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Aleister Crowley

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

About Me


"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.''
"There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt.''
"The word of the Law is Thelema.''
The Key to this Message is this word-Will. The first obvious meaning of this Law is confirmed by antithesis; "The word of Sin is Restriction.''
Again: "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.''
Take this carefully; it seems to imply a theory that 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.
Note further that this will is not only to be pure, that is, single, as explained above, but also "unassuaged of purpose.'' This strange phrase must give us pause. It may mean that any purpose in the will would damp it; clearly the "lust of result'' is a thing from which it must be delivered.
But the phrase may also be interpreted as if it read ``with purpose unassuaged''--i.e., with tireless energy. The conception is, therefore, of an eternal motion, infinite and unalterable. It is Nirvana, only dynamic instead of static--and this comes to the same thing in the end.
The obvious practical task of the magician is then to discover what his will really is, so that he may do it in this manner, and he can best accomplish this by the practices of Liber Thisarb (see Equinox I(7), p. 105) or such others as may from one time to another be appointed.
Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace.
Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movement of Things, thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two different selves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be God's will, Thou art That.
There is but one other word to explain. Elsewhere it is written - surely for our great comfort - "Love is the law, love under will.''
This is to be taken as meaning that while Will is the Law, the nature of that Will is Love. But this Love is as it were a by-product of that Will; it does not contradict or supersede that Will; and if apparent contradiction should arise in any crisis, it is the Will that will guide us aright. Lo, while in The Book of the Law is much of Love, there is no word of Sentimentality. Hate itself is almost like Love! "As brothers fight ye!'' All the manly races of the world understand this. The Love of Liber Legis is always bold, virile, even orgiastic. There is delicacy, but it is the delicacy of strength. Mighty and terrible and glorious as it is, however, it is but the pennon upon the sacred lance of Will, the damascened inscription upon the swords of the Knight-monks of Thelema.
Love is the law, love under will.

My Interests


Babalon

Ordo Templi Orientis

Ritual Magick

Yoga

I'd like to meet:


Oz: Liber 77
"the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world." AL. II. 2
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --AL. I. 40
"thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay." --AL. I. 42-3
"Every man and every woman is a star." --AL. I. 3
There is no god but man.
1. Man has the right to live by his own law--
to live in the way that he wills to do:
to work as he will:
to play as he will:
to rest as he will:
to die when and how he will.
2. Man has the right to eat what he will:
to drink what he will:
to dwell where he will:
to move as he will on the face of the earth.
3. Man has the right to think what he will:
to speak what he will:
to write what he will:
to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will:
to dress as he will.
4. Man has the right to love as he will:--
"take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will." --AL. I. 51
5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.
"the slaves shall serve." --AL. II. 58
"Love is the law, love under will." --AL. I. 57

Music:

Hoor Par Kraat

Silence!

Books:


Jephthah (1899) Appeal to the American Republic (1899) The Works of Aleister Crowley (1905) Konx Om Pax: Essays in Light (1907) Amphora (1909) Clouds Without Water (1909) Rosa Decidua (1911) Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4 (1912) Book of Lies (1913) Diary of a Drug Fiend (1922) Magick in Theory and Practice (1929) The Equinox of the Gods (1937) Eight Lectures on Yoga (1938) Little Essays Toward Truth (1938) Book of Thoth (1944) The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography (1969) The Book of the Goetia of Solomon The King (1970) Magical Record of the Beast 666 (1972) Book of the Law (1973) Magick Without Tears (1973) The Soul of Osiris (1974) Gems from the Equinox (1974) Gargoyles: Being Strangely Wrought Images of Life and Death (1974) Orpheus: A Lyrical Legend (1974) The Argonauts (1974) Crowley on Christ (1974) The Law Is for All: The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber Al Vel Legis Sub Figura Ccxx, the Book of the Law (1975) Liber Xxi, Khing Kang King: The Classic of Purity (1980) Banned Lecture (1985) The Worlds Tragedy (1986) The Fun of the Fair (1987) An Essay upon Number (1988) Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck (1988) Golden Twigs (1988) Portable Darkness: An Aleister Crowley Reader (1989) Handbook of Geomancy (1989) The Holy Books of Thelema (1989) Last Ritual (1989) 777 and other Qabalistic writings of Aleister Crowley (1990) The Equinox (1990) Amrita: Essays in Magical Rejuvenation (1990) Crowley on Drugs (1991) Enochian World of Aleister Crowley: Enochian Sex Magick (1991) Liber Aleph Vel Cxi: The Book of Wisdom or Folly (1991) Aleister Crowley's Illustrated Goetia: Sexual Evocation (1992) Cocaine: Impressions and Opinions (1992) The Heart of the Master and Other Papers (1992) Carmen Saeculare (1993) City of God: A Rhapsody (1993) Summa Spes (1993) Temperance: A Tract for the Times (1993) Three Great Hoaxes of the War (1993) Thumbs Up: A Pentagram - A Pantacle to Win the War (1993) Why Jesus Wept (1993) Absinthe: The Green Goddess (1994) Satanic Extracts (1995) The Pathworkings of Aleister Crowley (1995) Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley: Tunisia 1923 (1996) Aha! (1996) Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers: The Equinox (1998) Key of the Mysteries (2001) The Equinox: The Review of Scientific Illuminism: The Official Organ of the O.T.O. Number 10 (2001) The General Principles of Astrology (2002) The Crowley Tarot Handbook (2003) Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary (2003)

Heroes:


Allen Bennett

Frater Achad

A.O. Spare

Jack Parsons

H.P. Lovecraft

William S. Burroughs

Kenneth Anger

My Blog

The Book of the Law

The Book of the Law Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI Chapter I 1. Had! The manifestation of Nuit. 2. The unveiling of the company of heaven. 3. Every man a...
Posted by Aleister Crowley on Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:16:00 PST

What is Magick?

What is Magick? Cara Soror, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. What is Magick? Why should anyone study and practice it? Very natural; the obvious preliminary questions of any subject so...
Posted by Aleister Crowley on Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:38:00 PST

Energized Enthusiasm

Energized EnthusiasmA Note on Theurgy I I A O the supreme One of the Gnostics, the true God, is the Lord of this work. Let us therefore invoke Him by that name which the Companions of the royal Arch b...
Posted by Aleister Crowley on Sat, 22 Apr 2006 08:44:00 PST

Concerning the Law of Thelema

BAPHOMET XI Liber CLXI {Book 161}Concerning the Law of Thelema The following epistle first appeared in The Equinox III(1)(Detroit: Universal, 1919), and offers specific instances of the application o...
Posted by Aleister Crowley on Sat, 22 Apr 2006 08:40:00 PST