Thelema

New religious movement founded by Aleister Crowley

For the EP, see Thelema (EP). For the fictional abbey, see Thélème.

Aleister Crowley in 1912 Part of a series on

Thelema

Unicursal hexagram

The Rights of Man

Holy Books and Stele

* The Book of the Law
* The Holy Books of Thelema
* The Stele of Revealing

Key figures

* Ankh-af-na-Khonsu
* François Rabelais

* Aleister Crowley
* Victor Neuburg
* Charles Stansfeld Jones
* Jack Parsons
* Wilfred Talbot Smith
* Jane Wolfe
* Karl Germer
* Grady McMurtry
* Marcelo Ramos Motta
* Marjorie Cameron
* Sara Northrup
* Helen Parsons Smith
* Phyllis Seckler
* Christopher Hyatt
* Kenneth Grant
* James Lees
* Nema Andahadna
* James Wasserman
* Kenneth Anger

|  The Scarlet Women

* Rose Edith Crowley
* Mary d'Este Sturges
* Jeanne Robert Foster
* Roddie Minor
* Marie Rohling
* Leah Hirsig
* Leila Waddell

Core concepts

* One Star in Sight

* Great Work
* True Will

* The Abyss

* Magick
* Qabalah

* Holy Guardian Angel

* Thoth Tarot
* Yoga

* Gnostic Mass

* The Aeon

Methods

* Abrahadabra

* Night of Pan
* Liber Resh

* Crossing the Abyss

* Banishing
* Invocation

* Bornless Ritual

* Qaballa
* Sex magic

* Body of light

* Tree of life

Thelemic texts

* Aleister Crowley bibliography
* Kenneth Grant bibliography
* Marcelo Motta bibliography

Organizations

* A∴A∴

* O∴A∴A∴

* Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC)

* Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO)

* Society Ordo Templi Orientis (SOTO)

* Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn

* Typhonian Order (TOTO)

Deities

* Nuit
* Hadit
* Heru-ra-ha

* Aiwass
* Therion
* Babalon

* Baphomet
* Chaos
* Ma'at

Places

* Boleskine House

* Abbey of Thelema
* Agape Lodge

Related topics

* Abramelin oil
* Cake of Light
* Choronzon
* Eroto-comatose lucidity
* Goetia
* Magical formulae
* Number of the beast
* Obeah and wanga
* Qlippoth
* Table of magical correspondences

* The Beast and Whore of Babylon
* Worship of heavenly bodies

* v
* t
* e

Part of a series on

Magic

Background

* History of magic
* Magic and religion
* Psychological theories of magic

Forms

* Apotropaic magic
* Black magic
* Ceremonial magic
* Chaos magic
* Divination
* Evocation
* Goetia
* Gray magic
* Invocation
* Natural magic
* Necromancy
* Sex magic
* Shamanism
* Sigils
* Sympathetic magic
* Thaumaturgy
* Theurgy
* White magic
* Witchcraft

Religion

* Magic and religion
* Christian views on magic
* Folk religion
* Islam and magic
* Mysticism
* Shinto
* Thelema

Related topics

* Incantation
* Magical formula
* Magical organization
* Occult
* Western esotericism

* v
* t
* e

Thelema (/θəˈliːmə/) is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy[1] and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician.[2] Central to Thelema is the concept of discovering and following one's True Will, a unique purpose that transcends ordinary desires. Crowley's system begins with The Book of the Law, a text he maintained was dictated to him by a non-corporeal entity named Aiwass. This work outlines key principles, including the axiom "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," emphasizing personal freedom and the pursuit of one's true path, guided by love.

The Thelemic cosmology features deities inspired by ancient Egyptian religion. The highest deity is Nuit, the night sky symbolized as a naked woman covered in stars, representing the ultimate source of possibilities. Hadit, the infinitely small point, symbolizes manifestation and motion. Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a form of Horus, represents the Sun and active energies of Thelemic magick. Crowley believed that discovering and following one's True Will is the path to self-realization and personal fulfillment, often referred to as the Great Work.

Magick is a central practice in Thelema, involving various physical, mental, and spiritual exercises aimed at uncovering one's True Will and enacting change in alignment with it. Practices such as rituals, yoga, and meditation are used to explore consciousness and achieve self-mastery. The Gnostic Mass, a central ritual in Thelema, mirrors traditional religious services but conveys Thelemic principles. Thelemites also observe specific holy days, such as the Equinoxes and the Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law, commemorating the writing of Thelema's foundational text.

Post-Crowley figures like Jack Parsons, Kenneth Grant, James Lees, and Nema Andahadna have further developed Thelema, introducing new ideas, practices, and interpretations. Parsons conducted the Babalon Working to invoke the goddess Babalon, while Grant synthesized various traditions into his Typhonian Order. Lees discovered the English Qaballa, and Nema Andahadna developed Maat Magick to transform humanity. These contributions have diversified and deepened the exploration of personal will, spiritual growth, and ceremonial magic within Thelema.

## Historical precedents

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The word θέλημα (thelema) is rare in Classical Greek, where it "signifies the appetitive will: desire, sometimes even sexual",[3] but it is frequent in the Septuagint.[3] Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will,[4] and even the will of the Devil,[5] but it usually refers to the will of God.[6] In his 5th-century sermon, Catholic philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo gave a similar instruction:[7] "Love, and what thou wilt, do." (Dilige et quod vis fac).[8]

In the Renaissance, a character named "Thelemia" represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican friar and writer Francesco Colonna. The protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica (reason) and Thelemia (will or desire). When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic.[9] Colonna's work was a great influence on the Franciscan friar and writer François Rabelais, who in the 16th century used Thélème, the French form of the word, as the name of a fictional abbey in his novels, Gargantua and Pantagruel.[10][11] The only rule of this Abbey was "fay çe que vouldras" ("Fais ce que tu veux", or, "Do what thou wilt").

In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham,[12] where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club.[12] Rabelais's Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema (1878), and C. R. Ashbee in his utopian romance The Building of Thelema (1910).

### Definitions

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#### In Classical Greek

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In Classical Greek there are two words for will: thelema (θέλημα) and boule (βουλή).

* Boule means 'determination', 'purpose', 'intention', 'counsel', or 'project'
* Thelema means 'divine will', 'inclination', 'desire', or 'pleasure'[13]

'Thelema' is a rarely used word in Classical Greek. There are very few documents, the earliest being Antiphon the Sophist (5th century BCE). In antiquity it was beside the divine will which a man performs, just as much for the will of sexual desire. The intention of the individual was less understood as an overall, generalized, ontological place wherever it was arranged.[14]

The verb thelo appears very early (Homer, early Attic inscriptions) and has the meanings of "ready", "decide" and "desire" (Homer, 3, 272, also in the sexual sense).

"Aristotle says in the book On Plants that the goal of the human will is perception - unlike the plants that do not have 'epithymia' (translation of the author). "Thelema", says the Aristoteles, "has changed here, 'epithymia'", and 'thelema', and that 'thelema' is to be neutral, not somehow morally determined, the covetous driving force in man."[15]

#### In the Old Testament

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In the Septuagint the term is used for the will of God himself, the pious desire of the God-fearing, and the royal will of a secular ruler. It is thus used only for the representation of high ethical willingness in the faith, the exercise of authority by the authorities, or the non-human will, but not for more profane striving.[14] In the Septuagint, the terms boule and thelema appear, whereas in the Vulgate text, the terms are translated into the Latin voluntas ("will"). Thus, the different meaning of both concepts was lost.

#### In the New Testament

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In the original Greek version of the New Testament the word thelema is used 62 or 64[16] times, twice in the plural (thelemata). Here, God's will is always and exclusively designated by the word thelema (θέλημα, mostly in the singular), as the theologian Federico Tolli points out by means of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament of 1938 ("Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"). In the same way the term is used in Paul the Apostle and Ignatius of Antioch. For Tolli it follows that the genuine idea of Thelema does not contradict the teachings of Jesus.[14]

### François Rabelais and the Abbey of Thélème

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Main article: François Rabelais

François Rabelais

François Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532. There he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books. They tell the story of two giants—a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures—written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein.

Most critics today agree that Rabelais wrote from a Christian humanist perspective.[17] The Crowley biographer Lawrence Sutin notes this when contrasting the French author's beliefs with the Thelema of Aleister Crowley.[18] In the previously mentioned story of Thélème, which critics analyze as referring in part to the suffering of loyal Christian reformists or "evangelicals"[19] within the French Church,[20] the reference to the Greek word θέλημα "declares that the will of God rules in this abbey".[21] Sutin writes that Rabelais was no precursor of Thelema, with his beliefs containing elements of Stoicism and Christian kindness.[18]

In his first book (ch. 52–57), Rabelais writes of this Abbey of Thélème, built by the giant Gargantua. It is a classical utopia presented in order to critique and assess the state of the society of Rabelais's day, as opposed to a modern utopian text that seeks to create the scenario in practice.[22] It is a utopia where people's desires are more fulfilled.[23] Satirical, it also epitomises the ideals considered in Rabelais's fiction.[24] The inhabitants of the abbey were governed only by their own free will and pleasure, the only rule being "Do What Thou Wilt". Rabelais believed that men who are free, well born and bred have honour, which intrinsically leads to virtuous actions. When constrained, their noble natures turn instead to remove their servitude, because men desire what they are denied.[10]

Some modern Thelemites consider Crowley's work to build upon Rabelais's summary of the instinctively honourable nature of the Thelemite. Rabelais has been variously credited with the creation of the philosophy of Thelema, as one of the earliest people to refer to it.[25] The current National Grand Master General of the U.S. Ordo Templi Orientis Grand Lodge has opined that:

> Saint Rabelais never intended his satirical, fictional device to serve as a practical blueprint for a real human society ... Our Thelema is that of The Book of the Law and the writings of Aleister Crowley.[26]

Portrait of Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, by William Hogarth from the late 1750s

Aleister Crowley wrote in The Antecedents of Thelema (1926), an incomplete work not published in his day, that Rabelais not only set forth the law of Thelema in a way similar to how Crowley understood it, but predicted and described in code Crowley's life and the holy text that he received, The Book of the Law. Crowley said the work he had received was deeper, showing in more detail the technique people should practice, and revealing scientific mysteries. He said that Rabelais confines himself to portraying an ideal, rather than addressing questions of political economy and similar subjects, which must be solved in order to realize the Law.[27]

Rabelais is included among the Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.[28]

### Francis Dashwood and the Hellfire Club

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Sir Francis Dashwood adopted some of the ideas of Rabelais and invoked the same rule in French, when he founded a group called the Monks of Medmenham (better known as the Hellfire Club).[12] An abbey was established at Medmenham, in a property which incorporated the ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1201. The group was known as the Franciscans, not after Saint Francis of Assisi, but after its founder, Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer. John Wilkes, George Dodington and other politicians were members.[12] There is little direct evidence of what Dashwood's Hellfire Club practiced or believed.[29] The one direct testimonial comes from John Wilkes, a member who never got into the chapter-room of the inner circle.[29]

Sir Nathaniel Wraxall in his Historical Memoires (1815) accused the Monks of performing Satanic rituals, but these reports have been dismissed as hearsay.[29] Daniel Willens argued that the group likely practiced Freemasonry, but also suggests Dashwood may have held secret Roman Catholic sacraments. He asks if Wilkes would have recognized a genuine Catholic Mass, even if he saw it himself and even if the underground version followed its public model precisely.[30]

## Beliefs

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### The Book of the Law

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Main article: The Book of the Law

Aleister Crowley's rendition of the unicursal hexagram

Aleister Crowley's system of Thelema begins with The Book of the Law, which bears the official name Liber AL vel Legis. It was written in Cairo, Egypt, during his honeymoon with his new wife Rose Crowley (née Kelly). This small book contains three chapters, each of which he said he had written in exactly one hour, beginning at noon, on April 8, April 9, and April 10, 1904. Crowley wrote that he took dictation from an entity named Aiwass, whom he later identified as his own Holy Guardian Angel.[31] Crowley stated that "no forger could have prepared so complex a set of numerical and literal puzzles" and that study of the text would dispel all doubts about the method of how the book was obtained.[32]

Besides the reference to Rabelais, an analysis by Dave Evans shows similarities to The Beloved of Hathor and Shrine of the Golden Hawk,[33] a play by Florence Farr.[34] Evans says this may result from the fact that "both Farr and Crowley were thoroughly steeped in Golden Dawn imagery and teachings",[35] and that Crowley probably knew the ancient materials that inspired some of Farr's motifs.[36] Sutin also finds similarities between Thelema and the work of W. B. Yeats, attributing this to "shared insight" and perhaps to the older man's knowledge of Crowley.[37]

Crowley wrote several commentaries on The Book of the Law, the last of which he wrote in 1925. This brief statement called simply "The Comment" warns against discussing the book's contents, and states that all "questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings" and is signed Ankh-f-n-khonsu.[38]

### Axioms

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Three statements from The Book of the Law distill the practice and ethics of Thelema.[39] Of these statements, one in particular, known as the Law of Thelema, forms the central doctrine of Thelema as a system of thought. The primary statement, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", is supplemented by a second, follow-up statement: "Love is the law, love under will." These two statements are generally believed to be better understood by considering a third statement: "Every man and every woman is a star."[2]

These three statements have specific meanings:

* "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law":[40] Adherents of Thelema should seek out and follow their true path, known as their True Will.[41]
* "Every man and every woman is a star":[42] This refers to the body of light,[43] which Plato described as being composed of the same substance as the stars.[44] It implies that individuals doing their Wills are like stars in the universe—occupying a time and position in space, yet distinctly individual and having an independent nature largely without undue conflict with other stars.[45]
* "Love is the law, love under will":[46] The nature of the Law of Thelema is love, which Crowley wrote should be understood in the sense of the Greek word agape. Both agape and thelema sum to 93 in Hermetic Qabalah.[47] The phrase "love under will" is often abbreviated as "93/93",[48] suggesting that "love under will" represents unity.[45]

### Cosmology

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The Stèle of Revealing [front] depicting Nuit, Hadit as the winged globe, Ra-Hoor-Khuit seated on his throne, and the creator of the Stèle, the scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu

Thelema draws its principal gods and goddesses, three altogether as the speakers presented in Liber AL vel Legis, from Ancient Egyptian religion.

The highest deity in the theology of Thelema is the goddess Nuit (also spelled Nuith). She is the night sky arched over the Earth symbolized in the form of a naked woman, and is usually depicted as a naked woman who is covered with stars. She is conceived as the "Great Mother", the ultimate source of all things,[49] the collection of all possibilities,[50] "Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof",[51] and the circumference of an infinite circle or sphere. Nuit is derived from the Egyptian sky goddess Nut, and is referred to poetically as "Our Lady of the Stars",[52] and in The Book of the Law as "Queen of Space", and "Queen of Heaven".[53]

The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit, conceived as the infinitely small point, complement and consort of Nuit. Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time.[49] He is also described in Liber AL vel Legis as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star."[54]

Hadit has sometimes been said to represent a 'point-event,' and all individual point-events within the body of Nuit.[55] Hadit is said, in The Book of the Law, to be "perfect, being Not."[56] Additionally, it is written of Nuit in Liber AL that "men speak not of Thee [Nuit] as One but as None."[57]

The third deity in the cosmology of Thelema is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a manifestation of Horus. He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand. He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.[49]

Other deities within the cosmology of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates), god of silence and inner strength, the twin of Ra-Hoor-Khuit,[49] Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure, known as the Virgin Whore,[49] and Therion, the beast that Babalon rides, who represents the wild animal within man, a force of nature.[49]

### True Will

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Main article: True Will

According to Crowley, every individual has a True Will, to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego. The True Will is essentially one's "calling" or "purpose" in life. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law"[58] for Crowley refers not to hedonism, fulfilling everyday desires, but to acting in response to that calling. According to Lon Milo DuQuette, a Thelemite is anyone who bases their actions on striving to discover and accomplish their true will,[59] when a person does their True Will, it is like an orbit, their niche in the universal order, and the universe assists them:[60]

> But the Magician knows that the pure Will of every man and every woman is already in perfect harmony with the divine Will; in fact, they are one and the same.[60]

In order for the individual to be able to follow their True Will, the everyday self's socially-instilled inhibitions may have to be overcome via deconditioning.[61][62] Crowley believed that in order to discover the True Will, one had to free the desires of the subconscious mind from the control of the conscious mind, especially the restrictions placed on sexual expression, which he associated with the power of divine creation.[63] He identified the True Will of each individual with the Holy Guardian Angel, a daimon unique to each individual.[64] The spiritual quest to find what you are meant to do and do it is also known in Thelema as the Great Work.[65]

### Ethics

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Liber AL vel Legis does make clear some standards of individual conduct. The primary of these is "Do what thou wilt" which is presented as the whole of the law, and also as a right. Some interpreters of Thelema believe that this right includes an obligation to allow others to do their own wills without interference,[66] but Liber AL makes no clear statement on the matter. Crowley himself wrote that there was no need to detail the ethics of Thelema, for everything springs from "Do what thou Wilt".[67] Crowley wrote several additional documents presenting his personal beliefs regarding individual conduct in light of the Law of Thelema, some of which do address the topic interference with others: Liber OZ, Duty, and Liber II Liber OZ enumerates some of the rights of the individual implied by the one overarching right, "Do what thou wilt". For each person, these include the right to: live by one's own law; live in the way that one wills to do; work, play, and rest as one will; die when and how one will; eat and drink what one will; live where one will; move about the earth as one will; think, speak, write, draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build, and dress as one will; love when, where and with whom one will; and kill those who would thwart these rights.[68]

Duty is described as "A note on the chief rules of practical conduct to be observed by those who accept the Law of Thelema."[69] It is not a numbered "Liber" as are all the documents which Crowley intended for A∴A∴, but rather listed as a document intended specifically for Ordo Templi Orientis.[69] There are four sections:[70]

* A. Your Duty to Self: describes the self as the center of the universe, with a call to learn about one's inner nature. Admonishes the reader to develop every faculty in a balanced way, establish one's autonomy, and to devote oneself to the service of one's own True Will.
* B. Your Duty to Others: An admonishment to eliminate the illusion of separateness between oneself and all others, to fight when necessary, to avoid interfering with the Wills of others, to enlighten others when needed, and to worship the divine nature of all other beings.
* C. Your Duty to Mankind: States that the Law of Thelema should be the sole basis of conduct. That the laws of the land should have the aim of securing the greatest liberty for all individuals. Crime is described as being a violation of one's True Will.
* D. Your Duty to All Other Beings and Things: States that the Law of Thelema should be applied to all problems and used to decide every ethical question. It is a violation of the Law of Thelema to use any animal or object for a purpose for which it is unfit, or to ruin things so that they are useless for their purpose. Natural resources can be used by man, but this should not be done wantonly, or the breach of the law will be avenged.

In Liber II: The Message of the Master Therion, the Law of Thelema is summarized succinctly as "Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else." Crowley describes the pursuit of Will as not only with detachment from possible results, but with tireless energy. It is Nirvana but in a dynamic rather than static form. The True Will is described as the individual's orbit, and if they seek to do anything else, they will encounter obstacles, as doing anything other than the will is a hindrance to it.[71]

## Practice

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Main article: Great Work (Thelema)

The core of Thelemic thought is "Do what thou wilt". However, beyond this, there exists a wide range of interpretation of Thelema. Modern Thelema is a syncretic philosophy and religion,[72] and many Thelemites try to avoid strongly dogmatic thinking.[citation needed] Crowley emphasized that each individual should follow their own inherent "True Will", rather than blindly following his teachings, saying he did not wish to found a flock of sheep.[73] Thus, contemporary Thelemites may practice more than one religion, including Wicca, Gnosticism, Satanism, Setianism and Luciferianism.[72] Many adherents of Thelema recognize correlations between Thelemic and other systems of spiritual thought; most borrow freely from the methods and practices of other traditions, including alchemy, astrology, qabalah, tantra, tarot divination and yoga.[72] For example, Nu and Had are thought to correspond with the Tao and Teh of Taoism, Shakti and Shiva of the Hindu Tantras, Shunyata and Bodhicitta of Buddhism, Ain Soph and Kether in the Hermetic Qabalah.[74][75]

### Magick

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Main article: Ceremonial magic

The Tree of Life, important in the magical order A∴A∴ as the degrees of advancement in are related to it

Thelemic magick is a system of physical, mental, and spiritual exercises which practitioners believe are of benefit.[76] Crowley defined magick as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will",[77] and spelled it with a 'k' to distinguish it from stage magic. He recommended magick as a means for discovering the True Will.[78] Generally, magical practices in Thelema are designed to assist in finding and manifesting the True Will, although some include celebratory aspects as well.[79] Crowley believed that after discovering the True Will, the magician must also remove any elements of himself that stand in the way of its success.[80]

Crowley was a prolific writer, integrating Eastern practices with Western magical practices from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.[81] He recommended a number of these practices to his followers, including: basic yoga (asana and pranayama);[82] rituals of his own devising or based on those of the Golden Dawn, such as the lesser ritual of the pentagram, for banishing and invocation;[79] Liber Samekh, a ritual for the invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel;[79] eucharistic rituals such as The Gnostic Mass and The Mass of the Phoenix;[79] and Liber Resh, consisting of four daily adorations to the sun.[79] He also discussed sex magick and sexual gnosis in various forms involving masturbation and sexual intercourse between heterosexual and homosexual partners; practices which are among his suggestions for those in the higher degrees of Ordo Templi Orientis.[83]

One goal in the study of Thelema within the magical Order of the A∴A∴ is for the magician to obtain the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel: conscious communication with their own personal daimon, thus gaining knowledge of their True Will.[84] The chief task for one who has achieved this goes by the name of "crossing the abyss";[85] completely relinquishing the ego. If the aspirant is unprepared, he will cling to the ego instead, becoming a Black Brother. According to Crowley, the Black Brother slowly disintegrates, while preying on others for his own self-aggrandisement.[86]

Crowley taught skeptical examination of all results obtained through meditation or magick, at least for the student.[87] He tied this to the necessity of keeping a magical record or diary, that attempts to list all conditions of the event.[88] Remarking on the similarity of statements made by spiritually advanced people of their experiences, he said that fifty years from his time they would have a scientific name based on "an understanding of the phenomenon" to replace such terms as "spiritual" or "supernatural". Crowley stated that his work and that of his followers used "the method of science; the aim of religion",[89] and that the genuine powers of the magician could in some way be objectively tested. This idea has been taken on by later practitioners of Thelema. They may consider that they are testing hypotheses with each magical experiment. The difficulty lies in the broadness of their definition of success,[90] in which they may see as evidence of success things which a non-magician would not define as such, leading to confirmation bias. Crowley believed he could demonstrate, by his own example, the effectiveness of magick in producing certain subjective experiences that do not ordinarily result from taking hashish, enjoying oneself in Paris, or walking through the Sahara desert.[91] It is not strictly necessary to practice ritual techniques to be a Thelemite, as due to the focus of Thelemic magick on the True Will, Crowley stated "every intentional act is a magickal act."[92]

### Gnostic Mass

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Main article: Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass

Crowley wrote 'The Gnostic Mass' — technically called Liber XV or "Book 15" — in 1913 while travelling in Moscow, Russia. The structure is similar to the Mass of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, communicating the principles of Thelema. It is the central rite of Ordo Templi Orientis and its ecclesiastical arm, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.[93]

### Holidays

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Further information: Thelemic date

The Book of the Law gives several holy days to be observed by Thelemites. There are no established or dogmatic ways to celebrate these days, so as a result Thelemites will often take to their own devices or celebrate in groups, especially within Ordo Templi Orientis. These holy days are usually observed on the following dates:[94]

* March 20. The Feast of the Supreme Ritual, which celebrates the Invocation of Horus, the ritual performed by Crowley on this date in 1904 that inaugurated the New Aeon.
* March 20/March 21. The Equinox of the Gods, which is commonly referred to as the Thelemic New Year (although some celebrate the New Year on April 8). Although the equinox and the Invocation of Horus often fall on the same day, they are often treated as two different events. This date is the Autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
* April 8 through April 10. The Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law. These three days are commemorative of the three days in the year 1904 during which Aleister Crowley wrote The Book of the Law. One chapter was written each day, the first being written on April 8, the second on April 9, and the third on April 10. Although there is no official way of celebrating any Thelemic holiday, this particular feast day is usually celebrated by reading the corresponding chapter on each of the three days, usually at noon.
* June 20/June 21. The Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
* August 12. The Feast of the Prophet and His Bride. This holiday commemorates the marriage of Aleister Crowley and his first wife Rose Edith Crowley. Rose was a key figure in the writing of The Book of the Law.
* September 22/September 23. The Autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
* December 21/December 22. The Winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
* The Feast for Life, celebrated at the birth of a Thelemite and on birthdays.
* The Feast for Fire/The Feast for Water. These feast days are usually taken as being when a child hits puberty and steps unto the path of adulthood. The Feast for Fire is celebrated for a male, and the Feast for Water for a female.
* The Feast for Death, celebrated on the death of a Thelemite and on the anniversary of their death. Crowley's Death is celebrated on December 1.

### Greetings

[edit]

The number 93 is of great significance in Thelema.[95] The central philosophy of Thelema is in two phrases from Liber AL: "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" and "love is the law, love under will". Crowley urged their use in everyday communications, and himself used them to greet people.[48] Today, rather than using the full phrases, Thelemites often use numerological abbreviations to shorten these greeting in informal contexts, a practice Crowley also applied in his informal written correspondences.[48] The two primary terms in these statements are 'will' and 'love', respectively. Using the Greek technique of isopsephy, which applies a numerical value to each letter, the letters of words thelema ('will') and agape ('love') each sum to 93:

* Thelema: Θελημα = 9 + 5 + 30 + 8 + 40 + 1 = 93
* Agapé: Αγαπη = 1 + 3 + 1 + 80 + 8 = 93

In this way, the first phrase is abbreviated to "93" while the second is abbreviated to "93 93/93", with the division "93/93" symbolizing love "under" will.[48]

## Post-Crowley developments

[edit]

Aleister Crowley was highly prolific and wrote on the subject of Thelema for over 35 years, and many of his books remain in print. During his time, there were several others who wrote on the subject, including U.S. O.T.O. Grand Master Charles Stansfeld Jones, whose works on Qabalah are still in print, and Major-General J. F. C. Fuller. Subsequent to Crowley, a number of figures have made significant contributions to Thelema. Each has their own following within the broader Thelemic community.[96]

### Jack Parsons

[edit]

Parsons in 1941

John Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Parsons converted to Thelema, and together with his first wife, Helen Northrup, joined the Agape Lodge, the Californian branch of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), in 1941. At Crowley's bidding, Parsons replaced Wilfred Talbot Smith as its leader in 1942 and ran the Lodge from his mansion on Orange Grove Boulevard.

Parsons identified four obstacles that prevented humans from achieving and performing their True Will, all of which he connected with fear: the fear of incompetence, the fear of the opinion of others, the fear of hurting others, and the fear of insecurity. He insisted that these must be overcome, writing that "The Will must be freed of its fetters. The ruthless examination and destruction of taboos, complexes, frustrations, dislikes, fears and disgusts hostile to the Will is essential to progress."[97]

The project was based on the ideas of Crowley, and his description of a similar project in his 1917 novel Moonchild.[a] The rituals performed drew largely upon rituals and sex magic described by Crowley. Crowley was in correspondence with Parsons during the course of the Babalon Working, and warned Parsons of his potential overreactions to the magic he was performing, while simultaneously deriding Parsons' work to others.[98]

A brief text entitled Liber 49, self-referenced within the text as The Book of Babalon, was written by Jack Parsons as a transmission from the goddess or force called 'Babalon' received by him during the Babalon Working.[99] Parsons wrote that Liber 49 constituted a fourth chapter of Crowley's Liber AL Vel Legis (The Book of the Law), the holy text of Thelema.[100]

### Kenneth Grant

[edit]

Grant in the library of his Golders Green home, taken by Jan Magee in 1978

Kenneth Grant (1924–2011) was an English ceremonial magician and advocate of the Thelemic religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemic organisation, the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis—later renamed the Typhonian Order—with his wife Steffi Grant.

Grant drew eclectically on a range of sources in devising his teachings.[101] Although based in Thelema, Grant's Typhonian tradition has been described as "a bricolage of occultism, Neo-Vedanta, Hindu tantra, Western sexual magic, Surrealism, ufology and Lovecraftian gnosis".[102] Grant promoted what he termed the Typhonian or Draconian tradition of magic,[103] and wrote that Thelema was only a recent manifestation of this wider tradition.[104] In his books, he portrayed the Typhonian tradition as the world's oldest spiritual tradition, writing that it had ancient roots in Africa.[105] The religious studies scholar Gordan Djurdjevic noted that Grant's historical claims regarding Typhonian history were "at best highly speculative" and lacked any supporting evidence; however he also suggested that Grant may never have intended these claims to be taken literally.[106]

Grant wrote that Indian spiritual traditions like Tantra and Yoga correlate to Western esoteric traditions, and that both stem from a core, ancient source, has parallels in the perennial philosophy promoted by the Traditionalist School of esotericists.[107] He believed that by mastering magic, one masters this illusory universe, gaining personal liberation and recognising that only the Self really exists.[108] Doing so, according to Grant, leads to the discovery of one's True Will, the central focus of Thelema.[106] Grant further wrote that the realm of the Self was known as 'the Mauve Zone', and that it could be reached while in a state of deep sleep, where it has the symbolic appearance of a swamp.[109] He also believed that the reality of consciousness, which he deemed the only true reality, was formless and thus presented as a void, although he also taught that it was symbolised by the Hindu goddess Kali and the Thelemic goddess Nuit.[110]

Grant's views on sex magic drew heavily on the importance of sexual dimorphism among humans and the subsequent differentiation of gender roles.[111] Grant taught that the true secret of sex magic were bodily secretions, the most important of which was a woman's menstrual blood.[105] In this he differed from Crowley, who viewed semen as the most important genital secretion.[112] Grant referred to female sexual secretions as kalas, a term adopted from Sanskrit.[113] He thought that because women have kalas, they have oracular and visionary powers.[114] The magical uses of female genital secretions are a recurring theme in Grant's writings.[115]

### James Lees

[edit]

The mysterious 'grid' page of Liber AL's manuscript

James Lees (August 22, 1939[116] \- 2015) was an English magician known for discovering the system he called English Qaballa. in November 1976, Lees discovered[117] the "order & value of the English Alphabet."[118] Follow this discovery, Lees founded the order O∴A∴A∴ in order to assist others in the pursuit of their own spiritual paths.[116] The first public report of the system known as English Qaballa (EQ) was published in 1979 by Ray Sherwin in an editorial in the final issue of his journal, The New Equinox. Lees subsequently assumed the role of publisher of The New Equinox and, starting in 1981, published additional material about the EQ system over the course of five issues of the journal, extending into 1982.[117]

The "order & value"[118] discovered by James Lees lays the letters out on the grid superimposed on the page of manuscript of Liber AL on which this verse (Ch. III, v. 47) appears (sheet 16 of Chapter III).[118] Also appearing on this page are a diagonal line and a circled cross. The Book of the Law states that the book should only be printed with Crowley's hand-written version included, suggesting that there are mysteries in the "chance shape of the letters and their position to one another" of Crowley's handwriting. Whichever top-left to bottom-right diagonal is read the magical order of the letters is obtained.[119]

Little, if any, further material on English Qaballa was published until the appearance of Jake Stratton-Kent's book, The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187, in 2011.[120] This was followed in 2016 by The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer by Cath Thompson.[121] An account of the discovery, exploration, and continuing research and development of the system up to 2010, by James Lees and members of his group in England, is detailed in her 2018 book, All This and a Book.[116]

### Nema Andahadna

[edit]

Nema Andahadna (1939-2018) practiced and wrote about magick (magical working, as defined by Aleister Crowley) for over thirty years. In 1974, she channelled a short book called Liber Pennae Praenumbra.

From her experience with Thelemic magick, she developed her own system of magic called "Maat Magick" which has the aim of transforming the human race. In 1979, she co-founded the Horus-Maat Lodge. The Lodge and her ideas have been featured in the writings of Kenneth Grant.[122][123]

Her writings have appeared in many publications, including the Cincinnati Journal of Ceremonial Magick, Aeon, and Starfire. According to Donald Michael Kraig:

> Nema has been one of the most influential occultists of the last quarter century although most occultists have never read her works. What Nema has done is influence those who have been writers and teachers. They, in turn, influenced the rest of us.[124]

## See also

[edit]

* Sri Sabhapati Swami – Yoga teacher from Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
* Wiccan Rede – Wicca moral statement
* Worship of heavenly bodies – Worship of stars and other heavenly bodies as deities

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Urban (2006), pp. 135–137: "The ultimate goal of these operations, carried out during February and March 1946, was to give birth to the magical being, or 'moonchild,' described in Crowley's works. Using the powerful energy of IX degree Sex Magick, the rites were intended to open a doorway through which the goddess Babalon herself might appear in human form."

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Crowley (1996), pp. 61–62.
2. ^ a b Kaczynski (2010).
3. ^ a b Gauna (1996), pp. 90–91.
4. ^ e.g. John 1:12–13
5. ^ e.g. 2 Timothy 2:26
6. ^ Pocetto (1998).
7. ^ Sutin (2002), p. 127.
8. ^ Augustine (1990), p. [page needed].
9. ^ Salloway (1997), p. 203.
10. ^ a b Rabelais (1994), p. [page needed].
11. ^ Saintsbury (1911), v. 22, p. 771.
12. ^ a b c d Chisholm (1911), v. 4, p. 731.
13. ^ Givens (2008), p. xi.
14. ^ a b c Tolli (2004), p. [page needed].
15. ^ Tolli (2004), p. 9.
16. ^ ""KJV Translation Count"". Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
17. ^ Bowen (1998), p. [page needed].
18. ^ a b Sutin (2002), p. [page needed].
19. ^ Chesney (2004), p. [page needed].
20. ^ Hayes, E. Bruce, "Enigmatic prophecy" entry in Chesney (2004), p. 68.
21. ^ Rothstein, Marian, "Thélème, Abbey of" entry in Chesney (2004), p. 243.
22. ^ Stillman (1999), p. 60.
23. ^ Stillman (1999), p. 70.
24. ^ Rothstein (2001), p. 17, n. 23.
25. ^ Edwards (2001), p. 478.
26. ^ Sabazius X° (2007).
27. ^ Crowley (1998).
28. ^ Crowley (1919b), p. 249.
29. ^ a b c Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (2006).
30. ^ Willens (1992).
31. ^ Crowley (1991), p. [page needed].
32. ^ Crowley (1991), ch. 7.
33. ^ Farr & Shakespear (c. 1902).
34. ^ Evans (2007), pp. 10, 26–30.
35. ^ Evans (2007), p. 5.
36. ^ Evans (2007), p. 3.
37. ^ Sutin (2002), pp. 68, 137–138.
38. ^ Crowley (1976), p. [page needed].
39. ^ Crowley (1976).
40. ^ Crowley (1976), ch.1, v. 40.
41. ^ Orpheus (2005), p. 64; Kaczynski (2010); Pasi (2014).
42. ^ Crowley (1976), ch.1, v.3.
43. ^ Cornelius (2005), p. 59.
44. ^ Mead (1919), p. 84.
45. ^ a b Kaczynski (2010); Pasi (2014).
46. ^ Crowley (1976), ch. 1, v. 57.
47. ^ Kaczynski (2010); Churton (2011), p. 219.
48. ^ a b c d Campbell (2018), ch. 3.
49. ^ a b c d e f Orpheus (2005), pp. 33–44.
50. ^ Crowley (1944), XX. The Aeon.
51. ^ Crowley (1976), ch. 1, v. 22.
52. ^ Sutin (2014), p. [page needed].
53. ^ Crowley (1976), ch. 1, vv. 27,33.
54. ^ Crowley (1976), II, 6.
55. ^ Crowley (1973b), ch. XI.
56. ^ Crowley (1976), ch. II, v. 15..
57. ^ Crowley (1976), ch. I, v. 27.
58. ^ Crowley (1976), ch. 1, v. 40.
59. ^ DuQuette (1997), p. 3.
60. ^ a b DuQuette (2003), p. 12.
61. ^ Morris (2006), p. 302.
62. ^ Harvey (1997), p. 98.
63. ^ Sutin (2002), p. 294.
64. ^ Hymenaeus Beta (1995), p. xxi.
65. ^ Kraig (1998), p. 44.
66. ^ Suster (1988), p. 200.
67. ^ Crowley (1979), p. 400.
68. ^ Crowley (1997), p. 689, Appendix VIII: Supplement: Liber OZ.
69. ^ a b Crowley (1997), p. 484, Appendix I: Official Instructions of the O.T.O..
70. ^ Crowley (n.d.).
71. ^ Crowley (1919c).
72. ^ a b c Rabinovitch & Lewis (2004), pp. 267–270.
73. ^ Crowley (1979), ch. 66.
74. ^ Orpheus (2005), pp. 124, 131.
75. ^ Suster (1988), p. 184 for Nuit and Tao, p. 188 for Hadit, Kether and Tao Teh, p. 146 & 150 for link to Tantra.
76. ^ DuQuette, Lon Milo, quoted in Orpheus (2005), p. 1.
77. ^ Crowley (1997), Introduction to Part III.
78. ^ Gardner (2004), p. 86.
79. ^ a b c d e DuQuette (1993), p. [page needed].
80. ^ Crowley (1997), p. [page needed].
81. ^ Pearson (2002), p. 44.
82. ^ Orpheus (2005), pp. 9–16, 45–52.
83. ^ Urban (2006), p. [page needed].
84. ^ Whitcomb (1993), p. 51.
85. ^ Whitcomb (1993), p. 483.
86. ^ Cavendish (1977), p. 130.
87. ^ Crowley (1976b), Liber O, I:2-5.
88. ^ Crowley (1976b), Liber E vel Exercitiorum, section I.
89. ^ Crowley (1997), Part I.
90. ^ Luhrmann (1991), p. 24.
91. ^ Crowley (1909), entries for 2.5 and 2.22 on the Eleventh Day.
92. ^ Kraig (1988), p. 9.
93. ^ Tau Apiryon (2010).
94. ^ Schubert (2020).
95. ^ Skinner (1996), p. 79.
96. ^ Evans (2007b).
97. ^ Parsons (2008), pp. 69–71.
98. ^ Sutin (2002), pp. 412–414.
99. ^ Pendle (2006), pp. 263–271.
100. ^ Nichols, Mather & Schmidt (2010), pp. 1037–1038.
101. ^ Hedenborg White (2020), p. 161.
102. ^ Bogdan (2015), p. 1.
103. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), p. 95.
104. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), p. 106.
105. ^ a b Djurdjevic (2014), p. 96.
106. ^ a b Djurdjevic (2014), p. 109.
107. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), pp. 92–93.
108. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), p. 98.
109. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), p. 99.
110. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), p. 100.
111. ^ Hedenborg White (2020), p. 168.
112. ^ Hedenborg White (2020), p. 174.
113. ^ Djurdjevic (2014), p. 107.
114. ^ Hedenborg White (2020), p. 169.
115. ^ Hedenborg White (2020), p. 165.
116. ^ a b c Thompson (2018).
117. ^ a b Lees (2018).
118. ^ a b c Crowley (1976), ch. 3, v. 47.
119. ^ Stratton-Kent (1988).
120. ^ Stratton-Kent (2011).
121. ^ Thompson (2016).
122. ^ Grant (1980), p. [page needed].
123. ^ Grant (1999), p. [page needed].
124. ^ Kraig (n.d.).

### Works cited

[edit]

#### Primary sources

[edit]

* Augustine of Hippo, Saint (1990). Hill, Edmund; Rotelle, John E. (eds.). The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st century. Brooklyn, NY: New City Press. ISBN 978-1-56548-055-1. OCLC 20594822.
* Crowley, Aleister (1909). John St. John: The Record of the Magical Retirement of G.H. Frater, O.M. United Kingdom: Morton Press.
* Crowley, Aleister (1919b). "Liber XV: O. T. O. Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ Canon Missæ". The Equinox: The Review of Scientific Illuminism. 3 (1). Detroit: Universal Publishing Co.: 249 ff.
* Crowley, Aleister (1919c). "Liber II: The Message of Master Therion". The Equinox: The Review of Scientific Illuminism. 3 (1). Detroit: Ordo Templi Orientis, Thelema Publications: 44–46.
* Crowley, Aleister (1944). "The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians". The Equinox. III (V). O[rdo] T[empli] O[rientis].
* Crowley, Aleister (1973b). Magick Without Tears. LLewellyn Publication. ISBN 978-0875421155.
* Crowley, Aleister (1976). The Book of the Law: Liber AL vel Legis. York Beach, Maine: Weiser Books. ISBN 978-0-87728-334-8.
* Crowley, Aleister (1976b). Liber E and Liber O. United States: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 978-0877283416.
* Crowley, Aleister (1979). Symonds, John; Grant, Kenneth (eds.). The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
* Crowley, Aleister (1991). The Equinox of the Gods. United States: New Falcon Publications. ISBN 978-1-56184-028-1.
* Crowley, Aleister (1996). Little Essays Toward Truth. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-000-9. "[...] But none of this shakes, or even threatens, the Philosophy of Thelema. On the contrary, it may be called the Rock of its foundation."
* Crowley, Aleister (1997). Magick: Liber ABA, Book 4, Parts I-IV (Second revised ed.). Boston: Weiser. ISBN 0877289190.
* Crowley, Aleister (1998) [1926]. "The Antecedents of Thelema". In Hymenaeus Beta; Richard Kaczynski (eds.). The Revival of Magick and Other Essays. Oriflamme. United States: New Falcon Publications. ISBN 978-1561841332.
* Crowley, Aleister (n.d.). "Duty". oto-usa.org. Ordo Templi Orientis. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
* Farr, Florence; Shakespear, O. (c. 1902). The Beloved of Hathor and the Shrine of the Golden Hawk. Croydon: Farncombe & Son.
* Gardner, Gerald B. (2004). The Meaning of Witchcraft. United States: Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 978-1578633098.
* Grant, Kenneth (1980). Outside the Circles of Time. Muller. Contains a lengthy account of the writing of Nema's Liber Pennae Praenumbra.
* Grant, Kenneth (1999). Beyond the Mauve Zone. London: Starfire. Contains a photo facsimile of Liber Pennae Praenumbra.
* Lees, James (2018). Thompson, Cath (ed.). The New Equinox: The British Journal of Magick. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1907881770.
* Parsons, John Whiteside (2008). Three Essays on Freedom. York Beach, Maine: Teitan Press. ISBN 978-0-933429-11-6.
* Rabelais, François (1994). Gargantua and Pantagruel. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-679-43137-3. OCLC 29844841.
* Sabazius X° (August 10, 2007). "Address delivered by National Grand Master General Sabazius X° to the Sixth National Conference of the U.S. O.T.O. Grand Lodge". Salem, Massachusetts.

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[edit]

* Bogdan, Henrik (2015). "Introduction". In Bogdan, Henrik (ed.). Kenneth Grant: A Bibliography (second ed.). London: Starfire. pp. 1–11. ISBN 978-1-906073-30-5.
* Bowen, Barbara C. (1998). Enter Rabelais, Laughing (1st ed.). Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. ISBN 0-585-17753-8. OCLC 44959481.
* Cavendish, Richard (1977). The Black Arts. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-330-25140-6.
* Campbell, Colin D. (2018). Thelema: an introduction to the life, work & philosophy of Aleister Crowley. Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Worldwide, Limited. ISBN 9780738755236.
* Churton, Tobias (2011). Aleister Crowley: The Biography. London: Watkins Books. ISBN 978-1-78028-012-7. OCLC 701810228.
* Cornelius, J. Edward (2005). Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board. Feral House. ISBN 978-1932595109.
* Djurdjevic, Gordan (2014). India and the Occult: The Influence of South Asian Spirituality on Modern Western Occultism. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-40498-5.
* DuQuette, Lon Milo (1993). The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley. United States: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 978-0877287780.
* DuQuette, Lon Milo (1997). Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Millennium. Weiser. ISBN 1-57863-010-X.
* DuQuette, Lon Milo (2003). The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema. Weiser. ISBN 1-57863-299-4.
* Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0-664-22259-5.
* Evans, Dave (2007). Aleister Crowley and the 20th Century Synthesis of Magick: Strange Distant Gods That Are Not Dead Today (2nd rev. ed.). Hidden Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9555237-2-4.
* Evans, Dave (2007b). The History of British Magick after Crowley. Hidden Publishing. ISBN 978-0955523700.
* Gauna, Max (1996). The Rabelaisian Mythologies. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 0-8386-3631-4.
* Givens, Edmond Willie (May 2008). Original King James Bible: The History Before It Is!. Xulon Press. ISBN 978-1-60477-946-2.
* Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (July 22, 2006). "The Hell-fire Clubs". Freemasonry.bcy.ca. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
* Harvey, Graham (1997). Listening People, Speaking Earth. C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 1-85065-272-4.
* Hedenborg White, Manon (2020). The Eloquent Blood: The Goddess Babalon and the Construction of Femininities in Western Esotericism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1900-6502-7.
* Hymenaeus Beta (1995). "Editor's Foreword". In Crowley, Aleister (ed.). The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. Red Wheel. ISBN 0-87728-847-X.
* Kaczynski, Richard (2010). Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Life of Aleister Crowley. North Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1556438998.
* Kraig, Donald Michael (1988). Modern Magick. Llewellyn. ISBN 0-87542-324-8.
* Kraig, Donald Michael (1998). Modern Sex Magick. Llewellyn. ISBN 1-56718-394-8.
* Kraig, Donald Michael (n.d.). "Review of Maat Magick". New Moon Rising: A Magickal Pagan Journal (45).
* Luhrmann, Tanya (1991). Persuasions of the Witch's Craft. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-66324-1.
* Mead, G. R. S. (1919). The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition. Watkins.
* Morris, Brian (2006). Religion and anthropology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85241-2.
* Orpheus, Rodney (2005). Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Magick. Boston, MA: Weiser Books. ISBN 1-57863-326-5. OCLC 58728775.
* Pasi, Marco (2014). Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-54630-6.
* Pendle, George (2006). Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0156031790.
* Pocetto, Alexander T. (February 1998). "Rabelais, Francis de Sales and the Abbaye de Thélème". Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales. Archived from the original on 2006-09-10. Retrieved July 20, 2006.
* Rothstein, Marian (Winter 2001). "Androgyne, Agape, and the Abbey of Thélème" (PDF). French Forum. 26 (1). University of Nebraska Press: 1–19. doi:10.1353/frf.2001.0010. S2CID 170901713.
* Salloway, David (1997). Random Walks. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 0-7735-1679-4.
* Schubert, Heather (March 24, 2020). "Thelemic Families and Holidays". ThelemicKnights.org. Prder of Thelemic Knights. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
* Skinner, Stephen, ed. (1996). The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley: Tunisia 1923. Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-856-9.
* Stillman, Peter G. (1999). "Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Rousseau's Thought". EMF. 5 (special issue on French Utopias, 1500–1800): 60–77.
* Stratton-Kent, Jake (March 1988). "The English Qaballa". The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema. VII (1): 17–25. ISSN 0953-7015.
* Stratton-Kent, Jake (2011). The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187. UK: Hadean Press. ISBN 978-1-907881-07-7.
* Suster, Gerald (1988). The Legacy of the Beast: The Life, Work and Influence of Aleister Crowley. United Kingdom: W.H. Allen. ISBN 0-491-03446-6.
* Sutin, Lawrence (2002). Do What Thou Wilt: A life of Aleister Crowley. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25243-9. OCLC 48140552.
* Sutin, Lawrence (2014). Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley. United States: St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1466875265.
* Tau Apiryon (2010). "Introduction to the Gnostic Mass". The Invisible Basilica of Sabazius. Ordo Templi Orientis. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
* Thompson, Cath (2016). The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1907881688.
* Thompson, Cath (2018). All This and a Book. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1-907881-78-7.
* Tolli, Federico (2004). Thelema in Christentum, Logentradition und New Aeon: im Spannungsfeld zwischen Christentum, Logentradition und New Aeon. Edition Araki. ISBN 3-936149-35-6. OCLC 71335779.
* Urban, Hugh (2006). Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24776-0.
* Whitcomb, Bill (1993). The Magician's Companion. Llewellyn. ISBN 0-87542-868-1.
* Willens, Daniel (Summer 1992). "The Hell-Fire Club: Sex, Politics, and Religion in Eighteenth-Century England". Gnosis. Retrieved July 22, 2006.

#### Tertiary sources

[edit]

* Chesney, Elizabeth A., ed. (2004). The Rabelais Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-1-4294-7439-9. OCLC 145555086.
* Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Buckinghamshire" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 731.
* Nichols, Larry A.; Mather, George; Schmidt, Alvin J. (2010). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions: Revised and Updated Edition. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0310866060.
* Pearson, Joanne (2002). A Popular Dictionary of Paganism. Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-1591-6.
* Rabinovitch, Shelley; Lewis, James (2004). The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-2406-5.
* Saintsbury, George (1911). "Rabelais, François" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 771.

### Other sources

[edit]

* Free Encyclopedia of Thelema (2005). Thelema. Retrieved March 12, 2005.
* Thelemapedia. (2004). Thelema. Archived 2006-06-13 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 15, 2006.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Bogdan, Henrik (2012). "Envisioning the Birth of a New Aeon: Dispensationalism and Millenarianism in the Thelemic Tradition". In Bogdan, Henrik; Starr, Martin P. (eds.). Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 89–106. ISBN 978-0-19-986309-9. OCLC 820009842.
* Clukey, A. (2014). "Enchanting Modernism: Mary Butts, Decadence, and the Ethics of Occultism". Modern Fiction Studies. 60 (1): 78–107. doi:10.1353/mfs.2014.0003. S2CID 161852959.
* Djurdjevic, Gordan (September 2019). "'Wishing You a Speedy Termination of Existence': Aleister Crowley's Views on Buddhism and Its Relationship with the Doctrine of Thelema". Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism. 19 (2). Leiden: Brill Publishers on behalf of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism: 212–230. doi:10.1163/15700593-01902001. ISSN 1567-9896. S2CID 204456438.
* Gillavry, D. M. (2014). "Aleister Crowley, the Guardian Angel and Aiwass: The Nature of Spiritual Beings in the Philosophies of the Great Beast 666" (PDF). Sacra. 11 (2). Brno: Masaryk University: 33–42. ISSN 1214-5351. S2CID 58907340. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 June 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
* Hedenborg White, M. (January 2020). "Proximal Authority: The Changing Role of Leah Hirsig in Aleister Crowley's Thelema, 1919–1930". Aries. 21 (1): 69–93. doi:10.1163/15700593-02101008. S2CID 242182711.
* Morgan, M. (2011). "The Heart of Thelema: Morality, Amorality, and Immorality in Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Cult". The Pomegranate. 13 (2): 163–183. doi:10.1558/pome.v13i2.163.
* Melton, J. Gordon (1983). "Thelemic Magick in America". In Fichter, Joseph H. (ed.). Alternatives to American Mainline Churches. Barrytown, NY: Unification Theological Seminary.
* Readdy, Keith (2018). One Truth and One Spirit: Aleister Crowley's Spiritual Legacy. Ibis Press. ISBN 978-0892541843.
* Starr, Martin P. (2003). The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites. Bolingbrook, IL: Teitan Press.
* Tully, Caroline (2010). "Walk Like an Egyptian: Egypt as Authority in Aleister Crowley's Reception of The Book of the Law" (PDF). The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 12 (1). London: Equinox Publishing: 20–47. doi:10.1558/pome.v12i1.20. hdl:11343/252812. ISSN 1528-0268. S2CID 159745083. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
* Urban, Hugh B. (2012). "The Occult Roots of Scientology?: L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, and the Origins of a Controversial New Religion". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 15 (3): 91–116. doi:10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.91. JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.91.
* van Egmond, Daniel (1998). "Western Esoteric Schools in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries". In van den Broek, Roelof; Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (eds.). Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity To Modern Times. Albany: State University of New York Press.
* Webster, Sam (2021). Tantric Thelema: And The Invocation of Ra-Hoor-Khuit in the Manner of the Buddhist Mahayoga Tantras. Concrescent Press. ISBN 978-0-9903927-7-4.
* Whitehouse, D. (2020). "'Mercury is in a Very Ape-Like Mood': Frieda Harris's Perception of Thelema". Aries. 21 (1): 125–152. doi:10.1163/15700593-02101005. S2CID 230539828.

## External links

[edit]

Thelema at Wikipedia's sister projects

* Definitions from Wiktionary
* Media from Commons
* Texts from Wikisource
* Resources from Wikiversity

* Thelema at Curlie
* Thelema 101 – a complete introduction to the spiritual philosophy of Thelema
* Thelema at the Internet Sacred Texts Archive – a collection of texts on the topic of Thelema
* Journal of Thelemic Studies – an academic journal investigating the occult tradition of Thelema

* v
* t
* e

Thelema

Organizations|

* A∴A∴
* Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
* Fraternitas Saturni
* O∴A∴A∴
* Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn
* Ordo Templi Orientis
* Society Ordo Templi Orientis
* Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn
* Typhonian Order

Personalities|

* List of Thelemites
* Ankh-af-na-khonsu
* Aleister Crowley
* Kenneth Anger
* Allan Bennett
* William Breeze
* Mary Butts
* Marjorie Cameron
* Lon Milo DuQuette
* Jeanne Robert Foster
* J. F. C. Fuller
* Karl Germer
* Kenneth Grant
* Lady Frieda Harris
* Leah Hirsig
* Christopher Hyatt
* Charles Stansfeld Jones
* George Cecil Jones
* Richard Kaczynski
* Rose Edith Kelly
* James Lees
* Grady Louis McMurtry
* Mogg Morgan
* Marcelo Ramos Motta
* Nema Andahadna
* Victor Neuburg
* Sara Northrup
* Jack Parsons
* Helen Parsons Smith
* Theodor Reuss
* C. F. Russell
* Phyllis Seckler
* Wilfred Talbot Smith
* Leila Waddell
* James Wasserman
* Sam Webster
* Jane Wolfe

Thelemic texts|

* Aleister Crowley bibliography
* The Book of Lies
* The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis)
* The Book of Thoth
* Clouds without Water
* Collected Works
* Confessions
* The Diary of a Drug Fiend
* Eight Lectures on Yoga
* The Equinox
* The Blue Equinox
* The Equinox of the Gods
* The Holy Books of Thelema
* Konx Om Pax
* The Law is for All
* Liber 777
* Liber Aleph
* Liber OZ
* Liber Resh
* Liber Trigrammaton
* Little Essays Toward Truth
* Magick (Book 4)
* Magick Without Tears
* Moonchild
* One Star in Sight
* The Stratagem and other Stories
* Thoth Tarot
* The Vision and the Voice
* White Stains

Concepts and ideas|

* 93
* Abyss
* Aeon
* Agape
* Astral projection
* Body of light
* English Qaballa
* Great Work
* Hermetic Qabalah
* Holy Guardian Angel
* Magical formula
* Night of Pan
* Stele of Revealing
* Stellar wisdom
* True Will

Magick|

* Abrahadabra
* Ceremonial magic
* Enochian magic
* Eroto-comatose lucidity
* Goetia
* Obeah and wanga
* Sex magic

Ceremony and ritual|

* Liber Resh
* Pentagram Ritual
* Bornless Ritual
* Gnostic Mass
* Rites of Eleusis

Godforms|

* Nuit
* Hadit
* Heru-ra-ha
* Aiwass
* Therion
* Babalon
* Chaos
* Ma'at
* Harpocrates

Symbolism|

* Number of the beast
* Pentagram
* Rose Cross
* Tree of Life
* Unicursal hexagram

Related topics|

* Abbey of Thelema
* Abramelin oil
* Agape Lodge
* Boleskine House
* Book of Abramelin
* Cake of Light
* Choronzon
* Dianism
* Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
* IPSOS
* Magical organization
* Solar deity
* The Beast
* Whore of Babylon

* v
* t
* e

New religious movements

Major groups|

* Adi Dharm/Brahmoism
* Adventism
* CoG7
* SDA
* Aetherius Society
* Ahmadiyya
* Lahore Ahmadiyya
* Ananda Marga
* Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
* Anthroposophy
* Antoinism
* Armstrongism
* Bábism
* Baháʼí Faith
* Bible Students/Jehovah's Witnesses
* Black Hebrew Israelites
* Brahma Kumaris
* Branch Davidians
* Brotherhood of the Cross and Star
* Caodaism
* Chabad
* Noahidism
* Charismatic Christianity
* Pentecostal (Oneness)
* Charismatic
* Neo-charismatic
* Chinese salvationist religions
* Chinmaya Mission
* Christadelphians
* Christian Science
* Church of Divine Science
* Church of Scientology
* Church of the Guanche People
* Creativity
* Discordianism
* Falun Gong
* The Family International
* Friends of Man
* Fourth Way
* Fung Loy Kok
* Goddess
* Godianism
* Heaven's Gate
* Humanistic Judaism
* Iglesia ni Cristo
* International Peace Mission movement
* ISKCON
* Invitation to Life
* Jewish Renewal
* Kingdom of Jesus Christ
* Kopimism
* Latter Day Saints/Mormonism
* Maha Bodhi Society
* Messianic Judaism
* Modern paganism
* Druidry
* Heathenry
* Rodnovery
* Moorish Science Temple of America
* Nation of Islam
* New Acropolis
* New Apostolic Church
* The New Church
* New Confucianism
* New Kadampa Tradition
* New Thought
* Religious Science
* Unity Church
* Nuwaubian Nation
* Oomoto
* Opus Dei
* Peoples Temple
* Pilgrims of Arès
* The Process Church
* Raëlism
* Rajneesh movement
* Ramakrishna Mission
* Rastafari
* Risshō Kōsei Kai
* Sahaja Yoga
* Sant Mat
* Radha Soami
* Santa Muerte
* Santo Daime
* Satanism
* LaVeyan
* Church of Satan
* Temple of Set
* The Satanic Temple
* Theistic
* Joy of Satan Ministries
* Sathya Sai Baba
* Shakers
* Shambhala Buddhism
* Shri Ram Chandra Mission
* Soka Gakkai
* Spiritualism
* Spiritism
* Sukyo Mahikari
* Tenrikyo
* Thelema
* Theosophy
* Theosophical Society
* Transcendental Meditation
* True Buddha School
* Twelve Tribes communities
* Unarius Academy of Science
* Unification Church
* Unitarian Universalist Association
* United Submitters International
* Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
* Universal White Brotherhood
* Vipassana movement
* Eastern Lightning
* The Way International
* Weixinjiao
* Wicca
* Word of Faith
* World Mission Society Church of God

Notable figures|

* Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
* Noble Drew Ali
* Marshall Applewhite
* Herbert W. Armstrong
* Shoko Asahara
* Sri Aurobindo
* Báb
* Sathya Sai Baba
* Baháʼu'lláh
* Alice Bailey
* Chinmayananda Saraswati
* David Berg
* Helena Blavatsky
* Sri Chinmoy
* Aleister Crowley
* Mary Baker Eddy
* Josemaría Escrivá
* Louis Farrakhan
* Charles Fillmore
* Kelsang Gyatso
* Hak Ja Han
* L. Ron Hubbard
* Li Hongzhi
* David Koresh
* Anton LaVey
* Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi
* Lu Sheng-yen
* Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
* Meher Baba
* Nikkyō Niwano
* Sun Myung Moon
* Elijah Muhammad
* Nakayama Miki
* A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
* Phineas Parkhurst Quimby
* Raël
* Rajneesh
* Ramakrishna
* Prem Rawat
* Helena Roerich
* Charles Taze Russell
* Joseph Franklin Rutherford
* Ahn Sahng-hong
* Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
* Menachem Mendel Schneerson
* Shiv Dayal Singh
* Joseph Smith
* Nirmala Srivastava
* Emanuel Swedenborg
* Rudolf Steiner
* Joseph W. Tkach
* Chögyam Trungpa
* Ellen G. White

By region|

* Pacific Northwest

Concepts|

* African-initiated church
* Buddhist modernism
* Chabad messianism
* Christian denomination
* Classifications of religious movements
* Conspiracy theories
* Cult
* Cybersectarianism
* Doomsday cult
* Heresy
* Hindu reform movements
* In-group favoritism
* Japanese new religions
* Neoshamanism
* New Age
* Open-source religion
* Polytheistic reconstructionism
* Prosperity theology
* Religious conversion
* Religious syncretism
* Schism
* Sect
* Self religion
* Spiritual evolution
* UFO religion

Public education|

* CESNUR
* INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements)
* World Religions and Spirituality Project

Scholarship|

* Academic study of new religious movements
* Anthropology of religion
* History of religion
* Journal of Contemporary Religion
* Nova Religio
* Philosophy of religion
* Psychology of religion
* Religious studies
* Sociology of religion
* When Prophecy Fails

Opposition|

* Anti-cult movement
* Christian countercult movement
* Anti-Mormonism
* Persecution of Ahmadis
* Persecution of Baháʼís
* Persecution of Falun Gong
* Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
* Persecution of Rastafari
* Religious discrimination against modern pagans

Lists|

* Academic study
* In popular culture
* New religious movements

* v
* t
* e

Religion

Religious groups and denominations

| Western|

| Abrahamic|

| Judaism|

* Orthodox
* Haredi
* Hasidic
* Modern
* Zionist
* Conservative
* Reform
* Karaite
* Haymanot
* Reconstructionist
* Renewal
* Humanistic
* list

|

Christianity|

* Catholicism
* Latin
* Eastern
* Eastern Orthodoxy
* Church
* Oriental Orthodoxy
* Nestorianism
* Ancient
* Assyrian
* Proto-Protestantism
* Hussites/Moravians
* Waldensians
* Protestantism
* Adventism
* Anabaptism
* Amish
* Brethren
* Hutterites
* Mennonites
* Schwenkfelder Church
* Anglicanism
* Baptists
* Calvinism
* Congregationalism
* Presbyterianism
* Reformed
* Charismatic Christianity
* Pentecostal
* Charismatic
* Neo-charismatic
* Evangelicalism
* Irvingism
* Lutheran
* Methodist
* Holiness
* Nondenominational
* Plymouth Brethren
* Quakerism
* Restorationism
* Esoteric
* Independent Catholicism
* Old Catholic
* Judaizers
* Nontrinitarianism
* Bible Students/Jehovah's Witnesses
* British Israelism
* Christadelphians
* Mormonism
* Oneness Pentecostalism
* Spiritual
* Swedenborgianism
* Tolstoyan
* Unitarianism
* list

Islam|

* Sunni
* Ash'arism
* Maturidism
* Atharism
* Salafism
* Wahhabism
* Modernist Salafism
* Shia
* Twelver Shi'ism
* Zaydism
* Isma'ilism
* Alawis
* Sufism
* Khawarij
* Ibadism
* Alevism
* Ahmadi
* Mahdawi movement
* Quranism
* Milah Abraham
* Non-denominational
* list

Other|

* Ali-Illahism
* Bábism
* Baháʼí
* Druze
* Mandaeism
* Rastafari
* Samaritanism

Iranian|

| Zoroastrian|

* Ilm-e-Khshnoom
* Mazdaznan
* Zurvanism

|

Yazdânism|

* Ishikism
* Shabakism
* Yarsanism
* Yazidism

Other|

* Assianism/Uatsdin
* Roshani
* Chinese Manichaeism

Eastern|

| East Asian|

| Chinese|

* Chinese folk religion
* Confucianism
* Luoism
* Nuo
* Salvationist
* Xiantiandao
* Yiguandao
* Taoism
* Folk Taoism
* Yao Taoism

|

Japanese|

* Shinto
* list
* Shugendō
* Tenrikyo
* Ryukyuan

Korean|

* Korean shamanism
* Cheondoism
* Jeungsanism

Vietnamese|

* Vietnamese folk religion
* Đạo Mẫu
* Caodaism
* Hoahaoism
* Đạo Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương

Indian|

| Hinduism|

* Vaishnavism
* Krishnaism
* Sri Vaishnavism
* Brahma Sampradaya
* Nimbarka Sampradaya
* Pushtimarg
* Mahanubhava
* Ramanandi
* Warkari
* Swaminarayan
* Shaivism
* Shaiva Siddhanta
* Ganapatya
* Kashmiri
* Kapalika
* Kaumaram
* Lingayatism
* Nath
* Balinese
* Shaktism
* Smartism
* Sauraism
* Śrauta
* Sant Mat
* Neo-Hinduism
* list

|

Buddhism|

* Theravada
* Mahayana
* Chan/Zen/Thiền
* Amidism
* Nichiren
* Vajrayana
* Tibetan
* Neo-Buddhism
* list

Other|

* Ayyavazhi
* Kalash
* Jainism
* Digambara
* Śvetāmbara
* Sarnaism
* Kirat Mundhum
* Srilankan Vedda
* Ravidassia
* Sikhism
* Khalsa
* Sects

Ethnic|

| Altaic|

* Turko-Mongolic
* Burkhanism
* Tengrism
* Vattisen Yaly
* Tungusic
* Evenki
* Manchu

|

Austroasiatic|

* Sarnaism

Austronesian|

* Batak Parmalim
* Dayak
* Kaharingan
* Traditional Sabahan religions
* Indonesian
* Aliran Kepercayaan
* Kejawèn
* Kapitayan
* Karo Pemena
* Malaysian
* Philippine Dayawism
* Tagalog
* Polynesian
* Hawaiian
* Māori
* Sumbese Marapu
* Sundanese Wiwitan

Native
American|

* Abenaki
* Anishinaabe
* Blackfoot
* Californian
* Miwok
* Ohlone
* Pomo
* Cherokee
* Chilote
* Choctaw
* Creek
* Guarani
* Haida
* Ho-Chunk
* Hopi
* Iroquois
* Longhouse
* Seneca
* Wyandot
* Jivaroan
* Kwakwakaʼwakw
* Lakota
* Lenape
* Mapuche
* Mesoamerican
* Aztec
* Maya
* Olmec
* Purépecha
* Midewiwin
* Muisca
* Native American Church
* Navajo
* Nuu-chah-nulth
* Pawnee
* Tsimshian
* Ute
* Zuni

Tai and Miao|

* Ahom
* Hmongism
* Mo
* Satsana Phi

Tibeto-Burmese|

* Bon
* Burmese
* Benzhuism
* Bimoism
* Bathouism
* Bongthingism
* Dongba
* Donyi-Polo
* Heraka
* Kiratism
* Qiang
* Sanamahism

Traditional
African|

| North African|

* Berber
* Guanche church

|

Sub-Saharan
African|

* Akamba
* Akan
* Baluba
* Bantu
* Kongo
* Zulu
* Bushongo
* Dinka
* Dogon
* Efik
* Fon and Ewe
* Ik
* Lotuko
* Lozi
* Lugbara
* Maasai
* Mbuti
* Odinala
* San
* Serer
* Tumbuka
* Urhobo
* Waaqeffanna
* Yoruba
* Ifá

* Diasporic:
* Candomblé
* Bantu
* Jejé
* Ketu
* Comfa
* Convince
* Espiritismo
* Kumina
* Obeah
* Palo
* Quimbanda
* Santería
* Tambor de Mina
* Trinidad Orisha
* Umbanda
* Vodou
* Voodoo
* Winti

Other ethnic|

* Aboriginal Australian
* Inuit
* Papuan
* Siberian

New
religious
movements|

| Syncretic|

* Brahmoism
* Falun Gong
* Japanese
* Meivazhi
* Modekngei
* New Acropolis
* New Age
* New Thought
* Rajneesh
* Rastafari
* Sant Mat
* Radha Soami
* Spiritualism
* Subud
* Tensegrity
* Thelema
* Theosophy
* Neo-Theosophy
* Agni Yoga
* Transcendental Meditation
* Unitarian Universalism
* White Brotherhood

|

Modern
paganism|

* African
* Godianism
* Armenian
* Baltic
* Dievturība
* Romuva
* Caucasian
* Abkhaz
* Circassian
* Celtic
* Druidry
* Germanic
* Hellenism (modern religion)
* Italo-Roman
* Neoshamanism
* Ossetian
* Polytheistic reconstructionism
* Romanian
* Slavic
* Uralic
* Estonian
* Modern Finnish paganism
* Hungarian
* Mari religion
* Erzyan native religion
* Sámi
* Udmurt
* Wicca
* Zalmoxianism
* list

De novo|

* Anthroposophy
* Discordianism
* Eckankar
* Fourth Way
* Goddess
* Jediism
* Satanism
* Scientology
* UFO religion
* Raëlism

Historical religions

* Prehistoric
* Paleolithic
* Ainu
* Arabian
* Armenian
* Baltic
* Latvian
* Lithuanian
* Old Prussian
* Basque
* Celtic
* Druidism
* Irish
* Cook Islands
* Dravidian
* Egyptian
* Atenism
* Etruscan
* Finnish
* Fuegian
* Selk'nam
* Georgian
* Germanic
* Anglo-Saxon
* Continental
* Frankish paganism
* Norse
* Greek
* Gnosticism
* Greco-Buddhism
* Hermeticism
* Mysteries
* Orphism
* Guanche
* Harappan
* Hittite
* Hungarian
* Hurrian
* Inca
* Jamaican Maroon
* Manichaeism
* Mazdakism
* Melanesian
* Mesopotamian
* Babylonian
* Sumerian
* Micronesian
* Nauruan Indigenous religion
* Olmec
* Paleo-Balkan
* Albanian
* Dacian
* Illyrian
* Thracian
* Proto-Indo-Iranian
* Iranian
* Vedic
* Rapa Nui
* Roman
* Cult of Magna Mater
* Gallo-Roman
* Imperial cult
* Mithraism
* Mysteries of Isis
* Semitic
* Canaanite
* Punic
* Yahwism
* Scythian
* Slavic
* Somali
* Tongan
* Urartu
* Vainakh
* Zapotec

Topics

| Aspects|

* Apostasy / Disaffiliation
* Behaviour
* Beliefs
* Call to prayer
* Laicism / Laity
* Covenant
* Conversion
* Deities
* Denomination
* Entheogens
* Ethnic
* Faith
* Fire
* Folk religion
* God
* Goddess
* Indigenous
* Meditation
* Monasticism
* Monk
* Novice
* Nun
* Mysticism
* Mythology
* Ordination
* Orthodoxy
* Orthopraxy
* Paganism
* Prayer
* Prophecy
* Religious experience
* Ritual
* Liturgy
* Purification
* Sacrifice
* Sacred space
* Bodies of water
* Groves
* Mountains
* Trees
* Soul
* Spirituality
* Supernatural
* Symbols
* Text
* Truth
* Water
* Worship
* Astral
* Nature
* Place

|

Theism|

* Animism
* Deism
* Dualism
* Henotheism
* Monotheism
* Nontheism
* Panentheism
* Pantheism
* Polytheism
* Transtheism

Religious
studies|

* Anthropology
* Cognitive science
* Comparative
* Evolutionary origin of religion
* Evolutionary psychology
* History
* Neurotheology
* Philosophy
* Psychology
* Sociology
* Soteriology
* Salvation
* Theology
* Theories about religion
* Women

Religion
and society

* Agriculture
* Business
* Clericalism / Clergy
* Monasticism
* Ordination
* Priest
* Conversion
* Assimilation
* Missionary
* Proselytism
* Disability
* Education
* Fanaticism
* Freedom
* Pluralism
* Syncretism
* Toleration
* Universalism
* Fundamentalism
* Growth
* Happiness
* Homosexuality
* Minorities
* National church
* National religiosity levels
* Politics
* Populations
* Religiocentrism
* Schism
* Science
* State
* Theocracy
* Vegetarianism
* Video games
* Violence
* Persecution
* Terrorism
* War
* Wealth

Secularism
and irreligion

* Agnosticism
* Antireligion
* Atheism
* Criticism
* Deconstruction
* Objectivism
* Secular humanism
* Secular theology
* Secularization
* Separation of church and state
* Unaffiliated

Overviews
and lists

* Abrahamic prophets
* Deification
* Deities
* Founders
* Index
* Mass gatherings
* Names of God
* New religious movements
* Organizations
* Outline
* Religions and spiritual traditions
* Scholars
* Timeline

Religion by country

| Africa|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Republic of the Congo
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Eswatini
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

|

Asia|

* Afghanistan
* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* China
* Cyprus
* East Timor
* Georgia
* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* Korea
* North Korea
* South Korea
* Kuwait
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Macau
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Palestine
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Sri Lanka
* Syria
* Taiwan
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Turkey
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

Europe|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Austria
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Czechia
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Italy
* Kosovo
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* England
* Northern Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales

North America|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Canada
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States

Oceania|

* Australia
* Fiji
* Kiribati
* Marshall Islands
* Micronesia
* Nauru
* New Zealand
* Palau
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Solomon Islands
* Tonga
* Tuvalu
* Vanuatu

South America|

* Argentina
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Chile
* Colombia
* Ecuador
* Guyana
* Paraguay
* Peru
* Suriname
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

* Category
* Portal

* v
* t
* e

Outline of human sexuality

Physiology
and biology|

* Clitoral erection
* Erogenous zones
* Insemination
* Intersex
* Libido
* Nocturnal emission
* Orgasm
* Female and male ejaculation
* Pelvic thrust
* Penile erection
* Pre-ejaculate
* Pregnancy
* Sexual arousal
* Sexual response cycle
* Sexual stimulation
* Vaginal lubrication

Health and
education|

* Birth control
* Condom
* Male contraceptive
* Masters and Johnson
* Obesity and sexuality
* Reproductive medicine
* Andrology
* Gynaecology
* Urology
* Safe sex
* Sex education
* Sex therapy (PLISSIT model)
* Sexology
* Sexual dysfunction
* Erectile dysfunction
* Hypersexuality
* Hyposexuality
* Sexual medicine
* Sexual surrogate
* Sexually transmitted infection

Identity and diversity|

* Gender binary
* Gender identity
* Men who have sex with men
* Sexual identity
* Sexual orientation
* Women who have sex with women

Law|

* Age of consent
* Criminal transmission of HIV
* Child sexual abuse
* Incest
* Indecent exposure
* Obscenity
* Sexual abuse
* Cybersex trafficking
* Rape
* Sex trafficking
* Sexual assault
* Sexual harassment
* Sexual misconduct
* Sexual slavery
* Sexual violence
* Revenge pornography

History|

* Blue Movie
* Counterculture of the 1960s
* Feminist sex wars
* Golden Age of Porn
* History of erotic depictions
* Sexual revolution

Relationships
and society|

* Anarchism and love/sex
* Extramarital sex
* Family planning
* Flirting
* Free love
* Marriage
* Modesty
* Orgasm gap
* Polyamory
* Premarital sex
* Promiscuity
* Romance
* Sex-positive movement
* Sexual abstinence
* Sexual addiction
* Sexual attraction
* Sexual capital
* Sexual ethics
* Sexual objectification
* Sexual slang
* Split attraction model

By country|

* Ancient Rome
* China
* India
* Japan
* Philippines
* South Korea
* United States

Sexual activities|

* Conventional sex
* Anal sex
* Bareback
* BDSM
* Child sex
* Creampie
* Edging
* Erotic sexual denial
* Facial
* Fetishism
* Fisting
* Foot fetishism
* Footjob
* Forced orgasm
* Frot
* Gang bang
* Group sex
* Mammary intercourse
* Manual sex
* Anal fingering
* Fingering
* Handjob
* Masturbation
* Mechanics of sex
* Nipple stimulation
* Non-penetrative sex
* Oral sex
* 69
* Anilingus
* Cunnilingus
* Fellatio
* Irrumatio
* Paraphilia
* Pompoir
* Quickie
* Sexercise
* Sex in space
* Sex positions
* Sexual fantasy
* Sexual fetishism
* Sexual intercourse
* Foreplay
* Sexual penetration
* Sumata
* Swinging
* Tribadism
* Urethral intercourse
* Urolagnia
* Virtual sex
* Cybersex
* Erotic talk
* Wet T-shirt contest

Sex industry|

* Adult video games
* Erotica
* Pornography
* Film actor
* Prostitution
* Sacred
* Survival sex
* Red-light district
* Sex museum
* Sex shop
* Sex tourism
* Child
* Female
* Sex worker
* Sex toy
* Doll
* Strip club
* Webcam model

Religion and
sexuality|

* Buddhism and Hinduism
* Tantric sex
* Christian demonology
* Clerical celibacy
* Buddhist monasticism
* Catholic Church
* Hindu monasticism
* Jain monasticism
* Daoism
* Islam
* Judaism
* LGBT people
* LGBT-affirming religious groups
* Mormonism
* Sacred prostitution
* Ancient Greece
* Thelema
* Sex magic

* Human sexuality portal

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