What is Thelema?
Originally, Thelema is a Biblical Greek word, which can mean 'wish, will, or intention'. In the original Greek version of the King James bible, the word appears hundreds of times in reference to the 'Will of God'. As such, Thelema's secret relationship to mainstream Judaeo-Christian thought is a long standing historical truth. Thelema has been an underground movement for nearly two millennia, fueling almost every revolutionary movement in the West.
The philosophy of Thelema has its roots in ancient Egypt, but its ideals were very likely the product of the pre-Socratic philosophers, most notably Parimindes and his student Empedocles. It is they that laid the observational and cosmological foundations that would result in the modern systems of Freemasonry that we know today. And more pointedly, the systems and schools of Rosicrucianism, which operate in formal orders like the Golden Dawn, the OTO, and the AA. It is from this unbroken lineage that these contemporary groups took their foundation. Both of these men were advocates of a form of thought they called the 'Logos'. This concept, was married to a form of inductive logic that they merely referred to as 'Reason'. Their idea was that man could understand reality through a series natural unions. Arguably, these philosophers were the earliest Western examples of scientific thinking and empiricism. And their ideas about man's natural divinity, would express itself in similar tropes in Western Civilization for tens of centuries.
In the early 1900s, after a series of revelatory experiences, a man and Ceremonial Magician, Edward Alexander Crowley, otherwise known as Aleister Crowley, took leave of the Golden Dawn system, and, was made the head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, a German Masonic Order. Crowley retooled this group, making it the first openly Thelemic order in the world. The OTO was the first group of its type that began to initiate women openly. Crowley's revelations resulted in a body of prosaic literature which is one of the first examples of 'automatic' or 'channeled' writing in English Liteature. These thirteen documents are now the core of a modern orthodoxy and are called 'The Holy Books of Thelema'. The chief of these 'Liber Al vel Legis' (The Book of the Law), is the central, most sacrosanct document to modern Thelemites. Liber AL declares a 'Law of Liberty' for human beings to express themselves freely, without the normal strictures of society, all while having a sacred liturgy.
Thelema is very concerned with the practice of 'High Magick' and Theurgy, which is a blend of Magick and mainstream religion. 'Theurgy' is distinct from 'thaumaturgy', commonly referred to as 'low magic', which is concerned with casting spells, potions, shamanism, and necromancy. Whereas Thelema does not utterly discard these practices, its cosmological focus is upon contact with Angelic forces and entities, which ultimately result in an encounter with one's idea of the Supreme Being. This is congruous with the yogic pracitce of achieving 'samadhi' or 'union with God'. Thelemites tend to lens this through the context of Western religion, and as such, Thelema borrows many tropes from Catholic doctrine and symbols. Ceremonial Magick employs a system of 'Enlightenment through Process', which can measure proficiency and success, which is taught and tested in a tiered system of degrees and grades.
The idea of Crowley's Thelema in theory is very simple. Each man and woman, each soul, has a unique trajectory in the universe in time and space, as such, this makes their consciosuness and personality geared towards a divine purpose, mandated by Providence or Deity. This purpose, called by Crowley, 'True Will', is to be discovered by each individual by their own personal path of effort and advent. Thelemites hold that this quest can last beyond a normal human lifespan, as such, Crowley himself and Thelemites generally hold to the doctrine of the Transmigration of the Soul, or 'reincarnation'. Rosicrucianism has always had its own cosmological version of reincarnation, separate from the models of the classical Eastern systems. Thelemites borrow freely from these beliefs, and Thelemites do not hold to any orthodox belief regarding this concept. This precept extends to the study of all religious literature, including the Holy Books of Thelema themselves. No one may evangelize a personal interpretation of religious text of any kind to other Thelemites, Free Will is the most sacrosanct item to Thelemites, and such practice is forbidden and anathema.
Not only being a manifesto of human freedom, Liber AL also purports a universal cosmology, given in the anthropomorphic form of three Egyptian-Chaldee deities: Nuit, Hadit, and Ra Hoor Khuit. Nuit, Goddess of the night sky, whose consciousness is symbolized by infinte space. Hadit, the Middle Dynasty form of Geb or Shu, the God of the dalylight sky, whose form represents the microcosmic Infinte Point, (in physics called a 'singularity). And another Middle Dynasty deity, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, whose name means 'Horus of the Two Horizons', a form of the child god Horus, who is a humanistic symbol having attributes of both of these male and female deific aspects.
Ceremonial Magicians have an array of required practice and study, all are required to become adept in the following:
- The Kabbalah
- Greek Hermetics
- Astrology
- Mythology
- Comparitive Religions
- The Tarot
- Classical Hatha Yoga, Mantrayoga and Tantric Bhakti Yoga
- Classical Philosophy and Poetry
Modern Thelemic magicians have added to this array of specialties, Thelemites also practice a specialized form of Vajrayana Tantrayoga, which Crowley called 'Sex Magick'. Along with that, the study of Chinese Astrology, and the system of divination called the I-Ching. Some Thelemites practice the Daoistic systems of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts such as Tai Chi. And, many Thelemites also extend their practice into classical arts such as painting and sculpture, film, and performance art.
The founders of the NOT have stood apart from other Thelemic groups, in that we have embraced the similar tropes Thelema shares with Christianity. With that in mind, the NOT's official stance is that Thelema is a branch of 'Mystical Christianity' and the reception of Liber AL, a modern extension of the Mosaic Tradition.
It is estimated roughly 30-100 thousand people worldwide identify as Thelemites.