Thelema and the Book Of The Law
You'll have to forgive the nasty formatting, this is from the text file I wrote my notes in.
Also note that I'm hardly an expert on this. For more information see the links at the end.
You'll want a copy of the book to read along with.
Background on Crowley
- Born to Plymouth Bretheren, 1875
- Cambridge 1895 - 1898
- Summer of 1898: In the Alps with Oscar Eckenstein and Julian
Baker- Discusses alchemy with Baker, who then allegedly teaches him
some GD Magic - Perhaps first given Abra-Melin in the autumn
- Discusses alchemy with Baker, who then allegedly teaches him
- November 18th 1898, Joins the Golden Dawn as Neophyte
- Zelator December 1=10
- Theoricus 2=9 January 1899
- Practicus 3=7 Febuary 1899
- Philosophus May 1899
- December 1898, flat in Chancery Lane rented
- During 1899 Alan Bennet moves in as a guest, Crowley given
Second Order rituals
- During 1899 Alan Bennet moves in as a guest, Crowley given
- May 1899: Crowley goes to Paris to meet Mathers
- Bennet moves to Ceylon for health, leaves magical diaries to
Crowley
- Bennet moves to Ceylon for health, leaves magical diaries to
- November? 1899 acquires Boleskine house
- December 1899/January 1900 begins to prepare for
Abra-Melin - January 15th 1900, in Paris, Mathers raises him to 5=6 and
places him in the Second Order - Febuary 1900: Mathers and London fully break (W.B. Yeats, A.E.
Waite take over) - April 1900: Crowley is Mathers representative in the UK,
Mathers unleashes the punative current to no effect- 17th - 19th, Crowley breaks into the GD vault, changes locks,
summons the Second Order members, who ignore him
- 17th - 19th, Crowley breaks into the GD vault, changes locks,
- June 1900: Yeats reforms the GD London
- Crowley disillusioned with the GD politics goes to Mexico, via
London - Mexico: Continues magical work, awards himself 6=5 grade.
- Crowley disillusioned with the GD politics goes to Mexico, via
- January 1901: Eckenstein appears in Mexico, trains Crowley in
Raj-Yoga and they climb together. Invites Crowley to climb on
K2. - April 1901: Crowley leaves Mexico, travels to Japan via
San-Francisco. Romantic affair on the boat.- Visits Hong Kong and Elaine Simpson, an ex-lover who was a GD
member but is now a socialite.
- Visits Hong Kong and Elaine Simpson, an ex-lover who was a GD
- August 6th: Crowley arrives in Ceylon, starts to learn Yoga
from Bennet.- October 1st/2nd reaches Dhyana.
- August 23rd: Agrees to K2 climb with Eckenstein
- April 22nd 1902: Climb begins, sets record for longest time on
the mountain. - November 1902: Crowley confronts Mathers in Paris
- April 1903: Crowley returns to Boleskine
- August 1903: Crowley meets Gerald Kelly (GDer) and his sister
Rose Kelly.- Rose is in a bad situation, being pressured to marry a man she
was seeing - Crowley agrees to help her out
- They marry August 12th
- Rose is in a bad situation, being pressured to marry a man she
- Honey Moon: Paris 1903
Cairo: November 1903 (Crowley performs the Bornless ritual)
Ceylon: December 1903, rose pregnant
Cairo: Febuary, 1904 return - March 16th Crowley performs the Bornless one, Rose makes odd
comments - March 17th Crowley invokes Thoth, Rose continues to make odd
comments - March 18th Rose reveals messages from Horus
- March 18th-19th, Rose gives Crowley a ritual to invoke
Horus - March 20th Crowley uses this ritual
- March 21st Crowley takes rose to a museum neither has been too
and asks her to point out Horus, she ignores a number of
traditional statues and leads him to #666, the Stele of
Revealing - March 23rd to April 7th: Rose revels Aiwass
- April 8th,9th,10th: The Book of the Law is dictated
Background on Thelema
- The word stems from Will
- Assumes a magical structure to time, the progress of Aeons (which may overlap)
- The well known run is: Isis (the mother), Osiris (the dying
god), Horus (the crowned and conquering child) - After Horus there will either be an aeon of Set or of Maat
- Before Isis is a theorised aeon of Bez, egyptian dwarf god
(related to HGA)
- The well known run is: Isis (the mother), Osiris (the dying
- Centered around the idea of discovery of the True Will, via
contact with Inner Genius/Holy Guardian Angel, and then following
this Will.
Who are the Dramatis personæ
- Nuit/Nu-Isis, the infinite possibilities, goddess, all space,
limitless potential, infinite space and stars within, the scarlett
woman, babalon, shakti - Hadit/Had, the point-event, absolute moment, God/Not, present,
beast, master therion, shiva - Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Horus of the 2 Horizons
- Horus, crowned and conquering child of the aeon, hawk headed
god, brahma - Hoor-pa-kraat, Horus as lord of silence, babe in the blue egg,
horus the child (Kenneth Grant also says this is Set) - Set, god of the outsiders, shaitan, brother to Horus and also
killer - Aiwass/Aiwaz, minister of Hoor-pa-kraat. Crowley identified him
as a non-human intelligence, or possibly his HGA (LAM, http://www.excludedmiddle.com/LAMstatement.html).
My understanding of this formula is roughly as follows
0 represents absolute 0, which contains no limits and is thus the whole universe e.g. the Tao, Nuit, Brahma, Ginnungagap. This isn't a Monad as then there would be Monad/Universe, i.e. 2 things.
2 represents a pair of opposites. As soon as something comes from nothing you have 2 (0 and X). And once something has come the 10 thousand things will come (see Magick Without Tears pp 60-61 for a Ying/Yang/Tao discussion of this). cf. Niflheim/Muspellheim
So 0=2 represents the creation of the universe, and the opposites/opposing-pairs within it, including creation and nothingness
2=0 represents the annihilation of the subject/object divide, the reaching of samadhi, uniting with the universe.
Magickally speaking the use of the formulas is as follows:
2=0 First use the union of opposites to reach a mystic state, uniting with the universe. This is the union of Nuit/Hadit, Babalon/Beast, Ying/Yang etc. If a mystic state is all thats is required then the work is done.
0=2 The goal is then to bring the mystic state back to the real world focussed by true will, this will create a "magickal child", the aim being that this "child" is the effect that was wished by the magician, cf. Creation of runes as living objects, Spare's sigil technique.
Crowley notes that "Every act of love under will has the dual result of (1) creation of a child combining the qualities of its parents and (2) the withdrawal by ecstasy into Nothingness" (see Magick without tears, pp 63. In fact the whole chapter is quite good and has more examples in).
Note that whilst this can be a sex magick formula it can be a lot of things. Spare talked about achieving vacant gnosis by playing cards, I've also seen a meditative technique based on his work with holding pairs of opposites in the brain (neither/neither) like a koan until this state is reached.
Interpretation of interesting verses
1.2,14,64 The nature of Nuit
1.3 All people have paths, a definite true will to follow
1.6 Had/Nuit mix, the 2=0/0=2 formula. See also: 1.16,21,45,27,28,2.15
1.8 Khu = 31, defined as "spirit" or "deva" (akhus = spirit of the dead). Khabs defined as "start" A material/spiritual split, the subject/object. or Inner/Outer lights
1.22 "Bind Nothing" is the destruction of the subject/object split, see also "because" for removing causality, see also: zen
1.40 The "man of earth", return to earth after time as Hermit/Lover, see also: the ten oxherding pictures (http://www.iloveulove.com/spirituality/buddhist/tenbulls.htm)
1.41,42,43,51 The freedom of Love/Sex/Passion
1.44 Magical hint, the lust for results like all other lusts makes the results impure, must direct all to the True Will for its own sake, all into the moment and the magic
1.51 4 "gates" or methods: goods, dress, food/drink, love/sex. See also: flags,flax,fodder,frig and Buddhist "gates to enlightenment" terms
1.57 The Law itself, Love is the Law, Love under Will. Dove and Serpent is Left/Right hand path tantric stuff.
1.58 to 1.63 The Nuit formula for contact and working with
2.6 The nature of Hadit
2.7 Hadit is that which goes, motion. The axle/wheel bit is lingam/yoni symbology. Although the axle doesn't move which is interesting.
2.9 Life should be joyful, ecstasy is part of life
2.15 This is the 2=0/0=2 formula
2.16 Equality between Nuit/Hadit Beast/Scarlet Woman. Cf. Crowley vs. Kenneth Grant in opinion. Grant maintains the mixture is the Woman (Nuit, infinite space) to unite with Man (Hadit, point-event) and for each to experience the other, in a uniting of the whole universe (2=0)
2.19 This dog reference is that if its the true will of that person it will be good
2.21 King here means Thelemite/Adept, the "body of the King dissolve" may refer to the meditation practice of the "dropping away of body", although this doesn't mention the following stage: "dropping away of mind".
2.24,2.52,3.11,3.43-45 The office and qualities of the Scarlet Lady
2.26 Two Methods, up/kundali is to unite with Nuit and the infinite in a mystical experience (2=0, the annihilation of both sides to nothing/all). Down/earth is to turn 0 back into 2 (0=2, to go back to the world from the mystic state and create change on the world, to work magick) 0=2 creates a magical child, cf. Austin Osman Spare: "All things fornicate all the time".
2.28,2.29 "Because" is symptomatic of reasoning and thought, however true knowledge can never be part of this, it is held by a person and can only be passed on as "a finger pointing to the moon", reasoning may help someone take the pointer and head towards understanding but it can never take you all the way.
2.36-44 Gives the religious structure and public worship of Thelema
2.49 The babe in the egg: This is Harpocrates. Perhaps this verse means there is Nuit,Hadit,Horus and a 4th, Harpocrates/Set
2.57-59 The nature of Kings/Thelemites
2.58-60 Doing ones True Will
2.67-69 Sex Magick instruction
2.70-72 Hints for working skillful magick
3.1,3.75 Adrahadabra, the magickal word of the Aeon. Has the same number (365) as Abrasax, the Gnostic universal god. Crowley also works it into the 5+6 Nuit/Hadit formula. See also: comment on the book.
3.10 Kiblah = altar/template
2.19 This number is part of Kenneth Grants magical motto
3.10,12,32,22,23 Instructions for the private worship of Thelemites
3.23-16 Is an improved version of the punative current
3.63-67 This is suggestive of the middle pillar ritual, however the MPR brings light down from Ain Soph, whereas this raises power upwards, suggestive of kundalini. Whilst Thelema is a sun/ain-soph-aur style practice perhaps this is supportive of Kenneth Grants "Hidden God"/Set suggestions?
Gematria
Thelema (Θελημα: 9,5,30,8,40,1 = 93)
Agape (αγαπη: 1,3,1,80,8 = 93)
LAShTAL:
LA = Hebrew: "not". Nothing/0. אל (30+1 = 31)
ShT = Hebrew: "to wander". טשׂ (300+9). As tarot trumps: שׂ = The Aeon (20), ט = Lust (11). 20+11 = 31
AL = Hebrew "god". All/2. לא (1+30 = 31)
LAShTAL = 93 = Thelema. Also LA/AL 0=2.
See also: http://www.baymoon.com/~btoak/faustus/love.html
http://www.geocities.com/satanicreds/lashtal.html
Additional Information
Book of the Law:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/engccxx.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Law
Commentaries:
http://www.hermetic.com/220/
Thelema:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema
http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/index.htm
OTO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordo_Templi_Orientis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordo_Templi_Orientis_(Typhonian)