Thelema

Thelema is a philosophy or religion based on the dictum, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. ... Love is the law, love under will," as presented in Aleister Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law). The word is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun : "will", from the verb : to will, wish, purpose. Crowley developed the belief system of Thelema following a strange series of experiences in 1904. He claimed to have arrived at the central credo of his religion primarily via a non-corporeal being, Aiwass, which dictated The Book of the Law to him during this time, although he acknowledged that earlier writers had influenced his system. This book contains both the phrase "Do what thou wilt" and the word Thelema in Greek, which Crowley took for the name of the philosophical, mystical and religious system which he subsequently developed. This system includes ideas from occultism, Yoga, and both Eastern and Western mysticism (especially the Qabalah). The Book of the Law formed part of the official syllabus of the A A , a magical order led by Crowley.