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Thelema is a philosophy of life based on the rule or law, "Do what thou wilt." The ideal of "Do what thou wilt" and its association with the word Thelema goes back to François Rabelais, but was more fully developed[1] and proselytized[2] by Aleister Crowley,who founded a religion named Thelema based on this ideal. The word itself is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα: "will", from the verb θέλω: to will, wish, purpose. Early Christian writings use the word to refer to the will of God,[3] the human will,[4] and even the will of God's opponent, the Devil.[5]

In the 16th century, François Rabelais used Thélème, the French form of the word, as the name of a fictional Abbey in his famous books, Gargantua and Pantagruel.[6][7] The only rule of this Abbey was "fay çe que vouldras" ("Fais ce que tu veux," or, "Do what thou wilt"). This rule was revived and used in the real world in the mid 18th century by Sir Francis Dashwood, who inscribed it on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham,[8][9][10][11] where it served as the motto of The Hellfire Club.[8]

The same rule was used in 1904 by Aleister Crowley[11][12][13] in The Book of the Law. This book contains both the phrase "Do what thou wilt" and the word Thelema in Greek, which Crowley took for the name of the philosophical, mystical and religious system which he subsequently developed. This system includes ideas from occultism, Yoga, and both Eastern and Western mysticism (especially the Qabalah).[14]

Shri Gurudev Mahendranath, in speaking of svecchachara, the Sanskrit equivalent of the phrase "Do what thou wilt",[15][16][17] wrote that "Rabelais, Dashwood, and Crowley must share the honor of perpetuating what has been such a high ideal in most of Asia."[11]
Aleister Crowley's work
Aleister Crowley, scribe of Liber Legis
Aleister Crowley, scribe of Liber Legis

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) was an English occultist, writer, and social provocateur. Rabelais was one of Crowley's heroes[37] and his books Gargantua and Pantagruel may have provided Crowley with part of the philosophic basis for the Law of Thelema,[12][38][11][13][1] namely the phrase "Do what thou wilt".[39] In The Antecedents of Thelema, Crowley referred to Rabelais as "Our Master",[40] and Rabelais was also included among the Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica along with Virgil, Catullus and Swinburne.[41]

In 1904, Crowley claimed to have received Liber AL vel Legis, the Book of the Law from an entity named Aiwass, which was to serve as the foundation of the religious and philosophical system he called Thelema.[7][42] Crowley summed up his Law of Thelema[43] in these phrases from the Book:

* "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law"[44]
* "Love is the law, love under will"[45]
* "There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt"[46]
Magick

Main article: Magick

The magick of Thelema is a system of discipline for physical, mental, and spiritual training.[60] Crowley defined magick as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will".[61] He recommended magick as a means for discovering the True Will[62] and wrote about what the Law of Thelema says about, for example, working with the astral plane.[63] Crowley described the general process in Magick, Book 4:

One must find out for oneself, and make sure beyond doubt, 'who' one is, 'what' one is, 'why' one is...Being thus conscious of the proper course to pursue, the next thing is to understand the conditions necessary to following it out. After that, one must eliminate from oneself every element alien or hostile to success, and develop those parts of oneself which are specially needed to control the aforesaid conditions.[64]