The Orgasmic Ordeal

Sexual magick in Thelema

By
Fr. In Sterquiliniis Invenitur
 “​If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has
closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern​.”
― ​William Blake, ​The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Sexual magick is a magical sexual practice performed in several orders of Western

esotericism as well as tantric and hidden unorthodox branches of many religious

structures. In this paper, we will interpret this practice within the O.T.O (Ordo Templi

Orientis) and through the system of Thelema. This practice involves several rituals,

methods of operation, a cosmology and incorporates into it a wide range of religious and

sacred concepts, including the manifestation of the will of the practitioner through

ritualized orgasm. The Ordo Templi Orientis, or the Order of the Eastern Templars, is a

fraternity dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, active in several countries of

the world, which has seen an effervescence in America, more particularly in California.

This fraternity incorporates the esoteric doctrine of Thelema put forward by Aleister

Crowley. The central point of the Thelema follows a precise axiom, " Do what thou wilt
1
shall be the whole of the law, love is the law, love under will " which refers to a distinct

spirituality of finding and following one's true will and which inspires members to break

the established status quo. This has been especially the case in the 1900s, specifically in a

sexual lens "The Book of the Law solves the sexual problem completely. Each individual

has an absolute right to satisfy their sexual instinct and is physiologically proper for him.

1
​Crowley Aleister. 1904. ​The Book of the Law.​ (s.l.) : ​Weiser Books, p.13

1
The one injunction is to treat all such acts as sacraments. One should not eat the brutes,

but in order to make one go to one's will. The same applies to sex. We must use every
2
faculty to further the object of our existence. "

To understand how Thelema is essentially connected through sacred sexuality, we must

understand that this esoteric doctrine is anchored in a system of sacred sexual symbols

which is found in large numbers in the studies of the anthropology of the imaginary.

These analysis are therefore quite relevant to dissect the practices and rituals of these

Homo religiosus and their connection with the sacred and sexuality. In addition, Thelema

allowed a great sexual emancipation in the 1900s in connection with the religious and the

transgression of social norms, which is connected with the relationship between the

sacred, religion and sexuality

This work will focus specifically on the notions and rituals of sexual magick in the

practice of Thelema. I will first address the theme of Thelema. By this theme, I want to

put forward the story of this esoteric essence proposed by Aleister Crowley. I will

describe how these guidelines are sexually liberating and what impact this institution had

for the very religious and controlling paradigm of the 1900s. Subsequently, the central

sexual points of this esoteric doctrine, particularly the female archetypal aspect, the

matrix: Babalon and the male archetypal aspect, the phallus: the great horned beast,

Therion and Pan, also very briefly, the sources of these great schemes. I will approach

this theme by analyzing the main models and archetypal sexual concepts of Thelema,

2
​Crowley, Aleister 1970. ​The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.​ New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, p.539

2
how they relate to the matrix and the phallus. Moreover, how they open the door to

sexual magick. What is sexual magick in Thelema? What is its relationship with the

sacred and the religious? This third theme will be analyzing the religious and sacred

principles of sexual magick, the relationship of sexual magick as the axial column of

Thelema and how sacred sexual religiosity is practiced and ritualized. I will end with an

analysis of two distinct rituals: ​Eroto-comatose ​lucidity that allows the practitioner to

induce an altered state of consciousness following a specific orgasm to communicate with

a non-human being (HGA, God or any divinity) as well as the Cake of Light that takes

the form of an eucharistic ritual, where ritualists ingest a cake that is designed with either

male / female sexual fluid or menstrual blood. Followed by an analysis of the importance

of these liquids and their implications in the Eucharistic sexual ritual.

Thelema

Aleister Crowley was not new to the Western esoteric scene when he put into practice

Thelemic esotericism. He became familiar with several esoteric concepts such as:

Hermetism, Jewish Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Yoga, Tantrism, Taoism and many others.

Thelema as an esoteric doctrine, have seen the day in the early 1900s. It was during a trip

at Cairo, with his wife at the time Rose Edith Kelly, that Aleister Crowley was led to

write the main corpus of Thelema, ​The Book of The Law, 8​ , 9 and 10 of April 1904

respectively with the help of Rose Edith Kelly. The axial point of Thelema can be

summed up in a very particular axiom, "​Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,

3
 3
​ his law therefore, refers to inspire the practitioner to
Love is the law, love under will." T

be true to their True Will. ​Do what thou wilt does not mean to do what we want, this

sentence is highly symbolic and esoteric. Crowley wants to describe that every individual

must do what he should, in relation to his will. Besides, it is important to mention that

Crowley was closely influenced by German thinkers on the subject of the will. Whether it

was Nietzsche's will to power or Schopenhauer's concept of will, both influenced the

philosophical and esoteric conception of the Thelemic will. He even saw in Nietzsche a

manifestation of the Egyptian deity Thoth "Nietzsche was to me almost an avatar of

The important point that interests us here is that specific part of the axiom "Love is the

law, love under will "Crowley emphasizes the notion of Greek agape in the majority of

his esoteric writings. For him, love through the sexual aspect, is a primordial importance

of human societies, especially in the era of the 1900s. "Crowley also reflects the modern

world of concern in the early twentieth century. As Michel Foucault has argued, the

Victorian era has often been mistakenly characterized as a period of repressive repression

and suppression of sexuality. In fact, it was anything but a time of repression, and it was

an era of intense proliferation of discourse about sex, which was now categorized,

classified and theorized as never before. With his central emphasis on sexual magic,

Crowley epitomizes this modern fascination with sex as the innermost essence of the

3
​Crowley Aleister. 1904. ​The Book of the Law.​ (s.l.) : ​Weiser Books, p.13
4
​Crowley, Aleister 1970. ​The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.​ New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, p. 472

4
 5
human self. " This era was characterized mainly by a domination of religious discourse

by the Catholic institution. This discourse proposed by the three R's (​R​ites, ​R​ules,

sto​R​ies) allowed this institution to punish the libertine sexual aspect of the population.

Crowley was aware of this paradigm and the ritualized sexual practices he unveiled was a

powerful counter-argument to this discourse "The feeling that (sex) is shameful and the

sense of sin cause concealment, which is ignoble, and internal conflict which creates

distortion, neurosis, and ends in explosion. [...] The Book of the Law solves the sexual

problem completely. Each individual has an absolute right to satisfy their sexual instinct

and is physiologically proper for him. The one injunction is to treat all such acts as

sacraments. One should not eat the brutes, but in order to make one go to one's will. The

same applies to sex. We must use every faculty to further the one object of our existence"
6
Therefore, Thelema was an actor of sexual emancipation through sexual rituals and a

spirituality based on the full individual capacity to choose one's destiny as stated by Dr.

Pearson's "Crowley's Mission, taken straight from Nietzsche, was to" burst the limitations

of the individual's position in the world of personal freedom, replacing it with the higher
7
morality and power of the Will. "

5
​Urban, Hugh B. 2004. "The Beast with Two Backs: Aleister Crowley, Sex Magic and the Exhaustion of
Modernity.” ​Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions,​ vol. 7, no. 3, p.8

6
​Crowley, Aleister 1970. ​The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.​ New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, p.539
7
​Pearson, J. 2005. "Inappropriate Sexuality? Sex Magic, S/M and Wicca (or ‘Whipping Harry Potter’s Arse!’).
" ​Theology & Sexuality​, vol. 11, issue. 2, p.34

5
Archetypes of the Matrix/Phallus

Thelemic cosmology originates mainly from Egypt, like most Western esoteric orders.

For example, Nuit is the starry sky, infinite space and it refers to the Egyptian deity Nut.

Among all the archetypal deities of Thelemic cosmology, two stand out by their symbolic

and esoteric importance. Babalon, the sacred prostitute or the scarlet woman, and

Therion, the primal atavistic beast. Both lovers and sexual companions. Babalon refers to

the sacred prostitute of the ancient times, already we note the sacred sexual character of

this divinity in relation to the doctrine of Thelema. Babalon also represents the

emancipation of women in the context of sexuality, as well as being the representative of

the prostitute of Babylon, this archetypal figure is highly syncretic in nature, merging

multiple deities like Innana, Ishtar, Kali, Durga, Isis, Ma'at etc. Each represents the

archetype of the venusian and warlike feminine. She is therefore the main archetype of

femininity with her stellar octave as Nuit according to Crowley. Moreover, she is

symbolized by the chalice and the handling of a sword. This sword is a phallic symbol to

represent its active masculine strength, identical to Artemis with her arrows. It is

important to remember that I am simply trying to situate this archetypal figure and

concept within the context of this paper, further work has been done on the essence of

Babalon in much more detail than I layed out here. For exemple, see Kenneth Grant and

his interpretation of the Elixir Rubeus as red gold and intrinsically connected by the

menstruum of the Mother of Abomination.

Therion, meanwhile, is associated with the atavistic Great Beast. He is hairy and dark,

symbolizing the bestial and primal masculine power. However, in Thoth Tarot ATU XI,

6
Babalon is depicted riding the beast “she rides astride the Beast; in her left hand she holds

the reins, representing the passion which unites them. In her right she holds aloft the cup,

the Holy Grail aflame with love and death. In this cup are mingled the elements of the
8
sacrament of the Aeon” It represents not only the tamable aspect of the male primal

principle by the feminine but also the capacity of female liberation through the sexual

drive – Lust.

Pan is also extensively described in Crowley's work. Revealing the archetypal symbol

of the horned and phallic god. It is associated with what Crowley calls the Night of Pan.

The night of Pan is described as a state of alteration of consciousness where the adept

realizes a complete annihilation of the self. He must then cross the abyss, a mythological

and psycho-magical place where the adept must cross to face the dweller. The adept is

then plunged into the matrixial abyss where he undergoes a transformation to be reborn.

Crowley specifies that the adept is transformed in the womb of Babalon by the

impregnation of Pan. This imagery is absolutely electrifying to understand the symbolic

process of the womb as a dark and humid place to return to the cave and birth. By

undertaking a katabasis, which is the technical word for undergoing a journey into the

underworld. That is in other terms, the hero's journey. The adepts are actually journeying

in the personal unconscious, which is the abyss, or the chaotic waters. The hero's journey

is thus characterized by a descent in the underworld and then often than not, a slaying of

8
​Crowley Aleister, 1981. ​The Book of Thoth. N
​ ew York, S. Weiser. p.94

7
the dweller, which in alchemical mythos is the dragon. That proto-myth of the hero is

found throughout the iterations of this katabasis archetypal concept. Whether it is Ishtar's

descent into the underworld, Orphic Dionysus descent, Jesus' descent into the

underworld, the katabasic journey of Ra within Nut, Jonah in the belly of the whale,

Hermes rescuing Persephone from Hades, Odin’s suspension on the Yggdrasil etc.

The phallus is also resumed again and again in Thelemic mythology. The term is used

to describe the Will of the individual, the HGA but also the clitoris, the labia majora and

the labia minora.

"​ Mighty and erect is this Will of mine, this Pyramid

of fire whose summit is lost in Heaven. Upon it

have I burned the corpse of my desires.

This poetic verse defines the will as an active masculine force. Moreover this chapter is

entirely devoted to poetic allegories on the phallus, the title The Gun-Barrel is evocative.

Sex Magick

Sexual magick is not a new concept, it takes source in time immemorial. Moreover, as

Schubart points out, every act of sexual union is a re-mythification of mythical times

through genesis ecstasy. This is what we find in the sources of Thelemic sexual magic.

Indeed, Crowley studied the precepts of ritualized sexuality among several religious

9
​Crowley Aleister, 1995. ​The Book of Lies.​ York Beach, Me, S. Weiser. p.40

8
institutions. As a result, Crowley's introduction of sexual magic makes it possible to

bridge two distinct religious traditions, as Hugh Urban puts it: "Crowley's sexual magic is

itself a complex melding of both eastern and western traditions. In fact, Crowley would

become one of the most important figures in the transmission of Tantra to the West -
10
though with significant transformations. "

Sexual magick can be defined as a catalyst for the manifestation of the will of the

individual. Crowley believed that through orgasm, this crucial point where homogeneous

time stops, and by the induced alteration of consciousness, the individual has access to

the cosmic force of the universe, which he can then model according to his will "Because

sexual attraction is the most fundamental force in nature, the experience of orgasm is the

critical moment in human consciousness and the key to magical power. It is the moment

when the soul is opened up to the energies of the cosmos and new life is infused from the

spiritual realm into the material:

“at the instant of intense mutual orgasm the souls of the partners are opened to the powers of the

cosmos and anything then truly willed is accomplished.” As such, the experience of sexual climax

has the potential to lead the soul either upward or downward, to higher states of spiritual

transcendence or to lower depraved states of corruption: The moment when a man discharges his

seed—his essential self—into a . . . womb is the most solemn, energetic and powerful moment he

can ever know on earth; if under the influence of mere lust it be done, the discharge is suicidal. At

the moment his seminal glands open,his nostrils expand,and while the seed is going from his soul

10
​ rban, Hugh B. 2004. ""Magia Sexualis": Sex, Secrecy, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. " ​Journal of
U
the American Academy of Religion,​ vol. 72, no. 3, p.710

9
to her womb he breathes one of two atmospheres, either fetid damnation from the border spaces

or Divine Energy from heavens.Whatsoever he shall truly will and internally pray for when
11
Love... is in the ascendant, that moment the prayer’s response comes down"

Consequently, through sexual rituals, the individual can manifest this will in a

multitude of magical acts. For example: to charge a talisman of a specific intention by

applying the female or male sexual fluid, to invoke a deity by the ultimate focus during

orgasm (this example recalls a causal connection with the sexual ritual of fertilization by

the king at Sumer) and even to manifest any material or spiritual desire "Crowley found

in these explicit acts of transgression the key to a tremendous source of power. Through

these occult manipulations of impure substances, such as semen, blood, and excrement, it

is claimed to be unleashed in a magical way that could fulfill any spiritual or material
12
desire" This interpretation of the sexual act as the axial point of the Thelema allowed

the adepts to practice this genesic ecstasy through rituals. We will now dissect two

specific rituals.

Eroto-comatose Lucidity

Eroto (from the Greek ​Érōtos = eroticism) -Comatose. Lucidity by sexual desire in a

state of unconscious sleep. This Thelemic ritual aims to bring the individual into an

11
​Ibid p.703

12
​ rban, Hugh B. 2004. ""Magia Sexualis": Sex, Secrecy, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. " ​Journal of
U
the American Academy of Religion,​ vol. 72, no. 3, p.712

10
alteration of consciousness while inducing sexual stimulations and even sometimes

consume psychoactive substances, to ultimately communicate with God, a deity or their

H.G.A (Holy Guardian Angel) depending on the individual’s ontology. The ritual can be

performed with a partner or alone. Crowley specifies that the act is highly sacred if it is

practiced with a person of the same sex.

At the beginning of the ritual, the individual must be brought to sexual stimulation,

slow and intense. They must be completely submerged with orgasmic genesic sensations.

The goal is to exhaust the individual to help them transit in a state of trance. They can

also consume psychedelic substances to induce this state of altered consciousness. "​On

the appointed day he is attended by one or more chosen and experienced attendants

whose duty is (a) to exhaust him sexually by every known means (b) to rouse him

sexually by every known means. Every device and artifice of the courtesan is to be

employed, and every stimulant known to the physician. Nor should the attendants reck of
13
danger, but hunt down ruthlessly their appointed prey.​" The individual now in an

orgasmic trance must be awaken. The goal here is not to fully awaken the individual but

to lead them into a state between dream and lucidity, between conscious and

unconscious. By this transitory state, suspended in time, the individual is embraced by a

hierophany that allows him to communicate with the sacred. The ritual can end in two

ways. One is the individual falling asleep in a deep sleep and the second by the orgasm. If

13
​Crowley Aleister. 1987. ​De Arte Magica. (​ s.l.) : Holmes Pub Grou Llc, (s.p.) ch. XIV

11
the ritualist is a man and ends the ritual with orgasm, semen, as an elixir, should be

consumed by him, possibly in a Cake of Light.

Cake of Light

This ritual takes essence in the concept of the Eucharist. This concept is indicative of

the essence of the ritual because the ritualists consume the body of Christ, the sacred

body. However, in the context of Thelema, the sacred body is the body's sexual fluids.

First of all, what is the Cake of Light? The Cake of Light is a cake, often baked in the

shape of a cookie/cake, containing several key ingredients: Abramelin oil (ceremonial

magick oil taking source in an ancient grimoire called ​The Book of Abramelin ​sourcing

itself to the Holy Anointing Oil of Judaism), honey and body fluids in particular : semen,

vaginal lubrication and menstrual blood. Crowley uses an esoteric and metaphorical term

in ​The Book of The Law to define these types of fluids "​The best blood is of the moon,

monthly: then the fresh blood of a child, or dropping from the host of heaven: then of
14
enemies; then of the priest or of the worshippers: last of some beast, no matter what.​" In

the last excerpt as well as in the entirety of the author's work, he makes use of the

formulation of ​blood. ​Blood of the moon ​refers to the menstrual blood that he places at

the top of the Eucharistic hierarchy. ​The fresh blood of a child refers to semen and ​or

dropping from the host of heaven to the glans through which the semen is ejaculated. I

will not go into detail on the symbolic and metaphorical totality of this prose but I would

14
​Crowley Aleister. 1904. ​The Book of the Law.​ (s.l.) : ​Weiser Books, III :24

12
like to specify the use of the word child. "The Naths imply that the semen and menstrual

blood are forms of Siva and Sakti, and Crowley holds a similar view. They all also attach

great importance to the symbol of the child, and from a certain perspective, this "child" is

identical to the human sperm. In the case of the Naths, this is implied through the
15
correspondence between the semen, Siva, and Gorakhnath." The author of this last

quotation demonstrates the link between the symbol of semen and the child in the Nath

Shaivite tradition.

Moreover, Crowley specifies the link between the sanctity of these fluids in relation to

the consumption of the cake in a Eucharistic context. "The Magician becomes filled with

God, fed upon God, intoxicated with God. Little by little his body will become purified

by the internallustration of God; day by day his mortal frame, shedding its earthly

elements, will become in very truth the Temple of the Holy Ghost. Day by day the matter

is replaced by Spirit, the human by the divine; ultimately the change will be complete:
16
God manifest in flesh will be his name."

The consumption of body sexual fluids in a Eucharistic cake of light not only

symbolizes the sacredness of these fluids, but it also embodies a conception of the will.

Indeed, when the ritualist manifests his will during orgasm, he infuses it into his sexual

15
​Djurdjevic, Gordan. 2010. ​"Solve et Coagula: Attitudes Toward the Ambrosial Aspects of Human Seed
in Certain Yogic Traditions and in the Sexual Magick of Aleister Crowley." ​Aries​, vol. 10, Issue. 1, p. 99

16
​Crowley Aleister, 1995. ​Magick : Liber Aba : Book Four : Parts I-IV,​ p.269

13
secretion. From then on, the semen is impregnated with this will and by the consumption

of this fluid, the ritualist participates in an integral manifestation of the will imbued

during the orgasm.

In retrospect, the esoteric doctrine of Thelema, especially through its conception of

ritualized sexual magick, allows us to better understand how the ​homo religiosus

actualizes its cosmovision in relation to the sacred, religion and sexuality. Moreover, it

allows us to analyze these themes from a precise perspective as to the metaphysical and

symbolic conception of the main concepts of sexuality. From the outset, we have seen

that Thelema is embedded in an essentially controlled paradigm of a Catholic discourse

in the West and at the same time, allowed the members of this esoteric doctrine to

sexually emancipate themselves from such a discourse. Subsequently, the context of the

main cosmological actors of Thelema allowed us to reveal the key concepts and

archetypes of the feminine and the masculine. In particular, by the analysis of Babalon as

the matrixial figure, Therion as the archetype of masculine primal bestiality and Pan as

the phallic axial archetype. The analysis of these concepts then overlapped in a continuity

by the definition of what is the nature of sexual magick in Thelema. We have found that

sexual magick takes place in much older traditions and that it allows to manifest the will

of the ritualist by the actualization of orgasm and an alteration of consciousness. Finally,

we analyzed two distinct rituals: Eroto-comatose lucidity and the eucharistic ritual of the

Cake of Light. This analysis made it possible to bridge all the themes put forward as well

14
as linking the concept of the sacred, the religious and sexuality. In light of this text, as

well as the time and the limit imposed on the realization of this text, it seems obvious to

me that we have not exhausted the subject. It would have been equally relevant to

question the importance of alterations of consciousness as a catalyst for sexual rituals.

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‘Whipping Harry Potter’s Arse!’). " ​Theology & Sexuality​, vol. 11, issue. 2, p. 31–42.​

Urban, Hugh. 2008. ​"​The yoga of sex: Tantra, orientalism, and sex magic in the Ordo

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16
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17