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Concept
Thelema
Summary
Thelema (θəˈliːmə) is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun (θelima), "will", from the verb (): "to will, wish, want or purpose."
Crowley wrote that, in 1904, he had received a text or scripture called The Book of the Law, dictated to him by a potentially non-corporeal entity named Aiwass. This text was to serve as the foundation of the religious and philosophical system he called Thelema. Adherents to Thelema are called Thelemites, and phenomena within the scope of Thelema are termed Thelemic.
Crowley identified himself as the prophet of a new era in humanity's spiritual development, a novel age he termed the Æon of Horus. According to Crowley, the facticity of his prophethood was mainly predicated upon his reception of The Book of the Law from Aiwass, an experience that formed the crux of a broader spiritual ordeal that he and his wife, Rose Edith, underwent in Cairo, Egypt in March of 1904. By Crowley's account, Aiwass contacted him through Rose and subsequently dictated The Book of the Law or Liber AL vel Legis, which outlined the principles of Thelema, to him.
The Thelemic pantheon—a collection of gods and goddesses who either literally exist or serve as symbolic archetypes or metaphors—includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three narrators or "speakers" of The Book of the Law: Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. In at least one instance, Crowley described these deities as a "literary convenience". Crowley's later writings included related commentary and hermeneutics on Thelema and Thelemic topics, but also additional "inspired" writings that he collectively termed The Holy Books of Thelema. He associated Thelemic spiritual practice with concepts rooted in occultism, yoga, and Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah.
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