About The Thelemic Order
The information that you will read below is gathered from The Thelemic Order website. For more detailed information about the Mother Order (TTO), please visit their website here.
The Understandings of The Thelemic Order
Many denominations have "Articles of Faith," which state shared beliefs. TTO has its "Understandings" which are, to quote a famous pirate "more like guidelines." The understandings allow us to share general beliefs without forcing adherence to a strict or rigid set of absolutes. Members are expected to be "principally in sympathy with" the Understandings, which is to say they mostly agree with them. No one will ever agree on every detail, and as long as we have a common direction, we don't need to.
The understandings present a socially progressive model of Thelema which sees:
Gender
Gender as personal, with a strong acceptance of queer individuals and acknowledgement of the Queer roots of Thelema.
Tolerance
Fascism and other forms of rule by the ignorant, or rule through bullying, as intolerable
[We do not claim that those who do not generally agree with them are not Thelemites, however they are not Thelemites that it is gainful or healthy for us to maintain a close and unlimited association with, or to admit into our midst. We do not need to, and will not, accord endless tolerance to intolerance ]
Social Justice
Poverty and other social problems as things Thelemites must tackle. We are not political and do not present political solutions, but we do not need to have a solution to all the world's ills to categorically reject the vision of Thelema as empowering a Libertarian dystopia in which the privileged and classist dispossess subjugate, or maintain oppression of others for their own benefit in the name of "freedom."
Informed Consent
Informed Consent should be a guide for all of our actions. Consent is not a prescription against doing things, rather it makes possible things which would have been unethical in a prior era.
When there was no way to negotiate consent, ethics dictated that magical, spiritual, and initiatory practices should cater to a lowest common denominator, as there was no practical means to communicate levels of comfort, or adjust activities on an individual basis. Provided consent is present nearly any course of action becomes acceptable. Consent enables us to incorporate reasonable risk.
Informed Consent means not only that activities and actions are agreed, but that the person agreeing understands as fully as is possible what they are consenting to. Appropriate ways to obtain consent without spoiling in advance the secrets of initiations are discussed in Initiator Training.
In ritual and activities of the Order General, a high level of consensuality is expected, however this also does not preclude surprise in ritual space. We take as a model communities which deal with profound issues of consent daily, including those which focus on sacred sexuality or ordeal initiation which may involve pain or emotional duress, all while still maintaining practical and robust consent.
Consent is not a matter of political correctness. We do not seek to embrace extremes of behavior which have been suggested in some rare but much advertised circumstances such as a few bad exemplars among colleges and universities in which consent practices may become a bizarre ritual divorced from normal human social behavior.
What is Thelema?
Thelema is a movement originated largely by Aleister Crowley in the early 20th century. Its inspiration is a set of revelations he received while travelling in Cairo, Egypt. Despite what some people may tell you, Thelema is not all about Crowley.
No philosophical or religious movement is an entirely new idea, though they are often framed as new. Thelema occupies a central place at the pinnacle of the era of 19th century new thought movements which included a vast wave of spiritualist groups and produced the Theosophical Society, the Golden Dawn, and numerous other magical orders. That said, Crowley himself acknowledged a heavy debt to Rabelais, the medieval humanist in developing his doctrine.
You're probably more familiar with Thelema than you might realize. A lot of its core tenets found their way into Wicca through the work of Gerald Gardner, who corresponded with, and held a charter from Crowley. That doesn't mean Gardner was a copycat or invalid. He built on the same foundations as Crowley and others. "Do what thou will" is neither Gardner nor Crowley, but Rabelais, from about 1532. What is important is that Thelema is a living part of a long tradition of magical and esoteric thought.
What is unique about Thelema is that it and the body of writing and work around it embodied the ideals of nearly all the extant movements, and opened a pathway for the integration of any set of magical practices, spirituality, or worship of deities in a fashion more complete than the organizations which came before.
We see Thelema as a natural keystone tying together the study and practice of many traditions of magic and spirituality. We see Thelemites as a natural leadership community who should be at the forefront of magical discovery and awakening. Far from "competing" with other organizations we want to see members of TTO as leaders and trend-setters throughout the wider worlds of magic and spirituality.
Syncretic Thelema
Thelema is syncretic, which means it melds many practices together, keeping their beauty and distinction while helping them make sense together. Thelemites practice whatever is personally meaningful to them.
Even the "Thelemic Holy Books" reference dozens of systems of magical practice and spirituality, and sees value in all of them, except perhaps for the most monolithic, intolerant, and repressive, versions of Christianity prevalent at the time they were written.
We want to encourage our members to be active in many different activities. We intend to be a networking nexus and a clearinghouse for information, not a place where ideas go to suffocate.
Are Thelemites Pagan?
It is hard to make categorical statements about Thelema, because there are always Thelemites who would disagree. That said, the core Thelemic writings explicitly mention numerous pagan deities, and include prayers and dedications to them. There is also some suggestion that they are to be taken symbolically.
In practical fact, the various writings around Thelema, were highly influential in several dimensions to the rise of modern pagan traditions, both after the Second World War and in the 1960s. Of the major movements coming out of the late 19th and early 20th century which had a pagan flavor, Thelema resembles the practices of modern paganism more than most.
Ultimately how to identify in relation to paganism, Wicca, etc., is up to the individual, but for most practical purposes Thelema can be considered, at least in the "big tent" sense, a pagan practice. More to the point, many practicing Thelemites are pagan and maintain pagan, or Wiccan practice.
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley was an English esotericist, poet, writer, and philosopher who lived from 1875-1947. In 1904 he received The Book of the Law or Liber AL vel Legis, which along with a great deal of other writing which he produced formed the basis for a religion and philosophy which is termed "Thelema." Crowley was not the first or last Thelemite. He admits openly to having taken the core idea from the French Humanist author Rabelais' "Abbey of Thelema", and other 19th century writers such as Walter Besant played with the idea of a Thelemic society. Crowley is notable for both providing a core prophecy and structure to Thelema.
Crowley was not a sole voice, even at the time of his writing. His work was influenced heavily by his partners and students including Edith Rose Kelly, Charles Stansfeld Jones, Leila Waddell and Leah Hirsig among many others. Some of his contemporaries share author credits on his work, including Mary Desti and Mary Butts.
Other notable figures including JPL founder John Whiteside Parsons, Marjorie Cameron, and Phyllis Seckler expanded through writing, art, or teaching on his original work.
There is a feeling among many modern and progressive Thelemites that many 20th and early 21st century Thelemic authors have been overly reluctant to depart from, or enlarge on, Crowley's original corpus.
Whatever one's feeling Crowley is a central personality in Thelema, and understanding him in context is helpful in being able to read his work and have a good understanding of the "principal thrust" of Thelema.
Dozens of books, and several television shows and movies, have been made about Aleister Crowley. Some are well researched and factual and others are pretty much trash.
In several years of traveling to proclaim the Law of Thelema at Pagan and other events, we have generally run into two types of people. Those who already know a good bit about Crowley, and those who have very unpleasant and confused ideas about him.
The information below is a very basic, a "beginner" level introduction to Crowley, mostly aimed at clearing up some drastic misunderstandings about his life, and getting everyone on the same page with Crowley as a major, queer, generally socially progressive, historical figure.
Most Thelemites consider Crowley to be, at least, "a prophet," and the organizer of the Thelemic system of belief or understanding. Even when they can't agree if Thelema is a "religion" or not, they agree Crowley founded it.
We can't provide a comprehensive biography of Crowley, though we will include some of the better resources below. Here we'll try to address on a very high level some of the most common misunderstandings about Crowley that we've run into in the pagan and magical community.
Crowley was actually pretty brilliant
Historically Crowley's poetry, when it was not being attacked for obscenity, was often well reviewed and taken quite seriously by other literary figures in his day. He was invited to speak at literary gatherings despite his notoreity. His novels were considered respectable for their day. His painting was exhibited to some scandal but some critical acclaim in the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. He was at times contrasted quite favorably with luminaries such as D.H. Lawrence, and authors such as Somerset Maugham and Evelyn Waugh wrote of him, sometimes more, sometimes less, flatteringly.
In the end his reputation, only somewhat earned, dogged him and left him falling short of the film deals and other recognition that assured the immortality of some others in his age. In 2002, BBC broadcast a television series of "100 Greatest Britons." Aleister Crowley, still controversial, was ranked at 73, just below Shakespeare-storied King Henry V, just above Robert the Bruce and Bob Geldof, and 21 places ahead of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Lens of History
One linking thought is that Crowley must be understood in context. Because our schools fail to teach history in a meaningful or engaging fashion, our history often comes through media which "updates" the sentiments to make them more palatable. This can make it difficult to understand historical figures.
It is easier for Hollywood to portray an Abraham Lincoln whose defense of African-American rights marches alongside Martin Luther King rather than the actual man in transition, moving towards positions we hold today but who as late as 1858 publicly opposed the intermarriage of blacks and whites, the right of blacks to serve on juries, or to vote. This shorthand makes it easier to understand the outcome of Lincoln's life in two hours, but at the price of creating a sort of "permanent present" in which all right thinking historical people held exactly the same views as enlightened people today.
Crowley must be read and understood, both in tone, and in his thoughts, in light of what other people at his time believed and said. Literarily he was a product of the decadent movement to the extent that Aubrey Beardsley was hired to illustrate one of his works, but died before he could finish. In terms of advocacy and tone he is Oscar Wilde not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but his approach to the society of his day was radical by even the broadest standards of his peers and era.
Importance of Magick
We can say that magick is important to Thelema because it is a key to being able to act with the full resources of the universe available to you and to discover and enact your Will. Magic is both the ability to understand your own relationship with the universe and the ability to apply it.
Crowley wrote that every person "should make Magick the keystone of his life...should learn its laws and live by them."
We don't have anything against people who choose a primarily "spiritual path," limiting their interaction and study of magic to ceremonies led by others, or focused spiritual devotions concerned with deity.
That said, we feel that few people really achieve their full potential that way....maybe you're the exception...and that many people use sprituality to build a fence around magical practice, forbidding those things which fall outside of the allowed celebration or ritual.
We strongly oppose that. The core of TTO, the Order General, exists to further social interaction and individual magical practice.
Prohibited Magicks
“Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven”
There is no magic or art which is forbidden.
We do not avoid subjects such as goetia, necromancy, or spirit possession because they are too “scary” to normal people. We do not avoid subjects such as yoga or herblore because they are too “commonplace.”
Really, nothing forbidden?
Not forbidding the study or practice of magic doesn't mean condoning every act that might accompany it. Remember, we hold consent to be paramount, and our policies generally prohibit violating the law at Local Body events.
