On Love:

On Love: 

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

"Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love: for there are love and love. There is the dove and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God."

Liber AL vel Legis: Chapter I:57 -

What is the definition of Love for practitioners of Thelemic magick? Of course, there are many forms of love, however, Crowley tells us that this Love is not sentimental or romantic love, certainly, love in common parlance seems more a sentiment for fools and platitudes. Agape as it is often referred to starts as an acknowledgement and an adoration. We learn that we are connected in Spirit, and that this spark which we are all animated by is of the same essence. Via this practice we connect with those around us on a deeper level and by acknowledging each other as divine we learn what Love is. That it is a substratum in Nature that connects us all, or universal love, that it is intimately tied into the Light of consciousness and Life. By way of our acknowledgement that 'Every man and every woman is a star' -- inherently divine, we foster a profound reverence for the human condition; we learn to treat each other with dignity and love in the highest most profound sense. Developing this perception is not passive, it is a practice of mindfulness which makes the development of this deeper faculty intentional and a magickal act. However, it is important to understand that this acceptance of the fact that every man and woman must be given due respect and freedom to attain their highest possible potential in life, does not automatically give us an injunction to forgive our enemies; or let people walk all over us; it is not a call to altruism -- those who seek to restrict us must still be dealt with in kind. Therefore, this practice is not moral, ethical or sentimental, it is merely developing the perception of a magickal principle, that we who adhere to the Thelemic praxis call Love. 

Within this simple practice is embodied one of the most profound insights, an insight that lays the foundation for Thelemic Sex Magick. It is Love in this sense that becomes the auxiliary of creation and is symbolised in the Empress Atu of the Tarot that connects Chokmah to Binah, but is also the path uniting the Fool and Magus, three paths on the Tree of Life symbolic of Thelemic Sex Magick as understood and preserved in the 9th degree initiation ceremony of the O.T.O. The dove and the serpent juxtaposed in the above quote may also be interpreted as relevant to the present topic. The serpent could be seen as corresponding to the intellect and intention, whereas the dove is a symbol of the pre-linguistic. It presents these ideas as being inseparable although distinct. The serpent is clearly phallic and the dove is the womb, thus we could view this symbolically as the phenomenon of conception, however, it is perceived on a much grander scale than the union between a man and a woman. Once awareness of this auxiliary force is developed the magician finds himself in the auspicious position from where his will may be projected onto the substrate of consciousness that I have here referred to as Agape, thus causing change to occur in conformity with it. There is the idea that the Will must survive death, and this formula is the practical application thereof. This can be understood in the psychoanalytic theory of the semiotic, a state wherein the ego is sublimated and re-transfigured by way of creating meaning, it also illustrates the fluidity of meaning and the arbitrary nature thereof. It is a sensual world and a place where self awareness is lost, where one is overcome with a kind of confusion -- overwhelmed such as one is at the climax of sexual union. These symbols are perhaps easiest explained in sexual terms accorded by their nature, and comparing Thelemic symbolism to those of other schools of thought have always proved interesting. Although, orgasm as well as the semiotic can also be symbolised as death, and hints at the fluidity and the lack of fixed meaning from where a magician seeks to imprint his will upon this substrate of consciousness and re-transfigure the self and indeed the entire universe in accordance with it.

"Love is the law, love under will."