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Thelema is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. Central to Thelema is the concept of discovering and following one's True Will, a unique purpose that transcends ordinary desires. Crowley's system begins with The Book of the Law, a text he maintained was dictated to him by a non-corporeal entity named Aiwass. This work outlines key principles, including the axiom "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," emphasizing personal freedom and the pursuit of one's true path, guided by love.
Liber AL vel Legis, commonly known as The Book of the Law, is the central sacred text of Thelema. The book is often referred to simply as Liber AL, Liber Legis or just AL, though technically the latter two refer only to the manuscript.
Ceremonial magic encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires. Ceremonial magic is part of Hermeticism and Western esotericism.
Enochian magic is a system of Renaissance magic developed by John Dee and Edward Kelley and adopted by more modern practitioners. The origins of this esoteric tradition are rooted in documented collaborations between Dee and Kelley, encompassing the revelation of the Enochian language and script, which Dee wrote were delivered to them directly by various angels during their mystical interactions. Central to the practice is the invocation and command of various spiritual beings.
Konx Om Pax: Essays in Light is a publication by British occultist Aleister Crowley, first published in 1907.
Kenneth Grant was an English ceremonial magician, novelist, and advocate of the Thelemic religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemic organisation, the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis—later renamed the Typhonian Order—with his wife Steffi Grant.
The Abbey of Thelema is a small house which was used as a temple and spiritual centre, founded by Aleister Crowley and Leah Hirsig in Cefalù in 1920.
William Breeze, also known by his neo-Gnostic bishop title of Tau Silenus, is an American writer and publisher on magick and philosophy. He is the Sovereign Patriarch, or supreme governing cleric, of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), the liturgical arm of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), of which he is the current Outer Head of the Order (OHO), also known as Frater Superior, as well as caliph, the order's international leader. In this capacity he is a leading editor of the occult works of Aleister Crowley, the founder of the philosophy and religion of Thelema, who is regarded as its prophet.
Charles Robert Stansfeld Jones, aka Frater Achad, was a Canadian occultist and ceremonial magician. An early aspirant to the A∴A∴ who "claimed" the grade of Magister Templi as a Neophyte. He was also an initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis, serving as the principal organizer for that order in British Columbia, Canada. He worked under a variety of mottos and acronymic titles, including V.I.O., O.I.V.V.I.O., V.I.O.O.I.V., Parzival, and Tantalus Leucocephalus, but he is best known under his Neophyte motto "Achad", which he used as a byline in his various published writings.
Moonchild is a novel written by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians, over an unborn child. It was first published by Mandrake Press in 1929 and its recent edition is published by Weiser.
Aleister Crowley was an English writer, not only on the topic of Thelema and magick, but also on philosophy, politics, and culture. He was a published poet and playwright and left behind many personal letters and daily journal entries. Most of Crowley's published works entered the public domain in 2018.
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography is a partial autobiography by the poet and occultist Aleister Crowley. It covers the early years of his life up until the mid-late 1920s but does not include the latter part of Crowley's life and career between then and his death in 1947.
Karl Johannes Germer, also known as Frater Saturnus, was a German and American businessman and occultist. He served as the United States representative of Ordo Templi Orientis, and on the death of Aleister Crowley became his successor as the Outer Head of the Order (OHO) until his death in 1962. He founded the Thelema Publishing Company and published several of Crowley's books after his death. He was born in Elberfeld, Germany and died in West Point, California.
Richard Kaczynski is an American writer and lecturer in the fields of social psychology, metaphysical beliefs and new religious movements. He is known for his biography of the occultist Aleister Crowley, Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley, described by The Times Literary Supplement as "the major biography to date", and by Didrik Søderlind in the Norwegian daily Aftenposten as the best biography of Crowley.
The Stratagem and other Stories is a small book of short stories written by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), occult magician, poet and self-proclaimed prophet of a new Æon.
Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has inspired esoteric Masonic organizations such as the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, is a key element within the Thelemic orders, and is important to mystical-religious societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross.
"Liber OZ", also known as "Book 77", "The Book of the Goat", and "The Rights of Man" is a single-page declaration authored by the English occultist Aleister Crowley in 1941. This text, initially published as a leaflet or broadside, delineates the fundamental rights of individuals as viewed through the lens of Thelema, the spiritual and social movement which Crowley founded in the early 20th century. Thelema emphasizes the principle of individual will as its core tenet.
Cecil Frederick Russell (1897–1987) was an American occultist and writer. Russell was a member of the A∴A∴ and Aleister Crowley's magical order, Ordo Templi Orientis. Russell later founded his own magical order, the Choronzon Club, which later changed its name to G.B.G..
References
- 1 2 Crowley, Aleister (2012). The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works. Wordsworth. ISBN 978-1-84022-678-2.
- ↑ Crowley, Aleister (1989). The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. Arkana Publishing. p. 830. ISBN 0-14-019189-5.
- ↑ Crowley, Aleister (1987). The Scrutinies of Simon Iff . Chicago: Teitan Press. ISBN 0-933429-02-9.