In Defense of a Rule of Life A Thelemic Fidēs as Action

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

As a Thelemite, I can tell you that I am not all fond of rules. In fact, I dare say if you ask ten Thelemites if they like rules, you’ll get thirteen “hell, no’s” in response. Of course, the irony is that if you ask those same ten Thelemites if they follow the rules of any given ritual script, you’ll probably get a lot of nodding heads. They’re just fine with rules. They just don’t like to admit it.

Ornery fucks, aren’t we?

Of course, someone tried to convince me the other day that the world-at-large is attempting to get away from rules, specifically religious rules. “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” is a rule, right? What makes a rule “religious”? Is it because someone of a specific religion follows it? Or because a religion mandates it?

It’s always interesting to me to observe that those who loudly eschew “rules” are some of the most rule-bound individuals in all of Thelemadom. Watch carefully those who proclaim that Thelema is unbounded, who promote “radical individualism,” or who claim that Thelema can’t be defined except by each person for themselves. You will find many of them are some of the most intellectually and emotionally restricted individuals around, or they have a sense of childish rebellion against everything. The Übermensch is rot in the Tree.

There is a really important distinction I want to make right out of the gate here. Read that heading again. Notice anything specific?

It’s Rule of Life, not Rule for Life.

Before I go on, I want to just throw this little quote from Crowley out here to pave the way forward. A reminder, if you will.

“About 90% of Thelema, at a guess, is nothing but self-discipline.”¹Crowley, Aleister. 1994. “Morality (1).” In Magick Without Tears. New Falcon Publications, 423 (emphasis in original).

I would submit that self-discipline is action. One cannot express or adhere to any kind of discipline without action, without doing.

It is often noted that a rule of life is a means to an end and not an end in itself. The goal is not to create a Rule that generates even more rules. It is a framework by which to be “conscious of [one’s] own consecrated course, and confidently ready to run it.”²Crowley, Aleister, Mary Desti, and Leila Waddell. 1997. Magick: Liber ABA. Edited by Hymenaeus Beta. Weiser Books, 494.

I quoted this recently, but I find it important enough to do so again in full (in spite of the source):

Despite the very specific instructions found in the Rule, it’s not a checklist for legalism. “The purpose of the Rule is to free you. That’s a paradox that people don’t grasp readily,” Father Cassian said. If you have a field covered with water because of poor drainage, he explained, crops either won’t grow there, or they will rot. If you don’t drain it, you will have a swamp and disease. But if you can dig a drainage channel, the field will become healthy and useful. What’s more, once the water becomes contained within the walls of the channel, it will flow with force and can accomplish things. “A Rule works that way, to channel your spiritual energy, your work, your activity, so that you’re able to accomplish something,” Father Cassian said.³Dreher, Rod. 2017.The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. eBook. Sentinel.

I think this is one of the paradoxes of liberty and action that Thelema brings to the table. Thelema promotes a sense of discipline as personal responsibility, not as restriction, but as refinement. Without direction, liberty collapses into disorder; without form, energy disperses and becomes impotent. Thelema recognizes that the Will must be shaped, not shackled, if it is to move with strength. A Rule, rightly understood, is not a list of prohibitions but a framework through which the force of one’s life can find clarity and momentum. In channeling the floodwaters of our desires, our instincts, our inspirations, we do not lose liberty, but we gain it, heightened and honed.

It is this inner architecture that distinguishes true liberty from mere self-indulgence. The Rule exists not to stifle the individual but to allow the deepest self to emerge in strength and beauty. In the same way a blade is tempered by fire and hammer, the Will is brought to its fullness through structure and self-mastery. In Thelema, discipline is not the enemy of liberty. It is its foundation. It is through the creation and acceptance of a personal Rule,⁴There is nothing particularly wrong with accepting a corporate Rule, like a monastic Rule from some organization or another. It is only a matter of what aligns best with one’s Will. a form voluntarily embraced, that one’s life can become more than a stagnant swamp, but a living river, surging onward toward its destined sea.

Fidēs: Faith as Action

Faith, realigned as fidēs, is fundamentally about what one does—a committed way of living—rather than just what one believes. In its original sense, fidēs means trust, reliability, and loyalty—qualities proven by following through on your commitments, not just accepting ideas in your head.

Viewing faith this way shifts the focus from belief to behavior. Even being “faithful” by living in accordance with a personal code or principle—a Rule of Life—is a way of demonstrating trust in those values. In Thelema, for instance, faith as action⁵I am aware someone will pull out “certainty, not faith” and try to clobber me with it. Before you do, go back and work through a proper exegesis of that entire verse. // Also keep Tillich’s definition of faith in mind: “But faith would cease to be faith without separation—the opposite element. He who has faith is separated from the object of his faith. Otherwise he would possess it. It would be a matter of immediate certainty and not of faith.” [Dynamics of Faith] // Now, reread that verse again.

revolves around living in accordance with the best understanding of your True Will: remaining true to your authentic purpose through intentional action.

So, fidēs is best understood as an active life—something you demonstrate in your actions. It can be expressed through deep living.

Relational Rhythms

A Rule of Life is best imagined as a carefully drafted charter rather than an iron cage. Its purpose is to grant you clear passage through the day’s commotion by marking out deliberate pathways—quiet, steady habits that keep your deeper aims in view even when circumstances shift.

At its essence, such a rule weaves guiding values into the ordinary cadence of living. It calls you to ask: Do my routines—how I move, rest, work, and relate—embody what I deem most important? The answers take practical form: perhaps a sunrise walk before the day’s demands, a screen‑free supper with loved ones, a weekly moment of reflection to gauge the health of body, mind, and spirit.

Crowley spoke of locating one’s True Will in a single Word. A Rule of Life is the prose that unfolds from that word, detailing with disciplined grace how intention translates into daily conduct. It grows with you, inviting periodic revision whenever new responsibilities, joys, or losses reshape the landscape.

Thus, the document remains living rather than fixed. Its borders offer structure, not confinement. Its guidelines foster resilience, clarity, and purpose. I can propose models and offer questions, yet the final contours must be yours alone. Draft thoughtfully, test honestly, and refine slowly and carefully—the rule will mature as you do, sustaining an existence that is chosen rather than dictated.

Ars Vivendi:⁶lit., the art of living. Deep Living

For me, the direction of the Rule of Life follows what I call The Pilgrimage. The call to pilgrimage is the art of deep living, which is about relational rhythms in life throughout multiple disciplines represented via six domains of life that balance the interior life (agency, individual) with the exterior life (communion, community). How you embody these disciplines is entirely up to you.

Here are the six disciplines and domains of The Pilgrimage with some practical suggestions.⁷These disciplines (in bold type) are subject to change as I pull this out of my personal practice and into a more organized schema, but the six domains (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, relational, social) are robust enough on their own.

1.  Sacramental Life — Physical Discipline

The journey begins with the body. Every gesture, breath, and meal can serve as a quiet liturgy that joins flesh to purpose. By treating movement, nourishment, and rest as consecrated acts, you make the ordinary a continual invocation of True Will.

• Solar Office (Liber Resh) — At dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight, face the sun’s station, raise your hands, and recite the brief salutations. Your body becomes a living sundial that keeps sacred time.

• Intentional Nourishment — Select food, exercise, and sleep not by habit but by reverence: fuel the work you are here to do, honor recovery afterward, and let gratitude bless every bite and breath.

2.  Meditation — Emotional Discipline

Feelings are swift currents; meditation teaches the art of steering without damming the river. Through steady attention you refine the raw surge of emotion into clarity and poise, neither suppressing nor indulging, but meeting each mood with informed choice.

• Meditative Equilibrium — Take ten to twenty minutes daily in stillness. Follow the breath; when anger, grief, or joy arises, name it, watch it crest, and watch it pass.

• Ritual Journaling — When emotion grows too large for silence, write until the pulse of the feeling reveals its message. Conclude with a sentence of insight or gratitude, sealing the practice.

3.  Solitude — Mental Discipline

Solitude is not withdrawal from the world but an advance into clear thought. By temporarily setting aside external voices, you sharpen perception, cultivate original insight, and purify intention.

• Daily Silence — Choose at least one hour each day in which you speak to no one and consume no media. Notice how the mind first chatters, then settles.

• Focused Attention — Fix your gaze on a single candle‑flame, repeat a mantra, or trace a sigil until peripheral thoughts dissolve and concentration stands unbroken.

4.  Scripture — Spiritual Discipline

Inspired texts, approached as living oracles rather than frozen dogma, mirror the soul’s own unfolding. Through study, recitation, and contemplation, you invite their current to inform your speech and action.

• Lectio Thelemica — Read passages from Liber AL or other sacred works slowly, aloud if possible, pausing to let phrases echo within. Record any resonance or question that stirs.

• Memorization & Recitation — Commit short verses to memory; repeat them in ritual or during mundane tasks, allowing their rhythm to permeate thought and deed.

5.  Hospitality — Relational Discipline

Right relationship (orthoschesis) is love enacted with boundaries intact. Hospitality asks you to meet others with presence, generosity, and respect, without diminishing your own Will.

• Intentional Presence — Listen without formulating rebuttal; speak from authenticity rather than ego. Offer attention as a gift, not a transaction.

• Generous Welcome — Share space, food, or practical help when it truly serves; let each act express “Love is the law, love under will,” never mere obligation.

6.  Community — Social Discipline

Community is the field where individual Wills test, temper, and elevate one another. Through collaborative action you practice union in diversity, discovering strength neither solitude nor rivalry can supply.

• Teaching or Guidance — When your expertise aligns with another’s need, offer instruction or counsel without presumption; give only what accords with your vocation.

• Collaborative Creation — Plan and perform joint rituals, artworks, or service projects that no single member could achieve alone. In shared labor, experience the mystery of many voices sounding one chord.

There is always going to be someone who comes back with, “I already do all this. I don’t need a Rule of Life.” Congratulations. You’re probably a liar, but I won’t judge.

I can tell you that I do relatively well in four of the six disciplines. I fail miserably in social discipline (I have next to no social life, and “social media” doesn’t count). And my physical discipline has been much better in the last couple of years, but it still needs work. My mental discipline has improved over the last couple of years as well (it’s closer to the same discipline I had in my twenties, at the height of my early magical practice), and I honestly attribute that to the increase in attention to my physical discipline. I think they go hand in hand.

In fact, I think all six of these disciplines are related.⁸You’ll also find these have a direct correlation to Crowley’s suggested ‘programme for beginners’ that he lists out in his Commentaries [see comments under AL 1.37]. A positive increase in one area will increase a different area, and that area will increase another area as well. Eventually, once you start working through all six areas, you’ll find they are all symbiotic and support each other.

Play around with it. Write out each of the six disciplines and then add two suggestions for each of them.

Don’t make it punishing—that’s not the point of the Rule.

Under Sacramental Life, I have my dietary goals (expressed as “mindful consumption”), and I find that this keeps my headspace where I want it to be: seeing my meals as sacramental moments in their own right and that they should be focused on appropriately sustaining the body (and being enjoyable). The Book of the Law says, “Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art” [AL 2.70e–g]. I take “drink” in this context to include eating and see my mealtimes as something sacred (epicurianistic⁹In the upcoming essay, The Virtues of the Stars: Building a Monastic Code, I will return to this idea and share my views of epicuriosity (to foster beautiful living) and the advocacy of mindful consumption as elements of The Five Pillars of Nobility of Action and The Six Precepts of Discipline.) rather than hedonistic indulgences, to appreciate where my meal comes from, who has prepared it, and the environment in which I enjoy it.

Eventually, I’d like to create a resource to help people work through each of these disciplines in a more measured and intentional manner. Until then, you’ll just have to deal with my ramblings over it.

Love is the law, love under will.