Catechism of Eden An Excerpt of a Tale
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Special Dispatches are one-off releases, without a set schedule, on topics based on observation of something in the community or just personal reflection. They may be polemical or apologetic, or they just may be a...
Integral Thelema
Integral Thelema is a regularly released newsletter promoting the growth, education, and application of integral Thelemic philosophy and theology with a focus on application to real-world concerns in pursuit of wholeness in all four primary experiential domains, and to the complex issues in the world, through a framework of applied Thelema in 360°of life.
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Reconsidering the Sphinx A Different View of the Four Verbs of the Mage
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Several years ago, I wrote a series of letters to a Brother on the rays of the Law—light,...
Seven Qualities of Culture He remains an Englishman
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Once upon a time, I had a course in which we were asked to define culture in a way that was both academically accurate and yet uniquely personal. After much study of the resources, I decided mine would read as such:...
A New Aeon Ecclesiastic Rebuilding Trust in Leadership
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I want to make a couple of sweeping statements. They aren’t precisely correct, but they are correct enough to get us headed in the right direction. However, I want to lay down a foundation for what the continuity and...
The Virtues of the Stars Building a Monastic Code
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. There was a time when I began examining several fairly intense principles in search of an ascetic approach to Thelema. That ultimately softened and turned toward a more cenobitic-inclined study in the pursuit of a ‘what...
Alethiology, Part 2 Utilizing a Thelemic Therapeutic Orientation
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. In Alethiology, Part 1, I laid the foundation for what I believe is the beginning framework for a potential theoretical orientation in mental health grounded in the Law of Thelema. Along with the underlying Thelemic...
The Cracked Mirror A Thelemic Reckoning with the Therapeutic Age
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The clinic has become a stage. Not the one with velvet curtains and orchestral swells—but the low-lit kind, where scripts are repetitive, feelings are monetized, and performance is mistaken for transformation. Trauma...
Swift as a trodden serpent In Response to Fascism
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I’ve written about my thoughts on fascism and Thelema in the past. It should be no shock to anyone that I fall squarely against any form of authoritarianism in our communities at all. A New Manifesto No one is neutral...
Love in the Time of Will Spiritual Development, Discipleship, and the Future of Thelema
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I’ve spent enough time being on the offensive against what I consider to be the termites in the framework of modern Thelema. It’s time to shift gears and begin to lay down a mature vision of Thelema that is both...
Realigning the Aeons, Part I An Integral Approach to Aeonic Theory
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The aeons are something many Thelemites take for granted without realizing just how unstable the foundation of our doctrine of the aeons really is throughout Crowley’s writings. He mentions them now and again, makes a...
Ethics
Raise herself in pride! Thoughts on the Scarlet Woman
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The subject of the Scarlet Woman comes up enough to warrant its own discussion to get at the heart of the matter from a theological perspective. Much rubbish has...
Politics
Pit Called Because An Introduction to Wicked Problems
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Let’s get something out of the way first: I have no idea what I’m talking about here. Well, that’s only partially true. I have some idea. But this isn’t my area of expertise. However, I have enough understanding (as a...
Eyes Wide Shut Personal Lesson in Ideological Bubbles
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I grew up in a sheltered childhood. I was raised within a Southern Baptist evangelical environment, but it was a paradoxical mix of standard 1970s end-of-the-world messaging and 1980s Satanic Panic paranoia with a load...
Of Dog Catchers, School Boards, and Presidents Voting Thelema into Office
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Grab a seat. Trust me. I fully admit my ADHD may have hit a ceiling with this one. I am really all over the place. And, for once, I’m not going to apologize for the semi-brain-dump feel of this offering. We’re just...
Will of the Commons Thelema and the Tragedy of the Commons
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. In 1968, the xenophobic, eugenics proponent Garrett Hardin wrote his now-famous article in Science...
Thelema and Fascism An Open Letter to Those Who Fail to See
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. You ask if the Law of Thelema is opposed to fascism and I must immediately say yes. We live in a time when fascism raises its ugly head and, even now as all eyes turn toward the...
Psychology
A Way of Spiritual Formation Maturity in the Aeon of the Child
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. If there is one thing that continues to plague my thinking about modern Thelema, it is something a mentor of mine once said—and I’m paraphrasing here—that just because Crowley was a magician doesn’t mean that everyone...
Alethiology, Part 1 Toward a Thelemic Therapeutic Orientation
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Personal Introduction If I said that psychology is a hobby of mine, that’s probably a bit dishonest. To provide a little context, as a research psychologist my focus started out in the study of the empirical divide...
Thelemic Cartography A New Approach to Personal Discovery
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. For decades, the assumption in Thelemic communities has been that everything can be mapped to the Tree of Life. And that may be true. Frankly, Miss. Scarlet W., I don’t give a damn. I think the Tree of Life is the most...
5 Habits for the New Year New Year’s Clickbait. Duh!
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. It’s the new year! Welcome to 2025! I feel like it’s going to be a wild year no matter how it all shakes out. A lot of change happening around here. A lot is staying the same too. We’re two months in on the new puppy,...
True Will Some Ill-Advised Thoughts on the Matter
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The concept of the so-called True Will can be a tricky little beast. It’s thrown around by...
Theology
Thelemic Exegesis A Critical Evaluation of the Study of Thelemic Scripture, Part II
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Exegesis in Thelema is not a passive act of textual analysis or mere number crunching but a transformative engagement with its sacred writings. Interpretation, in this sense, is not about imposing external authority...
Thelemic Hermeneutics A Critical Evaluation of the Study of Thelemic Scripture, Part I
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Hermeneutics broadly refers to the study of interpretation, especially of texts, language, and meaning. It is relevant in multiple domains—including philosophy, law, and literary criticism—but is most notably linked to...
Thelema: A Religion? Who’s Still Afraid of Crowley's Big Bad Wolf?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Religion, as such, has become one of the largest boogiemen of Thelema since Crowley proclaimed calling Thelema a religion “a rather stupid kind of mischief.”Crowley, Aleister. 1994. “Religion–Is Thelema a ‘New...
Doctrinal Triage The Importance of Doctrine in a Time of Spiritual Infancy
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Frankly, if I’m going to start out blunt here, I’m going to say it bluntly: Thelemites have...
The Desert Refuge Revisiting a Lockdown Meditation
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. During the COVID lockdown years, I spent some time...
Cutting Through The Bullshit A Jungle Polemic
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.Crowley, Aleister. 1989. The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An...
Special Dispatch
Reading Plans for 2025 Diving Deeper into the Spiritual Mind
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. After mentioning my choice to start reading through the Orthodox Daily Office again this year, and having a private query over it, it hadn’t really dawned on me that it might be of interest to others to find various...
Learning and Unlearning A Personal Introspective Manifesto
Originally written in 2001. Updated in 2007. Minor textual corrections and footnote commentary in 2024.Now seemed like a good time to bring this back out. Maybe I needed a reminder.Thelema is more than just empowerment. It’s embodiment. It is the embodiment of...
Pedagogical Perspectives On Thelemic Teachers
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I commented recently that I grew up in a highly conservative Baptist church that was a bit different than most. Unlike in the majority of typical Southern Baptist-affiliated churches of the times, our preacher was...
Eyes Wide Shut Personal Lesson in Ideological Bubbles
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I grew up in a sheltered childhood. I was raised within a Southern Baptist evangelical environment, but it was a paradoxical mix of standard 1970s end-of-the-world messaging and 1980s Satanic Panic paranoia with a load...