Is the Astrum Argentum becoming a religion?

No

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by Richard Sprigg

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The Astrum Argentum, or Silver Star is a secret brotherhood of magicians founded by Aleister Crowley around a hundred years ago. Under Crowley's guidance, the A.A. accepted the Law of Thelema, which Crowley claimed to have received from a discarnate entity in April of 1904. To understand the driving philosophy behind the A.A. and it's nature it is necessary to briefly describe Thelema.

Thelema (Greek for will) is not, and can never be, a religion in the traditionally accepted sense of the word, but is perhaps described best as a system of cosmogony, a philosophy that can be brought to bear upon every facet of existence. There is one law, expressed in the text of Liber Legis (The Book of the Law) as "There is no Law but Do What Thou Wilt; Love is the Law, Love under Will." It should be noted that the Will referred to is not the idle cravings of an empty mind, but the driving force behind a life lived to the fullest. Thus the will of Van Gogh was to paint, while that of Mozart was to write music.

It is obvious that with this basis, Thelema cannot be a formal religion, simply because of the requirement for individuality negates that possibility. There are three symbolic figures, referred to as two Gods and a Goddess, yet as Crowley wrote, this identification is purely for convenience, and should not be taken literally, nor used anthropomorphically. Everything is to be interpreted by each individual for himself in the light of his own experience and understanding. Discussion of the book is forbidden.

The A.A. was based on the concept, not unusual in such societies, that an aspirant should only know the brother who sponsored his membership. The society offers no training, that task being the responsibility of the sponsoring brother. The unifying force is the desire of the brothers to work together, and the power of the magical oaths they have sworn to do so.

Since Crowley's death in 1947, the A.A. has broken into numerous factions, each claiming lineage back to the original. This is one of the penalties of the system of organization, further accentuated by the nature of Thelema.
Thelemic philosophy makes it impossible for any one individual to assert overall authority when the supreme head of the order dies, while in earlier times more hierarchial philosophies made this relatively easy.

The A.A., to put it succinctly, is several small groups of magical adepts, who espouse a philosophy of freedom to pursue their own destinies and take personal responsibility for their own actions. That such groups could ever come together into a formal religious setting is an idea that beggars the imagination.

A short note: the phrasing of the Law of Thelema is very similar, yet markedly different in nature to the Wiccan Rede, which was created by Gardner and Crowley some years later. They should not be confused.

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