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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
ALEISTER CROWLEY
click below for the full story of
Aleister Crowley
Probably the most famous example of channelling is the 'Liber Al Vel Legis', which is the central sacred text of the 'religion' of Thelema.
click below for the full story of
Aleister Crowley
Probably the most famous example of channelling is the 'Liber Al Vel Legis', which is the central sacred text of the 'religion' of Thelema.
It was written by Aleister Crowley, who claimed it was dictated to him by a discarnate entity named "Aiwass" - who is far from bland or platitudinous ! (see 'Channelled Texts')
THE BOOK OF THE LAW
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
In March of 1904 the English magician Aleister Crowley was visiting Egypt on honeymoon with his wife Rose.
Fresh from the raging internecine battles surrounding the collapse of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Crowley was somewhat disillusioned with magick at this time.
Rose and Aleister Crowley eloped on 11 August and married on 12 August 1903, in order to save her from an arranged marriage. Their relationship, however, went beyond a marriage of convenience.
The two went on an extended honeymoon that brought them to Cairo, Egypt in early 1904.
Rose Edith Kelly (born 23 July 1874 in London, England, died 1932) married noted author, magician and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1903. In 1904, she aided him in the 'Cairo Working' that led to the reception of 'The Book of the Law', on which Crowley based much of his philosophy and religion, Thelema.
Rose had two children with Crowley: Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith (born in July 1904, died in Spring 1906) and Lola Zaza (born in 1906). Rose and Aleister divorced in 1909. In 1911 Crowley had her committed to an asylum for alcohol dementia. Upon her release she married Dr.Gormley, a Roman Catholic, but her alcoholism returned.
Rose Kelly died in 1932.
On 16 March 1904, "in an avowedly frivolous attempt to impress his wife", Crowley tried to "shew the Sylphs" to her using the 'Bornless Ritual'.
Although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, "They are waiting for you ! - It is all about the Child. He who waits is Horus.”
Although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, "They are waiting for you ! - It is all about the Child. He who waits is Horus.”
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After asking the 'god' Thoth (the Aeon Thoth ?) to clarify the matter, and getting Rose to identify the source of the message as Horus, Crowley took Rose to the Boulaq Museum, and asked her to point out Horus to him.
Then she pointed to a glass case in the distance, and insisted that this was what he sought.
It turned out to be a small funerary stele (XXVIth Dynasty) for a priest of ancient Thebes named Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.
It turned out to be a small funerary stele (XXVIth Dynasty) for a priest of ancient Thebes named Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.
This point of contact depicted a scene of the enthroned hawk-headed 'sun-god' Horus, with the priest making offerings before him; - above them are a falcon-winged solar disk, and the surrounding image of Nuit, goddess of the heavens, framing the whole composition.
Very significantly for Crowley, this artefact was listed in the museum catalog as Stele #666; piece 666, the number that he had identified with since childhood - it later became known as the 'Stele of Revealing'.
θηρίον - (Therion - Greek: beast) is a 'god' found in the mystical system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with Aleister Crowley's writing of 'The Book of the Law'. Therion's female counterpart is Babalon, another Thelemic 'deity'. He, as a Thelemic personage, evolved from that of the 'Beast of the Book of Revelation', whom Crowley intuitively identified himself with since childhood. Indeed, throughout his life he occasionally referred to himself as “Master Therion” or sometimes “The Beast 666”.
The Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου (Arithmos tou Thēriou - Number of the Beast) is the numerical value of the name of the person symbolised by the beast from the sea, the first of two symbolic beasts described in Chapter 13 of the 'Book of Revelation' which is part of the Christian 'New Testament'.
'καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ. 18Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ.
θηρίον - (Therion - Greek: beast) is a 'god' found in the mystical system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with Aleister Crowley's writing of 'The Book of the Law'. Therion's female counterpart is Babalon, another Thelemic 'deity'. He, as a Thelemic personage, evolved from that of the 'Beast of the Book of Revelation', whom Crowley intuitively identified himself with since childhood. Indeed, throughout his life he occasionally referred to himself as “Master Therion” or sometimes “The Beast 666”. |
| The Beast of Revelations William Blake |
'καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ. 18Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ.
This is the 'Foundation Myth' of the 'religion' of Thelema (which is the Greek word for 'Will', paired with Agape or Love, both of whose numerology totals 93; hence his system is known as the 93 Current).
Rose continued to insist that forces from beyond were seeking to contact him, and directed him to perform a ritual in a room with many mirrors and employing some correspondences alien to his Golden Dawn training, which he summarized as:
“To be performed before a window open to the E. or N. without incense. The room to be filled with jewels, but only diamonds to be worn. A sword, unconsecrated, 44 pearl beads to be told. Stand. Bright daylight at 12.30 noon. Lock doors. White robes. Bare feet. Be very loud. Saturday. Use the Sign of Apophis and Typhon.”
So, he acquired a translation of the text from the stele, rendered it into verse, devised what he called 'The Ritual of Invocation According to the Divine Vision of W. the Seer', and performed it upon March 20th, now known as the Equinox of the Gods (and documented in his book of the same name, a full account of the experience, quoted above).
The result changed his life, the course of modern occult philosophy.
At the hours of noon on April 8th, 9th, and 10th in the year 1904, Aleister Crowley received the transmission known as 'Liber AL vel Legis': 'The Book of the Law', in the Victorious City of Cairo in Egypt.
While at first he claims to have rejected it, this philosophically revolutionary vision of a New 'Aeon' (Age) of Thelema was ultimately to radically transform his understanding of the universe, his practice of the Great Work, and his legacy to the innocently unsuspecting world.
Comparisons might be made with other transmissions even more recent: C.G. Jung's 'Septem Sermones ad Mortuos' (Seven Sermons to the Dead), poet W.B. Yeats’ odd work 'A Vision', Blavatsky's 'Book of Dyzan', and even 'OAHSPE' and the 'Book of Mormon'.
And if we remain even remotely willing to suspend our disbelief sufficiently to accept the validity of any of these, it would seem rather unfair not to extend the same courtesy to Crowley.
The full title of the book is Liber Al vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI, and it is commonly referred to as 'The Book of the Law'.
Through the reception of this book, Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity, to be known as the 'Æon of Horus' - (aeon here is not used in the sense of a spiritual entity, but rather as a division of time).
The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i (also known as the Stele of Revealing) is a painted, wooden offering stele, discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Bahri by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. It was originally made for the Montu-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, and was discovered near his coffin ensemble of two sarcophagi and two anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to circa 680/70 BCE, the period of the late Dynasty 25/early Dynasty 26. Originally located in the former Bulaq Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian Museum of Cairo (inventory number A 9422; Temporary Register Number 25/12/24/11), where it remains today. The stele is also known as the "Stele of Revealing" and is a central element of the religious philosophy Thelema founded by Aleister Crowley.
The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i (also known as the Stele of Revealing) is a painted, wooden offering stele, discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Bahri by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. It was originally made for the Montu-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, and was discovered near his coffin ensemble of two sarcophagi and two anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to circa 680/70 BCE, the period of the late Dynasty 25/early Dynasty 26. Originally located in the former Bulaq Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian Museum of Cairo (inventory number A 9422; Temporary Register Number 25/12/24/11), where it remains today. The stele is also known as the "Stele of Revealing" and is a central element of the religious philosophy Thelema founded by Aleister Crowley.
The primary precept of this new aeon is the charge to "Do what thou wilt".
The first appearance of Aiwass was during the three days of the writing of Liber Legis.
His first and only identification as such is in Chapter I: "Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat" (AL I:7).
Hoor-paar-kraat (Egyptian: Har-par-khered) is more commonly referred to by the Greek transliteration Harpocrates, meaning "Horus the Child", whom Crowley considered to be the central deity within the Thelemic cosmology, however, Harpocrates also represents the Higher Self, the 'True Will'.
Crowley described the encounter in detail in 'The Equinox of the Gods', saying that as he sat at his desk in Cairo, the voice of Aiwass came from over his left shoulder in the furthest corner of the room.
This voice is described as passionate and hurried, and was "of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, fierce or aught else as suited the moods of the message. Not bass—perhaps a rich tenor or baritone."
Further, the voice was described as being devoid of "native [i.e., Egyptian, as the encounter occurred in Cairo] or foreign accent".
Crowley also described a "strong impression" of the speaker's general appearance.
He saw or pictured Aiwass with a body composed of "fine matter," having a gauze-like transparency. Further, the speaker
"seemed to be a tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw. The dress was not Arab; it suggested Assyria or Persia, but very vaguely."
Crowley went to great pains to argue that Aiwass was an objectively separate being from himself, possessing far more knowledge than he or any other human could possibly have.
As Crowley writes in his Confessions: "I was bound to admit that Aiwass had shown a knowledge of the Cabbala immeasurably superior to my own" and "We are forced to conclude that the author of The Book of the Law is an intelligence both alien and superior to myself, yet acquainted with my inmost secrets; and, most important point of all, that this intelligence is discarnate."
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
However, Crowley later identified Aiwass as his own 'True Will' and more.
"I now incline to believe that Aiwass is not only the God once held holy in Sumer, and mine own Guardian Angel, but also a man as I am, insofar as He uses a human body to make His magical link with Mankind, whom He loves, and that He is thus an Ipsissimus, the Head of the A.'.A.'."
Ipsissimus (10°=1□): Beyond the comprehension of the lower degrees. An Ipsissimus is free from limitations and necessity and lives in perfect balance with the manifest universe. Essentially, the highest mode of attainment. This grade corresponds to Kether on the Tree of Life. Ipsissimus is essentially the superlative of "self". The Ipsissimus should keep the achievement of this final grade secret even from the rest of the Order and continue with the work of the Magus, while expressing the nature of an Ipsissimus in word and deed.
The A∴A∴ (Silver Star) is a magical order that was created in 1907 by Aleister Crowley and George Cecil Jones after they left the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The order is a Thelemic magical fraternity, the goals of which are the pursuit of light and knowledge.
Its motto is: "The method of science, the aim of religion."
The holy book of the order is 'Liber Al vel Legis' - 'The Book of the Law'.
The "silver star" referred to is Sirius itself - the ;'Dog Star' (Upuaut ?), the most prominent star in the heavens.
So who is Aiwass ? Crowley seemed very unsure.
The text of the 'Book of the Law' is certainly far superior to the texts of other channeled writings, such as 'Oahspe','The Book of Mormon', 'The Seth Material' or 'The Quran', both in the original nature of its contents, and also its style.
However, while containing passages of true beauty, it is also very much a text of its time - a piece of 'fin de siècle' literature, which is very similar, in style, to much of Crowley's poetry.
It leans heavily on Egyptian mythology, whilst also looking to the doctrines of the 19th Century occult revival - making it an uneasy amalgam of disparate cultures.
Aiwass himself was almost certainly a 'dæmon' - and possibly Crowley's personal 'dæmon' - and this may well account for the style and content of the text.
The words dæmon and daimôn are Latinized spellings of the Greek "δαίμων", a reference to the daemons of ancient Greek religion and mythology, as well as later Hellenistic religion and philosophy.
click below for
Liber AL vel Legis
plus a
ALEISTER CROWLEY
A Brief Biography and Exposition of Thelema
Aleister Crowley (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947), born Edward Alexander Crowley (see left), and also known as both 'Frater Perdurabo' and 'The Great Beast', was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema.
He was also successful in various other fields, including mountaineering, chess and poetry.
In his role as the founder of the Thelemite philosophy, he came to see himself as the prophet who was entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Aeon or Age of Horus in the early twentieth century.
Born into a wealthy upper class family, as a young man he became an influential member of the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn after befriending the order's leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.
Subsequently believing that he was being contacted by an entity known as Aiwass, whilst staying in Egypt in 1904, he "received" a text known as 'The Book of the Law' from what he believed was a divine source, and around which he would come to develop his new philosophy of Thelema.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
After leaving Cefalu he returned to Britain, where he continued to promote Thelema until his death.
Crowley was also bisexual, an experimenter with various drugs and a social critic.
In many of these roles he "was in revolt against the moral and religious values of his time", espousing a form of libertinism based upon the rule of "Do What Thou Wilt".
Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time.
(Oddly enough, in 2002, a BBC poll described him as being the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time.)
On 8 April in Cairo Crowley first heard a disembodied voice talking to him, claiming that it was coming from a being known as Aiwass.
Crowley's disciple and later secretary Israel Regardie believed that this voice came from Crowley's subconscious, but opinions among Thelemites differ widely.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
Aiwass (see left) claimed to be a messenger from the god Horus, who was also referred to by him as Hoor-Paar-Kraat (see right).
Crowley wrote down everything the voice told him over the course of the next three days, and subsequently titled it 'Liber Al Vel Legis' or 'The Book of the Law'.
The god's commands explained that a new Aeon or Age for mankind had begun, and that Crowley would serve as its prophet.
As a supreme moral law, it declared "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law", and that people should learn to live in tune with their "True Will".
His first and only identification as such is in Chapter I: "Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat" (AL I:7).
Hoor-paar-kraat (Egyptian: Har-par-khered) is more commonly referred to by the Greek transliteration Harpocrates, meaning "Horus the Child" (see left), whom Crowley considered to be the central deity within the Thelemic cosmology (see: Aeon of Horus).
Crowley described the encounter in detail in 'The Equinox of the Gods', saying that as he sat at his desk in Cairo, the voice of Aiwass came from over his left shoulder in the furthest corner of the room.
This voice is described as passionate and hurried, and was "of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, fierce or aught else as suited the moods of the message. Not bass—perhaps a rich tenor or baritone."
Further, the voice was described as being devoid of "native (i.e. Egyptian, as the encounter occurred in Cairo) or foreign accent".
Crowley also described a "strong impression" of the speaker's general appearance.
He saw or pictured Aiwass with a body composed of "fine matter," having a gauze-like transparency.
Further, the speaker "seemed to be a tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw.
The dress was not Arab; it suggested Assyria or Persia, but very vaguely."
In the later-written 'Liber 418', the voice of the 8th Aethyr says "my name is called Aiwass," and "in The Book of the Law did I write the secrets of truth that are like unto a star and a snake and a sword."
Crowley says this later manifestation took the form of a pyramid of light (see right).
Crowley went to great pains to argue that Aiwass was an objectively separate being from himself, possessing far more knowledge than he or any other human could possibly have.
As Crowley writes in his 'Confessions': "I was bound to admit that Aiwass had shown a knowledge of the Cabbala immeasurably superior to my own", and "We are forced to conclude that the author of 'The Book of the Law' is an intelligence both alien and superior to myself, yet acquainted with my inmost secrets; and, most important point of all, that this intelligence is discarnate."
Finally, this excerpt (also from 'Confessions', ch.49):
"The existence of true religion presupposes that of some discarnate intelligence, whether we call him God or anything else.
And this is exactly what no religion had ever proved scientifically.
And this is what 'The Book of the Law' does prove by internal evidence, altogether independent of any statement of mine.
This proof is evidently the most important step in science that could possibly be made: for it opens up an entirely new avenue to knowledge.
The immense superiority of this particular intelligence, Aiwass, to any other with which mankind has yet been in conscious communication is shown not merely by the character of the book itself, but by the fact of his comprehending perfectly the nature of the proof necessary to demonstrate the fact of his own existence and the conditions of that existence. And, further, having provided the proof required."
However, Crowley also spoke of Aiwass in symbolic terms.
In 'The Law is for All', he goes on at length in comparison to various other deities and spiritual concepts, but most especially to The Fool - (Parsifal - the pure fool ? see right).
For example, he writes of Aiwass: "In his absolute innocence and ignorance he is The Fool; he is the Saviour, being the Son who shall trample on the crocodiles and tigers, and avenge his father Osiris. Thus we see him as the Great Fool of Celtic legend, the Pure Fool of Act I of Parsifal, and, generally speaking, the insane person whose words have always been taken for oracles."
Again from 'Equinox of the Gods': "I now incline to believe that Aiwass is a man as I am, insofar as He uses a human body to make His magical link with Mankind, whom He loves, and that He is thus an Ipsissimus."
For the remainder of his life Crowley propagated his new occult religion of Thelema.
According to Crowley, every individual has a True Will, to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego and this includes the goal of attaining self-realization by one's own efforts, without the aid of God or other divine authority.
On 21 March 1944, Crowley undertook what he considered his crowning achievement, the publication of 'The Book of Thoth', "strictly limited to 200 numbered and signed copies bound in Morocco leather and printed on pre-wartime paper". Crowley sold £1,500 worth of the edition in less than three months.
On 14 March 1945, in a letter Fortune wrote to Crowley, she declares: "The acknowledgement I made in the introduction of 'The Mystical Qabalah' of my indebtness to your work, which seemed to me to be no more than common literary honesty, has been used as a rod for my back by people who look on you as Antichrist."
His first and only identification as such is in Chapter I: "Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat" (AL I:7).
Crowley described the encounter in detail in 'The Equinox of the Gods', saying that as he sat at his desk in Cairo, the voice of Aiwass came from over his left shoulder in the furthest corner of the room.
This voice is described as passionate and hurried, and was "of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, fierce or aught else as suited the moods of the message. Not bass—perhaps a rich tenor or baritone."
Further, the voice was described as being devoid of "native (i.e. Egyptian, as the encounter occurred in Cairo) or foreign accent".
Crowley also described a "strong impression" of the speaker's general appearance.
He saw or pictured Aiwass with a body composed of "fine matter," having a gauze-like transparency.
Further, the speaker "seemed to be a tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw.
The dress was not Arab; it suggested Assyria or Persia, but very vaguely."
In the later-written 'Liber 418', the voice of the 8th Aethyr says "my name is called Aiwass," and "in The Book of the Law did I write the secrets of truth that are like unto a star and a snake and a sword."
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
Crowley went to great pains to argue that Aiwass was an objectively separate being from himself, possessing far more knowledge than he or any other human could possibly have.
As Crowley writes in his 'Confessions': "I was bound to admit that Aiwass had shown a knowledge of the Cabbala immeasurably superior to my own", and "We are forced to conclude that the author of 'The Book of the Law' is an intelligence both alien and superior to myself, yet acquainted with my inmost secrets; and, most important point of all, that this intelligence is discarnate."
Finally, this excerpt (also from 'Confessions', ch.49):
"The existence of true religion presupposes that of some discarnate intelligence, whether we call him God or anything else.
And this is exactly what no religion had ever proved scientifically.
And this is what 'The Book of the Law' does prove by internal evidence, altogether independent of any statement of mine.
This proof is evidently the most important step in science that could possibly be made: for it opens up an entirely new avenue to knowledge.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
However, Crowley also spoke of Aiwass in symbolic terms.
In 'The Law is for All', he goes on at length in comparison to various other deities and spiritual concepts, but most especially to The Fool - (Parsifal - the pure fool ? see right).
For example, he writes of Aiwass: "In his absolute innocence and ignorance he is The Fool; he is the Saviour, being the Son who shall trample on the crocodiles and tigers, and avenge his father Osiris. Thus we see him as the Great Fool of Celtic legend, the Pure Fool of Act I of Parsifal, and, generally speaking, the insane person whose words have always been taken for oracles."
Again from 'Equinox of the Gods': "I now incline to believe that Aiwass is a man as I am, insofar as He uses a human body to make His magical link with Mankind, whom He loves, and that He is thus an Ipsissimus."
He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904 (see above)
By his account, the non-corporeal being that called itself Aiwass had dictated the text known as 'The Book of the Law' or 'Liber AL vel Legis', which outlined the principles of Thelema.
The Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, focusing primarily on a trinity of deities adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of 'The Book of the Law': Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
The religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed; "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law".
See BOOK VI - πρᾶξις - Praxis for a full discussion of the True Will
See BOOK VI - πρᾶξις - Praxis for a full discussion of the True Will
This statement indicated that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own 'True Will' rather than their ego's desires.
The religion also emphasizes the ritual practice of Magick.
The word "Thelema" itself is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα "will", from the verb θέλω: to will, wish, purpose.
As Crowley developed the religion he wrote widely on the topic, producing what are collectively termed the Holy Books of Thelema.
He also included into it ideas from occultism, Yoga and both Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah.
According to Crowley, every individual has a True Will, to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego and this includes the goal of attaining self-realization by one's own efforts, without the aid of God or other divine authority.
'Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law' for Crowley refers not to hedonism, fulfilling everyday desires, but to acting in response to the True Will - which relates to Glanvill's, Schopenhauer's (see right) and Hitler's concept of the Will.
The Thelemite is a mystic who bases their actions on striving to discover and accomplish their True Will.
When a person does their True Will, it is like an orbit, their niche in the universal order, and the universe assists them.
In order for the individual to be able to follow their True Will, the everyday self's socially-instilled inhibitions may have to be overcome via de-conditioning.
Crowley believed that in order to discover the True Will, one had to free the desires of the subconscious mind from the control of the conscious mind, especially the restrictions placed on sexual expression, which he associated with the power of divine creation.
The spiritual quest to discover the True Will is known in Thelema as the Great Work.
Thelema draws its principal gods and goddesses from Ancient Egyptian religion.
The highest deity in the cosmology of Thelema is in fact a goddess, Nuit (see left).
She is the night sky arched over the Earth symbolized in the form of a naked woman.
She is conceived as the Great Mother, the ultimate source of all things.
The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit (see right), conceived as the infinitely small point within a circle, complement and consort of Nuit.
Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time.
He is also described in 'Liber AL vel Legis' as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star."
He identifies himself as the point in the center of the circle, the axle of the wheel, the cube in the circle, "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star," and the worshiper's own inner self.
Hadit has been interpreted as the inner spirit of man, the Elixir Vitae.
When juxtaposed with Nuit in 'The Book of the Law', Hadit represents each unique point-experience.
These point-experiences in aggregate comprise the sum of all possible experience, Nuith.
Hadit, "the Great God, the lord of the sky," is depicted on the Stele of Revealing in the form of the winged disk of the Sun, Horus of Behdet (also known as the Behdeti).
However, while the ancient Egyptians treated the Sun and the other stars as separate, Thelema connects the sun-god Hadit with every individual star.
Furthermore, 'The Book of the Law' says: "Every man and every woman is a star."
In 'The Book of the Law' he says; "I am alone: there is no god where I am.".
He is "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.".
He is identified with kundalini; in 'The Book of the Law' he says, "I am the Secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one. There is great danger in me...".
Hadit is the Fire of Desire at the Heart of Matter (Nuit).
The combination of the upward-pointing triangle of Hadit and the downward-pointing triangle of Nuit forms the Star of Spirit (the Hexagram).
The union of the infinitely small Hadit and the infinitely great Nuit causes an explosive rapture which leads to samadhi.
His symbols are our Sun, the serpent, the Fire Snake, the star Sothis, the planet Pluto, the Will, the winged globe (see right), and the hidden flame.
The third deity in the cosmology of Thelema is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a manifestation of Horus.
He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand.
He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.
Other deities within the cosmology of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates) (see right), god of silence and inner strength, the brother of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure, known as the Virgin Whore and Therion, the beast that Babalon rides, who represents the wild animal within man, a force of nature.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
Thelema draws its principal gods and goddesses from Ancient Egyptian religion.The highest deity in the cosmology of Thelema is in fact a goddess, Nuit (see left).
She is the night sky arched over the Earth symbolized in the form of a naked woman.
She is conceived as the Great Mother, the ultimate source of all things.
The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit (see right), conceived as the infinitely small point within a circle, complement and consort of Nuit.
Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time.
He is also described in 'Liber AL vel Legis' as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star."
He identifies himself as the point in the center of the circle, the axle of the wheel, the cube in the circle, "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star," and the worshiper's own inner self.
Hadit has been interpreted as the inner spirit of man, the Elixir Vitae.
When juxtaposed with Nuit in 'The Book of the Law', Hadit represents each unique point-experience.
These point-experiences in aggregate comprise the sum of all possible experience, Nuith.
Hadit, "the Great God, the lord of the sky," is depicted on the Stele of Revealing in the form of the winged disk of the Sun, Horus of Behdet (also known as the Behdeti).
However, while the ancient Egyptians treated the Sun and the other stars as separate, Thelema connects the sun-god Hadit with every individual star.
Furthermore, 'The Book of the Law' says: "Every man and every woman is a star."
In 'The Book of the Law' he says; "I am alone: there is no god where I am.".
He is "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.".
He is identified with kundalini; in 'The Book of the Law' he says, "I am the Secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one. There is great danger in me...".
Hadit is the Fire of Desire at the Heart of Matter (Nuit).
The combination of the upward-pointing triangle of Hadit and the downward-pointing triangle of Nuit forms the Star of Spirit (the Hexagram).
The union of the infinitely small Hadit and the infinitely great Nuit causes an explosive rapture which leads to samadhi.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand.
He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.
Other deities within the cosmology of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates) (see right), god of silence and inner strength, the brother of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure, known as the Virgin Whore and Therion, the beast that Babalon rides, who represents the wild animal within man, a force of nature.
On 21 March 1944, Crowley undertook what he considered his crowning achievement, the publication of 'The Book of Thoth', "strictly limited to 200 numbered and signed copies bound in Morocco leather and printed on pre-wartime paper". Crowley sold £1,500 worth of the edition in less than three months.
In January 1945, Crowley moved to Netherwood, a Hastings boarding house where in the first three months he was visited twice by Dion Fortune; she died of leukaemia in January 1946.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
Crowley died at Netherwood on 1 December 1947 at the age of 72.
According to one biographer the cause of death was a respiratory infection.
According to one biographer the cause of death was a respiratory infection.
He had become addicted to heroin after being prescribed morphine for his asthma and bronchitis many years earlier.
He and his last doctor died within 24 hours of each other; newspapers would claim, in differing accounts, that Dr. Thomson had refused to continue his opiate prescription and that Crowley had put a curse on him.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2014 |
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