The Stagnancy Problem In Contemporary Thelema

Thelema, as a paradigm, has not evolved as much as it ought to. Thelema posits itself as the religion of the New Aeon, a path that in an almost apocalyptic blast of fire and fury blasts the Gods, magick, and Willpower into the future. Yet, Thelema feels stuck, and the vast majority of Thelemic instruction centers around the same topics. Thelemic conversation often circles back to The Star Ruby, Liber Resh, Enochian, and historic Thelemites. All of this is great, and this is not to undercut the value of such conversations and research, but this is not what Thelema actually is. This is not the core of Thelema, not the heart of the mysteries. The point of Thelema is not to do flashy rituals, or be the master of esoteric trivia, but to push the path forwards, and to accomplish The Great Work. This, ironically, lacks the fiery Will that Thelema is entirely based around.

The core of the stagnancy problem comes with the fact that most Thelemites base their entire practices and thoughts around the precedents set by Aleister Crowley. They do his rituals, they say his prayers, and they emulate him. They turn Crowley from a figure who discovered this aeon, and into a Mohammed-like figure, one who, when emulated correctly, when following the Thelemic sunnah, brings you blessings. This has never been what Thelema taught. In fact, Thelma’s core doctrine and principle of True Will rejects this outright—another person’s True Will cannot be your True Will, thus by doing Crowley’s Will, you are defying your own, committing the closest thing to a Thelemic sin possible.