1Originally written in 2001. Updated in 2007. Minor textual corrections and footnote commentary in 2024.
Now seemed like a good time to bring this back out. Maybe I needed a reminder.
Thelema is more than just empowerment. It’s embodiment. It is the embodiment of the moment, to be emptied out into the fulfillment of that moment alone. We may be fortunate to have others in our orbit who share the ecstasy of our joy. We may not. It is no odds. But that moment is still ours either way to accept it for what it is and nothing more: laughter, sorrow, anger, disgust, confusion, contentment, surprise, boredom … love.
In pulling this back out of mothballs, I have added some commentary two decades after its original release.Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I’m learning that being universal means decentralizing power, decision-making, information, all of it. The omnipresent Body of Nuit means spiritual opportunities are available to everyone.2Not too long ago, I thought the idea of a centralized elitist Thelema was finally dying. I appear to be wrong. There are still those who continue to cling to outdated notions of superiority, exclusivity, and the “few & secret” as some kind of in-group members-only club of special people with superpowers or knowledge. “The Law is for all.” Keep your fucking personality cults. They aren’t saving the world. They aren’t even helping people in times of chaos. It’s all confirmation bias at this point.
I’m unlearning the American focus on fraternities, magical/mystical orders, and churches, which serve mainly to attract spectators rather than ignite the fire inside everyone else.3Written pre-COVID, in a time when we still gathered in-person yet I still felt isolated from a sense of community, I started to realize that it wasn’t the community itself; it was me.
For all that I thought I had discarded from my past, I hadn’t let go of the need to be a part of a spectator culture that performed for an audience rather than drew people into a sense of personal involvement with a mystery. And yet it remained as much an empty sport as it ever was in the past. Spectator organizations hadn’t filled that void. It wasn’t for lack of social events—even Thomas Aquinas is alleged to have written, “How many Thelemites can drown in the hedonism of a hot tub?”—but for lack of fellowship and community. It always felt scripted rather than organic. The replacement that I had been looking for was an organic community rather than a spectator community. I’d just replaced one sport for another rather than heading out to go gardening.
There was a moment in time, right after the turn of the millennium, when I felt at home in the basement of a pagan community center in Dallas, Texas with some guys having breakfast and conversation. It felt right. It felt organic. It felt supportive of our individual voices while still being part of something bigger than ourselves. Or that’s how I saw it.
For even longer than I’ve been a professional psychologist, I’ve known that while individuals make up the structure of the community, the community forms the support of individualism. Put another way: community is the love under the will of individualism. They cannot be separated for either one to remain healthy.
[And, PS, Thomas Aquinas is not to have written said quote above—for those purists that have little sense of humor.]
I’m learning that Love is the law and the Law is for all—which means seeing both individuals and communities connected, healed, educated, and given the same opportunities that we have for Life, Light, Love, and Liberty.4In the last twenty years, for all the connectivity of the internet and social media, we have become far more disconnected from each other and our communities than ever. Thelema remains as isolated from the world as it ever has been. The irony of every religion is that it ultimately answers one question: “What’s in it for me?” Thelema has yet to sufficiently answer that question on the street level.
I’m unlearning the assumption that “Thelemite” is defined primarily as acknowledging a book of paper with words in it. Becoming a Thelemite depends on what happens after that.5We are so wrapped up in our Book of the Law, and I’m not suggesting that it’s not important. It’s our tangible anchor, our artifact, our source and surity. But being a Thelemite is more than just acknowledging some book, just like being a Christian or being a Buddhist or being a Muslim is more than acknowledging some book with those religions too. Something has to happen to us. Call it initiation if you want to, that’s fine. Initiation is a “setting out.” It’s a “change in direction.” I’ve said this before: if you are what you were, then you ain’t (forgive the South Texas accent). It’s as simple as that. Being a Thelemite is what happens, what we become, after all the mumblerap is over.
I’m learning the Law of Thelema will be established not by power or entertainment or publishing books but by realizing that each of us is a part of the society around us—and then doing something about it.6And here it is—this key. It’s that ‘most difficult doctrine,’ Crowley talks about. We are all connected. We cannot escape it. I don’t think it creates an obligation, per se, and yet how can we not have a sense of empathy that extends to those around us? How can we not want to see the prospering of the garden around us in every way? There is a point in which we read through the Book of the Law and find that it jumps out at us as to how much of it is about engagement with others in some way or another. And, of course, it is. It has to be.
I’m unlearning that the Law of Thelema is only about me. I believe the past has denied the future by just blindly accepting everything that has been said and written by misanthropes and charlatans. We need a story that includes building the future not merely worshiping the past.7Thelema is about doing, going, action, movement. Thelema is a verb. While I would argue that Thelema is always about the now-moment, this moment is always in motion. We are always building a better future by building a better now. We cannot do that tethered to the past. Tradition is fine. There is nothing wrong with it, generally speaking, but we cannot remain attached to that which drags us down.
Love is the law, love under the will.
Footnotes
- 1Originally written in 2001. Updated in 2007. Minor textual corrections and footnote commentary in 2024.
Now seemed like a good time to bring this back out. Maybe I needed a reminder.
Thelema is more than just empowerment. It’s embodiment. It is the embodiment of the moment, to be emptied out into the fulfillment of that moment alone. We may be fortunate to have others in our orbit who share the ecstasy of our joy. We may not. It is no odds. But that moment is still ours either way to accept it for what it is and nothing more: laughter, sorrow, anger, disgust, confusion, contentment, surprise, boredom … love.
In pulling this back out of mothballs, I have added some commentary two decades after its original release. - 2Not too long ago, I thought the idea of a centralized elitist Thelema was finally dying. I appear to be wrong. There are still those who continue to cling to outdated notions of superiority, exclusivity, and the “few & secret” as some kind of in-group members-only club of special people with superpowers or knowledge. “The Law is for all.” Keep your fucking personality cults. They aren’t saving the world. They aren’t even helping people in times of chaos. It’s all confirmation bias at this point.
- 3Written pre-COVID, in a time when we still gathered in-person yet I still felt isolated from a sense of community, I started to realize that it wasn’t the community itself; it was me.
For all that I thought I had discarded from my past, I hadn’t let go of the need to be a part of a spectator culture that performed for an audience rather than drew people into a sense of personal involvement with a mystery. And yet it remained as much an empty sport as it ever was in the past. Spectator organizations hadn’t filled that void. It wasn’t for lack of social events—even Thomas Aquinas is alleged to have written, “How many Thelemites can drown in the hedonism of a hot tub?”—but for lack of fellowship and community. It always felt scripted rather than organic. The replacement that I had been looking for was an organic community rather than a spectator community. I’d just replaced one sport for another rather than heading out to go gardening.
There was a moment in time, right after the turn of the millennium, when I felt at home in the basement of a pagan community center in Dallas, Texas with some guys having breakfast and conversation. It felt right. It felt organic. It felt supportive of our individual voices while still being part of something bigger than ourselves. Or that’s how I saw it.
For even longer than I’ve been a professional psychologist, I’ve known that while individuals make up the structure of the community, the community forms the support of individualism. Put another way: community is the love under the will of individualism. They cannot be separated for either one to remain healthy.
[And, PS, Thomas Aquinas is not to have written said quote above—for those purists that have little sense of humor.] - 4In the last twenty years, for all the connectivity of the internet and social media, we have become far more disconnected from each other and our communities than ever. Thelema remains as isolated from the world as it ever has been. The irony of every religion is that it ultimately answers one question: “What’s in it for me?” Thelema has yet to sufficiently answer that question on the street level.
- 5We are so wrapped up in our Book of the Law, and I’m not suggesting that it’s not important. It’s our tangible anchor, our artifact, our source and surity. But being a Thelemite is more than just acknowledging some book, just like being a Christian or being a Buddhist or being a Muslim is more than acknowledging some book with those religions too. Something has to happen to us. Call it initiation if you want to, that’s fine. Initiation is a “setting out.” It’s a “change in direction.” I’ve said this before: if you are what you were, then you ain’t (forgive the South Texas accent). It’s as simple as that. Being a Thelemite is what happens, what we become, after all the mumblerap is over.
- 6And here it is—this key. It’s that ‘most difficult doctrine,’ Crowley talks about. We are all connected. We cannot escape it. I don’t think it creates an obligation, per se, and yet how can we not have a sense of empathy that extends to those around us? How can we not want to see the prospering of the garden around us in every way? There is a point in which we read through the Book of the Law and find that it jumps out at us as to how much of it is about engagement with others in some way or another. And, of course, it is. It has to be.
- 7Thelema is about doing, going, action, movement. Thelema is a verb. While I would argue that Thelema is always about the now-moment, this moment is always in motion. We are always building a better future by building a better now. We cannot do that tethered to the past. Tradition is fine. There is nothing wrong with it, generally speaking, but we cannot remain attached to that which drags us down.