Mnemonics and the Magickal Link:

 

Mnemonics and the Magickal Link:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

Within the practice and theory of Thelema, the aspirant is given the task of memorizing chapters from specific Holy Books that correspond to specific grades. He or she is tasked to do this without necessarily delving deeper into the meaning of these texts, although he/she must study them as prescribed. The reason for this is simply to prepare the aspirant for initiation into our philosophical system, by which, this activity works as an ordered system of mnemonics.

The soul is not just the unconscious, ethereal body of light, or even that which is sometimes called the spirit, nor is it entirely the intellect, or the physical, sensual body. The soul are all of these parts working in unison to foster development towards the ultimate perfecting of the individual, and wherefrom being is unfolded. The Holy Books are prescribed to be remembered and in Liber Nu it is written, that the first chapter of The Book of the Law should be learnt in the aspirant's heart. The heart corresponds to the soul, or Thelemically, it is associated with the god Ra-Hoor-Khuit of the last chapter of the Book of the Law and suggests the Great Work of an adept. Hence, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, in a sense, symbolizes the soul, or more accurately the soul’s relationship with the divine and the world around it.

When we memorize and recite the texts, we are enlivening every part of the soul. The unconscious, through the archetypal symbolism inherent in these texts, the intellect, via the intellectual activity of memorizing the texts, the physical and emotional bodies are enlivened by the act of reciting these texts regularly throughout the grades, and the spirit, via the passion that is invoked by this practice. Hereby, one is inspired by a feeling of being where he or she belongs and where they were always meant to be, overwhelmed by certainty, the enlivening of passion serves to fortify the aspiration.

This passion is the faculty by which a magickal link is forged. As mentioned, it is via this practice that one’s aspiration is affected and as the passion is attributed to the Will, the Logos of the Western Esoteric Tradition, and Thelema its modern expression, a magickal link is established with tradition. The establishment of this link with tradition corresponds to Binah and the Great Mother, with whom the Neophyte in Malkuth unites to conceive the soul, which will serve as the vehicle for his Great Work.

Thelema is by no means a thing that dropped out of thin air, it is a continuation of the Western Esoteric Tradition, and a new vehicle with which to preserve it. Crowley for all his faults, was not a conman, as so many would be Thelemites have stated, and our tradition is, in fact, as old as the Magi themselves. Luckily, today, anyone may attain to the promises, if they do the work, and that is Crowley’s gift to the world. He resurrected the White School of Magick and gave us a vehicle for attainment, which is second to none.

“Love is the law, love under will.”