The Abbey of Thelema was a temple founded by Aleister Crowley in a rented villa at Cefalu, Sicily in 1920. The name for this magical temple was taken from a fictional abbey in Rabelais's satire Gargantua, where all worldly pleasures were freely indulged. As in that story, Crowley painted the words, "Do What Thou Will" over the door. (These words were also engraved over the doors of Medmenham Abbey, the meeting place of Sir Francis Dashwood's notorious Hellfire Club in the eighteenth century, so Crowley may have gotten the idea ...

Read more here: » Abbey of Thelema: Encyclopedia - Abbey of Thelema

Aleister Crowley

(1875–1947) An English magician and Occultist. Crowley was known for sex magic, homosexual rituals, and a fascination with drugs, blood and torture. Headed the British branch of Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), founded the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu in Sicily. Author of Diary of a Drug Fiend and Magick in Theory and Practice

(See also: Aleister Crowley, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

SATAN

In the old Abbey of Thelesme (a word of uncertain origin), the motto was "An (if) thou dost no harm, do what thou wilt." Crowley changed the word slightly, giving it the frankly Greek spelling and meaning, Thelema - the "will". And he pushed the motto a step further: "Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the Law."  Then along came the revisionists and xtian-inspired followers who changed that to "Will, under Love," or some such nonsense, thus watering it down and vitiating its liberating inspiration.

Neo-Satanists, in keeping with the underground rebellion against the over-controlled, over-structured society of the 90's are restoring the concept of "Do what thou wilt" to its properly Satanic brood of warriors.

(See also: SATAN, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Thelema is the English transliteration of the Ancient Greek noun θέλημα will, from the verb ἐθέλω to will, wish, purpose. Thelema - Aleister Crowley's Thelema. Thelema is the name of a philosophical/religious system established in 1904 through Aleister Crowley and his wife, Rose Edith Kelly, with the writing of Liber AL vel Legis, or The Book of the Law. Crowley claimed to have taken this short work of about 5,000 words, comparable in length to the Tao Te Ching, as direct au ...

Including:

• Thelema - Aleister Crowley's Thelema
• Thelema - Doctrines of Thelema
• Thelema - Antecedents of Thelema
• Thelema - Critical Study and Diverse Practice
• Thelema - Thelema and other systems of thought
• Thelema - Thelemic organizations

Read more here: » Thelema: Encyclopedia - Thelema

Aleister Crowley wrote The Gnostic Mass—technically called Liber XV or "Book 15"—in 1913 while travelling in Moscow. In many ways it is similar in structure to the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the comparison ends there, as the Gnostic Mass is a celebration of the principles of Thelema. The ceremony calls for five officers: a priest, a priestess, a deacon, and two acolytes, called “children”. The end of the ritual culminates in the consumation of the eucharist, which is a glass of wine and the host, called a Cake of Light, after which the congregant proclaims � ...

Including:

• Gnostic Mass - The Temple
• Gnostic Mass - Structure
• Gnostic Mass - The Ceremony of the Introit
• Gnostic Mass - The Ceremony of the Rending of the Veil
• Gnostic Mass - The Collects
• Gnostic Mass - The Consecration of the Elements
• Gnostic Mass - The Anthem
• Gnostic Mass - The Mystic Marriage and Consummation of the Elements
• Gnostic Mass - The narrative of the Gnostic Mass
• Gnostic Mass - Links of Interest

Read more here: » Gnostic Mass: Encyclopedia - Gnostic Mass

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (12 October 1875 - 1 December 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug user (especially heroin). Aleister Crowley - Biography. Edward Alexander Crowley was born in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, between 11:00pm and 12 midnight on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, once maintained a lucrative family brewery business and was retired at the time of Aleister's birth. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, drew ...

Including:

• Aleister Crowley - Biography
• Aleister Crowley - Chess
• Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering
• Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality
• Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration
• Aleister Crowley - Thelema
• Aleister Crowley - Writings
• Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours
• Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia - Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley exerted a significant influence in modern pop culture and therefore is referenced, reinterpreted, and even parodied numerous times in various pop culture mediums. Some appearances are "important," i.e., meaningful and widely promulgated. Others are simple homages or only locally known. Crowley indeed remains a popular icon of libertines and those interested in the theory and practice of magic. Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In music. A number of rock musicians have been fascinated by the pe ...

Including:

• Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In music
• Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In print
• Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In video games
• Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In role-playing games

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley in popular culture: Encyclopedia - Aleister Crowley in popular culture

The religious or mystical system which Crowley founded, into which most of his nonfiction writings fall, he named Thelema. Thelema combines a radical form of philosophical libertarianism, akin in some ways to Nietzsche, with a mystical initiatory system derived in part from the Golden Dawn. Chief among the precepts of Thelema is the sovereignty of the individual will: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Crowley's idea of will, however, is not simply the individual's desires or wishes, but also incorporates ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Thelema

The religious or mystical system which Crowley founded, into which most of his writings fall, he named Thelema. Thelema combines a radical form of philosophical libertarianism, akin in some ways to Nietzsche, with a mystical initiatory system derived in part from the Golden Dawn. Chief among the precepts of Thelema is the sovereignty of the individual will: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Crowley's idea of will, however, is not simply the individual's desires or wishes, but also incorporates a sense of ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Thelema

Thelema is the name of a philosophical/religious system established in 1904 through Aleister Crowley and his wife, Rose Edith Kelly, with the writing of Liber AL vel Legis, or The Book of the Law. Crowley claimed to have taken this short work of about 5,000 words, comparable in length to the Tao Te Ching, as direct auditory dictation from a praeterhuman intelligence called Aiwass or Aiwaz in Cairo, Egypt on April 8, 9th, and 10th, 1904. Crowley himself did not fully accept the role set forth for him in the Book for many years. The word Thelemite appears in Aleister Crowley's writings, and ...

See also:

Thelema, Thelema - Aleister Crowley's Thelema, Thelema - Doctrines of Thelema, Thelema - Antecedents of Thelema, Thelema - Critical Study and Diverse Practice, Thelema - Thelema and other systems of thought, Thelema - Thelemic organizations

Read more here: » Thelema: Encyclopedia II - Thelema - Aleister Crowley's Thelema

Crowley said that the Abramelin procedure was not the only way to achieve success in this endeavour: It is impossible to lay down precise rules by which a man may attain to the knowledge and conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel; for that is the particular secret of each one of us; as secret not to be told or even divined by any other, whatever his grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof each man is his own High Priest, and none knoweth the Name of his brother's God, or ...

See also:

Holy Guardian Angel, Holy Guardian Angel - Methods of Achieving K&C, Holy Guardian Angel - Variations in Crowley's view of the HGA, Holy Guardian Angel - Carroll & the HGA

Read more here: » Holy Guardian Angel: Encyclopedia II - Holy Guardian Angel - Methods of Achieving K&C

Crowley claimed to use a scientific method to study what people at the time called "spiritual" experiences, making "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion" the catchphrase of his magazine The Equinox. By this he meant that mystical experiences should not be taken at face value, but critiqued and experimented with in order to arrive at their underlying religious meaning. In this he may be considered to foreshadow Dr. Timothy Leary, who at one point sought to apply the same method to psychedelic drug experiences. Yet like Leary's, Crowley's method has received little "scie ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality

Crowley claimed to use a scientific method to study what people at the time called "spiritual" experiences, making "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion" the catchphrase of his magazine The Equinox. By this he meant that mystical experiences should not be taken at face value, but critiqued and experimented with in order to arrive at their underlying religious meaning. In this he may be considered to foreshadow Dr. Timothy Leary, who at one point sought to apply the same method to psychedelic drug experiences. Yet like Leary's, Crowley's method has received little "sc ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science, magic, and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Science, magic, and sexuality

Edward Alexander Crowley was born in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, between 11:00pm and 12 midnight on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, once maintained a lucrative family brewery business and was retired at the time of Aleister's birth. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, drew roots from a Devon and Somerset family. Aleister grew up in a staunch Plymouth Brethren household. His father, after retiring from his daily duties as a brewer, took up the practice of preaching at a fanatical pace. Daily Bible stud ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Biography

Crowley learned to play chess at the age of six and first competed on the Eastbourne College chess team (where he was taking classes in 1892). He showed immediate competence, beating the adult champion in town and even editing a chess column for the local newspaper, the Eastbourne Gazette (Sutin, p.33), which he often used to criticize the Eastbourne team. He later joined the university chess club at Cambridge, where he beat the president in his freshman year and practiced two hours a day towards becoming a champion — "My one serious worldly ambition had been to become the champion of ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Chess

In the summer of 1902, Oscar Eckenstein and Crowley undertook the first attempt to scale Chogo Ri (known in the west as K2), located in Pakistan. The Eckenstein-Crowley Expedition consisted of Eckenstein, Crowley, Guy Knowles, H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. During this trip he won a world record for his hardships on the Baltoro Glacier, sixty-eight straight days of glacial life. In May 1905, he was approached by Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod (1868 - 1925) to accompany him on the first expedition to Kanchenjunga, th ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering

Within the subject of occultism Crowley wrote widely, penning commentaries on the Tarot (The Book of Thoth), yoga (Book Four), the Kabbalah (Sepher Sephiroth), astrology (The General Principles of Astrology), and numerous other subjects. He also wrote a Thelemic "translation" of the Tao Te Ching, based on earlier English translations since he knew little or no Chinese. Like the Golden Dawn mystics before him, Crowley evidently sought to comprehend the entire human religious and mystical experience in a sing ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley - Biography, Aleister Crowley - Chess, Aleister Crowley - Mountaineering, Aleister Crowley - Science magic and sexuality, Aleister Crowley - Women as inspiration, Aleister Crowley - Thelema, Aleister Crowley - Writings, Aleister Crowley - Miscellany and Rumours, Aleister Crowley - Crowley in popular culture

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley - Writings

A number of rock musicians have been fascinated by the persona and ideas of Aleister Crowley, and several have made reference to him or his work in their own. Popular music groups who have made passing references to Crowley include: The Beatles, who placed him among dozens of other influential figures on the cover of their concept album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Graham Bond, keyboard player and leader of the Graham Bond Organisation recorded Holy Magick, a "Thelemic Mass" draw ...

See also:

Aleister Crowley in popular culture, Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In music, Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In print, Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In video games, Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In role-playing games

Read more here: » Aleister Crowley in popular culture: Encyclopedia II - Aleister Crowley in popular culture - In music

The People enter into the ritual space, where the Deacon stands at the Altar of Incense (symbolic of Tiphareth on the Tree of Life). She takes the Book of the Law and places it on the super-alter within the great Veil, and proclaims the Law of Thelema in the name of IAO. Returning, she leads the People in the Gnostic Creed, which announces a belief (or value) in the Lord, the Sun, Chaos, Air, Babalon, Baphomet, the Gnostic Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the Miracle of the Mass (i.e. the Eucharist), as well as confessions of their birth as ...

See also:

Gnostic Mass, Gnostic Mass - The Temple, Gnostic Mass - Structure, Gnostic Mass - The Ceremony of the Introit, Gnostic Mass - The Ceremony of the Rending of the Veil, Gnostic Mass - The Collects, Gnostic Mass - The Consecration of the Elements, Gnostic Mass - The Anthem, Gnostic Mass - The Mystic Marriage and Consummation of the Elements, Gnostic Mass - The narrative of the Gnostic Mass, Gnostic Mass - Links of Interest

Read more here: » Gnostic Mass: Encyclopedia II - Gnostic Mass - The narrative of the Gnostic Mass

Crowley only espouses a view that the HGA is the 'silent self' in his early life. In his seventies, when composing Magick without Tears, he presents a completely different and diametrically opposed view. According to this definition, the HGA is not one's 'self', but an independent and discrete being, who may have been a human like oneself at one stage: "Now, on the other hand, there is an entirely different type of angel; and here we must be especially careful to remember that we include gods and devils, for there are such beings who ...

See also:

Holy Guardian Angel, Holy Guardian Angel - Methods of Achieving K&C, Holy Guardian Angel - Variations in Crowley's view of the HGA, Holy Guardian Angel - Carroll & the HGA

Read more here: » Holy Guardian Angel: Encyclopedia II - Holy Guardian Angel - Variations in Crowley's view of the HGA