The Thelema Club Manifesto

vel Malleus Populum

Family, Fraternity, Friends,

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

The Diagnosis

Thelema is a reactionary religion evidenced in the apocalyptic tone of its central text, The Book of the Law, which resembles select writing of preceding traditions but often employs a corrective tone when confronting central moral or ontological dogmas of the past. The Book of the Law was composed in 1904 amidst the fin de siècle, but for Crowley the ending cycle was not the turn of the century, it was the procession of the zodiac, and new forces were in charge for the next couple thousand years. The immutables for the present are Leo in the east and Aquarius in the West, at dawn at the Vernal Equinox for the next 2000 years. These are the Beast and Babalon, the initiated and the initiator, replacing Virgo (the ascetic) and Pisces (the fish, Christ) of the previous Aeon. The aggressive and reactionary tone in Liber Legis is not in dispute. What is in dispute is the object of the ire of the book that announces a new King of Kings, Horus, who wanted it to be “understood that [he] is a god of war and of vengeance.” Unfortunately, the messaging from Crowley coupled with the liberal interpretation of “Do what thou wilt” has allowed many contemporary Thelemites latitude in determining what it is about the “Old Aeon” that is to be opposed. Popularly this manifests as misandry such as contempt for patriarchy or any institution or person that teaches stricture, whether it be chastity or cleaning one’s bedroom. 

The political tumult that existed during Crowley’s adult life, that being the first half of the previous century, made it difficult for Crowley to determine what humanity would look like in this Aeon of the Child he initiated at the behest of the Secret Chiefs who dwell in eternity and attempt to herd mankind in a positive direction. A young liberal Crowley was more in step with contemporary views of Thelema. He pushed against Christianity and stodgy Victorian mores and endorsed a sort of personal cultivation through transgressive social and sexual behavior. But an older Crowley who confessed to profligacy and having been errant in his fidelity to “Thelemic morality” was concerned about “the smash” of socialism and the toppling of aristocracies around the globe by the profane. Crowley saw institutions such as OTO as a possible vehicle for social change by initiating persons of intelligence, influence and affluence into Thelema. His Daoist character Guo Li Ya swam to the shores of Japan from China and informed the Daimo that their “aristocracy is not an aristocracy because it is not an aristocracy,” aristo meaning “master” and implying that in order for an aristocracy to not be a tyranny that it must tap into the higher life. Crowley saw OTO as a sort of illuminati organization that would create a secret network of powerful persons who could guide mankind through the global chaos he saw escalating, and he reached out to upstarts of all political stripes in an attempt to rope them into his master plan, including his own countrymen who were championing liberal democracy and also proponents of fascism such as Mussolini and Hitler and of communism such as Stalin. But his efforts were in vain and by the end of his life he had alienated anyone that might have afforded him some political traction. 

Crowley’s political shift is one that many share today. He began as a liberal positivist, a progressive that believed shifting times promised a steady upward trajectory for humanity. Then he became a conservative, concerned about the possible fallout of ideologies wise in their own conceit. He ended up a sort of pessimist, prophesying a centuries-long dark ages and saying that OTO may be the ark that preserves the continuity of gnosis for future generations, a keeper of the Holy Ghost. This disaffection with liberal democratic globalist capitalism, communism and fascism alike puts Crowley’s politics more in step with a school contemporary with him, Traditionalism, whose most consequential proponent today, Alexander Dugin, seeks to pave the way for the “Fourth Political Theory,” one that he believes will manifest from peoples’ deference to their unique cultural and spiritual narratives rather than a mishmash of policies concocted by sheltered idealists. Crowley likewise understood how politics and religion are inseparable, and to derive one's values from politics is simply to adopt the fruits of the informing religion or ideology. Instead, one appeals ceremonially to a personal spirit guide that might afford some mystical achievement but would at least lead one to discovering their Will, their purpose among us. This is in contrast to the crowdsourcing of values or identity such as is common in our culture of vulgar scientism and conformity. For Crowley, personal values were a product of personal illumination to be earned by a humble yet frank aspirant able to put aside their sentimental affection for a sick world. His disenchantment with political apparati came from his humbling himself to this process, putting the ? before the !, and accepting that the world was changing so rapidly that pretensions to know what was going to come out the other side would make for a great miss.

Aleister Crowley absolutely should be considered alongside the traditionalist school in terms of his politics for his primary concern was to save the traditional hierarchy and therefore preserve peace by whatever means necessary. While Guenon and Evola certainly have much more in common with one another than with him, the fundamental concern is the same. The outright rejection of traditionalist thought by OTO and many contemporary Thelemites and occultists is not because they flirted with fascism, it is because they rejected the false song of liberal democracy on the grounds that it appealed to the indiscretion of the profane to determine the shape of a new world. This faith in the positivist religion of liberal democracy has dominated by default for the over half a century and the entirety of the west has been aggressively indoctrinated into its basic beliefs, such as the appeal to reason rather than instinct, the appeal to bureaucrats rather than aristocrats, and the humiliating dogma of equality and resent. These tenets are those of Christianity and the Old Aeon with the difference that the mystery is ignored, rejected, or believed to be something discernable by experts. This Christianity, neutered through the Enlightenment era bargain that war can be avoided if important questions are ignored, is the shadow of the god that Nietzsche reported murdered, is none of Thelema, and Thelema is in great jeopardy so long as its purported adherents mistake its abrogate antecedent for it. It is urgently necessary for Thelemites to take a step back and humble themselves to the fog of war of the dawn of the New Aeon and accept that in the midst of the apocalypse it is foolish to appeal to old sweetnesses for insight. 

The Situation

Many have hoped for some time that the tide might turn and the curators of Thelema and the legacy of Aleister Crowley, the OTO, might relent in their invigilation of secular mores within Our Holy Order, but years have passed, and things have only become more incendiary and intolerant. What was once a fairly liberal organization where Thelema was revered and earnestly examined has become yet another woke social club that enforces newspeak and gatekeeps against anyone that doesn’t obey the cultural trends broadcast by the Globalist American Empire and its vassal states, dwindling though they may be. This deference of the OTO to the stampede is a very sad turn for the New Aeon, as we read in Liber 33 that “all exterior societies subsist only by virtue of this interior one. As soon as external societies wish to transform a temple of wisdom into a political edifice, the interior society retires and leaves only the letter without the spirit.” We can only hope that there are torchbearers within the Order at the top, or in other castles, their light shining so bright that it is not perceived as light.

Despite this dimming of authority, the OTO still keeps some of the treasures that Aleister Crowley left behind. By my estimation, Aleister Crowley ran Orders that contain several dozen initiations within them, but perhaps only 10 of these were written by the prophet, and the majority of these are the grades of the Man of Earth series in OTO. Crowley was originally compelled by his Masonic brothers to cease in using the Blue Lodge degrees of Freemasonry to onboard people into higher grades of OTO, so he transformed the I-III of Masonry into the 0-IV1/2 of OTO, six grades, and he wanted them to be a sort of boot camp for the work of A∴A∴ that built up to the work of the Neophyte. He later stated that he would have rewritten them to be more promulgatory in nature, didactic ceremonies that teach the ethics espoused by The Book of the Law, but he did not, and they should still be viewed as having that original intention. So, OTO still offers initiation into the introductory degrees of Aleister Crowley. It’s hard to leave that on the table. 

Crowley wanted OTO to promulgate Thelema, but his tract on promulgation, Liber CCC, was more than an edict to spread leaflets, there is a magical instruction on how to extend Thelema into the world, and this instruction implies that being initiated closes the circuit. The preservation of these rites is crucial to preserving the religious integrity of Thelema, and this is accomplished by undergoing them, however annoying it may be to ingratiate oneself with OTO. The participation in the organization may be necessary to get the required blessing of its members to receive initiation, but beyond that OTO is unlikely to slough off the ideological infestation and achieve relevance. 

It is practically unnecessary for a Thelemite or OTO member to operate under the direction of OTO middle management. However, for OTO initiates operating a “local body” the opinions and impromptu rules may come fast and hard. For the past two years most local bodies were not allowed to operate at all due to the positivist fetish for safety and deferring to experts and bureaucrats. There was no debate, no update, no reasoning about the Covid Policy, there was just an expectation to conform or else, USGL going so far as to push or require dubious experimental therapies masked as vaccination in order to participate or be initiated, things that they’d only recently considered to be inalienable rights. The echo chamber of USGL exists on all levels, dissent is rewarded with slander and cessation of promotion into higher grades, and there is absolutely no telling what wild thing the western regime concocts next that they will enforce. However, they did not stoop to policing individual behavior, and for the past two years Thelema Club was able to operate unobstructed while OTO hid behind a mask. This is only one example of the lack of vision exhibited by the current OTO brain trust, and the fallout of this is beginning to become obvious. But allowing small committees staffed by failed or untested leaders to determine what you can and can’t do or say is no way to break through. The earnest promulgator is much better off operating under their own header or within their own organization, and initiations or celebrations of the Gnostic Mass are something that could be conducted by chartered or ordained people rather than having to coordinate everything through bureaucrats with veto power.

A Solution and a vision towards the future

Thelema Club is barely an organizational model. It is more a statement of intent to promulgate Thelema, earnestly, each in their own way, and to break bread with other Thelemites to affirm the bond that exists between us though we may not be aware of it. It is also a call to run parallel with OTO and not be antagonistic towards it. This model of organizing, where individuals divest from the membership but take advantage of the magick, may eventually turn OTO into less of a social club and more of a resource where people can access the initiations of Aleister Crowley. It may be time for OTO to move beyond the brick and mortar and more into the secret chambers of our houses, not only to diffuse the ideological intrusion that is inescapable with central planners on a power trip, but this movement to house churches may also be necessary just as it was 2000 years ago, to protect our mysteries from the indiscretions of the profane and the violence of the New Aeon we can expect to continue. 

Love is the law, love under will.