NMR ISSUE 17

Astrological Forecast 17
Diving Beetle
Editorial 17
Epilogue
Hymn to the God
It's the End of the World as Your Know It
Lady of Light
Letters 17
Love and Magic
Lover, the Feeling and Love, the State of Being
New Age Scapegoat
Our Constitutional Rights and Education
Qabalistic Explanation of the Parts of the Soul
Seth, Witchcraft and a New Definition of Magick
The Oldest Magick
The Sacred Wheel
The Wiccan Christ
Understanding Your Dreams
What is Quabalah?

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The Birth and Education of a Magician

Part VI: Epilogue

Jill Duerr

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

At the beginning of the introduction to Magick in Theory and Practice, Aleister Crowley quotes J.G. Frazer's The Golden Bough at some length. These passages contain two points that are important in summing up a study of the AA system.

First, Frazer describes the magician's work: His power, great as he believes to be, is by no means arbitrary and unlimited. He can wield it only so long as he strictly conforms to the rules of his art, or to what may be called the laws of nature as conceived by him." The purpose of this last chapter is to look at the rules of his art," a few principles which inform the entire AA path. Some have already appeared in previous articles, but others have not.

The second passage from Frazer that Crowley chose has to do with the fundamental reason for pursuing this work at all: magick has contributed to emancipate mankind from the thralldom of tradition and to elevate them into a larger, freer life, with a broader outlook on the world. This is no small service rendered to humanity." Crowley's writings on the magickal path are insistent on this one point: the ultimate goal of service to one's fellow beings. I have made this point before, but I repeat it here as the first rule of the Art. We enter into magickal practice, and continue in it, for all sorts of reasons. Some of these fall away as we go on, and some grow and develop. But if there does not develop a sense of service to the enlightenment of others, then the upper grades of the AA remain closed. This isn't a matter of externally imposed morality. It grows from within the magician, from the heart of the Work. As the magician tears open the prison of ego, the desire to open the doors for the universe of other beings, of which one is a part, is obvious.

Thus Crowley begins Magick in Theory and Practice by stating: This book is for ALL: for every man, woman, and child." He goes on to state that he himself was drawn to magick out of a desire for an escape from reality," and that he may in his early work have drawn other such weaklings." But the stated goal of Magick in Theory and Practice is to help all kinds of people to fulfill themselves perfectly, each in his or her own proper function.

This brings up the second rule of the Art, the absolute importance of the magician's True Will. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law is the bottom line of Thelemic discipline. To see a conflict between Do what thou wilt and discipline is to misunderstand the Will in question. Do what thou wilt is not the same as, do whatever you want. The True Will is beyond a person's conscious desires (although these may provide clues to the Will and the magician does not ignore or suppress them). The Will is one with the magician's star in the universe and speaks from the realm of the Supernals, beyond ego. It is the way in which the individual is formed, what their true function or purpose is in this life. Knowing and doing one's True Will is the one necessary task that underlies the specifics of the AA system. Both the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and the crossing of the Abyss are founded on it. The definition of Magick itself, according to Crowley, depends on Will: Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. To get anywhere with ourselves, we simply must know Who we are.

Knowing and doing one's own True Will does not, however, make one a solitary force, unconnected to all other forces. The second half of the Thelemic greeting is, Love is the law, love under will. I have often thought that this sentence relates to the An it harm none in the Wiccan Rede, although not in the simple sense that the magician stands aside from their True Will if it causes another person pain. Crowley is uncompromising on this point: if the magician knows their Will, then nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of that.

However, there is a point on the path where it is no longer possible to harm another, because they cannot ultimately be harmed. They also are sovereign stars, and beyond our harm. This is very tricky. Obviously, it would be easy to use this as an excuse for ego to run wild over all comers. But that is not what Love is the law" is about. Love," in this context, is the basic, chemical process of dissolving duality. Crowley repeatedly urges students to the practice of joining opposites. This practice appears even at the very beginning of the Path, where the Student reads books from as many philosophical systems as possible. It becomes a more specific practice in the higher grades. Crowley tells the student that, immediately upon conceiving an idea, they should bring its exact opposite to mind. This confuses and breaks down the mind's categories, which create and reinforce duality below the Abyss.

The result of this sort of practice is what is meant by Love." The Great Work is the uniting of opposites" (Magick Without Tears). The opposites join, becoming not one, but none. They return to the infinite. It is a practical approach to the formula, 0=2. In the process, the very possibility of harm is eliminated.

Beyond these fundamental principles, there are practical points which grow out of these principles, and which appear repeatedly in Crowley's writing. The first of these is that each student works alone, knowing only the person who initiated them, and the person(s) they initiate. This is necessary because the student must tune all actions to their own True Will, and all work is oriented towards finding and clarifying that Will. No other can do that for one or with one. Crowley put it humorously in Magick Without Tears: Contact with other students only means you criticize their hats, and then their morals; and I am not going to encourage this. Your work is not anyone else's; and undirected chatter is the worst poisonous element in human society." This seems rather severe. I have done group work and known it to be effective. But Crowley is adamant on this point. Anyone who has done group work has experienced the pitfalls, where a group mind develops that may cause individuals to deny their own Will. That danger seems to be Crowley's greatest concern.

Another practical rule of the Art, which seems even more difficult, is the absolute prohibition against taking money for any work relating to the Order. This is from One Star In Sight": Members of the AF255D>AF255D> of whatever grade are not bound or expected or even encouraged to work on any stated lines, or with any special object, save as has been above set forth [i.e., the tasks of the grades]. There is however an absolute prohibition to accept money or other material reward, directly or indirectly, in respect of any service connected with the Order, for personal profit or advantage. The penalty is immediate expulsion; with no possibility of reinstatement on any terms what so ever. This is so strong a statement that one wonders if Crowley is pulling one's leg, which he was quite capable of doing. But it turns up elsewhere in his writing. For instance, in the chapter on Black Magic in Magick in Theory and Practice, he writes that there are things in themselves black. Such is the use of spiritual force to material ends. Christian Scientists, Mental Healers, Professional Diviners, Psychics and the like, are all ipso facto Black Magicians. They exchange gold for dross. They sell their higher powers for gross and temporary benefits."

There is discussion, I know, about whether one should charge for magick classes, and about the New Wage." But I think this prohibition goes deeper than it should." It touches the operation of magick itself, the laws of its nature. It is possible that it simply doesn't work to try to make one's living directly from one's magickal path. It blocks access to the very power which magick depends. Perhaps it is not possible to sell out" magickal work. The magick simply goes away when we try. I have seen this happen to individuals and groups I have known.

Yet there are healers and diviners and teachers who do much to benefit others. How are they to survive? Not everyone has two fortunes to squander, as Crowley is accused of doing. I think one key lies in the phrase, any service connected with the Order." In my own practice, I take this to mean that anything that comes directly out of my magickal Work (such as this series of articles) is excluded from the realm of personal survival (i.e., material gain). Thus the higher powers" don't get dispersed in exchange for dross." Yet I do massage and healing work (which is very much connected to my own Will, but not directly to my magickal path), and from that I certainly do try to make money. Perhaps this is fudging a bit; Crowley would seem to think so. I think that sticking to the dictates of one's own Will is the only real guide.

This leads me to the point on which I close this series; the reader will have to excuse a small exhortation. Please, avoid the cult of personality. There is an autobiography of Crowley (which Crowley himself called his Autohagiography) and endless biographies, discussions and character assassinations. It is always difficult, especially with a character as unique as Crowley, to separate the personality of the teacher from the teachings. But it has to happen. I have never known a spiritual teacher who did not have personal flaws, sometimes massive ones. Every student has to come to terms with this. Yet the things these people have taught me have made it possible for me to begin to see what I am made to do, and to do it. Nothing else really matters. Biography is ultimately meaningless. If the work of the AA path suits your Will, then may it serve you. If it does not, throw it aside without a second glance. But to waste time quibbling over Crowley's humanity, as if you will ever find someone who isn't human, is beside the point. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The Work is what matters, and if it serves your development, then so mote it be.

Love is the law, love under will.

1991, Jill Duerr