Organic Thelema The Great Commission: Promulgation vs Proselytization

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

“Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong” [AL 1.40a]

Ever notice the difference between the “Great Commission” of Christianity and that of Thelema?¹I use Christianity in this essay as the counterpoint here only because it is the most prominent example of a religion that goes out of its way to proselytize but also because it seems to be the primary target of most Thelemites as the “great evil” of religion, especially in the United States. Also, they have the clearest counterexample of a ‘Great Commission.’ Oh? You didn’t think Thelema had a Great Commission? You’d be wrong there. We do. Let’s take a peek.

Christianity’s looks like this:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. [Matt 28.19-20a ESV]

Thelema’s looks like this:

and to each man and woman that thou meetest, were it but to dine or to drink at them, it is the Law to give. Then they shall chance to abide in this bliss or no; it is no odds. [AL 3.39d–h]

Can you see the difference immediately?

At no point does the Book of the Law tell us to dictate that people follow a man’s teachings. Yeah, I know. That one verse says “Obey my prophet.” We can dive into that some other time. I have thoughts—because, of course, I do. But the Book of the Law says “it is the Law to give.” It does not say, “take up your little red book and follow Crowley” or “follow me” or “follow some dude on the internet with a YouTube channel.”

But then our Great Commission goes one step further. It leaves it up to the other person. We give the Law through our daily life and even through our hospitality. The Christian Great Commission says, “Go therefore and make disciples.” Christianity has an imperative to spread like gonorrhea. For Thelemites, the imperative is that we are to give the Law generously, but then leave it be. That’s it. Nothing more. We are to plant it and let it gestate, let it grow. “Then they shall chance to abide in this bliss or no; it is no odds.” The rest isn’t up to us. And there certainly is no coercion by grace or guilt involved with Thelema. It’s organic—which means, yes, there is a chance that it dies on the vine. So be it.

The differences are clear. They’re huge. Christians are called to proselytize for their religion. Thelemites, on the other hand, are called to promulgate. Some might say there is a fine line between them, but I disagree. To proselytize is an attempt to convert someone: “Go therefore and make disciples (emphasis mine).” To promulgate is to advocate for something: “it is the Law to give.” To advocate for something and to convert others to an ideology are very different positions indeed.

Let’s saunter through some ideas around the four rays of the Law. I make no claim to authority, yet I make no apology for offering my brief thoughts here. Take it or leave it. It is no odds.

Love

The Book of the Law does not tell us how to present our message. It does make it clear that we are to find ways to effectively bring the Law of Thelema “to each man and woman that thou meetest, were it but to dine or to drink at them,” and this requires both a careful examination of everything we do—whether through tradition or innovation—and a willingness to change when necessary. Yet it is baked into the very verse itself that hospitality and generosity are at the core of our outreach.

Think on this.

Thelema happens—if you could call it that, and I really like that phrase, maybe we could sell t-shirts with it—and spreads organically when we are engaged in the world around us. It is through a sense of social interaction, not isolationism, that Thelema functions best. We are not a religion of sulking shadows and brooding mystics on hidden mountaintops.

Everything about Thelema is action. It’s doing. Even the promulgation of the Law itself is a verb. It is in the meeting of people.²But I have to tell you that promulgation is most likely not happening over there at your local Solar Flare Lodge #93. You’re not spreading the Law of Thelema between the Brethren there. A friend of mine once stopped me as we were discussing this very topic over dinner and said, “I’ve always been of the belief that ‘promulgating Thelema’ amongst Thelemites is asinine. How are you going to promulgate to people who hold the same ideals as you? What you’re really doing is seeking validation, ya cheeky bastards.” And she’s not wrong. It is even when we are dining and drinking with others, it is in this overt sense of hospitality and generosity that flows through this verse so naturally that the Law is offered—and I’m not entirely sure that it’s suggesting the Law is blatantly thrust upon our guests but modeled through our actions (i.e., our behaviors).

The Book of the Law also offers a particular view of theoxeny, the Greek idea that an immortal, a God, would take human form and test the hospitality and virtue toward strangers. We find a similar concept reduced out of its God-Human relations and moved to the venue of Kings-toward-Kings when the Book of the Law offers up:

Yet there are masked ones my servants: it may be that yonder beggar is a King. A King may choose his garment as he will: there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty. Beware therefore! Love all, lest perchance is a King concealed! Say you so? Fool! If he be a King, thou canst not hurt him. [AL 2.58d–59]

We have no idea whether those with whom we offer hospitality are Kings or beggars³I have some ideas for another time on the concept of Kings and beggers from a psychological sense of the multi-mind/multi-self aspect of Internal Family Systems and psychosynthesis, but what we can surmise is the concept of Kings and beggars are both masks (parts/veils of self) and any star can take on either mask. and, quite frankly, it makes no difference to our offer of hospitality, of the Law given to every man and every woman. “Love all, lest perchance is a King concealed!” it says. The very definition of theoxeny in Thelemic parlance.

They will know us by our Love.

Light

Despite the blathering some give about the terrifying third chapter of the Book of the Law, or the tabloid nonsense of Thelemites being Satanists, or cherry-picking their favorite Crowley quote to prove they found some dark moral ‘gotcha’ to throw down, Thelema shines a bright light that is far more uncomfortable than all the faux-darkness many of these poseurs want to hide within. Much of the Western approach to religion is about the ‘hereafter,’ about eternity, about what comes next. Those people are afraid of the now, of today, of being responsible for their lives in the moment when they can put it all off for later.

The light of Thelema reveals the rawness of who we are at the core, right now, layer by layer until all that’s left is an exposed authenticity laid bare to ourselves and to the world. We don’t get to use the justification of scripture or a prophet to excuse our behavior. We are precisely who we are through each moment of life, growing in the experience of that moment just as it is without expectation or justification. The core of Thelema could be summed up as change.

I would never suggest the spotlight of the Law is always comfortable, but it’s real, it’s authentic. Many religions get to hide behind any number of scriptural mandates to justify their behaviors, modern Christianity especially with their “Jesus told me so,” or “the Bible says so.” The relinquishment of responsibility, of a purpose beyond subservience and submission, and of joy not tied to future-death is all these people have.

For Thelemites, the unfathomable joy that comes from the experience of the exposure of innocence through the light of the Law is an ecstasy of the spirit. “There is no grace, there is no guilt, there is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt.” We are children in the playground of the Gods—or of the universe, if you prefer—and the nature of all experience is open for us to accept, witness, and enjoy without judgment.⁴I will come back to the doctrine of the thrice-born in another essay. “I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice” [AL 1.58].

They will know us by our Light.

Liberty

It’s ironic, I think, that we have created chains of ignorance out of the Law of liberty via the tarpits of Victorian obfuscation and magical minutiae. Crowley wrote to C. S. Jones saying, “We do not want the Law of Thelema to be the slogan of a few specially selected imbecile,”⁵Aleister Crowley, personal correspondence to C. S. Jones, March 1, 1925. and yet for all the good it’s done, our social media slates are full of those who would pick and choose a few select for their cadre of fools to show off how special they think they are though the language of specialized nonsense rather than speak to the world “in a language which they can understand.”⁶Aleister Crowley, personal correspondence to C. S. Jones, August 28, 1936.

The Law of Thelema is unconditionally given⁷If we look at this verse carefully—“But she said: [a] the ordeals I write not: [b] the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: [c] the Law is for all.”—we find three different layers of (a) participation, (b) revelation, and (c) communication. In the Commentaries to the Book of the Law, the Prophet writes about this third element specifically, the Law, saying: “The third is granted unconditionally.” [This citation and the three referenced paragraphs (ending with the ‘virus of language’ paragraph) are from a 2003 excerpt of a draft manuscript edition of Canons of Thelemic Philosophy and Religion. These are from a proto-liberation theology chapter that was excised and later more fully developed into an examination of Thelema in marginalized communities.] for all people, in all places, for a selection of time in temporal history. The Law of Thelema is given to show the means to the unfettered liberation of humanity.

Sounds redundant, doesn’t it? Unfettered liberation. How many times has the liberators been the next conquerors? How many times has the cure been the next addiction? Yet Thelema shows the means to unfettered liberation for all. It offers liberty both from artifice and to authenticity. It is the bulwark of a fulfilled life for all. It is the foundation of a successful life for all. It is the wellspring of an inspired life for all.

It is through this unconditional communication—ironically at this time in our modern history, through this virus of language—that we spread this message of liberation for all.

Thelema proclaims the liberty of each individual. But it also proclaims a change in society itself. The first revelation of the Book is about community, not the individual.⁸Despite those who cry that Liber Oz is the political mandate of Thelema, I will continue to say—as I have for decades—Liber Oz is for political infants. No one versed in any form of political or constitutional thought will tell you Liber Oz has any kind of grounding in legal or political reality. It’s nifty to start conversations about personal autonomy, but a “Bill of Rights,” it is not. And the asinine “you can kill anyone that gets in your way” isn’t even supported by a direct reading of Crowley’s interpretation of that final point. It’s just more nonsense talk by nominal Thelemites (typically found in O.T.O. circles). Without the liberty of society, the individual is merely a stratum of the state, acting in their mimicry of independence, and acquiescing to the dictates of a vocal minority that pushes an agenda of subservience to a mandate of control over the lives and minds of those that do not hold to their narrow view of society. To put it bluntly: politics are not optional.

Crowley writes in “Duty,” that the aim of government is “to secure the amplest freedom for each individual in the state.”⁹Crowley, Aleister 1998. “Duty. A Note on the Chief Rules of Practical Conduct to be Observed by Those who Accept the Law of Thelema.” In The Revival of Magick and Other Essays, New Falcon Publications, 141. We could argue what this means in the details, but ultimately it’s about providing each individual with the liberty to be themselves and to act without interference while ensuring the boundary of their self-expression does not interfere with others. Could this be a difficult line to draw? Yes. Of course, it is. It’s not an easy discussion at all. But our goal is to pursue more liberty for individuals with a sense of respect for differences rather than merely pushing for legislation for the sake of ideologies.¹⁰While there is a lot of armchair politics in Thelemic communities, I would go so far as to suggest it is time for Thelemites to be intimately involved in politics starting at the local level. What the Heritage Foundation did to the United States in a mere fifty-one years changed the very face of our government policies and the composition of our Supreme Court with a founding membership of only three men. We’ve already seen the failure of O.T.O. in the same amount of time to keep even primary texts in print much less secure physical building/temple space. It’s time to mobilize better and through different means and modes if we are going to see Thelema change the world even at the level of county animal warden.

They will know us by our Liberty.

Life

Crowley felt practical matters were the way to discuss Thelema. He wrote to Jones, “to talk in a language that everybody can understand; ethics, education, and the labour problem are our strong cards. If we concentrate on those we should certainly get a following of sorts which may lead to bigger things later on.”¹¹Aleister Crowley, personal correspondence to C. S. Jones, February 1916. In other words, he felt the strength of Thelema was in practical matters, and these are issues that continue to face us in the modern world. They remain our strong cards even today.¹²I’ll put this in a footnote rather than the main body for the simple reason of being time-bound, but these issues are relevant in an election year (2024) in the United States. Education? Labor issues? These are part of the political platform being discussed. The dockworkers in the United States just went through a major labor strike beginning October 1, 2024 (for the first time since 1977) that ended three days later, but it was costly to delay commerce at an estimated $5 billion per day. The Republicans continue to make it a major platform policy to destroy education as a whole. The Oklahoma Department of Education is literally attempting to grift a Trump Bible for placement in their schools. These are topics of concern that are useful for discussion where Thelema has relevance. Crowley wasn’t wrong. We could add some additional cards into the mix, but little has changed in the topics of concern since Crowley’s time.

The Book of the Law says “the Law is for all” [AL 1.34]. The Law affects all areas of our life and approaching it as such offers a multitude of opportunities for the spread of the Law in unique and creative ways. The Book of the Law does not say it must be wrapped up only in a little red book or handed out with a qabalistic cheat sheet. It is for this reason the world remains virtually unmoved by the Law. In our arrogance to look mysterious and secret, we have failed to give the Law to all as they may understand it but only as we wish it to be understood.

Many religions—though I’m thinking ‘Christians’ here—are not interested in dialogue. They are only interested in subjugation and conversion. They will boot you out of their spaces without the slightest good faith intention of openness. We welcome all that come in good faith—and even many who don’t.¹³I mean, we have that whole “Them that seek to entrap thee, to overthrow thee, them attack without pity or quarter; & destroy them utterly” [AL 3.42k–n] piece, right? Who the hell is going to face that? We may love everyone who walks through the door, but we’re still not taking your shit. The progressive movement within Christianity burned out so quickly primarily because they allowed the culture to shape their movement rather than using their movement to shape and influence the culture around them.

In order to speak a contemporary language, though, one has to be educated in a way that is largely foreign to that of the distant past yet bridges that past and our present. Most occultists today attempt to bring forward the ancient as is and pigeonhole it into a modern nomenclature rather than actually grasp the concepts themselves and engage those concepts in a contemporary language. When it comes to Thelemic authors, one can only rephrase Crowley so many times before it becomes redundant and lacks any connection to modern life at all, and it is then little more than cosplay divorced from authentic living.

Most Thelemic writers continue to focus on the minutiae of outmoded occultism because of the personal interests of the Prophet rather than focusing on the Law directly. If Crowley showed interest in ceremonial magic, certainly everyoneshould be dancing around a room waving a wand in the air calling on the elemental spirits in our daily life too or they just aren’t “true and faithful Thelemites.”¹⁴And if you think I jest, I know more than a couple of writers that openly write shit like that.

The Book of the Law says more about the life of a Star [an individual], and the relationship between Stars [between individuals], than it does at all about performing rituals. And what rituals it does give, the far majority are in relation to an ecclesial calendar, the point of which is to draw attention to our lives, and specifically that we are to live intentionally, meaningfully, and mindfully.¹⁵The word “joy” is used fourteen times in the Book of the Law. We are told five times to “fear not.” We are told not to fear men, gods, money, fate, laughter of the folk folly, curses, any power in heaven, any power on the earth, or any power under the earth. We are told not to fear anything at all. Courage and joy are virtues in Thelema.

They will know us by our Life.

Love is the law, love under will.