Why I’m a Thelemite

I’ve started writing this post here quite a few times, and I’ve written it in my head even more than that. I think the reason I’ve struggled so much with getting it out is two fold: The first is that it kept disintegrating into a comparison of Luciferianism and Thelema, and that’s not what I intend to do, not do I intend to insult any of the Luciferians I know and love. The second is that Thelema seems to sit so naturally with me it’s hard to articulate.

But inspiration has struck me, and I’m going to try.

The way that Thelema came into my life (at least in this period, I knew of it in high school but rejected it as too complicated) was a gradual process of realization. I had been devoting my research to Satanism and Luciferianism and other aspects of the left hand path, and Crowley’s writings were constantly referenced. Noticing this, I took it upon myself to write a blog post summarizing my opinions on Crowley’s ideals. I found, in the process of writing the post, that I identified pretty strongly with “True Will” and the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and especially his definition of Magick.

What didn’t strike me at the time was I had essentially agreed and resonated strongly with the most essential tenets of Thelema. At that point, I thought I had just found Thelema acceptable and moved on.

As I continued reading various things (Generation Hex, The Invisibles, and random things on the internet, as usual) I found more and more references to Crowley, all of which seemed to show him and Thelema in a more positive and richer light than before.

Then, now that I had been somewhat mentally primed for accepting Thelema by a variety of sources, I met a Thelemite, oddly enough, at a meetup for Satanists. I can’t say much more here without falling back into the Luciferianism/Satanism vs. Thelema debate, and I don’t want to disparage anyone’s character, but I will say that I got along much better with the Thelemite present than with anyone else there.

All this culminated in my first visit to an O.T.O lodge, and therefore my first Gnostic Mass. Everything fell into place quite beautifully, I clicked with everyone I met, and the whole experience was exceptional. I started calling myself a Thelemite maybe a few weeks later.

For me, Thelema is this: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will.

My interpretation of Thelema is this: You follow your True Will always, which is separate from your personal ego and ultimate serves to reunite microcosm with macrocosm, the human with the divine. Your True Will and anothers True Will will never conflict, representing perfect harmony. Love is union, and love is the aim of the Will.

Anything else is just detail. I do not feel compelled to agree with everything Crowley wrote, nor do I feel obliged to praise him as the most brilliant man who ever walked the earth. He was the prophet, the voice through which Thelema was delivered, so when people attack his character or his methods (as they often do) I don’t worry about it. Not important. Thelema does not clash with my Luciferian philosophy, which I still hold to (which is really just a way of operating at this point, barely even a philosophy) and doesn’t clash with my practicing chaos magick (though Crowley tends more towards the ceremonial).

To sum it up as briefly as possible: I practice Thelema because everything about it feels right.

Ipse scientia potestas est,

E.R.S.