On Will:

Of Will:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

"Sayest thou (methinks) that there is a great Riddle, since by Reason of much Repression thou hast lost the Knowledge of thine own Nature?

My son, this is not so; for by a peculiar Ordinance of Heaven, and a Disposition occult within his Mind, is every Man protected from this Loss of his own Soul, until and unless he be by Choronzon disintegrated and dispersed beyond power of Will to repair; as when the Conflict within him, rending and burning, hath made his Mind utterly desert, and his Soul Madness.

Give Ear, give Ear attentively; the Will is not lost; though it be buried beneath a life--old midden of Repressions, for it persisteth vital within thee (is it not the true Motion of thine inmost Being?) and for all thy conscious striving cometh forth by Night, and by Stealth in Dream and Phantasy. Now is it naked and brilliant, now is it clothed in rich robes of Symbol and Hieroglyph; but always travelleth it with thee upon thy Path, ready to acquaint thee with thy true Nature, if thou attend unto its Word, its Gesture, or it's Show of Imagery."

Liber ALEPH: ALTERA DE VIA NATURA, Aleister Crowley:

The will itself is not consciously perceived, it is an unconscious inkling that leads one towards the realization of being, or a substrate manifesting a divine intent within the mind. The realization of the will must be sought consciously in doing and evaluating experience, even that which seemed as failures, were put there as torches of divine providence to illuminate the true character of the will. Even though the will is repressed as a result of each man and woman's need for conformity owing to an innate inability to express one's independence unless one is especially fitted karmically to do so, his will is never lost, merely obscured behind the veil of such repression. Therefore since childhood we are taught that this repression leads to security, that in denying Nature we are assisting ourselves by conforming to a reality that has been already prepared for us, we are urged away from adventure and into slavery. Hence the need arises to strengthen the will, symbolized in the tempering and sharpening of the sword that represents the intellect of the magician, a sword, as he is at war against delusion, and false phantoms which he will need to cut away, in order to unveil the truth within the light. Choronzon is the dweller of the Abyss, and although this was written to Frater ACHAD, these verses may still be applicable for candidates of lesser grades, for instance, Choronzon also manifests to the Zelator and threatens the will of the candidate. Although not of the same magnitude, the threat is real, as for the Magister failure leads to insanity and for the lesser initiate it merely culminates in failure to integrate the will with the shadow, although still a mighty task to accomplish for the attainment of the grade. 

In the above ACHAD is urged to explore the nature of his being and this is done, by exploring the landscape of his unconscious. Tiphareth may fruitfully be considered as symbolic of the light of consciousness, symbolized by the Magick Lamp to illuminate the darkness of the Temple. The Temple in this analogy is the Soul of the magician hence the intellect is utilized in exploring the aspects of the magician's being lost in obscurity, the parts of being which in Jungian terminology relate to the shadow and its integration becomes the work of a Zelator. Hence the knife is the weapon of the Zelator as symbolic of the intellect and its element being air corresponds to Tiphareth on the Tree of Life and the suit of Swords in the Holy Tarot. The Zelator is working in Yesod, which represents the astral plane, an aspect of the psyche that I like to refer to as the landscape of dreams, or just the unconscious. According to the elements this sphere is related to air, although according to the god's it relates to Artemis , who is the goddess of the moon and the twin sister of Apollo. She is the reflection of her brother and the reasoning for Tiphareth and Yesod's positions on the Tree of Life, Apollo thus relates to the sphere of Beauty and his character is that of the Apollonian in contrast to the Dionysian. 

The heterogeneity of the tasks of the grades serve a coherent system meant to become homogeneous parts of a whole unified under will, which in the quote Crowley refers to as the Soul. These heterogenous practices relate to the elemental weapons and gives us the reason for their distinguished characteristics. As a Neophyte the candidate is given Arcanorum which will serve as a functional map for the Great Work, and although it is merely a projection, it serves a teleological purpose for the magicians work. Hence the Neophyte is also tasked to create a Pantacle with a symbol of the universe carved into it, this symbol being nothing less than a representation of the magician's Soul. The Zelator is given two tasks and these relate to the above quote, the first task is yoga, and the second is to practice the meditations in Liber HHH. The aim of the first of these practices is to strengthen the will, which is associated with the intellect and the magical weapon of the grade, and the second is concerned with the unconscious, or as Crowley calls it in the quote "Night". I hope that from this analysis of the vignette it is clear, that in order for freedom to be attained there must be established a creative congruence between Night and Day, a notion found throughout Liber Pyramidos, or in other words one must establish a mutual and conscious dialectic between the intellect and the unconscious. It is the first practice mentioned which in the quote is called the "conscious Striving", in fact this pertains to all the practices, although in this particular case it is yogic meditation meant to strengthen the magician's will that leads to illuminating the shadow for the second task to be achieved. It is via this connection and the magician's exploration of his own being, the "Word", the "Gesture" and its "Show of Imagery", that he may attain to the unity and accomplish the Great Work. 

"Love is the law, love under will."

Against Tyranny:

Against Tyranny:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

"Therefore, o my Son, be thou wary, not bowing before the false Idols and ideals, yet not flaming forth in Fury against them, unless that be thy Will.

But in this Matter be prudent and be silent, descerning subtly and with acumen the nature of the Will within thee; so that thou mistake not Fear for Chastity, or Anger for Courage, and since the fetters are old and heavy, and thy Limbs withered and distorted by reason of their Compulsion, do thou, having broken them, walk gently for a little while, until the ancient Elasticity return, so that thou mayest walk, run and leap naturally and with Rejoicing. 

Also, since these Fetters are as a Bond almost universal, be instant to declare the Law of Liberty, and the full Knowledge of all Truth that appertaineth to this Matter; for if in this only thou overcome, then shall all Earth be free, taking its Pleasure in Sunlight without Fear or Phrenzy. Amen."

Liber Aleph: ULTIMA THESIS DE AMORE, Aleister Crowley:

Although the tyrant may be perceived as an enemy of mankind, in actuality the tyrant is an enemy in so much as he can never be a friend to the world, for he seeks control in contrast to freedom. Hence for one who seeks to liberate all, the tyrant must be seen in this light, not as an adversary but a necessity, the darkness which is needed to obscure the truth for it's obvious illumination under the light. Clearly the tyrant is society written of in the quote, and as liberation occurs the lie is exposed for the malignancy that it holds for us all, the imprisonment on offer is revealed in the light of truth, so to speak. Therefore the initiate feels compelled with outrage to stand up and confront this dishonest system, and in doing so, he runs the risk of failing to keep silent.

To liberate oneself, it is insisted, that the will must be fortified, that at this stage there is a tendency to overlook certain relationships, or forms within one's own psyche that have through life become habitual in sympathy to "the false Idols and ideals" of the Black School that threaten to drown the initiate in a sea of chaos unless his sword is rightly tempered. Hence in his confused whirlpool of delusion, whether he likes it or not, the norms and rules of that which he mistrusts and has broken free from through great struggle and courage, and that to which he has no relation becomes the example of what has to be followed, as guided by the utility of his intellect, and amounts to a need for repressing his emotions and following suit for the sake of survival. Herein is the essence of the curse against the Black School, that the magician may acquiesce support without becoming a fixture in their corrupt system and not fall back to worship the false gods of his past. This retreat back into darkness, does not occur as a willed action, it is a failure to integrate and to unify the foundations of his being and to place the intellect in charge of the emotions. The point is stressed to indicate the importance of the task, important as indicating the difficulty of the task, that now, for perhaps the first time, the threat is real and must be dealt with absolutely.

In the same way an infant can not voice its disatisfaction, the magician has lost harmony with the world around him, he is misunderstood and as nobody can hear him, his emotions are over stimulated and results in frantic outbursts directed to the entire outside world. And just as the infant the magician is born into a new world, he must not only learn to walk but must learn the rules that govern the foreign reality which he has been plunged into. With a heightened sensitivity, this is the hardship that lays before him, to accept reality on its terms, so that one day when equilibrium has been established he may once again "walk, run and leap and with Rejoicing". But until such freedom is attained he is urged to "declare the Law of Liberty" so that he may obtain to the promises therein. The quote regarding this, I think, should be seen as subjective, that he is affirming his place among the elements. To remain steadfast in this way, fortified by a tempered will is said to be the only way to attain mastery, following the harmony he must acquiesce by his effort and his silence. As Crowley says at the end of the vignette, "then shall all Earth be free, taking its Pleasure in Sunlight without Fear or Phrenzy", qabalistically this could be interpreted as "Earth" being Malkuth at the renewal of the World symbolized by the Princess of Disks and the "Sunlight", of course, is Tiphareth, although in the Tarot this state is symbolized by the Six of Disks and its congruence with the Ace of Swords, and the "Fear and Phrenzy" indicates a will that is in constant flux and instead of being master of, is subject to the elemental forces around it. Which means, as the book was written to Frater ACHAD who himself having been a Master of the Temple and not a mere a Neophyte, that the result of his ordeal, if it is overcome, would be the crystalization of the magician's will in Malkuth and the completion of the Great Work.

"Love is the law, love under will."

Asceticism and the Proposition of Meaning:

Asceticism and the Proposition of Meaning:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

Since Buddha came up with a few truths, albeit they were coherent and a few precepts, I still wish to explore his failure in some more detail as it seems vital for us to forego what has been taught in his destructive doctrine. Let me start off controversially stating, that the Black School successfully proposes meaning, and the White School subverts this meaning in order to evolve. One may think of the Black School as the rules that govern our pluralistic reality, without which there would be nothing but chaos and no sanctuary for the White School. For it is only within such a structure that the White School can survive and grow and structure, instead of chaos is owing to the governance of a system of philosophic precepts held in place by the Black School of magick. It would be an absurdity for me to state that a cantaloupe is not a cantaloupe, although a cantaloupe is certainly not a watermelon or an apple, it is a fruit however that shares a striking resemblance to the former but it has absolutely nothing in common with a boob. You see, these rules of correspondence not only help us to navigate life, knowledge of their differences give understanding and expands the mind creatively, which serves an auxiliary function in the art of magick. Here we have the rocky, but fundamentally necessary relationship between the White School and the Black School of magick, we need them as they need us, for without the findings of the White School the Black School perishes and that means all of us.

Without these rules, as I have already stated, there is no progress, merely resignation, and this leads to death, inevitably. The ascetic in his negation welcomes such a death of spirit, in forcefully plunging himself into chaos, and hypocritically insisting that he is serving as a martyr for the sake of us all, as if we were lemmings. But most of us, I think, can agree, that we don't want to blindly follow the leader of such a nihilistic perspective, that we value life, that we intuit a better relationship, if not today, this intuition is strong enough that it forces us to strive for future generations. Meaning is important to us, and willfully succumbing to the authority of the Black School, in order for me to find the freedom wherein I may serve to do so, is an option, that when contrasted to the nihilism of Buddha, seems to be the better choice.

As every object in reality is understood by the presence of its functional concept, there is an underlying spirit that connects us all, and from this universal concept of unity we begin to perceive the multitude. The differences can only be appreciated from perceiving the union derived from the functional concept or L.V.X., hence from such an observation, it seems logical to conclude that we strive for Agape, wherein we intuit evolution. The mystic negates this realization by way of a suicide pact he has made with the goddess, and from which he means to take the multitude with him, as he vocally advocates for the annihilation of self with sweet sounding words meant to deceive as he has been deceived. 

In order to find the equivalence of any two things one must first establish their empirical differences, this notion of variance is not an illusion as the mystic claims, in fact, it is the foundation upon which meaning rests. For instance, the opposite of O is S, however they are united by a substrate called love, as they are both letters of an alphabet, and this notion becomes the auxillary of creation, but only insofar that their distinct characters are emphasized, may they be united by will to form meaning. Once union is attained, the functional concept is perceived in its totality, contradictions cease and from this is manifested a mutually congruent dialectic that we may call love, as if having fallen back into the world of multiplicity, although with a better understanding of the relationships. Herein we find the creative evolution, a willed change that may never have taken place unless the above conditions had been met. This, in my mind, is what magick means, it is looking very closely, and finding that which makes every man and every woman a star, unique and co-equal, gods of creation aflame with spirit, joyfully dancing within the light of life, and love and liberty, and peacefully one with the body of the goddess.

"Love is the law, love under will."