Burn this book

[sara_super_id]

Alister Crowley wrote in one of his seminal works The Book of the Law, instructions to burn the book upon completion of reading. Now I think it is a rare thing for readers and devotees to actually do. But what freedom and meaning that very act has for the seeker who reads it. However equally meaningful is refusing the burn the book

Comments

[brock_tn]

Transgressing societal rules solely because they ARE societal rules is still letting those rules control your actions.

Which is part of the basis of Uncle Al's famous saying "Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law; Love under Will." The true magician acts in accordance with his Will, and not as he is expected to by others. Although it is, granted, not entirely unexpected that the magician's Will at least on some occasions be congruent with what a modern society expects of its members.

[sara_super_id]

I certainly agree. Just disobeying every rule and law because it is law and rule is not the defining role of the witch. In fact it would be just as slave to the rules via their opposite as following them without question is.

Some of these rebellions recommended by Crowley and Husson seem to be initiating acts to free one to act as one will rather then by the law. I was interested musing on this subject today.

I still find value in many rules and laws. However, I do think now and then about the rites our ancestors and teachers subersively challenge us to face. Should we choose to take them on, or write them off as uneccessary as long as we do not act in fear or out of blind obedience we are challenging norms in a critical way.

[brock_tn]

It depends, I suppose, on how trammeled one feels by conventional religion, or by societal expectations. I suppose that where someone does perceives themselves to be terribly restricted and confined a deliberate act of transgression might feel liberating.

But, consider too how much MORE conformist society was in 1969 when Mastering Witchcraft was first published. This was during the time of the Summer of Love and the Woodstock Festival, when the issue of rebelling against expected social norms was a MAJOR issue in both North america and in most of Western Europe. People raised in the very conformist circumstances that existed before that time were far more likely to need some sort of a transformative act, some personal equivalent to Hernando Cortez' decision to burn his ships on the coast of Mexico, so that it's clear that there is no going back to where they were before

[peter]

I would agree, though I still see some value in breaking them as part of initiation as to truly get to the point you're describing then you would have to be at a place mentally where you were completely fine with disregarding society and I see it as a step towards that objective.

Of course not everyone would require that step though. But I could imagine it aiding some people a great deal.

[thegreencall]

I think a witch, of any flavor, should be in full command of hir faculties, self-possessed and full able to think for hirself. A witch should be a fully liberated human being. At the same time, I don't think that happens immediately and spontaneously after one starts practicing the Craft.

So while I think that an experienced witch would be acting out of will and not reacting to social rules or conventions, I also think that experimenting and breaking a few rules can part of the process that lets one know one's self and one's mind.

So my answer to the original topic is yes and no. It depends on the witch. I don't view my craft as in opposition to social norms and mores. I've never felt the need to break taboos for the sake of breaking taboos.

At the same time, consorting with gods & spirits and practicing the Craft is, in and of itself, doing something taboo in my family and social circle. So in that way, my practice itself is an act of freedom from some social mores.

[sara_super_id]

This is so right on. Your comment really made me think it out. Thanks.