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Thelema Quotes 15: Ideals
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thelema Quotes’ fifteenth installment deals with the concept of ideals. As always, all quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“…we are born into a World which is in Bondage to Ideals; to them we are perforce fitted, even as the Enemies to the Bed of Procrustes.”
-Liber Aleph, “De Vita Corrigenda”
Quotation #2
“The man who fails to recognize [life as an attempt to realize one's own nature in one's own soul] is hopelessly bewildered by the irrational character of the universe, which he takes to be real; and he cannot but regard it as aimless and absurd. The adventures of his body and mind, with their desires for material and moral well-being, are obviously as foredoomed to disaster as Don Quixote’s. He must be a fool if he struggles on (against inexorable fate) to obtain results which he knows can only end in catastrophe, a climax the more bitter as he clings the more closely to his impossible ideals.”
-Commentary to The Book of the Law I:29
Quotation #3
“What is necessary is not to seek after some fantastic ideal, utterly unsuited to our real needs, but to discover the true nature of those needs, to fulfill them, and rejoice therein.”
-Magick Without Tears, chapter VIII
Quotation #4
“…thou art born into Dis-Ease; where are many false and perverted Wills, monstrous Growths, Parasites, Vermin are they, adherent to thee by Vice of Heredity, or of Environment or of evil Training. And of all these Things the subtlest and most terrible, Enemies without Pity, destructive to thy will, and a Menace and Tyranny even to thyself, are the Ideals and Standards of the Slave-gods, false Religion, false Ethics, even false Science.”
-Liber Aleph, “De Via Libertatis”
Quotation #5
“Each child must develop its own Individuality, and Will, disregarding alien Ideals. … Let children educate themselves to be themselves. Those who train them to standards cripple and deform them. Alien ideals impose parasitic perversions. … Standards of education, ideals of Right-and-Wrong, conventions, creeds, codes, stagnate Mankind.”
-”On the Education of Children”
Quotation #6
“[The Law of Thelema] admits that each member of the human race is unique, sovereign and responsible only to himself. In this way it is the logical climax of the idea of democracy. Yet at the same time it is the climax of aristocracy by asserting each individual equally to be the centre of the universe… The Law of Thelema does not require the individual to behave himself because God set the squire and the parson to boss him… Modern social unrest is largely due to misunderstanding of the Law of Thelema… Under the Law of Thelema, all false ideals and incongruous ambitions will be driven away as delusions.”
-Confessions, chapter 87
Quotation #7
“Know then, o my Son, that all Laws, all Systems, all Customs, all Ideals and Standards which tend to produce Uniformity, being in direct Opposition to Nature’s Will to change and to develop through Variety, are accursèd. Do thou with all thy Might of Manhood strive against these Forces, for they resist Change, which is Life; and thus they are of Death.”
-Liber Aleph, “De Lege Motus”
Quotation #8
“The joy of life consists in the exercise of one’s energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.”
-Confessions, chapter 65
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments.
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- Liber Aleph
- The Old & New Commentaries to The Book of the Law
- “On the Education of Children”
- Magick Without Tears, chapter 8
- Confessions, chapter 87
- Confessions, chapter 65
Love is the law, love under will.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments .
Thelema Quotes 14: Women
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thelema Quotes installment #14 focuses on quotes related to women in the New Aeon. As always, all quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“Every man and every woman is a star.”
-The Book of the Law I:3
Quotation #2
“We of Thelema say that “Every man and every woman is a star.” We do not fool and flatter women; we do not despise and abuse them. To us a woman is Herself, absolute, original, independent, free, self-justified, exactly as a man is.
We dare not thwart Her Going, Goddess she! We arrogate no right upon Her will; we claim not to deflect Her development, to dispose of Her desires, or to determine Her destiny. She is Her own sole arbitar; we ask no more than to supply our strength to Her, whose natural weakness else were prey to the world’s pressure. Nay more, it were too zealous even to guard Her in Her Going; for She were best by Her own self-reliance to win Her own way forth!
We do not want Her as a slave; we want Her free and royal, whether Her love fight death in our arms by night, or Her loyalty ride by day beside us in the Charge of the Battle of Life.”
-The Commentary to The Book of the Law, III:55
Quotation #3
“Chapter III of The Book of the Law, verse xi, reads: ‘Let the woman be girt with a sword before me.’ This woman represents Venus as she now is in this new aeon; no longer the mere vehicle of her male counterpart, but armed and militant.”
-The Book of Thoth
Quotation #4
“The New Aeon will have a foundation of Happy Women: A Woman under Tabu is loathsome to Life, detested by her fellows, and wretched in herself.”
-The Commentary to The Book of the Law, II:54
Quotation #5
“The Book of the Law is the Charter of Woman; the Word Thelema has opened the lock of Her “girdle of chastity.” Your Sphinx of stone has come to life; to know, to will, to dare and to keep silence.
Yes, I, The Beast, my Scarlet Whore bestriding me, naked and crowned, drunk on Her golden Cup of Fornication, boasting Herself my bedfellow, have trodden Her in the Market place, and roared this Word that every woman is a star. And with that Word is uttered Woman’s Freedom.”
-The Commentary to The Book of the Law, III:55
Quotation #6
“The essence of my Word is to declare woman to be Herself, of, to, and for Herself; and I give this one irresistible Weapon, the expression of Herself and Her will through sex, to Her on precisely the same terms as to man… The best women have always been sexually-free, like the best men; it is only necessary to remove the penalties for being found out.”
-The Commentary to The Book of the Law, III:55
Quotation #7
“There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter.”
-The Book of the Law, II:52
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments.
For more information on these topics check out these links:
Love is the law, love under will.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments .
Thelema Quotes 13: Initiation
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thelema Quotes 13 touches upon the subject of Initiation in the Aeon of the Crowned & Conquering Child. As always, all quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“There is a word to say about the Hierophantic task. Behold! there are three ordeals in one, and it may be given in three ways. The gross must pass through fire; let the fine be tried in intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest. Thus ye have star & star, system & system; let not one know well the other!”
-The Book of the Law I:50
Quotation #2
“In all systems of religion is to be found a system of Initiation, which may be defined as the process by which a man comes to learn that unknown Crown. Though none can communicate either the knowledge or the power to achieve this, which we may call the Great Work, it is yet possible for initiates to guide others. Every man must overcome his own obstacles, expose his own illusions. Yet others may assist him to do both, and they may enable him altogether to avoid many of the false paths, leading no whither, which tempt the weary feet of the uninitiated pilgrim. They can further insure that he is duly tried and tested, for there are many who think themselves to be Masters who have not even begun to tread the Way of Service that leads thereto. Now the Great Work is one, and the Initiation is one, and the Reward is one, however diverse are the symbols wherein the Unutterable is clothed…”
-”Liber LXI vel Causae,” lines 2-5
Quotation #3
“All ways are lawful to Innocence.
Pure folly is the Key to Initiation.
Silence breaks into Rapture.
Be neither man nor woman, but both in one.
Be silent, Babe in the Egg of Blue, that thou mayest grow to bear the Lance and Graal!”
-The Heart of the Master
Quotation #4
“What is the meaning of Initiation? It is the Path to the realisation of your Self as the sole, the supreme, the absolute of all Truth, Beauty, Purity, Perfection!”
-Magick Without Tears, chapter 71
Quotation #5
“Initiation means the Journey Inwards: nothing is changed or can be changed; but all is trulier understood with every step.”
-Little Essays Towards Truth, “Mastery”
Quotation #6
“We are whole-hearted extroverts; the penalty of restricting oneself is anything from neurosis to down right lunacy; in particular, melancholia. You ask whether these remarks do not conflict with my repeated definition of Initiation as the Way In. Not at all; the Inmost is identical with the All. As you travel inward, you become able to perceive all the layers which surround the “Self” from within, thus enlarging the scope of your vision of the Universe… When the entire system of the Universe is conterminous with your comprehension, “inward” and “outward” become identical.”
-Magick Without Tears, chapter 28
Quotation #7
“The Ruach… is the machine of the mind converging on a central consciousness, which appears to be the ego. The true ego is, however, above Neschamah, whose occasional messages to the Ruach warn the human ego of the existence of his superior. Such communications maybe welcomed or resented, encouraged or stifled. Initiation consists in identifying the human self with the divine, and the man who does not strain constantly to this end is simply a brute made wretched and ashamed by the fact of self-consciousness.”
-Confessions, chapter 54
Quotation #8
“There are four gates to one palace; the floor of that palace is of silver and gold; lapis lazuli & jasper are there; and all rare scents; jasmine & rose, and the emblems of death. Let him enter in turn or at once the four gates; let him stand on the floor of the palace.”
-The Book of the Law I:51
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments.
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- The Book of the Law
- The Heart of the Master
- Liber LXI vel Causae
- Magick Without Tears, chapter 71: “Morality (2)”
- Little Essays Toward Truth, “Mastery”
- Magick Without Tears, chapter 28: “Need to Define ‘God,’ ‘Self,’ etc.”
- Confessions, chapter 54
Love is the law, love under will.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments .
Thelema Quotes 12: Sex and Sexuality
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Installment number 12 of Thelema Quotes focuses on the subject of sex and sexuality within the Law of Thelema. All quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me… Love is the law, love under will.”
-The Book of the Law I:51, 57
Quotation #2
“Every star must calculate its own orbit. All is Will, and yet all is Necessity. To swerve is ultimately impossible; to seek to swerve is to suffer.
The Beast 666 ordains by His authority that every man, and every woman, and every intermediately-sexed individual, shall be absolutely free to interpret and communicate Self by means of any sexual practices soever, whether direct or indirect, rational or symbolic, physiologically, legally, ethically, or religiously approved or no, provided only that all parties to any act are fully aware of all implications and responsibilities thereof, and heartily agree thereto.
Moreover, the Beast 666 adviseth that all children shall be accustomed from infancy to witness every type of sexual act, as also the process of birth, lest falsehood fog, and mystery stupefy, their minds, whose error else might thwart and misdirect the growth of their subconscious system of soul-symbolism.”
-Commentary to The Book of the Law I:51
Quotation #3
“When you have proved that God is merely a name for the sex instinct, it appears to me not far to the perception that the sex instinct is God.”
-Review of Ida Craddock’s “Heavenly Bridegrooms” in “The Tank” from The Equinox III:1
Quotation #4
“There shall be no property in human flesh. The sex-instinct is one of the most deeply-seated expressions of the will; and it must not be restricted, either negatively by preventing its free function, or positively by insisting on its false function. What is more brutal than to stunt natural growth or to deform it? What is more absurd than to seek to interpret this holy instinct as a gross animal act, to separate it from the spiritual enthusiasm without which it is so stupid as not even to be satisfactory to the persons concerned?
The sexual act is a sacrament of Will. To profane it is the great offence. All true expression of it is lawful; all suppression or distortion is contrary to the Law of Liberty. To use legal or financial constraint to compel either abstention or submission, is entirely horrible, unnatural and absurd.”
-Commentary to The Book of the Law I:41
Quotation #5
“Sex is the sacred song of the soul; sex is the sanctuary of Self…
Sex is the supreme sacrament, wherein the body and blood are offered up to the soul. The elements thereof must be worthy, their consecration absolute…
The sexual nature of a man is his most intense expression of himself; his subconsciousness endeavours thereby to inform his consciousness of his Will… It is supremely sacred to him, and to interfere with its expression, or try to edit it, is an abominable crime.”
-”On Sexual Freedom” from The Revival of Magick
Quotation #6
“Consent or refusal are to be determined by the impulse itself, without reference to any other motives such as commonly influence action. ‘So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will’ (AL, I:42). Every thought, word, or act without exception is subject to this law. ‘Do what thou wilt’ does not give license to do anything else; lest this be not understood, the doctrine is here explicit: ‘Thou hast no right but to do thy will.’ Every particle of energy must be built into this single-track machine of will; directly or indirectly, it must serve the one purpose. A very small hole in the hull may sink a very large ship. Every act, therefore, with the thoughts and words which determine its performance, is a sacrament.
Now of all acts the most intrinsically important is the act of love. Firstly, because the ecstasy which accompanies its due performance is a physical image, or hint, of the state of Samadhi, since the consciousness of the Ego is temporarily in abeyance; secondly, because its normal effect on the material plane is, or may be, incalculably vast. (The emphasis on the word ‘due’ is absolute.) Precisely because it is so powerful a weapon, its use is hedged in with manifold precautions, and its abuse deprecated in injunctions heavily charged with menace…”
-Artemis Iota vel de Coitu Scholia Triviae
Quotation #7
“Every one should discover, by experience of every kind, the extent and intention of his own sexual Universe. He must be taught that all roads are equally royal, and that the only question for him is ‘Which road is mine?’ All details are equally likely to be of the essence of his personal plan, all equally ‘right’ in themselves, his own choice of the one as correct as, and independent of, his neighbour’s preference for the other. He must not be ashamed or afraid of being homosexual if he happens to be so at heart; he must not attempt to violate his own true nature because public opinion, or mediaeval morality, or religious prejudice would wish he were otherwise.”
-Commentary to The Book of the Law I:51
Quotation #8
“The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.”
-The Book of the Law I:41
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments.
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- The Book of the Law
- The Old & New Commentaries to The Book of the Law
- Magick Without Tears, chapter XV: “Sex Morality”
- “Artemis Iota vel de Coitu Scholia Triviae”
- “The Tank” from The Equinox III:1
- “On Sexual Freedom”
Love is the law, love under will.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments .
Thelema Quotes 11: Interdependence
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thelema is often said to be highly individualistic, which is certainly true but not to the exclusion of balance with interdependence. Thelema Quotes number 11 looks into this subject. All quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“…Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt. But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!”
-The Book of the Law I:22-23
Quotation #2
“The greatest, like Rembrandt, paint a gallant, a hag, and a carcass with equal passion and rapture; they love the truth as it is. They do not admit that anything can be ugly or evil; its existence justifies itself. This is because they know themselves to be part of an harmonious unity; to disdain any item of it would be to blaspheme the whole. The Thelemite is able to revel in any experience soever; in each he recognizes the tokens of ultimate Truth. It is surely obvious, even intellectually, that all phenomena are interdependent, and therefore involve each other.”
-Commentaries to The Book of the Law
Quotation #3
“Find thou thyself in every Star.”
-The Heart of the Master
Quotation #4
“But there is one other solution, as I have endeavoured to shew. We may accept (what after all it is absurd to accuse and oppose) the essential character of existence. We cannot extirpate or even alter in the minutest degree either the matter or manner of any element of the Universe, here each item is equally inherent and important, each aequipollent, independent, and interdependent.
We may thus acquiesce in the fact that it is apodeictically implicit in the Absolute to apprehend itself by self-expression as Positive and Negative in the first place, and to combine these primary opposites in an infinite variety of finite forms.”
-Commentaries to The Book of the Law
Quotation #5
“Abstain from all interferences with other wills. ‘Beware lest any force another, King against King!’ (The love and war in the previous injunctions are of the nature of sport, where one respects, and learns from the opponent, but never interferes with him, outside the actual game.) To seek to dominate or influence another is to seek to deform or destroy him; and he is a necessary part of one’s own Universe, that is, of one’s self.”
-”Duty”
Quotation #6
“[The O.T.O.] combines monarchy with democracy; it includes aristocracy, and conceals even the seeds of revolution, by which alone progress can be effected. Thus we balance the Triads, uniting the Three in One; thus we gather up all the threads of human passion and interest, and weave them into an harmonious tapestry, subtly and diligently with great art, that our Order may seem an ornament even to the Stars that are in the Heavens at Night. In our rainbow-coloured texture we set forth the glory of the whole Universe–See thou to it, brother Magician, that thine own thread be strong, and pure, and of a colour brilliant in itself, yet ready to mingle in all beauty with those of thy brethren!”
-Liber CXCIV: An Intimation with Reference to the Constitution of the Order
Quotation #7
“For Perfection abideth not in the Pinnacles, or in the Foundations, but in the ordered Harmony of one with all.”
-”Liber LXI vel Causae”
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- The Book of the Law
- Commentaries to The Book of the Law
- Duty
- The Heart of the Master
- Liber CXCIV: An Intimation with Reference to the Constitution of the Order
- Liber LXI vel Causae
Love is the law, love under will.
Thelema Quotes 10: Drugs
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
In the 10th installment of Thelema Quotes, we tackle the subject of drugs within the context of the Law of Thelema. All quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.”
-The Book of the Law, II:22
Quotation #2
“Drunkeness is a curse and a hindrance only to slaves. Shelley’s couriers were ‘drunk on the wind of their own speed.’ Any one who is doing his true Will is drunk with the delight of Life.”
-Commentaries to The Book of the Law
Quotation #3
“The sot drinks, and is drunken: the coward drinks not, and shivers: the wise man, brave and free, drinks, and gives glory to the Most High God.”
-”Liber CL: De Lege Libellum”
Quotation #4
“Wine and strange drugs do not harm people who are doing their will; they only poison people who are cancerous with Original Sin. In Latin countries where Sin is not taken seriously, and sex-expression is simple, wholesome, and free, drunkenness is a rare accident. It is only in Puritan countries, where self-analysis, under the whip of a coarse bully like Billy Sunday, brings the hearer to ‘conviction of sin,’ that he hits first the ‘trail’ and then the ‘booze.’ Can you imagine an evangelist in Taormina? It is to laugh.”
-Commentaries to The Book of the Law
Quotation #5
“Again with drugs, it is the unknown which is the horrific factor. Most people get their information on the subject from the yellowest of yellow newspapers, magazines and novels. So darkly deep is their ignorance that that do not know what the word means—like us so often, yes?
Wide sections of the U.S.A. are scared of tea and coffee. They blench when you point out that bicarbonate of soda is a drug just as much as cocaine; at the same time they literally shovel in the really dangerous Aspirin, to say nothing of the thousand Patent Medicines blared at them from every radio—as if the Press were not enough to poison the whole population! Blank-eyed, they gasp when they learn that of all classes, the first place among “drug addicts” is that of the doctor.
But the crisis in which fear becomes phobia is the unreasoning aversion, the shuddering of panic, above all, the passionate refusal to learn anything about “drugs,” to analyse the conditions, still less to face them; and the spasmodic invention of imaginary terrors, as if the real dangers were not enough to serve as a warning.”
-Magick Without Tears, ch.78
Quotation #6
“The craving for these things is caused by the internal misery which their use reveals to the slave-souls. If you are really free, you can take cocaine as simply as salt-water taffy. There is no better rough test of a soul than its attitude to drugs. If a man is simple, fearless, eager, he is all right; he will not become a slave. If he is afraid, he is already a slave. Let the whole world take opium, hashish, and the rest; those who are liable to abuse them were better dead.
For it is in the power of all so-called intoxicating drugs to reveal a man to himself. If this revelation declare a Star, then it shines brighter ever after. If it declare a Christian — a thing not man nor beast, but a muddle of mind — he craves the drug, no more for its analytical but for its numbing effect. Lytton has a great story of this in ‘Zanoni.’ Glyndon, an uninitiate, takes an Elixir, and beholds not Adonai the glorious, but the Dweller on the Threshold; cast out from the Sanctuary, he becomes a vulgar drunkard.”
-Commentaries to The Book of the Law
Quotation #7
“This was my hypothesis: ‘Perhaps hashish is the drug which ‘loosens the girders of the soul,’ but is in itself neither good nor bad. Perhaps, as Baudelaire thinks, it merely exaggerates and distorts the natural man and his mood of the moment.’”
-”The Herb Dangerous, pt.II: The Psychology of Hashish”
Quotation #8
“Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me.”
-The Book of the Law, I:51
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- The Book of the Law
- Liber CL: De Lege Libellum
- Commentaries to The Book of the Law
- Magick Without Tears, ch.78
- The Herb Dangerous, pt.II: The Psychology of Hashish
Love is the law, love under will.
Thelema Quotes 9: Book of Revelation/Apocalypse
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
In Thelema Quotes 9, we look at the various references to the Book of Revelation, a.k.a. the Apocalypse of St. John, in Thelemic Holy Books & Crowley’s writings. All quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law, as always.
Quotation #1
“Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men.”
-The Book of the Law I:15
Quotation #2
“666. Last of the mystic numbers of the Sun. [666 has the same value as] the spirit of Sol. Also Ommo Satan, the Satanic Trinity of Typhon, Apophis and Besz; also, the Name of Jesus. The names of Nero, Napoleon, W. E. Gladstone, and any person that you may happen to dislike, add up to this number. In reality it is the final extension of the number 6, both because 6 × 111 ([Aleph] = 111 = 1) = 6, and because the Sun, whose greatest number it is, is 6…
[666 was] chosen by myself as my symbol, partly for the reasons given [above], partly for the reasons given in the Apocalypse. I took the Beast to be the Lion (Leo my rising sign) and Sol, 6, 666, the Lord of Leo on which Babalon should ride. And there were other more intimate considerations, unnecessary to enter upon in this place. Note however that the Tarot card of Leo, Strength, bears the number XI, the great number of the Magnum Opus, and its interchange with Justice, VIII.; and the key of 8 is 418.”
-Liber LVIII: Gematria
Quotation #3
“In the first place, there is again the woman riding on the bull, which is the reflection of BABALON, that rideth on The Beast. And also there is an Assyrian legend of a woman with a fish, and also there is a legend of Eve and the Serpent, for Cain was the the child of Eve and the Serpent, and not of Eve and Adam; and therefore when he had slain his brother, who was the first murderer, having sacrificed living things to his demon, had Cain the mark upon his brow, which is the mark of the Beast spoken of in the Apocalypse, and is the sign of initiation [This is the "Third Eye", the "Eye of Shiva", the Pineal Gland, supposed by some anatomists to be a rudimentary eye.]“
-The Vision and the Voice, 2nd Aethyr
Quotation #4
Waratah-Blossom
Seven are the veils of the dancing-girl in the harem of IT.
Seven are the names, and seven are the lamps beside Her bed.
Seven eunuchs guard Her with drawn swords; No man may come nigh unto Her.
In Her wine-cup are seven streams of the blood of the Seven Spirits of God.
Seven are the heads of THE BEAST whereon She rideth.
The head of an Angel: the head of a Saint: the head of a Poet: the head of an Adulterous Woman: the head of a Man of Valour: the head of a Satyr: and the head of a Lion-Serpent.
Seven letters hath Her holiest name; and it is
This is the Seal upon the Ring that is on the Forefinger of IT: and it is the Seal upon the Tombs of them whom She hath slain,
Here is Wisdom. Let him that hath Understanding count the Number of Our Lady; for it is the Number of a Woman; and Her Number is An Hundred and Fifty and Six.”
-The Book of Lies, ch.49
Quotation #5
“He that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is filthy shall be filthy still.”
-The Book of the Law, II:57
“A quotation from the Apocalypse. This God is not a Redeemer: He is Himself. You cannot worship Him, or seek Him — He is He. And if thou be He, well.”
-Commentary to The Book of the Law, II:57
Quotation #6
“I have never lost sight of the fact that I was in some sense or other The Beast 666. There is a mocking reference to it in ‘Ascension Day,’ lines 98 to 111. The Sword of Song bears the sub-title ‘called by Christians the Book of the Beast.’ The wrapper of the original edition has on the front a square of nine sixes and the back another square of sixteen Hebrew letters, being a (very clumsy) transliteration of my name so that its numerical value should be 666. When I went to Russia to learn the language for the Diplomatic Service, my mother half believed that I had ‘gone to see God and Magog’ (who were supposed to be Russian giants) in order to arrange the date of the Battle of Armageddon.
In a way, my mother was insane, in the sense that all people are who have watertight compartments to the brain, and hold with equal passion incompatible ideas, and hold them apart lest their meeting should destroy both. One might say that we are all insane in this sense; for, ultimately, any tow ideas are incompatible. Nay, more, any one idea is incompatible with itself, for it contains in itself its own contradiction. (The proof of this thesis will be given in the proper place.)
But my mother believed that I was actually Anti-christ of the Apocalypse…”
-Confessions, ch.48
Quotation #7
“MARSYAS. My stature shall surpass the stars:
He hath said it! Men shall worship me
In hidden woods, on barren scaurs,
Henceforth to all eternity.
OLYMPAS. Hail! I adore thee! Let us feast.
MARSYAS. I am the consecrated Beast.
I build the Abominable House.
The Scarlet Woman is my Spouse…”
-”AHA!”
For more information on these topics check out these links:
Love is the law, love under will.
Thelema Quotes 7: Religion
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
For the seventh installment of Thelema Quotes, the topic of whether Thelema is a religion or not is treated. As always, all quotations are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“Thelema implies not merely a new religion, but a new cosmology, a new philosophy, a new ethics. It co-ordinates the disconnected discoveries of science, from physics to psychology, into a coherent and consistent system. Its scope is so vast that it is impossible even to hint at the universality of its application.”
-Confessions, ch.49
Quotation #2
“The world needs religion. Religion must represent Truth, and celebrate it. This truth is of two orders: one, concerning Nature external to Man; two, concerning Nature internal to Man.
Existing religions, especially Christianity, are based on primitive ignorance of the facts, particularly of external Nature. Celebrations must conform to the custom and nature of the people. Christianity has destroyed the joyful celebrations, characterized by music, dancing, feasting, and making love; and has kept only the melancholy.
The Law of Thelema offers a religion which fulfils all necessary conditions. The philosophy and metaphysics of Thelema are sound, and offer a solution of the deepest problems of humanity. The science of Thelema is orthodox; it has no false theories of Nature, no false fables of the origin of things. The psychology and ethics of Thelema are perfect. It has destroyed the damnable delusion of Original Sin, making every one unique, independent, supreme, and sufficient. The Law of Thelema is given in the Book of the Law.”
-”Editorial” from The Equinox III:1, a.k.a. The Blue Equinox
Quotation #3
“The many religions of the world have all lost their power to guide chiefly because the development of means of transport and of international commerce have convinced the educated that any one religion is about as good or bad as another for the purposes of social discipline, and that none has any validity from the standpoint of actual fact, or historical or philosophical truth.
The remedy is evidently to be found only in one way. There must be found a formula based upon absolute common sense, without one trammel of theological theory or dogma, a formula to which no man of intelligence can refuse assent, and which at the same time affords an absolute sanction for all laws of conduct, social and political no less than individual, so that the right or wrong of any isolated or concerted action can be determined with mathematical accuracy by any trained observer, entirely irrespective of his personal idiosyncrasies.
This formula is: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”
-”The Beginning of the New World” from The Revival of Magick
Quotation #4
“Our religion therefore, for the People, is the Cult of the Sun, who is our particular star of the Body of Nuit, from whom, in the strictest scientific sense, come this earth, a chilled spark of Him, and all our Light and Life.”
-Commentary on The Book of the Law III:22
Quotation #5
“Call it a new religion, then, if it so please your Gracious Majesty; but I confess that I fail to see what you will have gained by so doing, and I feel bound to add that you might easily cause a great deal of misunderstanding, and work a rather stupid kind of mischief. The word does not occur in The Book of the Law.”
-Magick Without Tears, ch.31
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- The Book of the Law
- “Editorial” from The Equinox III:1
- Arguments for Thelema being a religion (Thelemapedia)
- Arguments against Thelema being a religion (Thelemapedia)
- Miscellaneous quotes about Thelema & religion
Love is the law, love under will.
Thelema Quotes 6: Will is not Want
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
For Thelema Quotes installment number 6, we deal with the “omnipresent blackguard” of people taking “Do what thou wilt” to mean “Do whatever you want.” All quotations are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
Quotation #1
“The word of the Law is THELEMA… Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law… So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.”
-The Book of the Law I:39-40, 42-44
Quotation #2
“St. Augustine’s ‘Ama, et fac quod vis’ [roughly 'Love, and do what thou wilt'] puts the cart before the horse, begs the question, and is moreover liable to the most serious misunderstandings. As if the fact of ‘loving’ were sufficient excuse for all and sundry acts, or lines of conduct.
Safer, ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law’ with ‘love’ relegated to its scientifically correct position as the means of carrying out all plans soever: Hungry man ‘loves’ food and drink, i.e. unites chemically therewith, assimilates it to his own nature, and so becomes man refreshed i.e. capable of continuing to pursue his true will. Hence, ‘Love is the law, love under will.’ It will not help him to ‘love’ anything but food and drink on such occasions; and it must be the food suited to his nature and his powers of digestion. Hay will not restore or nourish him; and food too gross, or too plentiful, drink too cold or too intoxicating, may disturb the perfection of the process.
Of course you [Karl Germer] know all this well enough; but I thought that you might find it useful to quote St. August to the common blatant guffaw of the omnipresent blackguard ‘Do wot yer loike, eh? What ho!’”
- Letter from Aleister Crowley to Karl Germer, March 1942
Quotation #3
“…If every man and every woman did his and her will—the true will—there would be no clashing. ‘Every man and every woman is a star,’ and each star moves in an appointed path without interference. There is plenty of room for all; it is only disorder that creates confusion. From these considerations it should be clear that ‘Do what thou wilt’ does not mean ‘Do what you like.’ It is the apotheosis of Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond.
Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else. Let nothing deflect thee from that austere and holy task. Liberty is absolute to do thy will; but seek to do any other thing whatever, and instantly obstacles must arise. Every act that is not in definite course of that one orbit is erratic, an hindrance. Will must not be two, but one.”
- Liber II: The Message of the Master Therion
Quotation #4
“At the exact moment when the futility of the formalized faiths of the world has been recognized, despite the stoutest denials; when the first principles of religion and ethics have been subconsciously rejected, so that a kind of spiritual neurasthenia broke loose in the hysteria of the world-war, there appeared a mysterious figure who is generally known as the Master Therion. Instructed by chiefs who have hitherto preferred to remain in the background, he brings to free and enlightened men a law by virtue of which mankind may arrive at a new and higher stage of advancement on every plane, from the biological to the spiritual. It is a law of liberty and of love, but also of discipline and of force. This law is already in operation under the name of the Law of Thelema.
The formula of this law is: Do what thou wilt. Its moral aspect is simple enough in theory. Do what thou wilt does not mean Do as you please, although it implies this degree of emancipation, that it is no longer possible to say à priori that a given action is “wrong.” Each man has the right—and an absolute right—to accomplish his True Will.
The more one examines the deepest implications of the Law of Thelema, the more one understands that it constitutes a sublime synthesis, and the only one possible, of the teachings of every science, from embryology to history.”
-The Method of Thelema
Quotation #5
“It will be seen that the formula – ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law’ has nothing to do with ‘Do as you please.’ It is much more difficult to comply with the Law of Thelema than to follow out slavishly a set of dead regulations.”
-Eight Lectures on Yoga, “Yama”
For more information on these topics check out these links:
- The Book of the Law
- Liber II: The Message of the Master Therion
- The Method of Thelema
- Eight Lectures on Yoga, “Yama”
Love is the law, love under will.
Thelema Quotes 16: Thought, Reason, and the Mind
Jul 26
Posted by IAO131
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thelema Quotes #16 will look at the role of the mind, thought, and Reason in Thelema. As always, all quotes are from Aleister Crowley or The Book of the Law.
“Now a curse upon Because and his kin! May Because be accursed for ever! If Will stops and cries Why, invoking Because, then Will stops & does nought. If Power asks why, then is Power weakness. Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite & unknown; & all their words are skew-wise. Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog! But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!”
-The Book of the Law II:28-34
“Thoughts are false.”
-The Book of Lies, chapter 5 “The Battle of the Ants”
“[This line] is another phrasing of the familiar Hindu statement, that that which can be thought is not true.”
-Commentary to chapter 5 of The Book of Lies
“Here is the Key of Success, and its Name is the Skill to make right Use of Circumstance. This, then is the Virtue of the Mind, to be the Wazir of the Will, a true Counsellor, through Intelligence of the Universe. But o, my Son, do thou lay this Word beneath thine Heart, that the Mind hath no Will, nor Right thereto, so the Usurpation bringeth forth a fatal Conflict in thyself. For the Mind is sensitive, unstable as Air, and may be led foolishly in leash by a stronger Mind that worketh as the cunning Tool of a Will. Therefore thy Safety and Defence is to hold thy Mind to his right Function, a faithful Minister to thine own True Will, but Election of Nature. “
-Liber Aleph, chapter 130 “De Ratione Praesidio Voluntatis”
“But this is of the essence of the Occult Wisdom concerning Daäth. For Daäth is the crown of the Ruach, the Intellect; and its place is in the Abyss. That is, it breaks into pieces immediately it is examined. There is no coherence below the Abyss, or in it; to obtain this, which is one of the chief canons of Truth, we must reach Neschamah.”
-Little Essays Towards Truth, “Knowledge”
““We must not suppose for an instant that the Book of the Law is opposed to reason. On the contrary, its own claim to authority rests upon reason, and nothing else. It disdains the arts of the orator. It makes reason the autocrat of the mind. But that very fact emphasizes that the mind should attend to its own business. It should not transgress its limits. It should be a perfect machine, an apparatus for representing the universe accurately and impartially to its master. The Self, its Will, and its Apprehension, should be utterly beyond it.”
-The Commentary to The Book of the Law, II:28
“I distrust any thoughts uttered by any man whose health is not robust.
All other thoughts are surely symptoms of disease.
Yet these are often beautiful, and may be true within the circle of the conditions of the speaker.
And yet again! Do we not find that the most robust of men express no thoughts at all? They eat, drink, sleep, and copulate in silence.
What better proof of the fact that all thought is dis-ease?”
-The Book of Lies, chapter 85 “Borborygmi”
“There is no ‘reason’ why a Star should continue in its orbit. Let her rip! Every time the conscious acts, it interferes with the Subconscious, which is Hadit. It is the voice of Man, and not of a God. Any man who ‘listens to reason’ ceases to be a revolutionary… It is ridiculous to ask a dog why it barks. One must fulfil one’s true Nature, one must do one’s Will. To question this is to destroy confidence, and so to create an inhibition… We are not to calculate, to argue, to criticise; these things lead to division of will and to stagnation. They are shackles of our Going. They hamstring our Pegasus. We are to rise up – to Go – to Love – we are to be awake, alert.”
-The Commentary to The Book of the Law, II:29-31,34
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments.
For more information on these topics check out these links:
Love is the law, love under will.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on these quotations and suggestions for future topics in the comments .
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Tags: aleister crowley, book of lies, commentaries to the book of the law, liber al, liber al vel legis, liber aleph, little essays towards truth, mind, reason, the book of the law, thelema, Thelema Quotes, thought, wazir