WHAT IS TORONTO THELEMA?
Toronto Thelema is a community effort to provide social gatherings for like-minded individuals, to host workshops on Magick and esoteric subjects, and to promote discussions and study into the nature of the mind and of the Universe around us.
As a rule, Toronto Thelema doesn’t accept money for any of its undertakings. If ever an exception is made to this rule, it will be for specific reasons related to covering unavoidable costs, and not undertaken lightly, and will never be for personal profit. Unless clearly stated otherwise, all our output is offered free of charge.
WHAT IS THELEMA?
Many ideas float around the internet regarding what Thelema is about, and what Magick and esoteric teachings are ultimately for. Ignoring the misinformed slander, the dismissive condescensions and the flighty tangents that all too often distract from the real subject, our concern and our focus is on unlocking human potential — the potential of the individual, and the potential of humanity as a whole.
The focal point for unlocking this potential is epitomized in Thelema by the True Will. Discovering one’s True Will involves coming to fully know oneself and one’s trajectory through the Universe.
Aleister Crowley believed his True Will was “to teach mankind the Next Step” — and he defined that next step as the individual work of self-emancipation, self-empowerment and authentic self-expression that comes with what he termed “the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.”
Certain principles are also held or implied by Thelema, and these are best studied in The Book of the Law, and in Crowley’s commentaries thereon. But some of the implications of them involve:
- The importance of individual liberty
- A saying “Yes!” to life; in contrast to old religious systems and their common negation of life as corrupt and evil in favour of a posited netherworld
- A scientific approach to Magick and mysticism
IS TORONTO THELEMA PART OF O.T.O. (OR SOME OTHER ORDER, TEMPLE SYSTEM OR GROUP?)
While Toronto Thelema is not affiliated with or representative of any orders, temple systems or other groups, O.T.O. or otherwise, it gladly offers support to any such local Thelemic groups and their public events and activities.
Toronto Thelema is not an initiatory system, but simply a community effort. Included in its goals is the intention to be transparent regarding its operations.
