Showing posts with label magick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magick. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

What is "Do what thou wilt"?

Thelema is not about labeling oneself.

The term "Thelemite" is only used once in the Thelemic Holy Books when it is said, "Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word." (Liber AL I:40) It refers only to others labeling those who follow the Way of the Crowned & Conquering Child...

This same line ends with the eleven words, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law"

"Do what thou wilt" is negative & destroying in the sense that it cuts through all

  • Morality (as an a priori truth) [AL I:40; III:60]  
  • Dogma (metaphysical sophistry as binding to our Going). [AL II:27-34]

But it is also positive & creating in the sense that

  • it inherently leads us to the ancient injunction, "Know Thyself"
  • This is the Great Work wherein we come to know ourselves as Ourselves, without limit and infinite.
 

We must perform the operation of Solve, dissolving into the formless Unity which is Naught, so that we may consolidate our Will in our Way, Coagula. In this, each moment is a new Sacrament, and a new branch of Joy. [AL II:9, 42-44, 66]

Then - being "chief of all" [AL I:23] - the Child of Thelema works her Will, guarding against the phantoms of Morality and Dogmatism with the merciless red flame which is as a sword of Ra-Hoor-Khuit [AL III:38].

Saturday, March 29, 2008

What pragmatic tools does Thelema offer?

What tools does Thelema offer, like Buddhism offers the practice of 'mindfulness...'

  • Attitude of non-attachment to results/fruits of labor (Liber AL I:44)
  • Attitude of affirmation, strength, beauty, force, etc. (Liber AL II)
  • Attitude of no guilt from lust, "sinful" things, materiality, etc.
But all these things are subtle, somewhat passive in that they are 'attitudes' and not pragmatic tools like mindfulness. 

Is Thelema merely a paradigm which does not necessarily come with any specific tools?

The traditional response is (a) Yoga and (b) Magick, but are these founded in Thelemic literature or Crowley's literature on... yoga & magick?

* * * * *

  • The use of 'strange drugs' (entheogens) is explicitly endorsed by Hadit:
  • "I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this." (Liber AL II:22)
  • The use of wines and alcohol is explicitly endorsed by Nuit
  • "Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me." (Liber AL I:51) 
  • ...by Hadit: "I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof!" (Liber AL II:22) 
  • ...by Ra-Hoor-Khuit: "For perfume mix meal & honey & thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood." (Liber AL III:23)

Perhaps that to which is alluded to often.... "the first task of the Aspirant is to disarm all his thoughts, to make himself impregnably above the influence of any one of them; this he may accomplish by the methods given in Liber Aleph, Liber Jugorum, Thien Tao, and elsewhere." (AL II:25 comment)...