The Divine Within:

 

The Divine Within:

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

DE DESCIPULIS REGENDIS:

“I will have thee to know, moreover, my dear Son, the right Art of Conduct with them whom I shall give thee for Initiation. And the Rule thereof is one Rule; Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. See thou constantly to it that this be not broken; especially in the Section thereof (if I dare say so) which readeth Mind thine own Business. This is of Application equally to all, and the most dangerous Man (or Woman, as has occurred, or I err) is the Busy-body. Oh how ashamed are we, and moved to Indignation, seeing the Sins and Follies of our Neighbours! Of all the Occasions of this Grievance the most common is the Desire of Sex unsatisfied; and thou knowest already, even in thy young Experience, how in that Delirium the Weal of the Whole Universe appeareth of no Account. Do thou wean thy Babes from that Simplicity, and instil the Sense of true Proportion. For verily this is a Way of Madness, Love, unless it be under Will. And the Cure of this Madness is not so good as its Prevention, so that thou shouldst be beforehand with these Children, shewing them the right Importance of Love, how it should be a sacred Rite, exalted above Personality, and a Fire to enlighten and serve Man, not to devour him.”

Aleister Crowley: Liber Aleph

Aleister Crowley was once asked during court proceedings about his homosexuality, and the answer he gave was rather comical, although I can’t remember the quote and won’t attempt paraphrasing, but it had something to do with the fact that both men and women were seen with him at his apartment and that these encounters were all suspected to be of a romantic nature by witnesses. Indeed, these encounters were exactly that, and even during a time when homosexuality was against the law, Crowley was open about his proclivities--never attempting to hide who he was. This caused him to get kicked out of the Golden Dawn, after which a few of his associates left the Order to help him establish the A.’.A.’.. There is no wonder that he was as aware of the impact that the idle gossip of busy bodies could have for a man such as he was and what he is referring to in the above vignette. Although he certainly had a romantic streak, he also had a penchant for prostitutes, another one of his vices that would have left him better off, if it had stayed hidden. The “Sins and Follies” as he refers to them, are the sins of restriction that all adherents of the Judeo-Christian world view are casted with, that lead to the shame and indignation of needing to justify being human.

Thelema advocates free love, as is clear in the following quote from Liber AL vel Legis, “Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me.” Hence at the start of the vignette Crowley insists that “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” must be the rule by which all conduct is governed and he moves on from there to the nature of love and the proper attitude one must adopt towards such union. Love between two people is magickal, it opens parts of being such as drugs might do, from where a very special field of creativity is exposed, that within the synthesis of love we are in a sense baptized under the ecstatic dew of direct religious experience. The world transforms into love, and under these illuminating droplets we are established as Kings and Queens, if only for a brief moment during the course of our rapture. For Thelemites, this is a sacrament, that union between two people is viewed as the highest spiritual expression, an expression wherein the impossible seems commonplace, and a field of experience wherein true magick power is obtained. Accordingly, it is a sin to restrict this impulse towards the object of one’s devotion, if we were to suppress our innate yearning for the object of our desire, and restrict our love, then lust will certainly become the master and take precedence over the natural, and divinely sanctioned union between two children of light liberated in love.

Thus, every act of love must be dedicated unto the Goddess, that one remains mindful of the sacred nature thereof and the powerful potential it holds for transformation. This is a true gift that Thelema has given us, and one that we must cherish, as it is not merely an act of faith, but a testament of our liberation. Thelema has taken the most beautiful act that any man and woman can partake in—wrested it from the hands of tyrants and has put it back where it belongs, as a sacrament and a glorification of the divine within each of us. For us it is a celebration of Light, Life, Love and Liberty, a celebration of the freedom that we have inherited as gods of the earth, and our deification as such at the centre of the universe.

"This shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister, my heart & my tongue, unto whom I send this kiss. Also, o scribe and prophet, though thou be of the princes, it shall not assuage thee nor absolve thee. But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!"

Liber AL vel Legis: Chapter I, Verse 53

“Love is the law, love under will.”