#nor should any individual experience overshadow anybody else's

[thenameless792]

It’s also like, deadnames are literally that. Dead names. The origin is because historically (and currently), a lot of us trans people are unable to change our name legally. So when we die, they put the name assigned to us at birth on our tombstone. Our eulogy. Our death announcement. Our will. Our death certificate. Our name, our real name, the one we lovingly tried on and found fit perfectly, is ultimately erased when we die. Stamped over by a different name–our dead name. The name that the community and future historians will use because it’s on our grave. 

That is a dead name. Not just a name that is dead to us, but a name that will consume us after we die.

i don't get the whole deadname thing. like i do empirically but it never applied to me. personally my birth name's like. idk, yugoslavia? it's not accurate to call me that now and if you do you're a bit dense, but sometimes you need to speak about history with the names it had at the time, and that's all good.

[kvlt-ov-romance-blog]

Love is the Law

I was recently massaged by someone who asked why I only seem to apparently follow half of Crowley's statement: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the, love under will."

Essentially, this is actually a pretty valid concern that applies to a lot of Thelemites in general. In order to maximize your chances of achieving true will, it is fair and logical to make sure you do not take only one or the other of these ideas while ignoring the rest of them. To do so, is to be imbalanced in the realms of spirituality, philosophy, and so forth from a purely traditional Thelemite perspective, arguably.

In my case, I think on the surface it would be easy to assume I only believe in the first part of Crowley's law, because as an artist, it is easier for me to convey esoteric symbolism and darker aesthetics such as my pieces on the Goetia, than it is to convey love. But nevertheless, keep in mind the name of this blog: Kvlt ov Romance (cult of Romance). I often make art dedicated to personal heroes, people that I love in their own unique ways -- hence the title of the blog is a reflection of my admiration for people such as musicians who strive to meet their own true will, and it is even perhaps sometimes a bit more "fanboy-ish" at times for that reason admittedly.

The blog was initially called Nihilistic Thelemite, but it just didn't sound as good and didn't seem as fitting, especially since like I mentioned, I do a lot of tribute based art that reflects a love for concepts, people, symbols, faith, etc. But in any case, Thelema is paired inherently with the concept of agape, perhaps the highest form of love. The two are inseparable in my opinion. I may occasionally make art or poems that appear hedonistic, nihilistic, or otherwise devoid of love and lightness but this is art, a medium for channeling my emotions and darker sides. It doesn't mean I am ignoring "love is the law."

I am not a Wiccan so the Wiccan rede does not mean as much to me, nor I am not hugely concerned with concepts such as Karma, and so forth. I believe in the importance of individual autonomy above all else, but having myself been a former anarcho-communist and a student of sociological discourse when I was at university, I'm very aware of the need for collective unity and the importance of groups, cooperatives, etc.

"Do what thou wilt" is not meant to be taken as pure debauchery and infantile anarchism, it is far more nuanced than that and it also certainly does not mean to go out and harm others. The love and agape aspects of Thelema are overshadowed by this first line and by Crowley being "the wickedest man in the world," but this is out of ignorance for what Thelema entails.

Crowley was born October 12th, making him a Libra. Interestingly, I am also a Libra myself, but one more closely like Crowley in that I am very airy (my thoughts are always blowing around) and that for as much as balance and justice are important to me, so too is tipping the scales and experimenting with extremism. There are different types of Libras, I for instance am one day away from being a Scorpio, but no matter what we almost universally all tend to acknowledge the need for balance and fairness, for the scales to be lined up evenly. Perhaps if you are practicing left hand or right hand path magic, one may outweigh the other but it all eventually comes back to how well you can center yourself, and if you're truly taking all of Thelema to heart this means acknowledging "love is the law."

And for further clarification on what this statement means, I think the beauty of Thelema is that we are free to define it for ourselves in a large way. For me personally, it means that we should strive to treat each other with respect and be aware that all of us have a will that we are attempting to follow or awaken to. We all deserve fairness, it's literally an elementary concept ("the golden rule") that extends far beyond the occult. It also means that we should try our best to love ourselves, and this one can be especially difficult. Part of me wonders if Crowley included this line to forever remind himself to take care of himself and not let go completely of this life, as a man who so often struggled with fitting in, substance abuse, being blamed and misunderstood, and the like. Of course he was strong enough and had a good sense of humor of everything to not let his issues ruin him, but every little bit of support helps, especially when it seems in his case, it was coming from his own holy guardian angel.

Ultimately, I am not the type to turn the other cheek. I do not believe in non-violence either. But I am not particularly concerned with grudges, revenge, or anything like that. Satanism for instance can be a little more "unforgiving" for example, and that's one of the reasons I don't adhere to it. But love is something special, perhaps the very force that keeps the universe together for all we know. So if I ever appear to be ignoring this construct, just know that I am very much aware of it in actuality and think that more Thelemites should be as well.

P.S. I rarely am political here, but I will say this much; anybody whose interpretation of Thelema leads them to justify Nazism really needs to re evaluate their principles and understanding of the occult. And that's the nicest way I'll phrase that...