spiritual.

This includes balancing pride with humility, light with dark, matter with
spirit, knowledge with wisdom, logic with emotion, and even free will with destiny.
It is through the reconciliation of apparent opposites that Attainment is possible.
Perhaps the finest summary of Thelemic equilibrium is the maxim Act passionately;
think rationally; be Thyself.

Thoughtfulness and the rejection of blind faith

Thelema inspires free thinking, skepticism, and the Scientific Method over blind faith.
Thelemites very rarely believe something just because. This is why Thelema is
often thought of as a Gnostic religion. Gnosis is Greek for knowledge, and as as
such, Thelemites are expected to accept beliefs only through the process of direct
experience and substantiation. A Thelemite does not want to have faith in Godhe
or she wants to know God (and eventually come to realize that he or she is God).

Independence and liberty

THELEMA:
A New Spiritual Tradition for a New Age
Is it a religion? a philosophy? a collection of
mystical practices? a system of post-modern ethics?
Decide for yourself . . .

Although most Thelemites recognize that humans are intrinsically interdependent,

Thelema requires that one aspire to self-reliance and a sense of personal responsibility
for ones own actions and well-being. Deeply embedded within Thelema is the
value of Libertyto make ones own choices about major life issues, such as career,
sexual partners, and creative expression. Very importantly, Thelemites strive to avoid
interfering in anyone elses process of discovering and expressing their own Will,
recognizing that this only leads to confusion and disharmony.

Thelemites promulgate the Law, but do not convert

Practices such as proselytizing and conversion are strongly discouraged within Thelema, since Thelemites hold that interpretation of The Book of the Law is a task
strictly for the individual. At the same time, many undertake the duty of promulgating
the general principles of Liber Legis (as in this pamphlet!), thereby spreading the Law
of Liberty. The object is to inspire others to acknowledge their own unique Will and
then to attempt to discover and express it.

There is religion in Thelema for those that

require it. There is also freedom from religion in
Thelema, for those that require it.
THE GOAL OF THELEMA:
To help you realize your True Will
(the innermost spark of divinity inside you
that holds your lifes purpose)
on your own terms,
in your own unique way,
bowing down to nobody in the process.

A quote from a Thelemic Holy Book

Light, Life, Love; Force, Fantasy, Fire; these do I bring you:
mine hands are full of these. There is joy in the setting-out;
there is joy in the journey; there is joy in the goal. Only if
ye are sorrowful, or weary, or angry, or discomforted; then
ye may know that ye have lost the golden thread, the thread
wherewith I guide you to the heart of the groves of Eleusis.
My disciples are proud and beautiful; they are strong and
swift; they rule their way like mighty conquerors . . . .

Every man and every woman is a star.

Every number is infinite;
there is no difference.
L OVE IS THE LAW, LOVE UNDER WILL

The authors of this pamphlet have quoted liberally from the writings of Ash Bowie and Jake
Stratton-Kent. If you are interested in learning more about Thelema, see:
www.thelema.org
www.hermetic.com

www.thelemapedia.org
www.lashtal.com

www.otousa.org
ashami.com/eidolons/

The wickedest man in the world?

Modern Thelema is the creation of Aleister Crowley
(18751947), a prolific writer and poet, world
traveler, mountaineer, chess master, artist, yogi,
and social provocateur. He was also a noted drug
addict, sexual libertine, and misogynist. Some
of his excesses were due to his upbringing, but
he also used the shock value as a teaching
toolto convey that one shouldnt live ones life
solely by satisfying the expectations of others.
If anything, his life as an anti-role-model has
prevented Thelema from turning into a silly cult of
personality.
Thelema is a modern manifestation and expansion of the ancient notion of Will.
The word first appears in the Bible in several places exemplifying divine will, such as
in the Lords Prayer: Your kingdom come. Your will ( ) be done, On earth
as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). To many Thelemites, the chief expression of this
idea is Do what thou wilt. This is not to be interpreted as a license to indulge every
passing whim, but rather as the divine mandate to discover ones True Will or true
purpose in life, and to accomplish it.
The core of Thelemic metaphysics is founded upon a small book written in Cairo,
Egypt in 1904 by Aleister Crowley while on honeymoon with his wife, Rose. Called
Liber AL vel Legis or The Book of the Law, it was eventually to take center stage
in Crowleys development of his entire spiritual system. The Book contains three
chapters, each of which was written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on April
8, 9, and 10, 1904. Crowley claimed that the author was an entity named A IWASS ,
whom he later referred to as his personal Holy Guardian Angel (or Secret Self).
Crowleys development of Thelema was heavily inspired from many other sources,
including Francois Rabelais, Eliphas Levi, and Friedrich Nietzsche.
Although much is written about it, Thelema has no precise definition, leaving it
largely up to the individual to interpret. It is, however, possible to identify common
principles that are generally accepted within the larger Thelemic community:

True Will must be discovered

Crowley, like many spiritual teachers, recognized that ones Will is generally buried
beneath a thick layer of what can be called Individual Egothe conscious sense of
I that feels separate from the Universe and is a complex mix of beliefs, values,
and norms derived from socialization and various life experiences. A Thelemite is
therefore one who seeks to break through ones conscious programming in order
to reconnect with the secret self, thereby becoming aware of ones true, unfiltered
nature. This challenging, life-long process is called the Great Work.
The techniques used to accomplish this difficult task fall under the general term
Magick, and traditionally include practices such as yoga, invocational ritual, and
astral body work. In more recent years, Thelemites have been starting to include

other, non-occult methods to accomplish the Great Work, such as transpersonal

psychotherapy, hypnosis, and isolation tanks. In the end, it is up to the individual to
find the doorway to his or her own inner self.

Human divinity
Thelema utterly rejects the notion of original sin, and states, rather, that we are
all divine creaturesEvery man and every woman is a star ( AL I:5). As such,
Thelema rejects the idea that emotional states like guilt, shame, and pity could ever be
considered virtues, and instead recognizes positive virtues, such as honor, pride, and
courage. Thelema also does not recognize any personified source of evil, such as
the Judeo-Christian Satan. Rather, Thelemites are encouraged to discover their own
divinity, as well as their personal sense of right and wrong, based on both rational
thinking and through apprehension of their True Will.

Love & sacred sexuality

Thelemawhich is Greek for Willis paired with Agape, the Greek word for Love.
Love, from a mystical point of view, is the drive to achieve Union, thereby losing the
sense of ego-individuality and isolation. This theme is repeated extensively within
Thelema, and is considered to be a key to accomplishing the Great Work. This is
reflected in the core expression of Thelema from The Book of the Law:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. (AL I:40)
Love is the law, love under will. (AL I:57)
This notion of divine Love is personified in the Thelemic deities Nuit and Hadit, who
represent (respectively) the infinitely-expanded Goddess of the Night Sky and the
infinitely-condensed masculine Point, the hidden Flame in the being of all that lives.
Their Union results in the birth of Ra-Hoor-Khuit (or Horus), the Hawk-Headed sun
god, called the Crowned and Conquering Child.
As such, Thelema recognizes that the fundamental nature of the Universe is creative, which is reflected and embodied in the act of sex. As such, consensual lovemaking is considered to be a sacrament, and can even be used for personal devotional
or transformational rites. By extension, the absolute freedom for all consenting adults
to engage in sex as they Will is an important cultural element within Thelema.

A New Aeon
Thelema divides history into Aeons, which are large blocks of time (about 2000 years)
that embody specific spiritual concepts. The first was the Aeon of Isis, with a focus on
the Maternal Goddess and Mother Earth. After that was the Aeon of Osiris, representative of the paternal Dying God, which reflected the notions of self-sacrifice, original
sin, and redemption. The current Aeon, which is marked as beginning in 1904, is that
of Horus. The Aeon of Horus is that of the Child, the sovereign individual, who seeks
his own unique identity and path of self-actualization, free from shame and fulfilled
in Light and Joy.

Balance
Crowley is quoted as saying, Equilibrium is the basis of the Work. Achieving balance is a key element within Thelema, in terms of both the worldly and the

Loved this book?

Other books that may be interesting to you:
Anonymous : "Magic And Wyrd"
Wyrd is the underlying fabric in the Northern/Germanic cosmology. The laws of Wyrd
supercede the will of the Gods of men and all creatures. Wyrd provides the basic structure for
the Nine Worlds and manifests itself in Yggdrasil and the Well of Urdr.One can compare
Wyrd to a song there are many differnt ways to sing it but the basic tune remains the same.
Wyrd is also frequently seen as weaving different threads coming... >>read more<<
Anonymous : "5 Rune Magic Rituals Never Seen In Print Before"
Learn how to develop your own runic rituals updated to the 21st century. RUNE-MAGIC
allows you to develop your spiritual and psychic powers. With these new powers you can
attract health-wealthhappiness into your life. Runes are an energy! As a Northern European
you can now attract the virtues of your Viking ancestors into your daily life today. Strength
Rune UR --- Courage Rune Tyr --- Victory Rune Sig --- Wisdom Rune Os and... >>read
more<<
Anonymous : "History Of Witchcraft Vol 1 Of 7"
As I am trying to put this all together I hope to bring about an understanding that Witchcraft
like any religion has undergone its changes throughout the centuries. It is my personal feeling
however that the religion of Witchcraft has undergone far fewer changes than any other in
history.An historical overview of how modern-day magic evolved from the beliefs and
customs of the Celts and other ancient Indo-European peoples.... >>read more<<
Anonymous : "The Prayers Of The Elementals"
O Invisible King who taking the Earth for Foundation didst hollow its depths to fill them with
Thy Almighty Power. Thou whose Name shaketh the Arches of the World Thou who causest
the Seven Metals to flow in the veins of the rocks King of the Seven Lights Rewarder of the
subterranean workers lead us into the desirable Air and into the Realm of Splendour. We
watch and we labour unceasingly we seek and we hope by the twelve... >>read more<<