I was asked
to write an article on the Thelemic group, and HOOR in particular, so
as to shed some light on what benefits one gets from joining such a
group. I have long pondered the question whether there needs to be
such a text at all; one could simply argue that individuals who do not
see the importance of thelemic group work, are simply not ready for
such work -- also, it is not the Order's task to advertise itself in
the way that for example politicians do; we prefer to initiate people
who feel themselves drawn to the Order, and we do not talk people into
joining our Order (or any other similar group). However, we are not
going to let ourselves get away with this so easily.
The question for any aspiring candidate to HOOR usually is: "What
does the Order have to offer me?" OK, now I am really applying
politricking in imitating one of the former US Presidents, but really,
the question should be, "What do you have to offer to the
Order?" To illuminate this point, I need to line out the Task of
the Order. In our Constitution, it is said that one of the Order's
"Aims & Principles" is to spread the teachings and
writings of Sir Edward Aleister Crowley (and I am paraphrasing here),
and more broadly formulated, we aim at institutionalizing the New Aon
of Horus and the Teachings of the Philosophy known as Thelema. Our
first and foremost task therefore seems to be to print and publish
books by Aleister Crowley or other literature "explaining"
Thelema to the Masses. As most Thelemites know, there has been a huge
fight over the literary inheritage of Crowley among different
fractions that formed after our Prophet's death or his "follower's"
death. We, as HOOR, do not legally own the Copyrights to Aleister
Crowley's writings, and we are obviously not engaged in re-printing
his books. We are busy with the practical sides of the Teachings of
Thelema -- we are busy learning, and teaching, how to APPLY Thelema,
both within the individual as in society.
"As above, so below." This ageold wisdom, usually attributed
to Hermes Trismegistus, but nowadays re-affirmed by Quantum Physics,
lies at the root of what HOOR is trying to do. We are still in the
forming phase of this New Aeon, Horus is still a suckling. We are
still miles aways from Thelema being identified as "a ruling
force" -- we are still doing groundwork. With social Orders such
as HOOR, we have found the means to TRY OUT what it means to run a
society under Thelemic principles. Every day in a HOOR Lodge or Temple
is a new challenge to our young doctrine. Although Liber AL and Liber
Oz give us some good piece of advice, the practical application of
these texts is to be our job. Now what does that have to do with old
Hermes, you might ask. Well, as above, so below -- and of course, as
below, so above is just as true. If we as a group, and we still are a
very small group, keep on working this experiment of a Thelemic
Society amongst ourselves, we set the way for a Thelemic Society as a
model for a new State, Nation or however you want to call "society-at-large".
What we do "below", will have it's echo "above".
That is, if we work the experiment with pure aspiration. And that
brings me back to my Politrickin'. This is what you can offer when you
join HOOR as a true Sister or Brother -- to work on the future
development of mankind on Thelemic principles. If you do so with a
pure heart, i.e. not for personal reasons, such as greed for power or
knowledge, but to SERVE as an Agent of Evolution, then your most banal
daily life will serve as a beacon of light on these "darkly,
splendid abodes" we call earth.
In the old times, Orders such as HOOR served primarily as collectors
and teachers of knowledge, or, to put it more simple, information.
Times have changed. A lot. Information is, most of the time, freely
available on the Internet. Be it the not-so "Secret rituals of
the OTO" or FBI files, if you really care to look for information
such as this, you will most probably find it. So the handing out of
textbooks is not our primary task anymore; the secret is out there --
There is no god but man, Osiris is a black god, but what does that
mean for us? What do we do with this? HOOR is not a library, but a
seminar.
There is a lot more to be said about this, but I feel that our
Overseer has done so much better in his article "Aphorisms for
the Perplexed" which I attach to this text.
Love
is the law, love under will.
Fraternally,
Terra Trema