.
The Law of Thelema has a strong presence on the Internet, and many of Crowley’s
writings are available online. Crowley first editions are in demand, and fetch
high prices in the rare book market.
Introduction – History:
The Law of Thelema, also called Scientific Illuminism and
Magick (spelled with a terminal 'k' to distinguish the authentic science of the
Magi from sleight of hand), originated in the Cairo Working. At the time,
Crowley interpreted the Cairo Working as an astral vision. At this time,
Crowley was a Minor Adept of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Golden
Dawn was the most distinguished occult society of recent times, which included
such luminaries as the poet William Butler Yeats and the Buddhist bhikkhu,
Allan Bennett (Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya). Thus, at the time of the Cairo Working
Crowley was an advanced experimental occultist in his own right, although Rose,
who was pregnant with their only child, had no experience as a clairvoyant.
Crowley was also a published and fairly well known minor poet of controversial
verse, yogi, world-class traveler and mountaineer, pornographer, drug taker,
and wealthy libertine.
Crowley’s father, Edward Crowley, used the leisure that the
small brewing fortune that he inherited from his father provided him to spread
the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the fundamentalist teachings of the
Plymouth Brethren sect. Crowley reacted against this fundamentalist and
evangelical upbringing but his interest in religion, which, despite his
promiscuous lifestyle, was serious and sincere, persisted. Because of his
wife's and his contact with Aiwass, Aiwass dictated to Crowley a
sixty-five-page document, called the Book of the Law, in length about
equal to Lao-tse’s Tao-te ching. Crowley came to regard the Book of
the Law as having nothing whatever to do with himself, despite the
similarity of style and sentiment to Crowley's previously published writings
(despite these similarities, the Book of the Law is also very different,
being far more disorganized and ecstatic than anything Crowley produced before
or after, and referring to events in Crowley’s future that subsequently
occurred). During this dictation Crowley "saw" Aiwass, who appeared
as an Assyrian or Persian aristocrat with veiled eyes. Crowley also stated that
Aiwass’ English was devoid of any accent.
The Book of the Law is written in a flamboyant
style, punctuated by innumerable exclamation points as well as powerful
passages of real sublimity, profundity, and beauty, addressing a host of real
spiritual problems, and prophesying various events, most notably the advent of
the Second World War in the 1940s, which was fulfilled thirty-five years later.
The Book of the Law is both a radical postmodernist critique and an
endorsement of religion, which claims to go beyond all previous historical dispensations
and reveal to humanity nothing less than the basis of a new spiritual epoch,
the New Aeon of Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child.
In Egyptian mythology, Horus is the son of Isis, the Great
Mother goddess, and Osiris, the Dying God. After Osiris is slain by his
murderous brother Set, Horus rises up against Set and assumes the throne and
place of his father, Osiris. In the Thelemic exegesis, Horus represents the
inauguration of a new spiritual way, which will be preceded by a transitional period
of unprecedented disaster and suffering (Set), in the very beginning of which
we are now (Crowley believed that this period would last several centuries, and
would ultimate in the destruction of Judaeo-Christian civilization, which he
identified with Osiris, the Dying God).
In fact the Book of the Law is heavily indebted to
various literary precedents, including the Judaeo-Christian apocalyptic
writings, Gnosticism, Zoharic Cabala, magic, the Enochian writings of Dee and
Kelly, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Hindu and Buddhist Tantra,
Taoism, and even Vodou, and, more recently, the writings of Francois Rabelais,
Max Stirner, Friedrich Nietzsche, and others. The word "Thelema" is
derived from the Greek θελημα, meaning "will," and is believed to conceal
various symbolic allusions in the letters and their numerical values (like
Hebrew and Arabic, Greek letters are also numbers). Will is preeminently,
however, not free, but true, thus raising the Law of Thelema above simple
libertarianism.
Schools:
Thelemites are divided into two main spiritual schools or
orders, the A...A... (Astrum Argentium, or Silver Star),
and the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis, or Order of the Temple of the Orient)
(there are at least two more Thelemic organizations authorized by Crowley, viz.,
the L.I.L. and the G.B.G., and a few that appeared posthumously, but the former
are the main ones).
The A...A... is a temporal
manifestation of the Great White Brotherhood, and not necessarily the only one,
one of the three fundamental spiritual schools of humanity, the others being
the Black School, associated mainly with Buddhism and Gnosticism, and the
Yellow School, associated mainly with Taoism. In addition to the White, Black,
and Yellow Schools, there is a fourth group called the Black Brotherhood, not
to be confused with the Black School, whose adherents consist of high ranking
adepts who, through fear and selfishness, failed to transcend the limitations
of the human personality and hence “fall back into” or “remain in” the abyss,
where they morally disintegrate. The Black Brothers are at odds with all true
spiritual schools, and seek to dominate the human race, subjecting them for
their own purposes. They are closely associated with the exoteric systems based
on priest craft and rules, which almost completely reject the pursuit of
personal spiritual experience in favour of a rule-based ethic of obedience, conformity,
and vicarious salvation. The Black Brothers interfere with human history in
pursuit of their own agenda, precipitating wars, chaos, and social strife,
promoting authoritarianism, materialism, rationalism, industrialism, urbanism,
scientism, and collectivism, and repressing all authentic spirituality in the
pursuit of global domination and the subjection of the human race. The White
School is also involved in human history, much more so than either the Black or
Yellow Schools, which avoid worldly involvements. Many of the greatest
historical spiritual teachers, as well as many artistic and scientific
geniuses, have actually been Secret Chiefs of the Great White Brotherhood, who
have entered into incarnation in order to help guide humanity towards the
realization of the ultimate goal, the attainment of universal enlightenment.
Aleister Crowley himself claimed to be a Secret Chief of the White School, and
not a Black Brother, although in a moment of pique he described himself as a
"black magician."
The A...A... is divided into ten
grades, plus four intermediate grades (shown below in square brackets), divided
into three orders, which altogether comprise a complete system of spiritual
attainment, as follows (from highest to lowest):
The
Order of the Silver Star (The S.S.)
Ipsissimus 10° = 1□
Magus 9° = 2□
Magister Templi 8° = 3□
[The Link—Babe of the Abyss]
The
Order of the Rose-Cross (The R.C.)
Adeptus Exemptus 7° = 4□
Adeptus Major 6° = 5□
Adeptus Minor (“without” and
“within”) 5° = 6□
[The Link—Dominus Liminis]
The
Order of the Golden Dawn (The G.D.)
Philosophus 4° = 7□
Practicus 3° = 8□
Zelator 2° = 9□
Neophyte 1° = 10□
[The Link—Probationer 0° = 0□]
[Student]
The ten main grades correspond to the Cabalistic Tree of
Life, a diagram that represents the correspondence between macrocosm and
microcosm, reality and consciousness.
As in the A...A..., the O.T.O. is
divided into three sets of three grades, the three main grades being (from
lowest to highest) the Man of Earth, Lover, and Hermit, based on the grades
described in the Book of the Law. However, unlike the A...A...,
these grades are ritually conferred in the style of Freemasonry and correspond
to increasing degrees of intelligence not tied to actual magical or mystical
tasks or attainments.
Practices:
The Law of Thelema is a system of experiential
spirituality. This means that Thelemites engage in various spiritual practices
in order to realize the truth of the spiritual life in and for themselves. The
ultimate goal of the spiritual life is to identify with and actually become a
spiritual being, free of the constraints and constrictions of conditioned
existence. The state of being a spiritual being is an ecstatic, powerful state
of union with everything (Thelemic "compassion"). The Law of Thelema
also teaches that all religions are variations of one fundamental underlying
spiritual truth, which become fragmented into different religious traditions as
a result of variations of place, time, and degree of realization and mutual
isolation and hostility as, with the passage of time, religions become
increasingly diversified and exclusive. Religions thus harden into increasingly
exoteric systems, based on devotion to priest craft and rules, in which
individual spiritual experience is increasingly repressed in favour of an
official orthodoxy, ultimately the prerogative of the Black Brothers, which
becomes increasingly metaphorical and vicarious. Thus, the Law of Thelema
rejects “religiosity” altogether, and actively seeks to destroy it, since the
religious attitude in this sense is harmful to the spiritual life and impedes,
blocks, restricts, and interferes with real spiritual progress. Consequently,
Thelemites incorporate practices from all religious traditions without
distinction, in order to reconstitute the primordial tradition that underlies
them all. Crowley compared this process to recombining the colours of the
spectrum into white light. This reconstruction is the special task of
Scientific Illuminism, which is one aspect of the Law of Thelema, the operative
branch of which is Magick.
Spiritual practices are pursued in the context of various
systems of attainment, which are appropriate to different types of aspirant,
differentiated by race, culture, personal psychology, and degree of
realization or "grade." Consequently, not all practices are suitable
for all aspirants at all stages of development. Recognizing which practices are
suitable to which aspirants at different stages of their spiritual development
is the special skill of a spiritual master.
In the system of the A...A..., the
grades correspond to specific tasks and corresponding attainments, arranged in
an hierarchy. Many of these tasks and attainments have become the special study
of parapsychology and transpersonal psychology in recent years. In the system
described by Crowley, these are the main attainments of the Outer Order
(collated from the three main documents describing these attainments, Liber
XIII, Liber CLXV, and "One Star in Sight"):
¨ The Neophyte
formulates the Body of Light (popularly known today as "astral
projection").
¨ The Zelator masters
Hatha Yoga, specifically, Asana and Pranayama, resulting
in the experience of “psychic opening.”
¨ The Practicus
achieves Kundalini Awakening, so-called (see Lee Sanella, The
Kundalini Experience).
¨ The Philosophus
masters Rising on the Planes (popularly known as the "out of body
experience" or "OBE").
¨ The Dominus Liminis
acquires the power of mental Concentration (ekagrata).
¨ The Adeptus Minor
attains the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, so-called,
corresponding to the Hindu trance-state known as Atmadarshana, but with
important differences as well.
The work of an aspirant to the A...A...
is so subtle and advanced that it is beyond the ability of most people,
although a few aspirants attained high grades in the A...A...
during Crowley’s lifetime. The tests, some of which are published, which
Crowley applied to aspirants in order to qualify were very stringent, and
Crowley did not grant grades casually. For example, one has to "astral
travel" through an abstract symbol that one has never seen before and
describe a vision the character of which is consistent with the symbol's
meaning in order to pass the test for "rising on the planes."
Crowley was promoted to the leadership of the English
branch of the O.T.O. in 1912 e.v., and he used this order ever afterwards as a
vehicle for popularizing the Law of Thelema, as well as the practice of the
Supreme Secret of the O.T.O. During his lifetime, this secret was zealously
guarded, although it is not always discreetly hinted at in the esoteric
literature of the day and by Crowley himself. However, since Crowley’s death
the cat has long been out of the bag. The Supreme Secret of the O.T.O. is
nothing other than the use of sex in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment,
equivalent in fact to a Western Tantra. Sex is, of course, the single most
powerful psycho-physiological energy in man, so pressing it into the service of
spiritual development is a natural evolution, once one overcomes the
restriction of shame. From the Tantric point of view, sexual abstinence is
really a form of "sex magick," so-called, since sexual abstinence
modifies the sexual instinct. Exotericism sees in sexual abstinence the
rejection of sexuality per se as contrary to the spiritual life, but the
Tantric view is more subtle and profound. Rather than rejecting sex, the
Tantric practitioner seeks to sublimate the sexual energy, inhibiting its
outflow so that the energy accumulates in the brain, its original source, where
it induces the state of illumination (the physiological precursor of
enlightenment). Once one realizes that this is how sexual abstinence actually
works, the possibility of a contrary methodology presents itself to the
discerning consciousness. Instead of repressing the sexual energy, one can
intensify it to the point where the sheer excess of sexual arousal causes the
energy to ascend the spine and, once again, "illuminate" the brain.
In the latter case, however, the body is also "illuminated." Thus,
the formulae of sexual abstinence and orgiastic excess are realized to be
essentially identical, variations of the same underlying energy-economy.
The members of the O.T.O. are encouraged to engage in
practical experimentation, and many members pursue various tasks connected with
the Great Work. This is especially true of the followers of Kenneth Grant, who
has created a system of Thelemic attainment strongly suggestive of Vodou, the
primal religion of Africa and humanity, since, according to current archaeological
research, humanity originated in Africa.
In addition to the major tasks of the Great Work described
above, committed Thelemites are enjoined to engage in a number of regular daily
practices that have the effect of disciplining and directing the mind and
regulating one’s life according to objective natural cycles. These include
(based on the Official Publications of the A...A...):
¨
A short reminder of one’s dedication to the Great Work, spoken before
meals.
¨ Rituals of
purification and empowerment, performed at the beginning and end of each day
(see Liber V, XXV, and XXXVI).
¨ A daily eucharist
(see Liber XLIV).
¨ The adoration of
the Sun, followed by one hour of meditation, repeated four times daily; thus,
the truly committed Thelemite, like the followers of the Sant Mat, meditates
four hours per day (see Liber CC).
¨ Adoration of one’s
Star, performed as it rises above the horizon (see Liber CMLXIII)
In addition to the foregoing, members of the O.T.O. observe
the Gnostic Mass (see Liber XV), in which the Supreme Secret is
rehearsed and an eucharist consumed by the celebrants, and various
visualization practices. The Book of the Law also refers to the spiritual
use of drugs, which informed the spiritual practice of many significant
spiritual teachers before their criminalization, including Georges Ivanovitch
Gurdjieff (according to Timothy Leary), Julius Evola, Aldous Huxley and others.
Drugs are also an integral part of many different South American aboriginal
shamanic cultures. The traditional cultures of the Quiches, Incans, Mayans, and
Aztecs bears many striking affinities to the Law of Thelema, more so even than
Africa.
Sacred Texts:
The Book of the Law
was written when Aleister Crowley was a Minor Adept of the Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn. Subsequently he underwent an experience, called the
"ordeal of the abyss," similar to the "dark night of the
soul" of the mystics, in which he completely annihilated his human personality
and achieved an extreme state of "psychic opening." He became
completely open and receptive to the influx of the divine consciousness, an
intense, intuitive, transrational, and ecstatic state of self-perfection and
realization of reality in its fundamental and ultimate aspects. In this state,
intermittently over a period of five years, Crowley wrote a series of books,
ranging in length from several hundred to several thousand words, concerning
which he declares that they are beyond rational criticism, i.e.,
absolutely and indubitably true. These books were written
"automatically," i.e., without rational reflection, in a state
of trance. These works constitute the revelatory foundation of the Law of
Thelema, and are referred to, including the Book of the Law, as the Holy
Books of Thelema. In order of writing, they are:
Liber AL vel Legis (1904 e.v.)
Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli (1907 e.v.)
Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente (ibid)
Liber Stellae Rubeae (ibid)
Liber Porta Lucis (ibid)
Liber Tau vel Kabbalae Trium
Literarum (ibid)
Liber Trigrammaton (ibid)
Liber Ararita (1907 or 1908 e.v.)
Liber Arcanorum των Atu του
Tahuti, etc. (1907 and 1911 e.v.)
Liber B vel Magi (1911 e.v.)
Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus
Hermeticus (1911 e.v.)
Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni (1911 e.v.)
Liber A’ash vel Capricorni
Pneumatici (1911 e.v.)
In addition to the foregoing, Crowley wrote (or, rather,
dictated to his disciple and lover, the poet Victor Neuburg, in an ASC) The
Vision and the Voice. The Vision and the Voice (properly, Liber
XXX Aerum vel Saeculi) is a series of visions based on the Enochian magical
workings of famed Elizabethan scholar John Dee and his skryer Edward Kelley, to
which Crowley tracesthe beginning of the process culminating in the advent of
the New Aeon in 1904 e.v. Crowley claimed to be Edward Kelley’s reincarnation.
All but the first two visions were received in the Sahara Desert in 1909 e.v.,
to which he ascribed a combined classification, viz., A-B, Class 'A'
being a "holy book" as discussed above, and Class 'B' an ordinary
work of rational scholarship. A prefatory note to The Treasure House of
Images, published in The Equinox in 1910 e.v., was assigned the 'A'
classification. Liber NU and Liber HAD also contain instructions
received directly from V.V.V.V.V., Crowley's motto as a Master of the Temple of
the A...A..., which are presumably also Class 'A,' since
V.V.V.V.V. corresponds to Crowley’s neschamah, the soul in its static
aspect.
Finally, in 1925 e.v., after a hiatus of more than a
decade, Crowley penned the last and the shortest of the Holy Books of Thelema,
a short preamble to the Book of the Law of only 77 words (plus 27 words
of quotation from the Book of the Law), in which both the study and
discussion of the Book of the Law are specifically and absolutely
prohibited. Most Thelemites today follow Crowley’s lead in interpreting The
Comment to mean that no one may publicly interpret the Law of Thelema, and
that those who do so are to be shunned, despite the fact that the prohibition
is only applied to the text of the Book of the Law itself, and not any
other holy book. Consequently, little critical literature on the Law of Thelema
(as distinct from biography) has appeared since Crowley’s death in 1947 e.v.,
the only notable exception being the writings of Kenneth Grant (most
importantly, The Magical Revival, Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God,
and Hecate’s Fountain). However, Grant and his followers are shunned as
heretics by many Thelemites, especially the followers of the American
Caliphate, who accuse him of collaborating with John Symonds. Symonds, who many
Thelemites believe exploited the “old man” for personal profit and gain by
hypocritically maneuvering himself into the position of Crowley's literary
executor, is the author of several extremely hostile biographies of Aleister
Crowley, as well as the co-editor with Kenneth Grant of a number of Crowley's
writings. In his final Crowley biography, King of the Shadow Realm,
Symonds claims that Crowley was actually psychotic (similar assertions are
sometimes made about Carl Gustav Jung as well, and are clearly ideologically
motivated).
The Holy Books of Thelema are remarkable by any standard,
especially the two longest books, Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente and Liber
Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli, although personal hostility towards Crowley has
caused them not to be as widely regarded as they should. Except the Book of
the Law, the Holy Books of Thelema represent the high water mark of
Aleister Crowley's literary career for sustained philosophical sublimity, lyric
and symbolic beauty, and structural elegance. Often obscure, they are
nevertheless potent and profound testaments to the ecstatic integrity of
Aleister Crowley’s spiritual realization. Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente
is an account of the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy
Guardian Angel. Crowley also wrote a long and interesting commentary on this
particular holy book. Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli describes the
Ordeal of the Abyss from an universal perspective, whereas The Vision and
the Voice documents Crowley’s own attainment of this grade as well as
offering innumerable insights into the Law of Thelema and the New Aeon in
general. These two attainments, the Angel and the Abyss, constitute the two
critical events in the life of the adept in Crowley's system, by which the
aspirant becomes a Major Adept and a Master of the Temple respectively, and
have considerable resonance with the perennial philosophy from which all
authentic spiritual insights derive.
Another holy book, Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni,
describes the grade of Babe of the Abyss, and Liber B vel Magi describes
the grade of Magus. Liber Porta Lucis and Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus
Hermeticus describe Crowley’s mission as Thelemic prophet and the task of
initiation in the New Aeon. Liber Tau vel Kabbalae Trium Literarum
explains the ordeals of the grades. Liber Ararita is a description of
the spiritual path in extremely subtle and abstract language. Liber
Trigrammaton describes the process of cosmic devolution. Liber Arcanorum
interprets the Tarot trumps as an initiatory sequence. Liber A'ash and Liber
Stellae Rubeae offer practical instruction in sexual Tantra.
Liber AL vel Legis,
the Latin rendering of the "Book of the Law," is of course Aiwass'
proclamation of the advent of the New Aeon and its essential formulae (even
although Crowley had not crossed the abyss when Aiwass revealed the Book of
the Law, he classifies it as an holy book because it represents the
dictation of Aiwass himself, who holds the rank of Ipsissimus, i.e., the
highest possible grade. Crowley himself only attained this grade seventeen
years later, in 1921 e.v., at which time he and Aiwass became one being: thus
the relationship with the Holy Guardian Angel represents in the Thelemic view a
kind of spiritual marriage).
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.
