My Thoughts on Erotic Liberation: Selected Lectures on Thelema: 2019-2023 by Entelecheia
Several weeks back, the magician who goes by the moniker Entelecheia reached out via Maevius Lynn and offered to send a review copy of his book, Erotic Liberation. Before I offer my thoughts, here is how the book is described by the publisher, Lapis Mercurii Productions of Seattle, Washington:
Embark on a journey into the hidden heart of Thelema. Through a series of thought-provoking lectures spanning the years 2019-2023, Entelecheia invites readers to contemplate the sacred depths of themselves and the world they inhabit. Drawing parallels to Hermeticism, Tantra, and Taoism, he emphasizes the erotic nature of Thelema and its potential to lead individuals to self-transcendence. Challenging the notion that the body acts as a barrier between our divine souls and reality, Entelecheia suggests that sexuality, beauty, power, and even our own mortality are potential pathways to religious self-transcendence.
Challenging his readers to face their deepest fears and to discover a vibrating, vital world beyond their imaginations, the courage to fully embrace one’s vulnerability and mortality are essential to Entelecheia’s fresh perspective on Thelema. As you immerse yourself in the pages of this book, you will question the very nature of your own reality. By awakening to experiences of beauty and moments of crisis, the dormant potential within the reader begins to stir, prompting a desire for change and transformation. Erotic Liberation is not another cookbook of occult practices or compendium of occult musings. It is a call to action.
The book is a Print-On-Demand Trade Paperback, just less than 200 pages. It has an attractive cover, legible font, though, production wise, the spine is off center which skews the backcover copy too close to the outside edge. You’ll similarly find that the text of the interior pages hews too closely to the gutter. But that’s all just packaging, the Khu, if you will. We’re more interested in the Khabs — the inner light of knowledge the book promises.
It does not disappoint.
First, let me clarify: I am not a Thelemite. I am, as they say, a petty dabbler of the dark arts, however. I have had a near lifelong obsession with the works of Aleister Crowley since I first read about him in Richard Cavendish’s Man, Myth, & Magic in the early 1970s.
I am well-versed in Thelema. I’ve read nearly all of Crowley’s works, and the works of his students. I have broken bread and taken part in rituals with Thelemites and their adjacent parties. I have waded in the proverbial Current, if you will.
I found Erotic Liberation to be very insightful. It’s a foundational text for 21st Century Thelema, I think. Entelecheia has a sharp intellect and writes with purpose and relevancy. He’s not interested in cosplaying early 20th Century Occultism. He has taken the onion that is Thelema and peeled it to reveal a rich and vibrant system that can expand and grow, by embracing what the forefathers and mothers of Thelema have built, and maintain its relevance for the modern age.
I particularly appreciated his insights into the Magick of Art being the Art of Magick. We are all dreamers and weavers, but through magick, I have always felt, we become a part of the art, from both sides of the equation. Crowley wrote of this expression of genius, of how as we grow spiritually our perceptions change. Entelecheia speaks elegantly on the subject, and that chapter alone, God is an Artist, is well worth the price of admission in and of itself.
There is so much to learn here, so much to digest and incorporate.
Erotic Liberation is a book for Thelema’s future and for those who follow that path, or who long to, but I think it’s an important work for all who study the Western Mystery Tradition.
I am better for having read this book, even if I do not agree with it on every letter. I suspect you will feel the same. I guess you can file this one under “highly recommended”.
Erotic Liberation: Selected Lectures on Thelema 2019-2023 by Entelecheia is available on Amazon.