From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nigris (333)) To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.moderated,alt.magick.order,talk.religion.misc,talk.religion.newage Subject: 'The Meaning of "Thelema"' (LONG essay) Date: 29 Aug 1996 08:29:24 -0700 49960829 AA1 Hail Satan!! E6 'The Meaning of "Thelema": Structure and Current' by nigris (333)* ________________ INTRO this is a beginning investigation of the meaning of the term 'Thelema' and where it may be found, isolating a standard of initial research for those of my Order ("OTO") and beyond. as my Order is called 'Thelemic', I begin by analyzing its components such that I may discern what it and its prophet thinks 'Thelema' to be, as compared to the means of its promulgation (current/principle vs. structure/org). I start by noting its association with masonry and gnosticism and proceed to other, more specific, objects. MASONRY First, my Order is 'masonic', and by this we may mean: "a system of communicating truth -- religious, philosophical, magical and mystical; and indicating the proper means of developing human faculty by means of a peculiar language whose alphabet is the symbolism of ritual. Universal brotherhood, and the greater moral principles, independent of personal, racial, climatic, and other prejudices, naturally formed a background which would insure individual security and social stability for each and all." _The Confessions of Aleister Crowley_, A.Crowley, eds. Symonds/Grant, Arkana, p 700. __________________________________________________________ my Order is structured as a masonic framework, conferring initiatic degrees through rite, deriving its authority and/or current from previous European and quasi-Egyptian associations, reconstructed by Crowley in the early 1900s. "The eighteenth-century Rosicrucians, so-called in Austria, had already endeavoured to unite various branches of Continental freemasonry and in superstructures; in the nineteenth century, principally owing to the energy and ability of a wealthy iron master named Karl Kellner, a reconstruction and consolidation of traditional truth had been attempted. A body was formed under the name O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) which purported to achieve this result. It purported to communicate the secrets not only of freemasonry (with its Rites of 3', 7', 33', 90', 97', etc.,) but of the Gnostic Catholic Church, the Martinists, the Sat Bhai, the Rosicrucians, the Knights of the Holy Ghost and so on, in nine degrees, with a tenth of an honorary character to distinguish the 'Supreme and Holy King' of the Order in each country where it was established. Chief of these kings is the O.H.O. (Outer Head of the Order, or Frater Superior), who is absolute autocrat." Ibid, pp. 700-1. ________________ early on (about 1920), my Order claimed to confer regular masonic initiations, accepting those who'd been through rites of comparable rank or style in "parallel orgs" to the appropriate rank of its own -- these perhaps terminating at the lower end of the order- structure itself (0-IV/"Man of Earth"). Crowley claims that my Order "is in possession of one supreme secret. The whole of the system at the time when I became an initiate of the Sanctuary of the Gnosis (IX') was directed towards communicating to its members, by progressively plain hints, this all-important instruction." Ibid, p. 702. _____________ I presume that previous claims as regards the Universal Medicine, the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Immortality (perhaps the same thing, perhaps a multiplex) by L. Bathurst IX in the _Manifesto of the O.T.O._ (_Liber LII) are of similar nature, likely compounded to complexity with a dense absorption of claims to the mysteries (inclusive of the sexual, which K.Kellner claims to have connected via Indian, Tantric, sources). yet as stated by many sources, Crowley inherited the rites from others, and at some point proceeded to 'bring them into line with Thelema', thereupon accepting whatever one might mean by 'the Law of Thelema' through that reconstruction. thus we may presume that the structure of masonry, especially as Crowley saw it, is not itself Thelemic, though it may be reworked so as to promulgate Thelema (rather than possible alternatives). GNOSTICISM as was mentioned previously, my Order associates itself directly with an ecclesiastical lineage, namely the 'Gnostic Catholic Church', or 'Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC)'. this derives from a tradition which is called that of the 'Wandering Bishops', and includes notions of apostolic succession (from the Schism of Utrecht, 1739) as well as consecrated conferment of authority, presumably through baptism or perhaps some other Judeochristian rite. disputation within my Order (of the Swiss, British, American and various alternative portions) appears to have occurred in part due to the involvement of Aleister Crowley and his reputation and activities, including the installation of his 'Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae' (_Liber XV_) as its central rite, said to contain reference to all its hallowed secrets/mysteries. Crowley's replaced previous Gnostic Masses, and so its form changed with the infusion of 'Thelemic elements'. this being the case, neither can we consider Gnosticism 'Thelemic' per se, as it may change forms to match its climate and participants. THE BOOK OF THE LAW it has often been said by the faithful that _Liber Al vel Legis_, or _The Book of the Law_ (aka the Book of Evil Sayings or merely the Evil Book) was a revelation heralding the 'New AEon', and that this new period of human history is marked by its 'Thelemic character'. yet it is also said that Thelema preceded Crowley. this latter being the case, the Evil Book may only be said to represent a certain manifestation of 'Thelema' (perhaps the mystico-religious or scripto-centric). here we come closer to the nature of Thelema in that a given author and prophet indicates (along with his devoted following) that a certain text penned by him is of a 'Thelemic character', and yet excepting the tautological equation of it as such, we are not left much to go on. books in and of themselves, and those containing abstruse and mystico- religious contents, are not, apparently, all 'Thelemic', and so if this one qualifies there must be something in particular about its contents (in specific or evaluative measure) that inspires this categorization among its admirers. THE WORD/LOGOS so far as the foregoing three elements are concerned, they do not equate to Thelema in any strict sense, even while they may have the character or 'current', if you will, of Thelema infused within them through origination (the Evil Book, which some say is an embodiment of Thelema) or rework (Masonry/Gnosticism, which apparently both survive in different forms through the Thelemic reconstruction). and yet Crowley writes of Thelema as a 'word': "...Aiwass, uttering the word Thelema (with all its implications), destroys completely the formula of the Dying God. {eds. note: The 'Dying God' is Christ; this means that *Thelema* transcends Christianity.} Thelema implies not merely a new religion, but a new cosmology, a new philosophy, a new ethics. It co-ordinates the disconnected discoveries of science, from physics to psychology, into a coherent and consistent system. Its scope is so vast that it is impossible even to hint at the universality of its application. But the whole of my work, from the moment of its utterance, illustrates some phase of its potentiality...." Ibid, p. 399. _____________ now whether Thelema destroying the "formula of the Dying God" constitutes transcending Christianity I leave to the Satanists and anti-Satanists to unravel. what is important to me here is that Crowley promotes the concept of the 'Logos' or 'divinely uttered Word' -- one which, by its profundity and breadth of significance, characterizes a particular object, and its prophets (e.g. an aeon or age). yet as even the Great Beast points out, this concept of 'Logos' is presumed to be different than Thelema, indeed it is commonly presumed that there are several Words which have been uttered by the various magi over the course of centuries. Crowley attempts to analyze these within _Liber Aleph vel CXI_ (pp. 68-75) as 'Logos Aionos' (Words of the AEons), including: 'tao' (Lao Tzu), 'anatta' (Gautama Buddha), 'inri (iao)' (Jesus Christ, as well, perhaps, as Krisna and Dionysus), 'amoun (aum)' (Tahuti/Thoth), 'ihvh' (Moses), 'la allh' (Muhammad), and 'abrahadabra' (Ankh-af-na-Khonsu). therefore, in and of itself, it does not appear that Words or 'Logos' are necessarily 'Thelemic' of character. we must look deeper. THE LAW the Evil Book contains Nuit's apparent statement: "The word of the Law is [Thelema (originally spelled in Greek)]." Evil Book, I:39. ________________ the words listed above are those of AEons, ages, and not, as specified in this quote from the Evil Book, 'Words of the Law'. 'the Law', as Crowley uses the term in his many writings (I'm sure that it varies somewhat), appears to pertain to *human nature*, to the course of our being, especially to those of us who have liberated ourselves from the shackles of previous ages and the limitations of our instructors. in this sense 'Thelema', as the Word of the Law, characterizes human nature, our most perfect and essential quality, encompassing the most vital and significant element of our being, thriving, living. how far this 'Law' extends and what a 'Thelemic Law' includes is still left for us to fathom. a particular seal within one of the publications of my Order (_Equinox III:10_), carries the assertion "Deus Homo Est" (or perhaps "Deus Est Homo", it is rather impossible for me to tell as it is set triangularly :>) -- 'God is Man'. given its truth, we might presume that, despite the counter-assertion of several religious through history, 'God's Law is Man's Law' (especially, perhaps, a certain kind or ideal of human being). there are several concepts of 'Law', and all of these are not necessarily associated with 'Thelema' in any way, even though 'Thelema' is called 'the Word of the Law'. we are moving closer to the target and yet have not reached it. THE PROPHET to discover at least what Crowley thought of the term we must look to his interpretation of its usage in his 'Commentary' on that text, as well, perhaps, as any other expression he has concerning it. the former will suffice for a rough start: "39. Compare Rabelais. Also it may be translated, 'Let will and action be in harmony.' "But [Thelema - Greek] also means will in the higher sense of magical one-pointedness, and in the sense used by Schopenhauer and Fichte. _The Law is For All_, ACrowley, ed. IRegardie, pp. 96. ________________________________________________________ therefore we have at least a preliminary definition from which to work, and two or three philosophers based on Crowley's recommendation, to which we may attend in our studies of this term. for those who would care to delve the intricacies of the Master's mind, I append the further commentary on the Evil Book below. analysis of the text immediately above I leave for another post, within the context of Rabelais, Schopenhaer and Fichte, should none attend it before me. I encourage commentary upon this file and corrections where pertinent. E6/6/6 tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com nigris (333) ------------ credit: thanks to my Order Brother BHeidrick for corrections of this text. appendages: "The the essenial ['Aleph Zain' is my guess, Hebrew], Azoth, etc. = [The - Greek]. "Word Chokmah, Thoth, the Logos, the Second Emanation. "of the Partitive, Binah the Great Mother. "the Chesed, the paternal power, reflectoin of the 'The' above. "Law Geburah, the stern restriction. "is Tiphereth, visible existence, the balanced harmony of the worlds. "[Thelema-Gk] The idea embracing all this sentence in a word. "Or: "[Th-Gk] The = [Teth-Hbrw] the Lion, 'Thou shalt unite all these symbols into the form of a Lion.' "[e-Gk] Word = [He-Hbrw] the letter of Breath, the Logos. "[l-Gk] of = [Lamed-Hbrw][libra-astrl] the Equilibrium. "[e-Gk] the = [Tau-Hbrw] 418, Abrahadabra. "[m-Gk] Law = [Mem-Hbrw] the Hanged Man, or Redeemer. "[a-Gk] is = [aleph-Hbrw] the 0 (zero, Nuit, which is Existence). "[Thelema-Gk] Thelema = the sum of all." Ibid, pp. 96-7. _______________ * - having finally received my initiation certificate from my Order, a mere 3 years and some odd weeks after the event, I note that my motto chosen at that time ("Haramullah") does not appear thereon. neither indeed does my present vulgar name ("tyagi nagasiva"), but a previous version of the latter, at the time of which my motto had been "nigris". I also note that recently I was informed that my Order's initiation oaths are no longer available for preview just prior to the rites, rendering them in my eyes counter to the Law of Thelema, being given during a time of duress and disorientation at which one might become enslaved to corruption within the Order itself should this arise and and not be checked within its masonic veil. for this reason I amend my motto within the Thelemic community to reflect my new relationship to my Order and to its apparent dictation of my temporal status through administrative oversight (nigris (333) -- call me what you will). Orig-Lines: 333 (unintentional; thus a confirmation of this last note) EOF