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THELEMA AND SOCIETY



Issued by the

Thelemic Order and Temple

of the Golden Dawn

(Novus Ordo Aureae Aurora)



By James Newman

Copyright © 1991 e.v.



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



As part of the initiatory Oaths of the Thelemic Order of the

Golden Dawn we have dedicated ourselves to the building of a New

Society. The failure of the entire spectrum of Old Aeon world

views is a real and observable phenomenon in each day's news. As

the environment crumbles around us our politicians stand up with

asinine views on sexuality, drug use, freedom of expression,

crime and punishment, education and a dozen other issues. This

failure can be addressed and remedied with practices and concepts

presented in The Book of the Law and other Thelemic documents.



Presenting a religious solution to a material problem is idiocy.

We need to keep our levels separated and respond physically to

the physical and magically to the magical. Ritual will prove as

ineffective as prayer when facing tough issues like world hunger,

drugs and AIDS. However, Thelema applied in the physical realm

can offer innumerable practical solutions.



To begin with we can address issues such as AIDS, drug use, and

education free from the moral baggage they carried in the Old

Aeon, and we can encourage our society to do the same. When

problems are addressed as what they are, and not as some form of

punishment or warning of a Divine Will, then a good step has been

made towards finding a solution -- be that solution increasing

research funding, educating ourselves and others or modifying our

behavior. If we cop out into a moral condemnation of

Homosexuality or the use of drugs, or pretend that this is

somehow the will of God speaking to draw us together then we are

still in the denial stage of problem solving. Solipsisms should

never be swallowed in the place of solutions.



Our individual empowerment as Thelemites is the greatest

component of our solution to the world's problems. By involving

ourselves constructively in the fulfillment of our own wills, we

reduce the amount of scattered and unfocused energy that is

helping to drag us down into chaos and useless conflict. This

empowerment comes through expansion and action. By educating

ourselves we cease to be slaves to system information as

represented by public education and the mass media. By acting and

challenging ourselves constantly we become powerful participants

in our society -- the secret few who rule the many and the known.

Through adventure, invention, and creative expression we feed the

current of liberation which is thriving naturally in this New

Aeon of Horus.



Magick must be more than ritual, it must be more than the careful

study of Tarot cards or The Book of the Law. The Magician is a

Master of Nature and must study Nature's laws through science as

well as the movements of the subtler forces of the Universe.

Excessive focus on the spiritual level of operation is one of the

flaws in Old Aeon thinking. The realization that Physics and

Psychology, properly applied, are as spiritual as the subtle arts

is a realization for our New Aeon.



Approaching the issue of Thelema within society from another

angle we come to the question of how a Thelemic individual should

appear and move in the world. The obvious answer to this is

"However he or she Wills," and this is the only answer

appropriate where our Wills speak on these matters. However, we

should remember that one of the classic powers of a Magician is

the ability to move at will in many different environments. If it

serves an artist's ultimate Will to appear as a businessman for

an important meeting with a financer or critic, then what is the

use of insisting on some infantile self expression at the expense

of self fulfillment? Not that conformity should be respected as

a value, but as Magicians we should be able to choose our manner

of appearance as it best suits our True Will in each situation.

We should be secure enough in our own foundations to be able to

enter the limited reality tunnels of others so as to bring their

energy to our own ends.



This same responsibility exists for the formal presentation of

Thelemic Orders. While shock value and freedom of expression are

both fun and rewarding paths to pursue, let's admit that the

Hells Angles have never received any significant degree of public

acceptance or influence. A basic rule in influencing people is

that you must first move towards them, before you can draw them

step by step, comfortably towards you. On gaining trust you can

begin to introduce new elements and patterns to their thinking.



These ideas should appear threatening, but push yourselves in

their application and remember that freedom is an internal as

well as an external state of being, and you shall be as one of

the members of a New Society whose Law is Liberty.



Love is the law, love under will.





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