Tag: Thelema
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Aleister Crowley Books for Beginners
I was 17 when I bought my first Crowley book—Book 4. I had been browsing the occult and New Age sections of bookstores for more than a year looking for some book on Magick or witchcraft that seemed to be the “real deal.” Once I opened Book 4, I knew I had found it. I started…
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Aleister Crowley on the Aeon of the Horus as the Era of Childishness
Aleister Crowley taught that in 1904 the world entered the Aeon of Horus, also called the Aeon of the Child or the New Aeon. Most Thelemites, and even Crowley himself at times, view the current two-thousand year period as a time of liberation, freedom, and self-actualization—almost synonymous with the Age of Aquarius. But some of…
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What Is True Will in Aleister Crowley’s Thelema?
“Do what thou wilt” is Aleister Crowley’s most famous phrase, but also his most misunderstood. I meet people in the occult community all the time who think it means “do whatever you want” and envision Crowley’s philosophy as one of self-indulgence. Nothing could be further from the truth. True Will means finding your True Self, and doing…
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A Pagan Sun Salutation: Liber Resh
Aleister Crowley’s Liber Resh provides a complete formula for a four-times-daily salutation of the Sun: at dawn, noon, sunset, and midnight. Crowley said that regular performance of the ritual would make the aspirant identify him- or herself with the Sun rather than the earth, and thus become aware of oneself as an eternal being. The instructions below…
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Aleister Crowley on Seven Practices of Yoga
Aleister Crowley has two books that provide details on yoga, and specifically, breathing techniques. Eight Lectures on Yoga details the basics of Raja Yoga, and Magick: Liber ABA (Book IV) provides detailed instructions for different practices of yogic breathing and meditation. The exercises in this series are derived from Liber RV vel Spiritus, a guide for the Zelator in the magical…