Why is "Do as Thou Wilt" Satanic?

If you are new to the Band, occult imagery posts are shorter looks at the background and meaning of occult images. For more posts on occult symbolism, click here. For an introduction to the Band and the Dismantling Postmodernism series, click the featured post to the right or check out the archive.

Other links: The Band on Gab; The Band on Oneway

Anyone who looks into the occult quickly realizes that the terms are really hard to pin down. "Satanic" is a description that gets defined differently depending on who is using it. For example, the subject of this post, Aleister Crowley, is often described as a Satanist, but others point out that he was really a "Luciferian", and that calling him Satanic is a mischaracterization. One problem is that the meaning of "Satan" changes depending on who is using it. 

Alexandre Cabanel, Fallen Angel, 1847, oil on canvas, 121 x 189.7 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier

Romanticizing evil was another gift of Romanticism. Here, an academic artist makes the awakening of dark desires seem appealing. Artists continues to be useful tools for moral corruption.






From a Christian perspective, Satan is the prototype of selfish rejection of God's moral order and embodiment of evil in this world. By tempting Adam and Eve to do the same, he introduces self-worship in place of spiritual purpose - like a contagion. All the debasement, depravity, and exploitation that has stained human history are echoes of this first crime. 

Gustave Doré, engraving for Paradise Lost, Bk. 6, 874-875 'Hell at last Yawning receave'd them whole', 1866

From this point of view, it doesn't matter what you call it, placing the self over any moral order is Satanic by nature. But what if you have a different point of view?

















To an agnostic or atheist, Satan isn't real in an actual sense - he is just one of many demons, gods, and other supernatural beings that humans have worshiped at one point or another. The symbolism is "edgy" for idiots because it offends Christians but doesn't really mean anything. The more intelligent can think about it analytically and consider how the followers of a particular entity define themselves. This is more of academic approach.

Historical chart of the Hermetic Kabbalah an example of one occult/esoteric thread. Each box had its own definition.





















If we think of the Satanic as a pattern of behavior, things get clearer. This is obviously consistent with the Christian view, since Satan's fall was brought about by acting against the God's order for creation. But it is also based on real-world examples for the agnostic-types to consider. The problem is that the overall pattern is pretty big - there is a longer Band post on Satanic Postmodernism that barely scratches the surface. But that post cast a wide net - these shorter occult posts can untangle individual strands and worry about the big picture later. 

Let's start by puling on "do as thou wilt".

"Do as thou wilt" is the famous moral commandment associated with Aleister Crowley's occult "religion" Thelema. The full quote "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law".

"Prayer" from Crowley's Book of Lies (click for link). "Hoor" would be the Egyptian god Horus that Crowley claimed give him these teachings.

See the typical Satanic move - the inversion of something Christian so that it remains recognizable, but is perverted into an opposing meaning. Deliver us from Good and Evil, not Evil, calls for a third way that will be covered in a future post - balance. 

Remember that the Satanic pattern is to elevate your desires over the natural order. But what is the natural order? Let's look at an old diagram to help make sense of this: The empirical perspective is on the left, the Christian on the right. On the lowest level, both agree that the human knowledge and perception are limited. 

At the next level, the Christian sees the world as rational because God planned it. Agnostics recognize this implicitly when they flick the switch and expect the lights to come on. In either case, we have the ability to learn through observation - the evidence and logic of the true scientific method. But everyone who can think at all realizes there are limits to what we can know. Ask an atheist what preceded the Big Bang. The Bible itself admits that its precise meanings are unclear. 

The point is, regardless of belief, we are limited, finite beings in a universe that exceeds us. Ultimate reality is inherently beyond us, so our ideas here are ultimately issues of faith. 



Seen as a pattern of behavior, "rebellion against God" is just rebellion against "reality", however you define this. Even atheists realize that humans need some sort of society to thrive - life is pretty short alone - and that in a society there has to be some sort of moral or legal order. It's really simple - the Satanic pattern is the extreme selfishness of placing one's own desires over any moral restraint. 

Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Slave Market, 1871, oil on canvas, 74.9 x 59.7 cm, Cincinnati Art Museum 

But what happens when what people "wilt" comes into conflict? Without any other standards, might prevails, and there is no limit to what you should do to further your desires. Institutionalized sociopathy, in other words. There are no rights here. I can do as I wilt to you and yours unless you can stop me. This is an extreme take, but it is important to take man-made laws to their extremes to uncover their flaws. 

Thelema, like any occult group had an internal structure, based on levels of enlightenment. This followed the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, a very old esoteric structure based on numerological and occult correspondences. This graphic shows the ranks and levels in of Thelema over a tree of life diagram.
But it could be based on anything in a Satanic pattern since ultimately, there are no moral constraints. The "magick" and hierarchy are just the fake metaphysics to justify the leader's revenue and debauchery. 

The point is that it is conducive to one-world authoritarianism because there is no check on power-seeking. 

John Martin, Satan presiding at the Infernal Council, 1824, engraving, Victoria and Albert Museum

This crosses another thread in the Satanic web: lying. Consider this passage from John:

James Tissot, Curses against the Pharisees, watercolor over graphite, 1886-96, 16.2 x 23.8 cm, Brooklyn Museum
Lies oppose any sort of natural order because they are statements that did not happen. They may be based on reality, but they are not real. A lie can be whatever you want it to be - there is no external constraint. Do as thou wilt is the law here too. Say what thou wilt now, and do what thou wilt later. Having to keep your word is just a restriction on your future will.



There are branches of esoterica that view the Bible as a source of hidden wisdom, but without accepting the divinity of Christ. 

People are still trying to subvert the Christian message by re-imagining Jesus as a wise teacher or Jungian archetype. 














The esoteric tradition uses complex symbolic systems to represent hidden knowledge, and the Bible can be plugged into this. But the thing about Biblical symbolism is that it isn't mysterious. It is unclear in the details, and can be deeply hidden, but the basic ideas aren't secret. Be wary of anyone stretching Biblical symbolism into something contrary to the overall Christian message. 

Victor Pillement and Joseph Théodore Richomme, Adam and Eve standing on each side of the tree, after Raphael; lettered state, 1814, etching and engraving, 54.2 x 41.1 cm, British Museum, London

The relationships in this story are clear. The serpent lies to induce Adam and Eve to choose their own authority over God. The only non-Christian interpretation that is consistent with the spirit of the work is to connect deception and the violation of the natural or social orders to the concept of the Satanic. Twisting the message is actually a repetition of the original Satanic transgression: elevating what we want over what is real. 

Taken to the extreme, this becomes the Hermetic desire to become your own god - selfishness elevated to self-idolatry. So "Do as Thou Wilt" is "Satanic" in the most meaningful sense, regardless where it falls on the occult group diagram. 


Next time, we'll find the balance.