What does the number 93 mean?

93: A Thelema Primer by Linda Yu

Thelema is an esoteric and magickal path whose mission is to make one realize one's purpose in life.

Thelema (pronounced THEL-eh-ma) is the Greek word for will, and it refers to Aleister Crowley’s doctrine and magickal tradition. The central creed is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law; love is the law, love under will”, which is represented by the number 93, and used as a greeting by Thelemites. Why 93? Back to Greek again: if you take the word thelema and represent each letter by a number, starting with alpha=1, then add them together, they add up to 93. The word agape (divine love) also adds up to 93. I will go into more depth about this later. Thelema is about realizing your True Will, being all that you can be, and in doing so, helping to make the world a better place. Magick, especially ritual, helps to facilitate this in a metaphysical way.

Aleister Crowley was Victorian England’s most notorious occultist. Raised in a strict Christian household, he rebelled by leading a wild life and jokingly referred to himself as “evil” and “the beast 666”. He joined the esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, from which he learnt Enochian magic, Kabbalah, astrology, tarot, and Theosophy. He had a long-standing enmity with the poet W.B. Yeats, who was also a member of the group. Crowley also traveled to Asia, where he studied the occult traditions of India and China. Before discovering Thelema, Crowley published books on Yoga and the I Ching.

While visiting Egypt, Crowley saw a vision of the god Thoth, who dictated to him The Book of the Law. This is the basic creed of Thelema.

So what does 93 mean? It doesn’t mean that you should just go out and “do what you want”. You first have to find your True Will, i.e. what you were put on this earth to do. In Liber OZ, Crowley hammers home the importance of this by saying that “man has a right to kill those who would thwart [his will]”, even though it really isn’t a good idea to go out and kill people. That’s where “love is the law, love under will” comes in. People should have compassion and respect each other and, of course, each other’s wills. That means no slavery, no murder, no child abuse, and equal rights for all. Growing up in a misogynistic and racially biased society, Crowley unfortunately absorbed the values of his time and did not live as an ideal Thelemite. However, his ideas show that he tried to break free of society’s biases, at least intellectually.

The Great Work, or main mission, of the Thelemite is to attain the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, also known as the Higher Self, who will lead one to realize his or her True Will. This can be achieved by doing magickal rituals like Liber Samekh, meditating, and living in accordance with the Law of Thelema.

Crowley uses the spelling “magick” instead of “magic”, because he wants to differentiate Thelema’s ritual practices from stage magic. “Magick” is the process of discovering one’s true will and of causing change in conformity with that will. There is a results magic and spellcraft component to Thelemic magick, but it is based around the goal of realizing one’s will.

There are quite a few philosophical as well as ritual similarities between Thelema and Wicca, due to the spread of ideas in English occult subcultures as well as the Campbellian universality of archetypes, among other things. The Wiccan Rede is “an it harm none, do as ye wilt”, which also stresses the importance of will. Thelemic god-figures are cognate with Wiccan ones; Hadit is the God and Nuit is the Goddess. Ra-Hoor-Khuit represents the individual Will, born of these opposing forces. Indeed, Thelema as well as Wicca recognizes that everyone’s soul has both masculine and feminine aspects. Thelema, being a part of the Western occult tradition, uses the Aristotelian elements, the watchtowers, and many of the same correspondences as does Wicca. Crowley actually wrote one of the earliest comprehensive tables of correspondences, called Liber 777. It is an excellent reference that shows the unity between Hindu and Buddhist, Egyptian, European occult, Jewish and Islamic spirits, herb usages, and much more. I suggest that my readers acquire a copy of 777 and supplement it with modern correspondence books that also contain information on traditions that Crowley did not research.

The most popular Thelemic group is the O.T.O., the Ordo Templi Orientis, of which Crowley used to be the leader. Although I am not a member of a group, I do believe that being involved with a group can be a valuable experience. They hold workshops, rituals, and the Gnostic Mass, which is a weekly Thelemic service that is a good alternative to a Christian Mass.

So how do you being applying Thelema to your life? Through meditation and the practice of Thelemic ceremonial magick. Thelema, being more of a mystical tradition tends to be heavy on invocation and cleansing rituals, rather than results rituals as in Chaos Magic. I will leave you with a basic rite that can be used as a part of spellcraft as well as Thelemic devotion. It is a Thelemic adaptation of the Kabbalistic Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and uses the Greek language as a testament to the Hellenic influence on Thelema.

Liber XXV: The Star Ruby

By Aleister Crowley

1. The Kabbalistic Cross

Facing East, in the centre, draw deep deep deep thy breath, closing thy mouth with thy right forefinger prest against thy lower lip. Then dashing down the hand with a great sweep back and out, expelling forcibly thy breath, cry: APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS (Go away, evil demons!)

With the same forefinger touch thy forehead, and say: SOI (To you)

thy member (or root chakra), and say: O PHALLE (O Phallus)

thy right shoulder, and say: ISChUROS (Strong)

\thy left shoulder, and say: EUChARISTOS (Host)

then clasp thine hands, locking the fingers, and cry: IAO (Isis, Apophis, Osiris)

Advance to the East. Imagine strongly a Pentagram, aright, in thy forehead. Drawing the hands to the eyes, fling it forth, making the sign of Horus, and roar: THERION (Beast; the God)

Retire thine hand in the sign of Harpocrates. (with your finger against your lip)

Go round to the North and repeat; but say: NUIT (The Sky Goddess)

Go round to the West and repeat; but whisper: BABALON (The Love Goddess)

Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow: HADIT (The God)

Completing the circle widdershins, retire to the centre and raise thy voice in the Paian, with these words: IO PAN (O Pan)

with the signs of N.O.X.

(Puer, The Boy: right arm extended in an L, left arm on lower belly, feet together;

Vir, The Man: hands in fists on the sides of one’s head, thumbs out

Mulier, The Woman: feet apart, arms bent out in L shapes, reaching toward the sky)

Ending:

Extend the arms in the form of a tau and say low but clear:

Pro mou iunges

Opsio mou teletarchai,

Epi dexia synocheis

Eparistera daimones.

Flegei gar peri mou o aster ton pente,

kai en thi sthlhi o aster ton hex esthke.

Before me the Abyss,

Behind me the Mysteries,

On my right hand Trials,

On my left hand Demons.

For about me flames the Pentagram, and in the column stands the six-rayed star.

Repeat the Cross Qabalistic, as above, and end as thou didst begin.

from www.sacred-texts.com.

I have somewhat paraphrased the translations. Help is always welcome from those who speak Greek well.

If you want to explore Thelema further, I suggest checking out the following books:

Liber AL vel Legis

Magick Without Tears

Both are by Aleister Crowley and can be found on the internet as well as in fine libraries.