Do what thou will shall be the whole of the Law!

Equinox greetings, sisters and brothers! This morning, Frater Sabazius shared the following quote on his Facebook page:

While the whole thing is cool to see, the part that jumped out at me was the Crowley quote about how the Equinox of the Gods is the term used to describe the Beginning of a New Aeon, or a New Magical Formula, and then “It should be celebrated at every Equinox…”

Now, I should confess up front that what I’m about to present is simply based on my own understanding of “how things work,” and shouldn’t be considered an official statement of how things actually work in the Magick of Thelema, in any degree of any Thelemic Orders, Equinoxes specific, recurring, or Aeonic, and probably magical formulas as well. I could be completely wrong here, but even if I have the details wrong, what I want to talk about is still right.

So with that disclaimer out of the way, what I think happened is this: Aleister Crowley attained the degree of Magus, performed the Invocation of Horus in Cairo in 1904, and spoke the Word of the New Aeon, which is Thelema (and is complemented by Agape, thanks Wikipedia for that phrase), and the magical formula of Abrahadabra.

If you believe all this stuff (I admit I do), when he did that, he kicked off the next stage of human spiritual development, which includes, but is not limited to recognition of Women as equal creators of the Universe, the empowerment of the “Crowned and Conquering Child” (or the movement of power from old fuddy-duddies to young fools who probably won’t screw things up completely, and that’s ok), and the ability of the individual to understand that they create what they speak into being, a Hermetic thing that I like a lot.

We moved from the worship of zombie gods (Zombie Osiris, Zombie Jesus) to the worship of the forces of Creation as We See Fit (Nuit, Hadit, Ra Hoor Khuit), at least, in my take on this stuff. That’s the “New Formula of the Aeon” that Thelema embodies and seeks to master, individually for each Thelemite, but also on behalf of everyone else. If these things are true, everyone who isn’t a Thelemite is still going to be operating under the conditions that empower individuals to do what they Will, and create a Universe as a result; we’re either doing that work on purpose, or suffering the consequences of doing it by accident.

Metaphorically speaking. I strongly believe we create our reality through every choice, one shot of bourbon at a time (ahem, metaphorically speaking).

But here’s the thing about the quote above: we’re told we should do it at every Equinox. We know* that Crowley kept doing the rite he refers to at every Equinox. He would do this ritual and receive a Word of the Equinox, and he’d send it out to the members of the A.’.A.’. so they’d know what the focus of the next few months would be as it relates to the members of the Order, Thelema at large, and the rest of the world.

So at least twice a year, there would be a divination/scrying ritual performed to determine the flavor of the magical formula you’d be dealing with in the mid-term. I have it on good authority that this practice continues within the A.’.A.’. to this very day.

So here’s what occurred to me this morning, waking up to the Equinox after attending the Invocation of Horus at Leaping Laughter, performed last night by Scott Stenwick and Michele Montserrat as they do every year to kick off the Office of the Readings:

We get stuck in a rut, doing the same things, day after day, week after week, and it’s not our fault, we just like patterns as human beings. But there’s a value in coming up with something new. Today’s the start of the new Thelemic Year. We don’t do resolutions, we don’t do new year new me, we don’t expect our lives to change in a heartbeat because the night and day happen to be the same time for a day. Instead, we take a look at what’s going on, where we are, and we appeal to our “higher selves,” or the “divine” for a moment of clarity to put things into perspective, a new perspective, and determine what we ought to focus on for a bit.

So if you don’t have the Neophyte ritual of the Invocation of Horus, or you don’t know about all this stuff, whether it means anything, or it’s just for fun, or whatever, consider this: Putting together a magical formula for your next six months, divining a Word that encapsulates what you’ll be focusing on that may or may not include outside influences is worth doing on occasion.

You get freedom and inspiration when you get a new formula. Whether you did or did not accomplish the last Word or Formula doesn’t matter. You get a new start. There’s something amazing that can change everything for the better when you open yourself up twice a year to receive new direction. It’s an “outside the box” moment that we are given, and even instructed to do.

So …

What’s your Word for the Equinox?

I got mine.

Love is the law, love under will.

* In a recent book published by the O.T.O. (Success is Your Proof) there is an entire section devoted to the analysis of one of the Words of the Equinox received by Crowley in 1913, I think, and what it means for us all now today. This stuff happened like all the time. It’s not an anomaly, it’s just like… tech that works.