Thelema

The Thelemic law was dictated to Crowley in 1909 in Egypt by an emissary of the god Horus named AIWASS. The Book of the Law lays out the emergence of the New Aeon of Horus, for which Crowley was to be the chief prophet. For three days, Aiwass dictated information to Crowley. The result was Liber Legis, better known as The Book of the Law, Crowley’s most important work.

Central to it is the Law of Thelema: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” The law has been misinterpreted to mean doing as one pleases. According to Crowley, it means that one does what one must and nothing else. Perfect magic is the complete and total alignment of the will with universal will, or cosmic forces. When one surrenders to that alignment, one becomes a perfect channel for the flow of cosmic forces.

Besides the Law of Thelema, the book holds that every person is sovereign and shall be self-fulfilled in the Aeon. “Every man and every woman is a star,” it states. However, the Aeon of Horus would be preceded by an era of great violence, aggression, and fire.

Everything springs from the Thelemic law, and magic is the “art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with Will.” The individual is sovereign and responsible only to himself. The proper use of will raises the individual to the highest purpose, not a selfish purpose.

Crowley preferred to spell magic with a k to distinguish it from the low magic of spell-casting and sorcery. He said that “the laws of Magick are the laws of Nature” and that better effect is obtained by a group than an individual: “There is no doubt that an assemblage of persons who really are in harmony can much more easily produce an effect than a magician working by himself.”