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What about Thelema and the number 93?
Magick in Theory and Practice Discussion
We hosted some IRC discussions around Crowley's "Magick in Theory and Practice" (Part III of Liber ABA Book 4) a while back. Time pressures kept us from completing the series, but hopefully we can take up where we left off sometime in the future. In the meantime the logs from the discussions that did take place are below.
The next chapter we are planning to discuss is Chapter V - The Formula of IAO.
Here is a link to the complete work at Shawn Knight's site.
Logs so far:
I'd like to see people hosting other topical discussions on channel in service to our vastly diverse magical community. If you would like to host a discussion on an occult topic, feel free to contact Me (Serpente) or Abrasax with your ideas and scheduling.
#Thelema is a channel dedicated to practicing magicians and Thelemites. We acknowledge that these words mean different things to different people, and so you may find that people don't always agree on everything. Try to be considerate of the diversity of our community.
If you have been given OPS the commands available through the W placeholder bot it might make it more fun to be on. Here are the most useful ones.
/msg w showcommands : Shows you what you can do.
/msg w help <command> : Gives you help on a command.
/msg w access : See if you are being recognized by W with your current entry or not.
The first commands you will need to use are the NEWPASS command and the LOGIN command. The format of the NEWPASS command is
/msg w@channels2.undernet.org newpass #thelema <yourpassword>
Then the command to sign in is
/msg w@channels2.undernet.org login #thelema <yourpassword>
You should have to execute the newpass command only once in order to establish your password. Once you have done that you must use the login command any time you sign on to IRC and want W to recognize you. Use an alias for this it is much easier. In mIRC it is under the Tools/Aliases menu.
If your IRC program lets you you can place these in an perform on connect option. mIRC has this under File/Options/Perform. Check "On connect, perform these commands" and place you aliases in the box. Mine looks like this:
/logint
/join #Thelema
/ctcp #Thelema ping
where logint is the name of my alias with the login message to W. The other commands cause me to automatically join #thelema and ping the channel to test the lag. Lag is one of the things that makes IRC a unique way to communicate, the time it takes for your words to leave your enter key and be seen by the person you are talking to. You will be lagged to different people more or less depending on which servers they and you are on. This can have interesting time delay effects rangin from a second or 2 to sometimes running into several minutes during some of the more freakish lag fests. Obviously lag is something you want less of and it is sometimes nescessary to try different servers or get on the server the person you want to talk to is on.
The other main annoyance are the Netsplits which occur when servers, probably due to overload, shut down or break connection with the servers they are connected to. IRC is a web of servers passing messages back and forth and you may be one or more "jumps" away from anyone else. If a connection between you and someone else breaks, they disapear from the network (as far as you can tell) until the rupture is repaired or you hop onto a server that isnt split from them.
There are a few people who have higher access on #Thelema in order to perform certain administrative duties. In the event W has been sent away or has been reinitialized by the Undernet administration for maintenance you many need:
/msg w addchan #thelema
/msg w join #thelema
To clear the channel of modes the command is
/msg w clearmode #thelema
This command is to be used in the even someone has locked the channel up with various mode settings. This can happen by accident or if someone is being nasty and wants to lock out people from the channel.
To add a new user:
/msg w adduser #thelema <their nick>
To turn autoops on:
/msg w modinfo #thelema autoop <their nick> on
To kick somone:
/msg w kick #thelema <their nick>
To ban somone:
/msg w ban #thelema <their nick> <duration> <level> <reason>
Duration is the number of hours up to two weeks level is your access level and reason is your reason for banning them.
To unban somone:
/msg w unban #thelema <their nick or user@host address>
There is no better place than LAW and Nytebeasts Friends page! /join #thelema and ask for the current URL!
Robin
#Thelema is a channel dedicated to those interested in Magick and Mysticism, and the Occult in general to meet each other and share resources, files, and conversation.
An IRC channel called #Thelema has been around a pretty long time in one form or another. It was one of the first things I found on the Internet when I first discovered the shocks horrors and pleasures of the Internet Relay Chat networks: Up to and over 10,000 people on any one network participating in a self moderated 24 hour non-stop chat line. Thelema in living action... more or less. : )
Many of us moved the channel to the IRC Network called The Undernet to try to get away from the hassles of EFNet's even more chaotic nature. At least that was the theory... net splits are still a frequent problem, but at least we don't have to worry about takeovers.
#Thelema continues to exist on EFNet as well, and may even exist on other networks I haven't tried or other planets for that matter. Be sure to check it out if you are having trouble getting connected to an Undernet server which can be tricky during peak hours.
You will meet people from all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, Slovokia, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Brazil Germany, the UK, and the stupid US of course. A wide variety of paths and practices including Alchemy, Buddhism, computers, Magick, Macintosh, emacs,Witchcraft, Sex and everything in between are some of the topics we might talk about.
I hope you /join us.
One of the things people first notice when they come onto #Thelema is that people often greet each other by saying "93" and so one of the very first things people usually ask is what is "93?" That is unless they know what it means.
93 is the Gematria value of a few important Greek words, namely qelhma(Will) and Agaph (Love).
The foundation philosophy of Thelema most would agree, is rooted in the inspired writing know as "The Book of the Law." or "Liber AL vel Legis" to give its technical title. This book contains the statements: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." and "Love is the law, love under will." The receiver of the book, Aleister Crowley always used these two phrases as opening and closing statements in his letters and writings, and apparently used them as a greeting when meeting a person. In letters this was sometimes abbreviated as "93" and "93 93/93."
Here are the verses from Liber AL where these words show up:
The word of the Law is qelhma.
Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God. All these old letters of my Book are aright; but TZADDI is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.
In modern days it has become a kind of short hand to greet each other with '93' as way of expressing "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," since qelhma is the word of the Law.
"Love is the law, love under will." is likewise shortened sometimes to "93 93/93" to acknowledge the embedded 93s "Love", "Love" and "Will".
As far as I know Aleister never used the "93" shorthand, and always used the full statements. I suspect he would have our heads if he knew we were doing this, but there you have it. I'm curious where this idea of saying 93 came from, if anyone knows anything drop me a line!
Finally, these two writings by Aleister Crowley, Liber II The Message of the Master Therion, and Liber DCCCXXXVII The Law of Liberty. provide a fine introduction to the philosophy and concepts underlying these statements.
93 93/93!
Serpente
This Epistle first appeared in The
Equinox III(1) (Detroit: Universal, 1919).
The quotations are from Liber Legis--The Book of the Law.--H.B.
``Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.''
``There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt.''
``The word of the Law is qelhma.''
qelhma -- Thelema--means Will.
The Key to this Message is this word--Will. The first obvious meaning of this Law is confirmed by antithesis; ``The word of Sin is Restriction.''
Again: ``Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.''
Take this carefully; it seems to imply a theory that if every man and every woman did his and her will--the true will--there would be no clashing. ``Every man and every woman is a star,'' and each star moves in an appointed path without interference. There is plenty of room for all; it is only disorder that creates confusion.
From these considerations it should be clear that ``Do what thou wilt'' does not mean ``Do what you like.'' It is the apotheosis of Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond.
Do what thou wilt--then do nothing else. Let nothing deflect thee from that austere and holy task. Liberty is absolute to do thy will; but seek to do any other thing whatever, and instantly obstacles must arise. Every act that is not in definite course of that one orbit is erratic, an hindrance. Will must not be two, but one.
Note further that this will is not only to be pure, that is, single, as explained above, but also ``unassuaged of purpose.'' This strange phrase must give us pause. It may mean that any purpose in the will would damp it; clearly the ``lust of result'' is a thing from which it must be delivered.
But the phrase may also be interpreted as if it read ``with purpose unassuaged''--i.e., with tireless energy. The conception is, therefore, of an eternal motion, infinite and unalterable. It is Nirvana, only dynamic instead of static--and this comes to the same thing in the end.
The obvious practical task of the magician is then to discover what his will really is, so that he may do it in this manner, and he can best accomplish this by the practices of Liber Thisarb (see Equinox I(7), p. 105) or such others as may from one time to another be appointed.
Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace.
Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movement of Things, thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two different selves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be God's will, Thou art That.
There is but one other word to explain. Elsewhere it is written-- surely for our great comfort--``Love is the law, love under will.''
This is to be taken as meaning that while Will is the Law, the nature of that Will is Love. But this Love is as it were a by-product of that Will; it does not contradict or supersede that Will; and if apparent contradiction should arise in any crisis, it is the Will that will guide us aright. Lo, while in The Book of the Law is much of Love, there is no word of Sentimentality. Hate itself is almost like Love! ``As brothers fight ye!'' All the manly races of the world understand this. The Love of Liber Legis is always bold, virile, even orgiastic. There is delicacy, but it is the delicacy of strength. Mighty and terrible and glorious as it is, however, it is but the pennon upon the sacred lance of Will, the damascened inscription upon the swords of the Knight-monks of Thelema.
Love is the law, love under will.
That is a Magus 9=2 A.'.A.'.
This Epistle first appeared in The Equinox III(1) (Detroit: Universal, 1919), and is an expository commentary on Liber Legis--The Book of the Law, from which the quotations are taken.--H.B.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I AM OFTEN ASKED why I begin my letters in this way. No matter whether I am writing to my lady or to my butcher, always I begin with these eleven words. Why, how else should I begin? What other greeting could be so glad? Look, brother, we are free! Rejoice with me, sister, there is no law beyond Do what thou wilt!
I WRITE this for those who have not read our Sacred book, The Book of the Law, or for those who, reading it, have somehow failed to understand its perfection. For there are many matters in this Book, and the Glad Tidings are now here, now there, scattered throughout the Book as the Stars are scattered through the field of Night. Rejoice with me, all ye people! At the very head of the Book stands the great charter of our godhead: ``Every man and every woman is a star.'' We are all free, all independent, all shining gloriously, each one a radiant world. Is not that good tidings?
Then comes the first call of the Great Goddess Nuit, Lady of the Starry Heaven, who is also Matter in its deepest metaphysical sense, who is the infinite in whom all we live and move and have our being. Hear Her first summons to us men and women: ``Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love! I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.'' Later She explains the mystery of sorrow: ``For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union.''
``This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.''
It is shown later how this can be, how death itself is an ecstasy like love, but more intense, the reunion of the soul with its true self. And what are the conditions of this joy, and peace, and glory? Is ours the gloomy asceticism of the Christian, and the Buddhist, and the Hindu? Are we walking in eternal fear lest some ``sin'' should cut us off from ``grace''? By no means.
``Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will! But always unto me.''
This is the only point to bear in mind, that every act must be a ritual, an act of worship, a sacrament. Live as the kings and princes, crowned and uncrowned, of this world, have always lived, as masters always live; but let it not be self-indulgence; make your self-indulgence your religion.
When you drink and dance and take delight, you are not being ``immoral,'' you are not ``risking your immortal soul''; you are fulfilling the precepts of our holy religion--provided only that you remember to regard your actions in this light. Do not lower yourself and destroy and cheapen your pleasure by leaving out the supreme joy, the consciousness of the Peace that passeth understanding. Do not embrace mere Marian or Melusine; she is Nuit Herself, specially concentrated and incarnated in a human form to give you infinite love, to bid you taste even on earth the Elixir of Immortality. ``But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!''
Again She speaks: ``Love is the law, love under will.'' Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever toward it without allowing aught to stop you or turn you aside, even as a star sweeps upon its incalculable and infinite course of glory, and all is Love. The Law of your being becomes Light, Life, Love and Liberty. All is peace, all is harmony and beauty, all is joy.
For hear, how gracious is the Goddess; ``I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.''
Is this not better than the death-in-life of the slaves of the Slave-Gods, as they go oppressed by consciousness of ``sin,'' wearily seeking or simulating wearisome and tedious ``virtues''?
With such, we who have accepted the Law of Thelema have nothing to do. We have heard the Voice of the Star-Goddess: ``I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!'' And thus She ends:
``Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. To me! To me!'' And with these words ``The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.''
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER of our book is given the word of Hadit, who is the complement of Nuit. He is eternal energy, the Infinite Motion of Things, the central core of all being. The manifested Universe comes from the marriage of Nuit and Hadit; without this could no thing be. This eternal, this perpetual marriage-feast is then the nature of things themselves; and therefore everything that is, is a crystallization of divine ecstasy.
Hadit tells us of Himiself: ``I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.'' He is then your own inmost divine self; it is you, and not another, who are lost in the constant rapture of the embraces of Infinite Beauty. A little further on He speaks of us:
``We are not for the poor and the sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk.''
``Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us.''
``Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us.'' Later, concerning death, He says: ``Think not, o king, upon that lie: That Thou Must Die: verily thou shalt not die, but live. Now let it be understood: If the body of the King dissolve, he shall remain in pure ecstasy for ever.'' When you know that, what is left but delight? And how are we to live meanwhile?
``It is a lie, this folly against self.'' {...} ``Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.''
Again and again, in words like these, He sees the expansion and the development of the soul through joy.
Here is the Calendar of our Church: ``But ye, o my people, rise up & awake! Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty!'' Remember that all acts of love and pleasure are rituals, must be rituals. ``There are rituals of the elements and feasts of the times. A feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride! A feast for the three days of the writing of the Book of the Law. A feast for Tahuti and the child of the Prophet--secret, o Prophet! A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and a feast for the Equinox of the Gods. A feast for fire and a feast for water; a feast for life and a greater feast for death! A feast every day in your hearts in the joy of my rapture! A feast every night unto Nu, and the pleasure of uttermost delight! Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.'' It all depends on your own acceptance of this new law, and you are not asked to believe anything, to accept a string of foolish fables beneath the intellectual level of a Bushman and the moral level of a drug-fiend. All you have to do is to be yourself, to do your will, and to rejoice.
``Dost thou fail? Art thou sorry? Is fear in thine heart?'' He says again: ``Where I am, these are not.'' There is much more of the same kind; enough has been quoted already to make all clear. But there is a further injunction. ``Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein! But exceed! exceed! Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine--and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous!--death is the crown of all.''
Lift yourselves up, my brothers and sisters of the earth! Put beneath your feet all fears, all qualms, all hesitancies! Lift yourselves up! Come forth, free and joyous, by night and day, to do your will; for ``There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.'' Lift yourselves up! Walk forth with us in Light and Life and Love and Liberty, taking our pleasure as Kings and Queens in Heaven and on Earth.
The sun is arisen; the spectre of the ages has been put to flight. ``The word of Sin is Restriction,'' or as it has been otherwise said on this text: That is Sin, to hold thine holy spirit in!
Go on, go on in thy might; and let no man make thee afraid.
Love is the law, love under will.
qelhma