Thelema
Thelema (/θəˈliːmə/) is an esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and religious movement developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley, an English writer, mystic, and ceremonial magician. The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα (pronounced [θéleema]), "will," from the verb θέλω (thélō): "to will, wish, want or purpose."
Crowley asserted or believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904. By his account, a possibly non-corporeal or "praeterhuman" being that called itself Aiwass contacted him (through Rose) and subsequently dictated a text known as The Book of the Law or Liber AL vel Legis, which outlined the principles of Thelema.
Principles
The Thelemic pantheon, a collection of gods and goddesses who either literally exist or serve as symbolic archetypes or metaphors, includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law: Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. In at least one instance, Crowley described these deities as a "literary convenience."
Three statements in particular distill the practice and ethics of Thelema:
- Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, meaning that adherents of Thelema should seek out and follow their true path, i.e. find or determine their True Will..
- Love is the law, love under will, i.e. the nature of the Law of Thelema is love, but love itself is subsidiary to finding and manifesting one's authentic purpose or "mission".
- Every man and every woman is a star implies by metaphor that persons doing their Wills are like stars in the universe: occupying a time and position in space, yet distinctly individual and having an independent nature largely without undue conflict with other stars.
Crowley associated Thelemic spiritual practice with concepts rooted in occultism, yoga, and Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Kabbalah.
His later writings included related commentary and hermeneutics but also additional "inspired" writings that he collectively termed The Holy Books of Thelema. These core texts include:
Boleskine House
Crowley purchased Boleskine House, a manor on the south-east side of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, in 1899. Crowley believed the location was ideal to sequester himself to perform a series of operations known as the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, taken from a grimoire called The Book of Abramelin.
Crowley became infamous for stories of conducting black magic and various other rituals while residing at the house; one of his pseudonyms was "Lord Boleskine." His lodge keeper, Hugh Gillies, suffered a number of personal tragedies, including the loss of two children. Crowley later claimed that his experiments with black magic had simply got out of hand.
Abbey of Thelema
In 1920, on the island of Sicily, Aleister Crowley and his followers occupied a small house which he named the Abbey of Thelema. This location became the focal point for activities related to Thelema where its adherents could practice their beliefs without interference from the outside world.
After two years, the Abbey had descended into a squalid drug den where residents spent their days either having sex or consuming recreational drugs. Conditions were so unsanitary that one of Crowley's followers died and they were asked to leave Italy in 1922 by the Italian government.
Major deities
Non-Crowley influences in Thelema
Aleister Crowley was highly prolific and wrote on the subject of Thelema for over 35 years, but a number of other figures have made significant contributions to Thelema. Each has their own following within the broader Thelemic community.
Jack Parsons
Jack Parsons developed rituals based upon sex magic described by Crowley. Crowley was in correspondence with Parsons during the course of the Babalon Working, and warned Parsons of his potential overreactions to the magic he was performing, while simultaneously deriding Parsons' work to others. A brief text entitled Liber 49, self-referenced within the text as The Book of Babalon, was written by Jack Parsons as a transmission from the goddess or force called Babalon received by him during the Babalon Working.
Kenneth Grant
Kenneth Grant was an English ceremonial magician and advocate of the Thelemic religion. Grant's views on sex magic drew heavily on the importance of sexual dimorphism among humans and the subsequent differentiation of gender roles. Grant taught that the true secret of sex magic were bodily secretions, the most important of which was a woman's menstrual blood. In this he differed from Crowley, who viewed semen as the most important genital secretion.
Legacy
Aspects of Thelema and Crowley's thought in general inspired the development of Wicca and, to a certain degree, the rise of Modern Paganism as a whole, as well as chaos magick and some variations of Satanism. Some scholars, such as Hugh Urban, also believe Thelema to have been an influence on the development of Scientology, but others, such as J. Gordon Melton, reject any such connection.