Thelema

Thelema is the name of the philosophical school and religious matrix established 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 two phrases from the Book:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” (AL I:40) and
“Love is the law, love under will” (AL I:57).

The central goal of a Thelemite (as adherents refer to themselves) is to discover and perform his or her True Will, which is generally defined as the innermost Nature or proper life course of the individual. The techniques used to achieve this goal fall under the heading of Magick.

There are also strong political, ethical, aesthetic, and cultural aspects to Thelema. Although there is no strict literal doctrine concerning these matters, Aleister Crowley wrote many articles and essays regarding his ideas about the proper behavior of individual Thelemites and for an ideal Thelemic society. These ideas have continued to develop into modern times. However, the primary themes involve personal freedom, a recognition that men and women have an inherent divine nature, and that Love is the basis of the Great Work.

See Thelema & Religion for an examination of the religiosity of Thelema and Thelemic organizations. See Alternative Views of Thelema for an examination of Thelema free from the encumbrances of religion.

Doctrines

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The following is a list of various non-obligatory doctrines that are found in the Thelemic literature. First among these is the doctrine which describes the "Holy Books" of Thelema, where many of the other doctrines can be found.

Aiwass Reception of the Book of the Law ... more please ...

Ethics

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Practices

Although there are communal ceremonies informed by Thelema, and organizations to support them (of which Ordo Templi Orientis is the most visible and extensive), Thelemic religious practice is a mainly individual affair. Crowley composed a few guidelines to the cardinal observances and programs. In Liber Aleph he lists the following "Means prescribed in our Holy Books" for constant observance:

Neglect never the fourfold Adoration of the Sun in his four Stations, for thereby thou dost affirm thy Place in Nature and her Harmonies. (Liber Resh)
Neglect not the Performance of the Ritual of the Pentagram, and of the Assumtion of the Form of Hoor-pa-Kraat. (Liber O)
Neglect not the daily Miracle of the Mass, either by the Rite of the Gnostic Catholic Church (Liber XV), or that of the Phoenix (Mass of the Phoenix).
Neglect not the Performance of the Mass of the Holy Ghost, as Nature Herself prompteth thee.
Travel much also in the Empyrean in thy Body of Light, seeking ever Abodes more fiery and lucid.
Finally, excercise the Eight Limbs of Yoga.

In Magick in Theory and Practice, there is a similar regimen with slightly different emphasis. First he recommends yoga, with the method explained in "Part I" of Book Four. Then he lists "the most important drill practices" of magick, as follows:

The fortification of the Body of Light by the constant use of rituals, or by the assumption of God-forms, and by the right use of the Eucharist.
The purification and consecration and exaltation of that Body by the use of rituals of invocation.
The education of that Body by experience. It must learn to travel on every plane; to break down every obstacle which may confront it. This experience must be as systematic and regular as possible; for it is of no use merely to travel to the spheres of Jupiter and Venus, or even to explore the 30 Aethyrs, neglecting unattractive meridians.

In addition to these programs, there are some other basic practices usually involved in Thelema. The first of these is the magical record or diary. "Verily, it is better to fail in the magical ceremony than to fail in writing down an accurate record of it." (Book Four) The second is the recital of the formula of "Will" prior to the main meal of the day. This practice consists of a simple set of statements (sometimes presented as a dialogue 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. Variants on this recital exist for initiates in different circumstances (see Liber 185).

Antecedents of Thelema

Although the modern Thelemic movement traces its origins to the work of Aleister Crowley, he 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.

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

François Rabelais

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 institiutions, 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.

References

Crowley, Aleister. Magick Without Tears. Tempe: New Falcon Publications, 1997 (1973).
Sabazius (1998). The Kiblah (http://www.hermetic.com/sabazius/kiblah.htm). Retrieved June 9, 2004.
Thriambos, Dionysos. The Utility of the Bible to the Student of Thelema (http://www.hermetic.com/dionysos/bible.htm). Retrieved Sept. 17, 2004(?).
Weinberg, Florence M. The Wine and the Will: Rabelais's Bacchic Christianity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1972.
Wikipedia (2004). Gargantua and Pantagruel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel). Retrieved Sept. 17, 2004(?).

External Links

Rabelais: The First Thelemite (http://www.thelemicknights.org/ootmc/rabelais/rabelais.html)

Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Rabelais (http://www.gutenberg.net/etext98/ggpnt10.txt)

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, by Francesco Colonna (http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/HP/index.htm)

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