On Masters and Men: Meditating on LA’s Gurus by Chris Wallace

No mere synthesist, Crowley claimed, as any self-respecting oracle must, to receive his teachings straight from his own private deity. Egypt seems as good a place for prophecy as any, striking just the right balance between ancient and apotheotic, worshiping man-gods as they did. It was while visiting the nation on the Nile in 1904 that Crowley received his teachings. In a trance-state lasting three days in April, Crowley involuntarily downloaded what he later termed The Book of Law as dictated by Aiwass, a minister for Horus, or the Holy Guardian Angel, depending on when you asked him. The Book of Law became the core of Crowleyanity, what he called Thelema, a mishmash of Magick, mysticism and cabala. Boiled down to its central tenet, Crowley described his philosophy thus: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Beneath all the gnarled occultisms, Thelema was a call to action, a celebration of the will. If you can do something, do it, whatever you can get away with. Game on.

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