The Child of Therion

by Thelemic Golden Dawn

THE CHILD OF THERION

By David Cherubim (Frater Aurora Aureae)

Copyright © 1999 e.v.

The Order of the Thelemic Golden Dawn.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

For ages it has been a weakness and restriction among the various religions of the world to expect a chosen one to appear, a great king or messiah who shall save the people and give them freedom or some other favor of the gods. It is and has been a major part of religious thinking and believing. Even in the Religion of Thelema we find a similar expectation concerning a prophecy in Liber Legis about the Child of Therion. Many claim to be this Child, but excluding others in their self-assumption. They literally isolate themselves in a world of megalomania, cutting off their conscious link to the Universal Nature of Life itself. For those of us who are initiated in the Wisdom of Thelema, we know that All is the Child, that there is no difference. We are all the Child of Therion and we all have the right to be and proclaim this inmost truth. It is only natural for one to do so when enlightened. But such a right does not entail that we exclude others from the same right. On the contrary, we include all in our Self-Realization.

Those of us who understand the Universal Nature of Life recognize and invoke, not only our own True Self, but also the True Self of every man and every woman. We are not divided from others in a world of egocentric making, but united with them in a Spirit of Universal Understanding. To us the Child of Therion is in all, lives in all, and acts through all. And we may each rightfully regard ourselves to be this Child, each in our own unique way. Any conflict between two individuals in this regard demonstrates a lack of understanding in one or the other. For, as we of Thelema know, there is no difference in the Body of Our Lady Nuit. As it is written in Liber Legis in the Voice of Our Queen of Heaven: "Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt. But whoso availeth in this, let him be the Chief of all." (AL,I,22-23)

The Book of the Law is for every man and every woman to freely interpret in the light of their inmost Will. Therefore we of Thelema assert that each of us may rightfully regard ourselves to be the Child of Therion and that we may each rightfully decipher the numbers and the words of the Book of the Law according to the secret Will of our own Holy Guardian Angel. Thelema is not a monotheistic Religion. On the contrary, it affirms the splendid truth that every man and every woman is a Star, that we are all a God in our own right, the Child of our own Divinity.

We of Thelema embrace the universal point of view that the Child of Therion is not the possession of one man alone, but of all of us. The Child of Therion is a Universal Spirit, the very Soul and Breath of all. One who is linked with this Universal Spirit, who has found and resolved himself therein, naturally regards all in this light, projecting this same Spirit into the external. In fact, one who has realized his True Self knows nothing else but this Self. It is a perfect Unity of Consciousness.

The Child of Therion within me proclaims Himself to all of you that you may also attain to the Supreme Vision of which I write. Aleister Crowley wrote, "In the Universe formulated by the Absolute, every point is equally the centre; every point is equally the focus of the forces of the whole." We are all the one Child of Therion, whose very nature is All; and we all have the freedom and the right to be that Child, and to discover "the Key of it all" in our own unique way.

It is written in Liber Legis concerning the Child, "Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child." (AL,I,56) May not the House of the Child be in the Center of the Heart of every WoMan? It is a point of view, simple and sublime. It has been much too long in history that we have projected the ideal image of our Self unto an external man or god, failing to take responsibility for our own inner Divinity. This weakness has even been used to great advantage by both religious and political leaders of history. We have for ages projected our ideal image of the Self unto gods, kings, priests, messiahs, prophets, politicians and others in power, depriving ourselves of the realization of this same divine archetype within our own personal consciousness. There should be an end to this weakness of the mind, a liberation of the consciousness of WoMan to realize his/her own inner Divinity, to acknowledge and become the God of his/her own self.

When a true Prophet or Spiritual Leader arises from among the masses, it is the common mistake of the people to misinterpret his words, to think that when he proclaims himself to be God, or the Child of God, that he is excluding others in this same Self-Realization, that he is referring to his own person alone, when in fact it is the opposite of this. As a true Prophet, his vision and message is universal, embracing everyone. As a true Leader, his Will is to make leaders of others, to make them Masters in their own right. It is not he, the man, who declares himself to be God, but the God within him who speaks, that others may also become what they are in the innermost part of their souls, that is Immortal Gods, free and ecstatic, traveling as Stars in their own Orbits of Life. His mission and message is universal in kind.

Buddha is a perfect example from the past. The principal message of Buddha was simple: We are all the Buddha. The man, Gautama, was not the object of his message. But the people, viewing things from the ignorant point of view of the human ego, assumed that when Gautama declared himself to be the Buddha, he was referring to his own person or ego. They lost the spirit in the image and form of the man, and they made of Buddha something that is contrary to his real message and meaning. The same error has applied to other Prophets in the pages of the book of history, including our very own Prophet of Thelema, the Master Therion.

Like Buddha, Christ, Therion, and others, the Child of Therion is more than just an incarnation. He is a Universal Spirit; He is an integral part of us all. He is not only in one man, but He is in every man and every woman. For the ego of one man to assume identification with this Universal Spirit is to conflict with the very nature of the Spirit itself. The ego is neither the Child nor the True Self of a WoMan. It is, on the contrary, an illusion of the human self, a projection of the temporal mind, which is only valid as a tool of personality below the Abyss that symbolically divides the spiritual and material worlds. The ego does not exist beyond the Abyss, in the Supernal Kingdom, where the true archetype of the Child Horus is enthroned and crowned.

Osiris, the Dying God, who represents the Old Order of Monotheism and Restriction, can be linked to the human ego. Horus, the Child of the New Aeon, is beyond the illusion of the human ego, and He realizes Himself in the All. It is the ego that assumes it is the Child of Therion to the exclusion of others. It is self-centered and restricting in kind. Whereas it is Horus, the Child Himself, who realizes Himself, not only in one, but also in All. It is a universal and liberating experience. The Child of Therion has many faces and many forms, and He is everywhere to be seen by those of us who have arisen and awaken under the Great Sun of Unity!

Love is the law, love under will.