(Quote) Aleister - Aleister Crowley, The (Old) Comment on I.57, Liber Legis, The Book of the Law

 

LINK TO ORIGINAL POST ON HERMETIC.COM

(Quote) Liber Cheth

 "12. And behold! if by stealth thou keep unto thyself one thought of thine, then shalt thou be cast out into the abyss for ever; and thou shalt be the lonely one, the eater of dung, the afflicted in the Day of Be-with-Us.

13. Yea! verily this is the Truth, this is the Truth, this is the Truth. Unto thee shall be granted joy and health and wealth and wisdom when thou art no longer thou.

14. Then shall every gain be a new sacrament, and it shall not defile thee; thou shalt revel with the wanton in the market-place, and the virgins shall fling roses upon thee, and the merchants bend their knees and bring thee gold and spices. Also young boys shall pour wonderful wines for thee, and the singers and the dancers shall sing and dance for thee. {26}

15. Yet shalt thou not be therein, for thou shalt be forgotten, dust lost in dust.

16. Nor shall the aeon itself avail thee in this; for from the dust shall a white ash be prepared by Hermes the Invisible.

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

"You know how deeply we have always been impressed with the ideas of Sun-rise and Sun-set, and how our ancient brethren, seeing the Sun disappear at night and rise again in the morning, based their religious ideas in this one conception of a Dying and Re-arisen God. This is the central idea of the religion of the Old Æon, but we have left it behind us because although it seemed to be based on Nature (and Nature's symbols are always true), yet we have outgrown this idea which is only apparently true in Nature. Since this great Ritual of Sacrifice and Death was conceived and perpetuated, we, through the observation of our men of science, have come to know that it is not the Sun which rises and sets, but the earth on which we live which revolves so that its shadow cuts us off from the sunlight during what we call night. The Sun does not die, as the ancients thought; it is always shining, always radiating Life and Life. Stop for a moment and get a clear conception of this Sun, how He is shining in the early morning, shining at mid-day, shining in the evening, and shining at night. Have you got this idea clearly in your minds? You have stepped out of the Old Æon and into the New."

https://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox/iii/i/eq0301183?bootswatch-theme=cyborg

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

 “I was in the death struggle with self: God and Satan fought for my soul those three long hours. God conquered – now I have only one doubt left – which of the twain was God?”

(Quote) From: The Snake That Made Gods of Our Race, by Erica M. Cornelius

 "...the Magus, who applies the Slain God principle in such a way as to spawn an entire Universe through his Word (...) does not sacrifice himself (as the Old Aeon would have had it), but rather transforms himself in an ultimate act of Love. And this self-transformation transforms the world."

(Quote) Aleister Crowley

 "There is thus in this school no attempt to deny that Nature is, as Zoroaster said, "a fatal and evil force"; but Nature is, so to speak, "the First Matter of the Work," which is to be transmuted into gold. The joy is a function of our own part in this alchemy. For this reason we find the boldest and most skillful adepts deliberately seeking out the most repugnant elements of Nature that their triumph may be the greater."

(Quote) The Seven Portals - Aleister Crowley

The student must practice complete detachment—must reach the stage when he does not care two pence whether he attains or not, while at the same time he pursues eagerly the Path of attainment. This is the ideal attitude.

(Quote) The Heart of The Master - Aleister Crowley

Now did I understand that all men live in sin, being baulked of their True Will, that is, of the free function of their essential nature. This restriction cometh much from their ignorance of what their True Will is, and much from external hindrance, but most of all from the interference of ill-controlled parts of their own instruments, the body and mind. For Freedom is not found in looseness and lack of governance, but in the right ruling of each individual of the common weal so as to assure his own well-being no less than that of the whole. And this effect is to be won by perfect organization under the eye of an Intelligence adequate to comprehend the general and the particular need together. The Way of Perfection is thus twofold: first, the True Will must be consciously grasped by the Mind, and this Work is akin to that called the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Second, as it is written: "Thou hast no right but to do thy Will," each particle of energy which the Instrument is able to develop must be directed to the doing of that Will, and this is one fierce lion in the way, that until the second task be already far advanced, the confusion of the instrument is such that it is wholly incapable to accomplish the first.

Then said my guide: It is well. Learn this also, a great Mystery and wonderful, that all conflict between the parts of the Universe springs from this error, and none other. For in our infinite Space (which is nothing but our boundless range of possibilities) there is no need that any one should push his fellow aside. As there is room in Heaven for every Star to pass upon its Way unchallenged, so also with those Stars of Earth, which go masked as men and women.

Know therefore that this Law of Thelema
"Do what thow wilt"

is the first Law ever given to man which is a true Law for all men in every place and time. All earlier Laws have been partial, according to the faith of the hearer, or the customs of a people, or the philosophy of their sages. Nor is there need, with this Law of Thelema, of threats or promises: for the Law fulfilleth itself, so that the one reward is Freedom for him who doeth his will, and the one punishment is Restriction for him that goeth astray.

Teach thou therefore this Law to all men: for in so far as they follow it, they cease to hinder thee by their false random motion; and thou dost well to thyself in doing well to them. And he most hindereth himself who hindereth others from their Path, or who constraineth them to some motion improper to their Nature.

Note also this that many men, feeling themselves the bitterness of Restriction, seek to relieve their own pain by imposing a like burden upon their fellows: as it were a cripple who should seek ease by mutilating the bearers of his carriage.

Also, to deny the Law of Thelema is a restriction in oneself, affirming conflict in the Universe as necessary. It is a blasphemy against the Self, assuming that its Will is not a necessary (and therefore a noble) part of the Whole. In a word he who accepts not the Law of Thelema is divided against himself: that is, he is insane, and the upshot shall be the ruin of the Unity of his Godhead.

Yet hearken again; the opposition of two movements is not always evidence of conflict or error. For two opposite points upon the rim of a wheel move one North, the other South; yet are they harmonious parts of the same system. And the rowlock which resisteth the oar hindereth not but aideth the True Will of that oar.

So then self-control is nowise the enemy of Freedom, but that which maketh it possible. And he who would deliver a muscle from its bondage to its bone by severing it rendereth that muscle impotent.

Moreover hear this word: as a muscle is vain, except it be rightly ordered, so also is thy work to be made easy by uniting thyself to the Work of the Master, even Therion, whose True Will it is to bring each Man's work to its perfection. To this end hath he proclaimed his Law; so also to that end, which is also thine, do thou add thy little strength to His great might. As it is written:

And blessing and worship to the Prophet of the lovely Star!

Thou, therefore—go on, go on in my strength, saith the Lord of the Aeon, and ye shall turn not back for any.

(Quote) Aleister Crowley - Wisdom While you Waite

I know of a man who took up the blackest magic from sheer hatred of God and Christ, a hatred Shelleyan and Thomsonian. What happened? He found by practice that to call forth an evil spirit you must identify yourself with the god that commands him. He then saw no use for the demon, and continued with the god. Reason next said: "If with the small god, why not with the great God of all?" And in the upshot he found himself practicing exactly the same method as Molinos, St Teresa, Buddha, Father Poulain, St Paul, Meredith Starr, A. E. Waite, Aleister Crowly, and the rest --- and getting the very same results.

(Quote) Aleister Crowley - The Pilgrim

At the end of the road
I have found an abode
    In the Tavern of Night;
And behold! it is one
With the House of the Sun
    And the Palace of Light!

(Quote) Aleister Crowley - The Temple of Solomon The King

The uninitiated would expect Life and Light in the One; only by experience can he know that to man the Godhead must be expressed by those things which most he fears.

(Quote) The Temple of Solomon the King - Aleister Crowley

The affectation of knowledge and the piling on of symbols is only legitimate to the ignorant when the purpose is to bewilder by a flashing image and not to instruct. In the present case the seeker after Truth is called the Child of Earth and Darkness, and instead of being shown the beautiful garment of light he will one day be called upon to wear, is at once rolled in a heap of tinselled draperies, in mummy wrappings, outgrown togas and the discarded underwear of Olympus and Sinai, the result being that unless his understanding is as clear as these rituals are obscure, all he obtains is a theatrical impression of "make-up" and "make- believe," and a general detachment from the realities of Consciousness. The words obsess him; he cannot see that Typhon is as necessary in the Egyptian Scheme as Osiris; in the Christian, that Satan is but the twin of Christ. They fetter the freedom which they are supposed to unbind, producing not only a duality but a multiplicity of illusions; so that, in the end, the chances are, instead of conversing face to face with Adonai, he becomes a prig addressing a mass meeting in the Albert Hall, rationalising about irrational qualities.

(Quote) The Temple of Solomon the King - Aleister Crowley

Thus it came about that the greater the Master the less was he able to explain himself, and the more obscure his explanations the darker became the minds of his followers.

(Article) The Chalice of Ecstasy - Frater Achad

A MAGICAL AND QABALISTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE DRAMA OF PARZIVAL

The collective tradition of mankind is endowed with a relative infallability, and when rightly interpreted, must represent the largest truth, the most perfect beauty and the purest goodness known on earth. This transcendental truth and goodness and beauty representts the divine substratum of human nature, the ideal humanity which lies above and behind the abberations of individuals, races and periods. It is not subjected as are the latter, to Time and Circumstance or to the limitations from which the appearance of error, evil and deformity seem to spring. The legend of Parzival is not subject to Time or Circumstance; it represents a glimpse of the Eternal Reality, the Everpresent Here and Now. The circumstances of its enactment and the place wherein the festival is beheld, need not be sought outside the Human Heart that has learned to beat in time and tune with the soul of the World. All who are born of "Heart's Affliction" must eventually find their way to that spot where they "Scarcely move, yet swiftly seem to run" and having become one with "The Way, The Truth and The Life" they will discover that the shifting scenes of the world they had thought to be so real, will pass by them as a pageant until the Vision of the Grail Itself is presented to their pure Understanding. It is in the hope of awakening some spark of the smouldering fire of this inner consciousness in the hearts of those who may read these lines - not having previously understood the Legend - and from that spark enkindling a great fire that will burn up the veils which hide man from Himself - from God - that I have dared to add these fragments to the great mass of Grail Literature already given to the world. And to those who are slumbering contentedly, wrapped round with the delusion and dreams of this illusory like, I cry with Gurnemanz: Hey! Ho! Wood-keepers twain! Sleep-keepers I deem ye! At least be moving with the morning! Hear ye the call? Now thank the Lord that ye are called in time to hear it.

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(Article) Drugs and the Deathbed, by AC 2012

"Various myths about Aleister Crowley appear from time to time, which we will take a moment to briefly address. In this post we will discuss two myths surrounding Crowley’s use of drugs and his death." - AC 2012

Let this then be of great comfort to you all, that if I be so imperfect–and for very shame I have not emphasized that imperfection–if I, the chosen one, still fail, then how easy for yourselves to surpass me! Or, should you only equal me, then even so how great attainment should be yours!

Be of good cheer, therefore, since both my failure and my success are arguments of courage for yourselves. - AC

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(Video) Sexual Alchemy and The Thoth Tarot - Lon Duquette

For nearly 40 years the Thoth Tarot has hidden the Secret of Sexual Alchemy.

The Thoth Tarot has
been one of the best selling and
most popular Tarot decks in the world.
Designed by Aleister Crowley, and
painted by Lady Frieda Harris, it is
considered by many to be the most
important magical object d'art of the
20th century - it is also one of the most
feared and misunderstood.

Join Crowley expert and Certified
Tarot Grand Master, Lon Milo DuQuette,
for an in-depth and entertaining look
at the magical mysteries and the
secrets of sexual alchemy hidden in
stunning imagery of the 78 cards of
the Thoth Tarot.

(Article) The Three Schools of Magick -- from Magick Without Tears by Aleister Crowley

The central idea of the White School is that, admitted that "everything is sorrow" for the profane, the Initiate has the means of transforming it to "Everything is joy." - A.C.

There have always been, at least in nucleus, three main Schools of Philosophical practice. ...
It is customary to describe these three Schools as Yellow, Black, and White. ...
These Schools represent three perfectly distinct and contrary theories of the Universe, and, therefore, practices of spiritual science.  The magical formula of each is as precise as a theorem of trigonometry.  Each assumes as fundamental a certain law of Nature, and the subject is complicated by the fact that each School, in a certain sense, admits the formulæ of the other two.  It merely regards them as in some way incomplete, secondary, or illusory.

Read: The Three Schools of Magick

PART I        PART II        PART III

(Article) Burn Like a Fire in Cairo - Thelema in the Light of Anthroposophy

Click here to read the full article. 

(Video Clip) Jim Eshelman on Thelema

Jim Eshelman discusses some of the basic concepts of Thelema.

(Video) Thelema: Public Movement, Private Paths - Edward Mason

Edward Mason, Warden of the Temple of Our Lady of the Stars, discusses Thelema in terms of being a personal path of spiritual evolution, and in terms of being a public social movement.