BISEXUALITY/PANSEXUALITY AND THE NEW
AEON
By: William Hunter (Frater Bozo II)
"One of Crowley's most frequently expressed
ideas was that as the years progress into
this new age, more and more people will come
into incarnation with bisexual characteristics.
They will be epicene. I never expected to see
this statement corroborated as early as it has
been." Israel Regardie 1970
The New York Area Bisexual Network (NYABN) is today in the
same position that the Gay Rights movement and Sexual
Revolution
itself was twenty years ago. Bisexuality as a cultural norm
is in
fact the natural next step for our society to take. It is, I
believe, the evolutionary trend of the entire human species
as we
prepare ourselves for the next step off the planetary
surface and
into space. This statement is corroborated by a number of
trends
in the overculture. The specific trend I have the most first
hand
experience with is the emergence and spread of a philosophy
known
as Thelema. (The word Thelema is the greek word for Will.)
The
purposes of this essay are first, to present the Aeon Model
of
human evolution as an option for viewing the ever increasing
technological and social changes that surround all of us.
Second-
ly, I will to present the philosophy of Thelema, a game plan
for
living, as a powerful and effective option for bi/pan sexual
people to make positive changes in their lives. The Thelemic
movement, like the bisexual movement, is a valuable social
entity
because it is a new unformed social structure towards which
power
and resources can flow. This helps diversification.
"DO WHAT THOU WILT SHALL BE THE WHOLE OF
THE LAW."
This sentence is one of the two precepts that are the
quintessence of Thelema.
This does not mean do whatever you want. No. It means do
whatever you will, whatever your Will is to do, and nothing
else.
Will in this context is something similar to what the Lord's
Prayer the good Cathloic nuns were so anxious to teach me
means
by "Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done." Every man
and woman of
us has a Will. It is what could be also called a destiny,
what
you were meant to do. Except that by Will we mean a course
that
you yourself must first go through the hard work to find and
then
live. The moment by moment course of your life.
There are no gods upon whose backs we can piggy
on to salvation;
there is only the divinity inherent in every man
and woman, and there
is the resolve to take responsibility for that
divinity, and to train
your self to gain conscious access to it. On a more
pragmatic
level, Will is what you are best at, your own genius: if it
be
dance or (for me) writing, or fixing car engines, and the
life we
each live to make the best use of our talents. Finally, Will
is
that mysterious energy, the life force that fuels every cell
in
your body. There is no grace. There is no guilt. There is no
law,
save "Do what thou wilt."
Wants are a different matter. You can want to
make love to
somebody and want to remain faithful to your lover. You want
to
stay home from work but you also want money. You can want to
be a
artist, but lack the discipline to show up for a dinner date
on
time. Wants often conflict. Your Will is the one course of
action
you have an absolute right to follow every time Practically
speaking your Will can be only one choice of action at a
time
among all the myriads of choices open to you. "Do what
thou wilt
and none shall say nay." Your Will is similar to your
physical
muscles, train it and it grows stronger. You grow stronger
through the self-discipline needed to find your Will, and
the
momentum you gain from living it out.
There is uncompromising freedom in choosing your
will, and
unrelenting responsibility for having done so. This is one
of the
essential differences between Magick, which was the name
Aleister
Crowley (or uncle Al as he is known to Thelemites with
senses of
humor) gave to his system of self training, and Religion.
Al-
though Magick (not stage illusions--rabbits out of hats)
answers
the same kind of needs that religion does, it is not the
same.
Magick is the conscious creation of all kinds of
change in accordance
to your Will. (This includes fixing the
plumbing, or writing a book, as
well as weird rituals!) There is no need to take
anything on the
authority of some God or Devil, or even Priest
or Rabbi or Minister,
unless it is the Will of the individual to do
so. Magickians have always
been hated by priests and religionists. This is simply
because, first,
magickians don't believe you gotta pay some
priest to do what you
can do best for yourself and, second, because
magickians are the
kind of people who don't even believe that you
have to do homage
to some deity when, as the line from the Gnostic
Mass states "There
is no part of me that is not of the Gods."
Psychologists call this as
having an internal vector of control. Self
control. A magickian is a
pragmatist, and a religionist is a dogmatist.
"LOVE IS THE LAW, LOVE UNDER WILL"
This is the second sentence that along with the first above
forms the quintessence of Thelema.
The only word that has the universality to
adequately
describe the course of any person who is in touch with and
doing
their Will is love. Love is any and every process which
causes
change to more complex levels of organization. Love is that
which
liberates, which promotes diversity and freedom. It is any
act
made free of the strictures of fear. It is DNA. The will to
love
is found in any combination or union that creates, be it
between
a hydrogen and two oxygen atoms to make water, or between
two
people to create ecstasy (or a baby). The will to love
permeates
every corner of the multiverse. It is what compelled
hydrogen
atoms aeons ago to begin spiralling out of some mystery
still
beyond the understanding of the wisest into flesh and bone
human
beings. Love is evolutionary. We are, literally, and
figurative-
ly, each and every one of us, a star, self-contained, self-
propelling, and yet we take delight in each other. We
exchange
words and touches and emotions together, and together we can
free
ourselves from the only sin possible to the human being who
has
the courage to take responsibility for their own evolution:
restricting our own wills or the wills of others.
Restricting the
chance of union and love.
There are three common traits among people who
are dogmatic.
First is a lack of sense of humor about what they believe.
Second
is a surrender of responsibility for what to believe (and
therefore
for what to do) to some Authority, invariably
some very
human representative of some deity(s). Third is a terror of
and
willingness to take any measure to stamp out anybody who
believes
differently. These people have all mistaken their map of
reality
(i.e. religion/politics/philosophy) for the reality itself.
They
have restricted their very perceptions to a set of ideas
that
because of their rigid and all-pervading correctness, cannot
change. Cannot change. If sin is to be measured by a
standard
that promotes the survival and happiness of an individual
rather
than some power elite, it will have to be measured by the
individual.
The current societal standards concerning sex
are as restri-
cting and outmoded as the institutions that support them and
are
supported by them. All of you reading this have, whatever
your
other (like me, many) failings are have at least shown the
courage to step beyond these standards. But having rejected
something we have had the sense to see as being poisonous to
our
selves, we are often left with nothing to affirm.
BI/PANSEXUAL PEOPLE IN THE AEON OF THE CHILD
Now after all the diatribe against deities, the first thing
naturally to do to clear things up is to tell you about the
deity
who has supplanted all the deities along with background
inform-
ation on how this occurs.
An aeon is a description (model) of a stage in
the evolution
in the human race as a whole similar to the stages of the
life of
a person.
The first Aeon that we know about to any extent
is the Aeon
of the Mother. This is a description of the infancy of the
human
race. Matriarchal societies were the standard. At this
point,
people did not even know that men were necessary for
reproduc-
tion! Women were seen as the source of life. Families are
matri-
lineal. The universe was viewed as process of nourishment
from
the Great Mother Goddess(es), and generally the greatest
sexual
taboo is incest. There was little, if any, writing. The
goddess
who symbolized the formula of success at magick (life)
during
this aeon was the goddess Isis.
The consciousness that characterized the human
race during
the Aeon of Isis can also be symbolized as a lunar
consciousness.
Still another way of putting it is a right brain
consciousness.
Lunar,or right brain consciousness tends to be non linear,
intuitive (inductive), and spatial. This consciousness is
suc-
cessful in hunter/gatherer societies.
The next Aeon was the Aeon of the Father. This
was a description
of the toddlerhood of the human race.
Patriarchal society/governments
were the standard. Families were patrilineal.
People knew from observing and breeding farm
animals that males
were necessary for reproduction. The female was viewed as a
lesser partner in the process of reproduction, and men were
seen
as the source of life. The universe was viewed as a cycle of
love, sacrifice and death. Homosexuality (chiefly male
homosex-
uality, but also female homosexuality unless controlled by a
male) was the greatest sexual taboo. Writing, chiefly for
recor-
ding inventories of agricultural goods, was invented. The
god who
symbolized the formula of success at magick (life) during
this
aeon was the god Osiris. The consciousness that charac-
terized the human race during the Aeon of Osiris can also be
symbolized as solar consciousness. Still another way of
putting
it is a left brain consciousness. Solar, or left brain
conscious-
ness, tends to be linear, logical (deductive), and verbal.
This
consciousness is a successful in agricultural societies.
Just as Jesus Christ or Dionysus can be viewed
as the
herald, or prophet of the last Aeon, so is Aleister Crowley
seen
as the prophet of this Aeon, the Aeon of Horus, who follows
his
father Osiris (Egyptian god of death and resurrection
analogous
to Jesus) who was the god of the Aeon of the Father, and
Isis
(Egyptian goddess of Magick and nature) who was the goddess
of
the Aeon of the Mother.
And even herein is a subtle redefinition of the
role of a
great prophet or buddha or holy person. Crowley in his own
writings states that people who were born before the New
Aeon
officially began cannot really understand it. (By the way,
the
dates for that are April 8th, 9th, and 10th 1904; the days
that
Crowley received the Book of the Law from a praetor human
intel-
ligence, a minor Sumerian Spirit named Aiwass. [But that is
still
yet another story.]) Uh oh. Uncle Al was himself born in
1875.
Hmm. Looks like even though he did get the ball rolling, its
up
to us to decide everything else for ourselves.
The New Aeon is a description of the current
phase of human
evolution. Please do not mistake the New Aeon people with
the New
Age people. The New Age is essentially a popular, commercial
phenomenon. The New Age is an aspect of the New Aeon which
preceded the New Age by approximately 70 years. The New Aeon
is
essentially an esoteric, noncommercial movement. Nobody
knows
anybody who even knows rumors of anyone making money off the
New
Aeon or Thelema! After consideration this author feels that
this
lack of commercial success of the New Aeon will probably
continue
because to date it attracts the kind people who would not
pay
anyone else large amounts for spiritual services.
The New Aeon is a stage in human cultural,
biological, and
sexual evolution in which we have become developed enough to
accept our own natures as being both male and female. As
Jung
called the Animus/Anima. Or the taoists call Yin/Yang, or
even
what engineers and electricians call electro/magnetic or
posi-
tive/negative.
The father is overwhelmingly male. The mother is
overwhelm-
ingly female, but the child is epicene. Bisexual if you
will. The
formula for success at life (magick) is seen as being a
combin-
ation of both the Isis and Osiris formulas. The universe is
seen
as being both a place of nurturing and birth, as well as
sacri-
fice and death. This introduces the capacity for relativity
because the individual now has to decide when and where to
apply
which formula! The God/ess that symbolizes the formula for
success at magick (life) during this Aeon is the God/ess
Horus.
The consciousness that characterizes the human
race during
this Aeon is stellar consciousness. Still another way of
charac-
terizing this is as a balance of the left and right brain
modes
of consciousness. This consciousness is successful in a
culture
leaving mother earth.
Consider the three symbols -- lunar, solar and
stellar. Both
the lunar and solar modes of consciousness are non relative.
There is only one moon, one sun -- one Goddess or God who
has the
whole truth, and around which we all revolve. Just as there
is
only one planetary surface with gravity for us to
conceptualize
our lives on. In contrast, there are many stars. All are
similar
points of light. None revolve around each other. Each has
its
individual path through the heavens. This symbolism is one
of a
relative mode of consciousness.
The trends in the overculture that support my
assertions as
to the characteristics of the New Aeon are well documented.
First
is the explosion of technology of all kinds. Particularly
inter-
esting are the ever more mystical conclusions that Physics
is
moving towards. Biotechnology will allow us to radically
change
the very physical basis of consciousness within our
lifespans.
Computers are allowing ever more fast and
efficient use combin-
ation and recombination of information of all kinds. The
examin-
ation of the vast aspect of the technological revolution is
beyond the scope of this essay. Second is the blending of
the
lunar consciousness/culture of the Orient with the solar
con-
sciousness/culture of the West. More and more our cultural
environment is becoming the mechanism of our evolution
rather
than our physical environment.
”EVERY MAN AND EVERY WOMAN IS A STAR!”
The Book of the Law
1:3
We children of the New Aeon, whether we call ourselves
Thelemites or whatever, are all people who are willing to be
comfortable with the notion that our personalities do not
confirm
to some artificial role prepackaged for us and chosen
because of
the shape of our sex organs. We are instead left with a
series of
individual decisions each one of which is relative to the
condi-
tions of a given place and time. We have a wide latitude
within
which to judge ourselves, and a narrow latitude within which
to
judge other people.
Also, take your fill and will of love as ye
will, when,
where, and with whom ye will!
The Book of the Law 1:51
"As ye will." It should be abundantly
clear from the
foregoing remarks that each individual has an
absolute
and indefeasible right to use his sexual vehicle
in
accordance with its own proper character, and
that he
is responsible only to himself. But he should
not
injure himself and his right aforesaid; acts
invasive
of another individual's equal rights are
implicitly
self-aggressions. A thief can hardly complain on
theor-
etical grounds if he is himself robbed. Such acts
as
rape, and the assault or seduction of infants,
may
therefore be justly regarded as offenses against
the
law of liberty, and repressed in the interests
of that
law.
Aleister
Crowley The Law Is For All pg 110
Every one should discover, by experience of
every kind,
the extent and intention of his sexual universe.
He
must be taught that all roads are equally royal,
and
that the only question for him is "Which is
mine?"
Aleister
Crowley The Law Is For All pg 111
In closing, I would like to say that we are making history
sitting and sharing ourselves in our drab meeting room. We
are
manifesting the New Aeon in a singularly effective way. It
does-
n't matter if we call ourselves Thelemites or not, we are
working
towards the Thelemic ideal better than many people who do
call
themselves Thelemites. My purpose in plugging Thelema is to
actively help spread a philosophy which actually promotes
self
expression, self reliance and maximum options for every
individ-
ual. The key word here is options. Freedom is relative to
the
number of options you actually have. Of course there are
people
out there dogmatizing Thelema as it grows. That is
inevitable.
The best we can hope for is a set of assumptions and
interpreta-
tions of the "real world" that minimizes the
ability of people to
dogmatize them, and does not encourage dogmatism as a part
of
their ground rules.
The only thing a non-dogmatic Thelemite is
allowed by the
game rules to be certain of is their own individual
interpreta-
tion of the Law of Thelema. This individual interpretation
could
be cheerfully changed as often as is useful. An assumption
of the
Thelemic game plan is that each individual has to create
their
own interpretation of the Law of Thelema as is outlined in
the
Book of the Law. Further, they are not to prostheletyze, but
they
have to let other people make their own interpretations.
Now, of course, imposing individual
interpretations on
various scriptures is what people have done for thousands of
years with the Bible, Koran, etc. They have read these books
and
put their own meanings into what they have read. But they
never
admit it! Always they are seeing the "Truth", the
"Word Of God",
as it is outlined in the "Inspired Words." This
need for a "One
Truth" is deadly. One need only read historical records
of the
countless millions slaughtered in the names of Gods to see
this.
I will encourage people to read the Book of the
Law. This is
fine. I will never push my own interpretation of it as being
any
more than one relative viewpoint among many. This makes me a
bad
Thelemite and there are strong social sanctions against this
in
the Thelemic community. If you want to play this game you
gotta
make up yer own mind!
As if all this wasn't enough, the Book of the
Law is a
really short read! Thirty pages in a volume measuring 4
5/8" X 6
3/4". (With wide margins yet!) This allows me to spend
less time
on reading some holy book, and more time coming up with my
inter-
pretations! Yay!
There are strong parallels between the bisexual
movement and
the Thelemic movement. Both are in their infancy. Both face
a
hostile world of people who don't like folks who are so
willing
to be uncertain about everything but uncertainty. Both are
parts
of the cutting edge of evolution in their respective
spheres.
Both are small, committed groups where it is
relatively easy to
get emotional support. And most importantly, both are new
social
entities towards which power and resources can gravitate,
thus
spreading the power around from the older more established
entities
such as the Catholic Church, etc. This helps
with my goal
of a diffuse balance of power where competing social
entities
balance each other out.
The reason this paper is entitled "Bi/Pan
Sexuals And The
New Aeon" rather than "Bi/Pan Sexuals And
Thelema" is because it
is my conviction that the idea of New Aeon is much broader
than
the school of thought of Thelema. I reject the assumption of
many
Thelemites that the New Aeon and Thelema are inseparable.
The New
Aeon did not grow out of Thelema. Instead Thelema grew out
of the
New Aeon.
It is in the interest of all of us who do not
live in the
narrowly defined cultural norms to support systems of
thought
that promote more diverse cultural norms that we find more
hospi-
table. Whatever the shortcomings of Thelema, it is a superb
set
of game rules (or reality map) for sexual/social diversity.
The
New Aeon is a more general setting for Thelema and, ideally,
a
host of other reality maps to compete in. I like the New
Aeon
particularly because the assumption built into it that the
human
race will evolve through other aeons. Wonderful! This means
that
the one of the game rules is that the rules of the game will
in
fact change. Social evolution is certainly made easier here
than
if you try to play a game where one of your rules is that
the
rules of the game do not change. An example of this is the
Chris-
tian game plan. There the rules do not change at all until
the
Apocalypse, and then the world ends. Sheesh. Its Jesus
straight
through until the end.
Much better, in my opinion, is to have a series
of Aeons
where different formulas for success will apply. The next
Aeon is
supposed to be the Aeon of Maat. She's the ancient Egyptian
Goddess of perfect balance.
The reason I have chosen to promote Thelema as
well as the
New Aeon as reality maps is because I feel it necessary to
have a
social structure or school of thought to do the practical
work of
supporting the attitudes and assumptions that I value. By
practi-
cal work I mean printing books, distributing art forms,
legal
protection, etc. to communicate these ideas so that more
people
can be changed by them. This means more options. More
options
means more freedom.
And if bisexuality is anything, it is a view of
the self that creates
more options!
Joy be you to in attaining your will,
William S. Hunter