Crowley the Great Beast 666

Woodstock and Crowley

Yes, there is a connection. The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock. The sixties.

The Sixties were about the dawn of a new time of man. It was to be about peace, free love and a form of fuzzy wuzzy anarchy. Freedom, total freedom for people. It was doomed to failure. People are terrified of freedom. People are unable to handle the responsibility inherent in freedom.

Now, I'm going to stray into the realm of spiritual freedom and our species' inability to accept the concept. The vast majority unwilling to accept that we are the authors of our own spiritual destiny. What a horrifying possibility!

Society, regardless of geography, is constantly engaged in a desperate search for teachers, for leaders. To think that we must make our own decisions is, apparently, too much. Disagree? Look around you. Everything we do, everywhere we go, even what we eat is directed for us. The Nanny State. The Civilized West - lands of the free? Step out of line and see how free you are. Disagree, point out the emperors have no clothes and see how far the freedom rhetoric gets you.

Our spirituality is the same. Scripted, directed for the masses. Fear that we may, somehow, be WRONG - that at the end of the road, we'll hit the Big Boss and be told we had it all wrong. Individuals are brainwashed into believing they are not worthy of receiving holy words, regardless of religion. Following along, like good little lobotomized sheep. Following along even though the truth, the injustices sit at the back of the mind, crying out.
The followers of Islam, of Christianity, of Judaism, the Sikhs...all of them are guilty of the sheep mindset and following leaders who, if advocated what they advocate in regular society without the mantle of clergy, would find themselves in a criminal court room.

We are the Conquering Child. We aren't wrong. Each and everyone of us is given our own road to travel. There is no spiritual GPS. There is no guide to take us along. We have to do the work ourselves. Clean the space, fill in the potholes - smooth our own way. There's no true easy way.

Woodstock, the peace and love crew found that out and ran screaming for the safety of the Nanny State. Hell, they CREATED the Nanny State, they feed it and nurture it. Those hippies with the flowers painted on their faces, sucking on doobs, and dressed in clothing made by virtual slaves in third world countries? They are the movers and shakers now. The Enron group, the Fanny Mae, GM executives. They are the politicians, the police state.

The whole raising of Woodstock to mythical proportions really bugs my ass. 1/2 million people join together in peace. Bullshit. Peace and love had nothing to do with it.

They joined together to indulge in lots of drugs, sex and catch some kickass bands. The whole peace thing was over. They wanted freedom, marched in the streets against government but when it came down to it? The price of true freedom was too high and the concept was simply too terrifying. They slunk away, tails between their legs...leaving the next generation nothing but shambles.

This happens a lot. France wanted freedom but gave up one form of Nanny State for another. Chopping off a few heads was easy - the freedom was the hard part and as history shows, it was too hard. Freedom fell in the wake of (cough) a more modern democracy.

The same is true in matters of spirituality. Few people, in the whole global concept of people, have the cajones to take their own reins. To plot their own destiny. It is just too hard. Hurts their poor little brains. Crowley tried and was vilified for it.

The ugly (?) truth is that there are no leaders, no teachers - there is no one out there capable or qualified to provide spiritual answers. Those answers are found inside of each and everyone of us. Want a tall white haired dude as your archetype of deity? Go for it. Want the Amazon woman on the cliff, spear in hand, looking out over a raging sea while her hair is tossed by the wind? She's yours.

Want a whole posse of archetypes from which to choose, depending on your mood? Slap your hat on sideways and do your representin'. They are at your command.

And all of this started as a discussion and the appearance of Crowley/Thelema on the Haven. Crowley aspired to be the Conquering Child but in the end?

He ended up as the lost one, crying and looking for someone to direct him. (IMO, of course). He did, however, introduce the concept of Do What Thou Wilt to a whole new generation. It remains to be seen if that generation is capable of accepting the responsibility of True and Free Will. To accept that each one of us is a deity in our own right. To acknowledge that we are the authors of our own journey. That no one holds power over us or has the authority to tell us where to look for our spirituality. Because? Nobody knows. Nobody has that kind of omnipotence. Not the pope, not the High Priest, not the Rabbi, not the elder. And definitely not some bunch of self-appointed Thelemites-Looking Down-From-On-High.

No one can point us the way. The way is created by ourselves. The way is our own personal destiny and one we walk in perfect freedom - if we can stand up to the challenge.

We are all free birds. The cages that house us are of our own making.

Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law.

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