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Is it general knowledge that Crowley's Thelema appears to be based on the Abbey of Theleme in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel?
I wouldn´t go so far and say "based on", but for every Thelemite or otherwise Crowleyania interested person, this should be general knowledge.
In his book Magick, Crowley has Francois Rabelais in a list of recommended reading, and he was probably inspired by Gargantua et Pantagruel, when he founded his Abbey in Italy.
But that wasn´t the only or main influence on the Book of the Law. For example, at the time, Crowley considered himself a buddhist, which supposedly was the main reason, he wasn´t fond of the Liber Legis and put it away somewhere for years. I don´t see much buddhist influence in the Liber Legis though.
Also, at the time, old Egyptian culture was hip, especially with the members of the Golden Dawn, where Crowley and Florence Farr were members at the beginning of the new century. Farr wrote "Egyptian Plays" and Crowley probably had read these and of course knew all about the Egypt rites, gods and symbols, that were all the rage at the Golden Dawn at the time. Obviously, the Book of the Law is full with this lore, and that he picked Egypt for his honeymoon might be attributed to the mentioned Egypt infatuation.
Then there are kabbalistic influences and all that "no pity, hit them without mercy, christ sucks" may be Crowley flipping the bird to his parents, who were members of some hardcore christian sect and made his childhood miserable. |
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