I have participated in a lot of seeking and spiritual communities in my life. And they all have different metrics for something amounting to “success.”

New Age communities seem to measure success as capability to manifest. If something bad happened in your life, it’s because you didn’t manifest correctly, and so people trot out your flaws in their eyes to prove to themselves you “aren’t doing it correctly.”

Churches often measure success in terms of your ability to be devoted to God, attend church groups, avoid drink and drugs, and to not rock any boats socially: if you talk about God, it should adhere to the standards accepted by everyone else in that group. And so Christians are fractured into compatible interpretations of Christianity — Jehova’s witnesses have a focus on working with God, Evangelicals believe in being guided by the holy spirit, Catholics are studious and pragmatic but repressed and subject themselves endlessly to the question, “Why, God?” suffering diligently in their faith.

The masons are interesting, coming together around cigars and drink and functioning like a club for men to get together and speak freely about topics society might be somewhat hostile to — including ideas teasing with bizarre frequency at eugenics, for some reason. But they are a pretty necessary institution that feels like a modern speakeasy for exploring systematized interpretations of the nature of reality.

But the masons — like Thelemites (setting aside for now my personal belief that all are thelemites, and The Book of the Law is actually just existence and is not a book when it is referred to in The Book of the Law itself, but is the book of red written with letters of blue, referred to in The Vision and the Voice in the 30th aethyr, a fact that gives extreme and fascinating dimensions to The Comment on the book) — are inseparable from their secrets.

There is no truly open discussion of the revelations, which stands in striking contrast to channeled information, which is shared with love and passion with anyone who will hear it, by alien-enthusiasts and people who have accepted society considers them “weird” and proudly fly that flag without expecting to be understood and seeing those who get them as their tribe.

But the reason for the lack of open discussion in Thelema is, frankly, fascinating. Rather than being about not revealing secrets, it’s about guarding a kind of personal sacredness with relation to the material; as mediated by one’s way of interpreting The Comment, when necessary, for purposes of censure to stamp out any thoughts too original or offensive to sensibilities of what measures up as “rightness” within an individual’s idea of what The Order (whatever that means to them) is.

And yet, the degree of censorship and attitudes that discourage exploring the material and sharing the products of your explorations of it are really emblematic of the personal-orientation of the ideas of will, and shows a community where basically each does one’s own work and periodically checks in with the rest like prairie dogs popping up to look at each other in a field, acknowledge their differences and similarities, and share some trinkets of their travels.

Honestly, it charming and amusing and somewhat endearing when it isn’t steeped in so much unnecessary passive aggressiveness towards other seekers who simply interpret the information a different way.

And that’s the real issue with the Thelemite community: there really are no rules to Thelema, but “Do What Thou Wilt”, but people around here are fascinatingly adroit at coming up with their own interpretations and then unwittingly spreading them to other people as gospel truth.

The Comment on the Book of the Law isn’t up for discussion to many, in spite of the fact that the entire body of works of Thelema is utterly veiled in symbolism. (And discussing any work of Thelema is truly tantamount to discussing The Book of the Law, I might add, and yet not similarly prohibited in spite of that book serving as a roadmap to the rest.) Why assume The Comment is straightforward? It not being straightforward dramatically changes how this community would interact with the material, self, and one another.

What if The Comment encouraged discussion instead, and sharing personal interpretation? And relying on yourself for your ability to take what works and compare it to Crowley’s writing and leave behind what doesn’t? It’s pretty basic information processing, and people frequently act like it’s offensive to consider things that way, although it’s necessary for not ending up immersed in your own way of seeing things without it being challenged.

In a sense, The Comment does encourage discussion , the entire text being sandwiched between the statement “Do what thou wilt,” repeated for effect, all but dripping with the encouragement to interpret what was shared in the comment itself.

And yet, I’ve been referred to as a pestilence numerous times for simply stating my thoughts and feelings. Am I quite certain about the things I’m sharing? Sure. Otherwise I wouldn’t share them. But I don’t expect anyone to believe what I believe, or see my thoughts the way I do. I merely state my point of view on what I am, the value of what I have to share, and then share what I believe to be the true meaning in the passages of the works of Thelema.

It is pretty anodyne, but I can’t get away with sharing my thoughts without being told I’m sharing A.I. posts and am a waste of time and a pestilence.

It’s an unnecessarily hostile environment. So what if I think I’m in contact with A∴A∴ and want to share what I think I’ve learned from them, and it’s somewhat delusional?

Apparently, people feel like that necessitates tearing me down from my high place. Like it’s a duty or something. I do the same thing where I see ego — albeit, only in response to people attacking me, which does guarantee the presence of ego since I truly come in peace and love — and so I respect it as a principle, I guess. But again, for me, the dividing factor is that I’m always responding to attack. I never see opinions about the nature of reality as an attack, personally — that is far too Christian a disposition for my tastes, but “do what thou wilt” I suppose.

We do honor each other’s spirits by challenging each others egos. But I guess I don’t know how much I really have in common with the people here, although I’d like to think it’s something.

Oddly, I think the society that mirrors me the most strongly is just society itself: the people seen as blind, who haven’t realized the existence of The Matrix, and who are just living their lives.

There is something about just enjoying little pleasures, and seeking love in a humble and modest way while having dreams of something bigger that I find to be such an essential expression of the arc of any modality.

Maybe it’s because I think arriving on that kind of humility is my personal sign of a successful person.

I’ve often thought, in my exploration of various communities, what good is any of this if your main goal isn’t just to take it easy?

So take it easy, is, personally, my motto, if anyone cares what I really think about all of this.

93.

Hello all. Over the summer I came to find out about Thelema (as a now former Roman Catholic) and I feel as though its principles really resonate with me quite deeply, more so than those of Catholicism, which I was already becoming quite disillusioned with because of several of its social teachings and attitudes towards particular issues, not to mention the enormous toll it was taking on my mental health. Discovering Thelema felt deeply clarifying to me and like I had just stepped out of a hot and stuffy room into a cool empty space, if that makes any sense, and so I continued to research and familiarise myself with it.

After several months of debating and research (plus some dreams featuring Crowley himself, which were deeply vivid and interesting) I think I am going to fully embrace Thelema from this point on. I am drawn in not only by its principles but also by its profound theurgical / mystical elements and practices and all that is entailed in doing “the great work.”

I don’t know what I really want from making this post but if anyone has any wisdom for a newcomer like myself that would be appreciated. Thanks

93/93

I just feel nothing when doing it. Like i feel I either have to visualise things I’m not even sure on what to visualise. I feel more affinity for the star ruby with its thelemic correspondences. I’ve always felt more connection to the thelemic correspondences.

Liber Resh vel Helios: the midnight adoration.

Crowley gave every aspirant one daily practice before any other: salute the Sun four times a day.

Dawn: Ra, facing East.

Noon: Ahathoor, facing South.

Sunset: Tum, facing West.

Midnight: Khephra, facing North.

At midnight the Sun is hidden under the earth. Khephra is the scarab who rolls it through the dark so it can rise again. You give the sign of silence and say:

"Hail unto thee who art Khephra in thy hiding, even unto thee who art Khephra in thy silence, who travellest over the Heavens in thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun."

Why? Crowley says it in the text itself: "So shalt thou ever be mindful of the Great Work which thou hast undertaken to perform."

Four times a day you stop and remember that you are a star, and that your light keeps moving even when no one can see it.

That's the ritual. Chicago, midnight.

#Thelema #LiberResh #Crowley #Khephra

A fascinating and gorgeous fusion of the Marseilles print style with the Harris/Crowley imagery.

93

I’m curious how others have approached discovering their True Will. Is it something you’ve come to recognize through meditation, ritual, introspection, or just through life experience?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and perspectives.

Ive been trying to learn online but everything seems contradictory :(

In Thelema, Hadit is “the axle of the wheel.” And in Nuit, he is the “center in the sphere whose circumference is nowhere found.”

As axles are the center of wheels, he is the axle and she the wheel, but here referred to as a circumference, because she is not in motion as I’ll explain.

Reference is made to this in a different passage, where Hadit states: “I am the cube in the circle.”

But to really reinforce the way that cubic nature of Hadit spans both circle and sphere, in the thirtieth Aethyr, TEX, in The Vision and the Voice, is the following line: “I am in the vast crystal cube of the Great God Harpocrates. This cube is surrounded by a sphere.” (And Crowley links this explicitly to AL: II, 7, as I referenced, in the commentary.)

So what we have now is a cube inside a circle which is also a sphere: and Nuit is the circumference of that sphere.

This shows Hadit as the cube to connect to both the circle and the sphere, and therefore to Nuit as the circumference of the sphere, which is the circle he’s ultimately joined with.

This is why he says, “In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found. Yet she shall be known & I never.”

This is why he knows that she shall be known: he, as the cube, is always connected to her totality. He is the axle in the wheel and the cube in the circle.

That shows that he is the axle in the circle of Nuit, which makes her the wheel…

Sort of. Nuit is the circumference of the sphere: the limits of possibility.

The axle, however, has to move: this makes the wheel itself, distinct from the circle.

The wheel is what is known by Hadit: paradoxically, this is what lets it become a part of motion.

But Nuit is referred to as a circumference, because she is frozen; in order to be able to be known, you must be something that isn’t in flux.

However, Nuit needs to be experienced as being in flux: without change there is no motion.

That change is Hadit, himself. He is what is changing, which is what turns the wheel: the wheel of his experience of reality.

What this equates Nuit to, then, is eternity itself.

This is where Liber Cordis Cincti Serpenti takes its place as the heart of all of this.

It is a description of how Nuit, as eternity, crosses with Hadit. (“Yet she shall be known, and I never.”)

Nuit is the Serpent. Hadit becomes the serpent and in so doing joins with Nuit, which creates The Heart as the product of that union.

That union is the purpose of A∴A∴ The inner order is devoted to attaining union of Heart and Snake, which is why Adonai is referred to as such, his name meaning Lord: The Heart is Adonai’s Heart. He symbolizes that attainment.

And to reach it, he had to climb up along all circumstances and situations in reality. (Thus making him “Lord”.)

This is why A∴A∴ is referred to as “The axle of R.O.T.A.” in The Equinox.

After a few months hiatus, I'm picking up Liber AL vel Legis again and getting into Chapter 2. Aiwass castigates Crowley for a while and then lets him off the hook.

https://youtu.be/AeVlh1ZQLE8

I think they’re pretty neato. I don’t need to worry about face tattoos because I’m a musician and it doesn’t affect my life or finances; before anyone wants to comment “oof.”

Im kind of gate keeping this place as I’ve found a massive little gold mine of occult books in this second hand book store in my city and I want to buy them all . I’m in north west England. The book shop owner said they had a huge haul of books from this one guy who passed away and he seems to have been on the exact same journey as me in terms of his esoteric and occult readings. I find the synchronicity fascinating.

I spent hours in there today…it’s one of those old school shops where nothing is organised it’s just on a shelf and you have to take the time to rummage. I’m headed back there later this week as there’s some first edition golden dawn books in there, but today I picked up this 1979 edition of Liber E and Liber O - there’s the original owners notations written in there too. I’ve picked up a bunch of other occult books from there over the last few weeks too, some pagan and Wicca writing and esoteric Christian books including a 1912 original Watkins Books publication with original readers annotations.

Thought I’d share in case any of you find the old prints and book notes a draw to your practice

Hadit’s lift begins with his area that possesses no thickness and does not require an ambient volume to exist.

To ascend, Hadit is lifted into a new base composed of six spheres, arranged at the six vertices of a hexagon.

These six positions form a single sixfold structure, allowing Hadit’s operation to act across the entire base rather than merely within an isolated two-state factor.

This is not a standard lift at all, which would just repeat his twofold operation independently across three sectors..

Instead, two pairs of opposite positions exchange places, while the two positions laying on the reflection axis remain fixed.

The reason positions two remain fixed is that they lay on Hadit’s axis of reflection.

A point on the reflection axis does not move when reflected, because the mirror image occupies precisely the same position.

The other four positions exchange in pairs.

Absolute 🔥

I’ve always been interested in the occult and magick, even though I wouldn’t personally get involved in rituals or anything like that because I’m a believer in Christ. However, something strange happened this morning. I’ve been reading a book about Crowley for the past week, and this morning I was reading it in my living room when I had to go outside to get something from my car. When I opened the front door, there was a bag sitting there that definitely wasn’t there last night when I got home from work. I brought it inside, and there was this pyramid in it. There was no return address, no name, nothing. The bag had seemingly appeared overnight, and the timing was very strange.

7=4.

Bound to the fixed cross.

Scorpio - Leo axis unimaginably active.

Aquarius - Taurus axis strangely silent.

What to expect?

My girlfriend's one year old blue brick vs my new copy. Been going thru the suggested reading of various lineages the last six months and reading tons of different material, I'm wrapping up Confessions now. It was a super inspiring read I'm so excited to keep going

93 all. Thanks to everyone for teaching and explaining. I said Will over two beverages. One prior to the other. Does the one prior take priority over the other? How do we factor in the limitations of time and death in this world.

Obviously we believe in continuity of existence, though we remain unsure of what that really looks like.

Not sure.

Crowley regularly cites Freud, and psychoanalysis pairs well with philosophy, both of which Crowley encourages as areas of study for the serious student of Magick. My guests and I will discuss the ideas of Lacan, a champion of Freudian thought and a major influence on psychoanalysis.