Laertes
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Do what tho wilt shalt be the whole of the Law.
hey everyone
I'm currently a senior at Penn State majoring in Classical and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and History and minoring in Jewish Studies. I have had a lifelong interest in ancient civilizations, medieval history, religious studies, and almost any era of human history. And I believe it is no coincidence that I came across high magick, Thelema, and the words of Aliester Crowley at the same time in my life that I made the decision to pursue studying ancient Greco-Roman religions as a lifetime career (this was roughly 2 years ago).
Prior to discovering Thelema I had been studying the connection between ancient magicians and the historical Jesus, which is were I first began to study the Ancient Greek Magical Papyri, a set of texts that resembles a traveling magicians' sort of reference work, dating from about the 2nd c. BC to the 5th c. AD. These contain spells and rituals with many of the same aims as those used in Thelema, especially union with divinity; even familiar titles such as IAO are invoked (although many of the spells were of a more practical manner). The syncretism found in these texts resembles Crowley's system, at least in the names of the divinities and gods invoked/evoked.I was so intrigued by these spells and rituals that I actually attempted a few of them, but to no real result for like the grimoires, these texts leave out other necessary skills and parts of the spell casting, I knew there must be more to magick then just reading spells and rituals off.then later that semester, I had decided to get the Greek word for wisdom (sophia) and the Hebrew word for understanding (binah) tattooed on my arm to sort of commemorate my completion of my second semester of studying both Attic Greek and Biblical Hebrew (currently in my third semester). While I was getting them put on my arm I was just chatting with the tattoo artist when he asked me about the words I was getting since I had told him about my academic study and such. We came to the topic of magick and I asked him if there was a good book that would explain some of the techniques and he told me to find Michael Kraig's Modern Magick and Crowley's 777. I got both although of course, 777 made little sense at first. However, Kraig's book was also excellent and helped me sort of "get my feet wet" while it also jump starting my reading of Crowley's stuff. (a very good intro to Crowley's life AND teachings was The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski, for all other newcomers) And the rest is history, here was Thelema, a system that incorporated and relied heavily on the knowledge I was already studying like Biblical Hebrew and ancient religion without being dogmatic that seemed to fill in all the missing pieces of the puzzle. Though highly cliché, it was sort of "love at first sight" and though it's been extremely frustrating trying to practice ritual magick WITH a roommate for almost a year and a half, God has finally granted me a single apartment next semester and I have finally begun crucial steps like hand crafting all my magical tools (except for the dagger and 333 chain as im not a blacksmith ). I've been praying for my own space to do rituals in for some time now and though I have about 5 or so weeks to move in I am finally taking initiative to really commit myself to things like Liber Resh, daily LBRPs and LRHs, meditation, and even the intense will exercises in Liber Jugorum , which I must say seem highly effective even after just a few days of constant practice.
Sorry, that was so long, I've never really taken the time to put that all into writing and I'm really glad I finally did, Crowley is certainly right when stressing the importance of writing down practically everything useful. I have never sensed a greater sense fervor for the Great Work before, which is why i suppose i decided to introduce myself.Love is the law, love under will
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.