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What is Thelema?

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Many respectable writers on Thelema say that Thelema is a religion. It is not. For most people, a religion is a set of beliefs about God, a higher power, or something similar. Thelema is not a set of beliefs at all. It doesn't say anything about what is true or what actually exists.

One reason Thelema is presented as a religion is that a religion has been created that dovetails with it: the Ecclesia Gnostica Cathoica (E.G.C.). However, it is in no way essential to belong to this church in order to be a Thelemite.

Explaining to the average person what Thelema IS is a bit trickier, because most people are unfamiliar with the sort of activity Thelema is designed for in the first place. Thelema is a set of formulas for an activity very few understand called magick (with a 'k').

When most people hear the word magic, they either think of illusions done by a stage performer or of "spells" and "hexes" (whether or not they think such things are phony). Real magick is something else entirely.

Magick is the art and science of changing one's own consciousness so as, first, to make it highly balanced and stable and, second, to make it into a finely tuned receiver for receiving highly subtle signals that are normally drowned out by the chatter of the mind.

Achieving the goals of magick requires years of becoming conscious of one"s own habits and tendencies and of eliminating attachments, including wanting to be liked by other people; wanting to gain wealth, affection, power; and ultimately the habit of thinking of oneself as something separate from other things. The point is not to avoid money or being liked, but to no longer be mastered by the desire for them. In India, this same science of transforming consciousness is known as yoga (not to be confused with the fitness craze loosely derived from it).

Why would any sane person want to practice magick? Speaking for myself, I have been deeply drawn to this discipline and have sacrificed much for it. But why? There really is no reason. That said, it happens that I love this art more and more the more I devote myself to it. Magick is an art that takes my whole lifetime as its medium and for some reason that thrills me.

Again, Thelema is a set of specific formulas for doing magick—that is, for changing consciousness in the way I have described. Those who adhere to Thelema claim that these formulas for changing consciousness are appropriate and useful for the present 2,000 year period that began roughly 100 years ago. Many (but not all) Thelemites agree that the relevant period is the Age of Aquarius.

The change of "Ages" every 2,000 years or so occurs because, as the axis of the Earth wobbles, the apparent position of the Sun at the Spring Equinox shifts, signaling the ascendancy of a new set of primary archetypes for working with consciousness.

Some see the relevant period as the Aeon of Horus, where that is conceived of as independent from the Age of Aquarius (though perhaps related to it). I don't have space in this article to go into what the Aeon of Horus is.

The word Thelema is Greek for Will. The Law of Thelema states "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Although exploring the implications of this law for oneself can take decades, a common mistake about what this means should be brought up and eliminated immediately.

Do what thou wilt is not equivalent to Do what you want. To do what you want is to be moved by impulses that are not under your conscious control. What "I want" is determined by my personality and often by a heavy dose of marketing and social conditioning. Biology can also play a role. In all those cases, to want something is to be moved as if by the outside. Whether I'm moved by the desire to be seen in a certain way, to taste something delicious, to have a baby, or to acquire the latest gadget, I am influenced by something outside of myself. This is the opposite of will. The same is true if I am moved by fear.

To will is to move oneself free of any outside influence. To become able to will is no trivial matter, as anyone who has ever dieted knows. What will is and how it works is well worth exploring, but lies outside the scope of this article, as does the meaning of the Thelemic concept of True Will.

The Law of Thelema was introduced in the Book of the Law, a book which the magician Aleister Crowley said was dictated to him between noon and 1 PM in Cairo, Egypt on April 8, 9, and 10, 1904 by a voice over his left shoulder. Crowley himself did not give much importance to the book for several years after its reception. Later he began to see the book as the centerpiece of his magickal career, with significance far beyond the scope of his individual life. Although not all Thelemites take the Book of the Law as the be all and end all of Thelema, nearly all agree that it holds important keys for doing real magick in the present era.

 Eric N. Peterson is a Toltec priest and member of The Tequihua Foundation, a Riverside, Southern CA nonprofit whose mission is to continue the ancient consciousness-transforming arts of the Toltecs. The Aka Dua is an energy prepared by a particular Toltec line. The Aka Dua assists in the alchemical process of transformation by which an ordinary human becomes the shaman.

www.tequihuafoundation.org