Any Thelemites here? I would imagine many of you would be drawn to Thelema. For those unfamiliar with Thelema feel free to browse this site: Thelemapedia: The Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick | Main Page
It's funny that you mention it...I just downloaded a ton of Crowley books today to read for the first time. I've read a lot of occult material but so far I've been hesitant to study Thelema because all the talk of marketing itself as a religion and also Crowley being so hated by so many.
Calling Thelema a religion is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. I think spiritual practice would be a more appropriate description.
Getting Tough on Trigrammaton This might interest you guys. Lots more articles and mirrors here if that piqued your curiosity: Abrahadabra.com I'm not much for ceremony at the moment I guess and haven't looked into Thelema beyond a cursory investigation. From what I can tell, Crowley was an observant guy and he wrote some cool ass shit.
I toyed with it briefly before deciding ceremonial stuff like this was kind of pointless in the grand scheme of things.
You would probably all assume that I am a member of the Order of Oriental Templars or OTO but I am not. Crowley's books are written in a way that only an Initiate (which I am) can understand, so for anyone looking to get into the Occult I wouldn't advise starting out with Crowley's works. Just a bit of advice. Also Crowley was known as "the wickedest man in the world" and a drug fiend, neither of which are characteristics of a true Adept. Crowley knew his shit, but he was not the Adept that people credit him for. He likely possessed the knowledge and power he had through a contract with the demons of the Qliphoth, or rather Baphomet as he is the ruler of demons. For this reason I will not join the OTO even though a few of it's members would like me to join them.
Meh, I tend to assume people aren't OTO members these days. Mostly due to the fact that in recent times they couldn't organize a piss up in abrewery. He knew what he was doing but his works contain deliberate lies to put the foolish off track. Starting out with simple things is the best way to go IMHO. Bite off mroe than you can chew and you'll know about it.