Thelema

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Template:CopyeditTemplate:Wikify-date Thelema is the English transliteration of the Ancient Greek noun θέλημα: "will", from the verb ἐθέλω: to will, wish, purpose. It is also the name of a philosophy of life inspired by Francois Rabelais (16th century) and later interpreted and implemented in the form of religion by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947).

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Antecedents of Thelema

Although the modern Thelemic movements trace their origins to the works of Francois Rabelais and Aleister Crowley, the latter pointed to important antecedents to his use of the term, and other instances are apparent from research. The word is of some consequence in the original Greek Christian scriptures. Crowley also acknowledged Saint Augustine's "Love, and do what thou wilt" as a premonition of the Law of Thelema. In the Renaissance, a character named "Thelemia" represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican monk Francesco Colonna. Colonna's work was, in turn, a great influence on the Franciscan monk Francois Rabelais, whose Gargantua and Pantagruel includes an "Abbey of Theleme" which Crowley embraced as a direct precursor to modern Thelema.

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Thelema in the Bible

Thelema appears in the Holy Bible referring to divine will, human will, and even the will of the Devil. One well-known example is from “The Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come. Your will (Θελημα) be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” Some other quotes from the Bible are:

“He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” —Matthew 26:42
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” —John 1:12-13
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” —Romans 12:2
"Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." —Revelation 4:11
"…and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” —2 Timothy 2:26
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Rabelaisian Thelema

Image:Francois Rabelais - Portrait.jpg After the Bible, the next well-known usage of the word was by François Rabelais, a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and so moved to Lyons in 1532. It was there that 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.

It is in the second book where Rabelais writes of the Abbey of Theleme, built by the giant Gargantua. It pokes fun at the monastic institutions, since his abbey has a swimming pool, maid service, and no clocks in sight.

One of the verses of the inscription on the gate to the Abbey of Theleme says:

Grace, honour, praise, delight,
   Here sojourn day and night.
      Sound bodies lined
      With a good mind,
   Do here pursue with might
   Grace, honour, praise, delight.

But below the humor was a very real concept of utopia and the ideal society. Rabelais gives us a description of how the Thelemites of the Abbey lived and the rules they lived by:

All their life was spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure. They rose out of their beds when they thought good; they did eat, drink, labour, sleep, when they had a mind to it and were disposed for it. None did awake them, none did offer to constrain them to eat, drink, nor to do any other thing; for so had Gargantua established it. In all their rule and strictest tie of their order there was but this one clause to be observed,

Do What Thou Wilt;

because men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden and to desire what is denied us.

Others who adopted this idea were Sir Francis Dashwood and the Monks of Medmenham (better known as The Hellfire Club) as well as Sir Walter Besant and James Rice in their novel The Monks of Thelema (1878).

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Crowleyan Thelema

Image:Aleister Crowley.jpg Thelema was established as a modern philosophy and religion in 1904 with the writing of Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law) by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947). The Law is summed up in these phrases from the Book:

  • "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" (AL I:40)
  • "Love is the law, love under will" (AL I:57)
  • "There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt" (AL III:60)

Crowley wrote that the Law is not a license to indulge in casual whim or to mindlessly accept cultural mores, but is rather a mandate to discover and manifest one's True Will, which can be described as one's inner divine nature, spiritual destiny, or proper course in life.

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The Book of the Law

Template:Main Thelema begins with The Book of the Law, which has the technical name Liber AL vel Legis. It was written by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt in 1904. This small book contains three chapters, each of which was written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on April 8, April 9, and April 10. Crowley claims that the author was an entity named Aiwass, whom he later identified as his own Holy Guardian Angel. Several years later, Crowley added a short section at the end called "The Comment", which warns against the "study" of the Book and "discussing" its contents, and states that all "questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal" to Crowley's writings.

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True Will

Template:Main The core doctrine of Thelema says that discovering and manifesting one's unique True Will is the central task of every Thelemite. According to Crowley, True Will is a mystical idea that could be described in its dynamic aspect as the singular path of possible action that encounters no resistance in going because it is supported by the inertia of the whole Universe; theoretically, no two True Wills can contradict each other because each one has its own absolutely unique career in its passage through Infinite Space. Hence, to follow one's True Will means to respect all True Wills, described as "Love is the law, love under will". The apparent pacifism of this doctrine is complicated, however, by the possibility that the majority of beings do not know their True Will.

According to Crowley, the process of discovering the Will is called the Great Work, the basis of which is Love or Union with the All (similar in vein to the mystical aspects of Buddhism and Hinduism). The term Magick is applied to the general set of techniques used to accomplish the Great Work, which usually includes practices based on Yoga, the Qabalah, Hermeticism, and ceremonial ritual. According to Crowley, the two great milestones in this process is attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of one's Holy Guardian Angel (which Crowley described as a person's "secret self") and then crossing the Abyss, a mystical process where the individual ego is "annihilated" (symbolized by the spilling of the blood into the Graal of Babalon) and the adept achieves union with the All by entering the City of the Pyramids. After this, the "Master of the Temple" may either remain there, move on to higher states, or return to every-day life to fulfill some earthly destiny.

See also: Thelemic mysticism
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Cosmology

Image:Stele of revealing.jpg

Thelema has a triadic cosmology – derived from ancient Egypt – each appearing in one of the three chapters of Liber Legis. The first is Nuit, the infinitely-expanded Goddess of the Night Sky, the Queen of Space; Hadit, the infinitely-condensed Point, the hidden Flame in the being of all that lives; and Ra-Hoor-Khuit or Horus, the Hawk-Headed sun god, the Crowned and Conquering Child. Other divinities that exist within Thelema are:

  • Babalon—the Scarlet Woman, the Mother of Abominations, the Holy Whore
  • Chaos—the universal generative drive
  • Baphomet—the Serpent and the Lion, creative energy materialised
  • Aiwass—the being that, according to Crowley, dictated Liber Legis
  • Ankh-af-an-khonsu—an actual Priest who lived in Thebes during the late XXVth dynasty of ancient Egypt, around 725 b.c.e.

Thelemic cosmology is interpreted literally by some ThelemitesTemplate:Fact, and by others it is seen as metaphor. For others, it is a key or set of obscure instructions for practices leading to personal attainment or other change of state. Crowley himself admitted that The Book of the Law had many elements that were beyond his own comprehension.

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Practices

Although there are communal ceremonies informed by Thelema and organizations to support them (see Thelemic organisations), Thelemic practice is a mainly individual affair. Generally, most practices are designed to assist the Thelemite in finding and manifesting True Will, although some include celebratory aspects as well.

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Magick

Template:Main

In the broadest sense, Magick is any act designed to cause intentional change. Magick is not capable of producing "miracles" or violating the physical laws of the universe (i.e. it cannot cause a solar eclipse), although "it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature" (Book 4). Aleister Crowley saw magick as the essential method for a person to reach true understanding of the self and to act according to one's True Will. Crowley describes this process:

"One must find out for oneself, and make sure beyond doubt, "who" one is, "what" one is, "why" one is...Being thus conscious of the proper course to pursue, the next thing is to understand the conditions necessary to following it out. After that, one must eliminate from oneself every element alien or hostile to success, and develop those parts of oneself which are specially needed to control the aforesaid conditions." (Crowley, Book 4)

For Crowley, the practice of magick—although it equally applies to mundane things, like balancing the checkbook—is essentially to be used for attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of one's Holy Guardian Angel. Since achieving this state with one's 'Silent Self' can be extremely arduous, magick can be used not only to reach that particular goal, but to clear the way for it as well. For example, if one needed a particular dwelling to perform the operation, one could use magick to obtain a suitable home. Crowley stated that magick that did not have one of these goals as its aim was black magic and should be avoided.

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Observances

Based on Crowley's writings, many Thelemites recognize certain rituals and practices as core to the Thelemic experience. These include:

  • Liber Resh—consisting of four daily adorations to the sun
  • The purification, consecration and exaltation of one's Body of Light by the use of rituals of invocation (e.g. the Ritual of the Pentagram)
  • Eucharistic celebrations, such as The Gnostic Mass or the Mass of the Phoenix
  • Development in Yoga
  • Keeping a magical record
  • "Saying Will" before the main meal of the day (a simple set of statements—sometimes presented as a dialog with others—declaring that it is the individual's will to eat and drink, in order to fortify his body, in order to accomplish the Great Work.)
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Ethics

Thelema stresses individual liberty balanced by responsibility and discipline, the inherent divinity of every person, regardless of gender ("Every man and every woman is a star" AL I:3), and the battle against superstition and tyranny. Ultimately, the interpretation of Thelema and The Book of the Law is left to the individual; for this reason, aggressive attempts at conversion is strongly frowned upon, although using personal example to promulgate the Law is encouraged ("Success is thy proof: argue not; convert not; talk not over much!" AL III:42 ). Also, social restriction—such as laws that make illegal certain sex acts between consenting adults—is generally seen in a negative light by most Thelemites.Template:Fact

Two documents in particular help to define Thelemic ethics: Oz and Duty.

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Liber Oz

Liber Oz establishes the rights of the individual. 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 as one will; think, speak, write, dress, love, paint, carve (etc.) as one will; and kill those who would thwart these rights. The rights established in Oz are often considered to be complimented by the obligations given in Duty.

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Duty

Duty is described as "A note on the chief rules of practical conduct to be observed by those who accept the Law of Thelema." There are four sections:

  1. Duty to Self: essentially describes the self as the center of the universe, with a call to learn about one's inner nature. Further, every Thelemite is to develop every faculty in a balanced way, establish one's autonomy, and to learn and do one's True Will.
  2. Duty to Others: A Thelemite is called 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 recognize the divine nature of all other beings. Further, it is noble to relieve the suffering of others, but pity (seen as condescending) should be avoided.
  3. Duty to Mankind: Thelemites should try to establish the Law of Thelema as the sole basis of conduct. Further, the laws of the land should have the aim of securing the greatest liberty for all individuals. Crime is viewed from the point of view of violating one's True Will ("Thus, murder restricts his right to live; robbery, his right to enjoy the fruits of his labour; coining, his right to the guarantee of the state that he shall barter in security; etc.").
  4. Duty to All Other Beings and Things: Quite simply: "It is a violation of the Law of Thelema to abuse the natural qualities of any animal or object by diverting it from its proper function" and "The Law of Thelema is to be applied unflinchingly to decide every question of conduct."
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Post-Crowleyan Thelema

Different organisations and persons do not see Thelema as originating from Crowley. Rather they see Crowley's Thelema as only one of many forms of Thelema. Different orders who accept the Book of the Law have their own guidelines for putting it into practice. In German Thelemic thought the most widely-known skepticism against Crowley's version is found in the Fraternitas Saturni order. The role of other Thelemic writings, each with their own significance, changes greatly for each of these groups. The Law of Thelema itself eschews orthodoxy, forbids intellectual dogmatism concerning the proper interpretation of the Law, and demands that those who do so be anathematised. As a result, there is little secondary literature on the Law of Thelema of any interest, one notable exception being the controversial works of Kenneth Grant. In the United States, J. Gordon Melton and other scholars of New Religious Movements, as well as some scholarsTemplate:Fact of hermeticism have begun to address Thelema in some capacity. Martin P. Starr has also published valuable scholarly work on the history of contemporary Thelema, primarily as it has manifested in the Ordo Templi Orientis. (See 'References and Sources' below)

As an example of diversity in practice, "The Thelema Society", a Thelemic community founded by Michael Dietmar Eschner, is based entirely on "Liber AL vel Legis" – under the original title "Liber L vel Legis" – and rejects all other teachings and writings of Aleister Crowley.

While Thelema has not yet attracted much attention in the field of comparative religion, a somewhat unusual attempt was made by the Mariavite Catholic bishop Federico Tolli, in his German book Thelema — Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Christentum, Logentradition und New Aeon (Leipzig, 2004.) For Tolli, Thelema is to be regarded as the dialectical consequence of Christianity. Christianity for Tolli exists as a community in Christ, whereas Tolli sees Thelema as a necessarily individualistic response to the world.

In a 1938 theological dictionary to the New Testament the concept of salvation history has a great effect on Tolli's thought. Tolli interprets from this that it is clear for Crowley that the whole Universe (ergo the Will of God) is to combine (analogous to the Alchemical formula 'coagula'). "Love", in the form of combinatory attraction ("Love is the law, love under will"), is a universal principle — therefore akin to the concept of Natural religion. The main difference (for Tolli) is that in Christianity salvation of the entire Universe ("Ganzheit") cannot be made by 'solipsistic' man. The bishop sees Crowley as a failed – however talented – artist or "Mystagogie", but not as a "Satanist". However, the merit and contribution of bishop Tolli to Thelemic studies lies in the fact that it was he who first expresses that the genuine meaning and idea of Thelema does not necessarily contradict the teachings of Jesus, as Crowley himself affirms.

However, this is very much at variance with how most ThelemitesTemplate:Fact regard Christianity, which is generally seen as a manifestation of the superseded Aeon of Osiris, rather than the New Aeon of Horus (to be followed in several or twenty centuries by the future Aeon of Maàt). While only fundamentalist Christians would regard Crowley as a literal "Satanist", many would agree that he directly challenges much of the ethical and religious basis for Christianity, especially in his work "Liber OZ". Crowley himself tended to advocate the progressive study of all major world religious scriptures and mystical traditions, as well as a special focus on the Empiricist movement in Modern British philosophy, even as he strenously argued against the ultimate claims of these institutional religions. Crowley and Thelema show much philosophical influence from not only Rabalais, but also from sources as diverse as Laozi, Joachim of Fiore, and Friedrich Nietzsche. In the ritual structure of the Gnostic Mass (a major group ritual practice) , the influence of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is evident, leading to accusations of the Gnostic Mass as a "Black (Satanic) Mass".

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Ma'atian Thelema

Another school of Thelema started by Nema is based on her reception of Liber Pennae Praenumbra, a book which states that it is a communication from the Egyptian Goddess Ma'at. The Ma'atian school is, if possible, even more syncretic and less dogmatic than Crowleyan Thelema and describes Thelema as a mystical/magical philosophy of life based on Will. The individual Will in Thelema is identified with the Egyptian god Had or Hadit. The Pleroma of infinite potentiality through which Had wends its Way is called Nu or Nuit, the Egyptian goddess of Infinite Space.

Many adherents of Ma'atian Thelema are syncretic and recognise correlations between Thelemic and other systems of spiritual thought; most borrow freely from other traditions. 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 Qabalah. Followers of the philosophy of Thelema make free use of the methods and practices derived from other traditions, including alchemy, astrology, qabalah, tantra, tarot, and yoga, regarding them all as being subsumed in the Law of Thelema.

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Thelemic organisations

Several organisations of various sizes claim to follow the tenets of Thelema, such as the Argenteum Astrum (or A∴A∴), Ordo Templi Orientis, Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis and the Horus-Maat Lodge. 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. The Fraternitas Saturni and related groups accept Thelema, but extend it by the phrase "Mitleidlose Liebe!" ("Compassionless Love!"). These groups generally do not accept the writings of Crowley.

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See also

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References

  • Free Encyclopedia of Thelema (2005). Thelema. Retrieved March 12 2005.
  • Kazcynski, Richard. Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley. Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications. 2002.
  • Melton, J. Gordon. "Thelemic Magick in America." Alternatives to American Mainline Churches, ed. Joseph H. Fichter. (Barrytown, NY: Unification Theological Seminary), 1983.
  • Starr, Martin P. The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites. Bolingbrook, IL: Teitan Press. 2003.
  • Thelemapedia. (2004). Thelema. Retrieved April 15, 2006.
    • Crowley, Aleister. (1997). Magick: Book 4. 2nd ed. York Beach, Me. : S. Weiser.
    • DuQuette, Lon Milo. (1993). The Magick of Thelema. York Beach, Me. : S. Weiser.
  • van Egmond, Daniel. "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. 1998. Pages 311-346.
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External links

The Thelema Series of Articles.

Important elements within Thelema: The Book of the Law | Aleister Crowley | True Will | The Great Work | Holy Guardian Angel | Stele of Revealing | Abrahadabra | 93 | Aeon of Horus | Body of Light | Night of Pan | City of the Pyramids

Thelema and Religion: The Gnostic Mass | Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica | Holy Books of Thelema

Godforms: Nuit | Hadit | Ra-Hoor-Khuit | Babalon | Chaos | Baphomet | Choronzon | Aiwass | Ankh-af-an-khonsu

Organisations: Argenteum Astrum | Ordo Templi Orientis

Personalities: Allan Bennett | Jack Parsons | Charles Stansfeld Jones | Grady McMurtry | Kenneth Grant | Israel Regardie | Lon Milo Duquette | Kenneth Anger | Lady Frieda Harris

Other Thelemic texts: Liber 777 | Konx om Pax | The Book of Thoth | Moonchild

Magick and mysticism: Magick | Gematria | Thoth Tarot | Qabalah | Astrology | Yoga

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