Love Is The Law

Love Is The Law, Love Under Will
"Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor
let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the
dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet,
hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great
mystery of the House of God." Liber al vel Legis 1:57
This contains one of the most quoted verses in the Book of the
Law. The entire doctrine of Thelema is said to rest within the
lines: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law," and "Love
is the law, love under will."
We took a brief look at the way these verses interconnect during a
study of Verse 40. Aleister Crowley, who received the book
through contact with the entity named Aiwass, made a brief
interpretation of the verses. He wrote: "Each action or motion is
an act of love, the uniting with one or another part of Nuit; each
such act must be under will, chosen so as to fulfill and not to
thwart the true nature of the being concerned."
But there is much more to verse 57 than this one line. It will be
beneficial for us to examine everything Nuit had to say here
before trying to ferret out the significance of love under will.
The verse opens with the command to "Invoke me under my
stars!" The word invoke generally suggests calling forth by
incantation but it also can mean to simply summon through vocal
request or prayer. That Nuit, the creator, would order her
invocation "under my stars" is significant. Remember from the
beginning of her message, in Verse 3, that "every man and every
woman is a star." We have a picture here of Nuit watching us
lovingly from below as we light up the night sky with our
individual light, each of us following a perfect orbit of will, and her
universe in perfect harmony.
Then she proclaims that "Love is the law, love under will."
In a published discourse on this subject, one writer suggested
that will and love are two aspects of the same thing. "Love under
will does not mean that love is secondary to will, but that love is
under the impulse of will. In other words, love should be active . .
. Will is the drive to do a thing, and love is the method for doing
it."
But wait. Nuit's message does not end with this one simple
sentence. She goes on with: "Nor let the fools mistake love; for
there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the
serpent. Choose ye well!"
Crowley wrote: "The Love of Liber Legis is always bold, virile,
even orgiastic. There is delicacy, but it is the delicacy of strength.
Mighty and terrible and glorious as it is, however, it is but the
pennon upon the sacred lance of Will, the damascened
inscription upon the swords of the Knight-monks of Thelema."
He also said: While will is the law, the nature of that will is love.
But this love is as it were a by-product of that will; it does not
contradict or supersede that will."
In his many essays on this subject, Crowley concluded that our
tasks, as followers of Thelema, is to learn our will, and then do it
with "one-pointedness and detachment. "Then and then only, art
thou in harmony with the Movement of Things, thy will part of,
and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since the will is but
the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two different selves
could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be God's will,
Thou art That," he wrote.
This explains why we can each be compared to the billions of
stars in motion in the heavens. If we are all doing our will, or that
task that became our reason for existence, then we are in perfect
orbit and never in collision. Chaos and confusion does not exist
in our world. We are in harmony with the world and with our
fellow man/woman.
But the Book of the Law is not just about will. Nuit, the creator,
constantly declares her love for us and her desire to have us
understand and practice love for one another. But it must be love
on her terms. It must be love under will.
Does this mean it must be our will to love the other fellow or there
can be no love? I do not think so.
Remember in our examination of Verse 53 we learned that Nuit
declared the Earth "my sister, my heart & my tongue, unto whom I
send this kiss." Nuit, who is the entire universe, also is the planet
under our feet. Thus this planet is a sentient being and is quite
aware of everything happening on its service.
Thus Nuit exists in everything, including the rocks under our feet,
the trees in the forest, and the birds in their nests. She also exists
in each of her stars. Thus when she asks that we "Sing the
rapturous love-song unto me!" she is demanding that we
understand her presence in all things. We are all one. Thus it
must be our will to love Nuit. It must be our will to love the Earth.
It must be our will to love one another with equal fervor.
But it must not be blind, obedient love like the kind taught in
religious circles. There is entrapment there.
"There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He,
my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the
great mystery of the House of God," the verse concludes.
Love, as Crowley so eloquently suggested, can be harsh. While

we can love the individual, we must despise what some people
do. If they are not of us, we must either separate ourselves or
force them, sometimes with strict discipline, to learn the way of
Thelema.
Here is an example of what I am trying to say. Among our biggest
enemies is personal ego. Ego is a mask that all humans create
for themselves even as little children. It serves to hide our real
selves from the rest of the world. Before we can understand our
will and understand love under will, we must learn to control ego.
And therein cometh hurt. It is uncomfortable to remove the mask
and expose ourselves. It is even harsher when those around us
remove it for us. Thelemites will sometimes do this out of love.
We tend to view such action as anything but love under will. But
that is all it is.
Be forewarned: The Beast will be harsh when he arrives. That is

probably why he is referred to as the Beast. Yet his every action
will be performed out of love under will.
This is what Nuit means when she says: "He, my prophet, hath
chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of
the House of God."

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Love Is The Law, Love Under Will

Love, as Crowley so eloquently suggested, can be harsh. While

Be forewarned: The Beast will be harsh when he arrives. That is

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