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From: tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.satanism
Subject: Re: Seed Thelema REF (Partial?)("FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions")
Message-ID: <79947@toad.com>
Date: 10 Dec 95 19:59:05 GMT
References: <4a7gh6$sj7@jobe.shell.portal.com>
Reply-To: tim@toad.com.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: As Little As Possible
Lines: 55
Xref: shell.portal.com alt.magick.tyagi:5291 alt.magick:60937 alt.satanism:29416

>2. Q: So what's a Thelemite?
>   A: A "Thelemite" is a subscriber to the doctrine of Thelema.

No, the term "thelemite" precedes the system called "Thelema" by
centuries, originating in the work of Rabelais. He defines it as
a person who has cultivated the capacity for personal virtue and
thus relies on an inner spur towards goodness rather than being
terrorized into virtue by externally imposed systems of morality.

Most actual Thelemites in the Rabelaisian sense don't know the word
"Thelemite", since the term is a description of qualities of character
rather than of adherence to any doctrine. Even fewer Thelemites have
heard of the system of "Thelema", Rabelais being far better known in
the world at large than Crowley. Whether one is or is not a Thelemite
has nothing at all to do with one's exposure to Rabelais or Crowley.

The attempt by the followers of Thelema to declare the primacy of their
recent usage over the much older and better known Rabelaisian usage
would be an act of overweening arrogance if it were not really just the
product of ignorance. Most modern-day occultists are very poorly
educated in the classics and I have rarely met a follower of Thelema
who has even read the relevant sections of Rabelais.

Of course, it is quite possible for a follower of Thelema to be a
Thelemite in the Rabelaisian sense, even without having any familiarity
with Rabelais. Most followers of _any_ system are not Rabelaisian
Thelemites, though, and followers of Thelema are no exception. The
very concept of Thelemite is antagonistic to following a system,
since it centers on cultivating personal virtues from within oneself.

>3. Q: Are you Satanists?
>   A: No. Are you a murderer and a rapist? Neither am I. And I'd rather you
>      didn't associate me with them.

The above statement is the worst sort of religious bigotry.

>                                     Satanism is a Christian heresy, and
>      doesn't interest me in the least (except academically.)

Very odd for a student of Crowley, who, as demonstrated here recently
at length, was religiously devoted to Satan, identified Satan with his
god Hadit, considered himself as the "Great Beast" to be a servant of
Satan, and considered Satan as an actually existing macroscopic
individual. The Neo-Pagan disavowal of any connection between their
tradition and Satanism seems to have rubbed off on modern followers of
Thelema, and if Crowley were alive he'd be the first to correct them in
his characteristically vitriolic style.

One can be a follower of Thelema without being a Satanist, since the
system is somewhat fluid and one can delete any teaching of Crowley
which one finds personally distasteful. However, to be a non-Satanic
follower of Crowley's system does require an act of deliberate editing
out of his frequent and central Satanic references.
-- 
Tim Maroney.  Please CC all public responses to tim@toad.com.