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This Epistle first appeared in The Equinox III(1) (Detroit:Universal, 1919). The quotations are from Liber Legis--The Book of the Law.--H.B.
 
``Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.''
 
``There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt.''
 
``The word of the Law is Velhma.''
 
Velhma--Thelema--means Will.
 
The Key to this Message is this word--Will. The firstobvious meaning
of this Law is confirmed by antithesis; ``The word ofSin is Restriction.''
 
Again: ``Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do thatand no other
shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose,delivered from
the lust of result, is every way perfect.''
 
Take this carefully; it seems to imply a theory thatif every man and
every woman did his and her will--the true will--therewould be no
clashing. ``Every man and every woman is a star,'' andeach star moves
in an appointed path without interference. There is plentyof room
for all; it is only disorder that creates confusion.
 
From these considerations it should be clear that ``Dowhat thou wilt'' does not mean ``Do what you like.'' It is the apotheosisof Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond.
 
Do what thou wilt--then do nothing else. Let nothingdeflect thee from that austere and holy task. Liberty is absolute to dothy will; but seek to do any other thing whatever, and instantly obstaclesmust arise. Every act that is not in definite course of that one orbitis erratic, an hindrance. Will must not be two, but one.
 
Note further that this will is not only to be pure, thatis, single, as explained above, but also ``unassuaged of purpose.'' Thisstrange phrase must give us pause. It may mean that any purpose in thewill would damp it; clearly the ``lust of result'' is a thing from whichit must be delivered.
 
But the phrase may also be interpreted as if it read``with purpose unassuaged''--i.e., with tireless energy. The conceptionis, therefore, of an eternal motion, infinite and unalterable. It is Nirvana,only dynamic instead of static--and this comes to the same thing in theend.
 
The obvious practical task of the magician is then todiscover what his will really is, so that he may do it in this manner,and he can best accomplish this by the practices of Liber Thisarb (seeEquinox I(7), p. 105) or such others as may from one time to another beappointed.
 
Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do thatWill with a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace.
 
Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movementof Things, thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. Andsince the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two differentselves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be God's will,Thou art That.
 
There is but one other word to explain. Elsewhere itis written-- surely for our great comfort--``Love is the law, love underwill.''
 
This is to be taken as meaning that while Will is theLaw, the nature of that Will is Love. But this Love is as it were a by-productof that Will; it does not contradict or supersede that Will; and if apparentcontradiction should arise in any crisis, it is the Will that will guideus aright. Lo, while in The Book of the Law is much of Love,
there is no word of Sentimentality. Hate itself is almostlike Love! ``As brothers fight ye!'' All the manly races of the world understandthis. The Love of Liber Legis is always bold, virile, even orgiastic. Thereis delicacy, but it is the delicacy of strength. Mighty and terrible andglorious as it is, however, it is but the pennon upon the sacred lanceof Will, the damascened inscription upon the swords of the Knight-monksof Thelema.
 
Love is the law, love under will.