Thelemic Families and Holidays

by Guest Author – Heather Schubert

Children crave the sense of identity that comes when everyone in the community does the same thing at the same time, such as during a holiday celebration. Shared holidays also bring communities closer together. In most Thelemic communities we observe few shared holidays as a group on a regular basis. You can achieve some continuity for your child by attending regular rituals done with your family and friends. You might also have the opportunity to attend rituals that are held by Thelemic organizations. Some Thelemic initiatory groups hold public rituals like The Ritual of the Four Gates, The Rite of the Mother, The Rite of the Father and The Rite of the Child. Some groups offer weekly or monthly celebrations of the Gnostic Mass or the Thelemic Mass. If the community in which you live doesn’t hold annual festivals or celebrations for Thelemic Holidays you can still create a solid foundation for your children by celebrating them together as a family.

There are different levels of holidays and many different ways to celebrate them. First is the cycle of the year as outlined by ecclesiastical or religious views. For Thelemites this might include The Three Holy Days, which are April 8th, 9th and 10th. Each day corresponds to a different chapter of the Book of the Law as it was received by Aleister Crowley over the span of those three days. There is also the invocation of Horus on March 20th, or the Supreme Ritual, and the “Feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride” which is observed on August 12th, the day Aleister Crowley married Rose Kelly.

The next level is the cycle of Nature which would include the Solstices, the Equinoxes and Thelemic New Year, which coincides with the Vernal Equinox. Thelemic New Year might be at the same time as the Vernal Equinox but it is easily separated from the Equinox itself as a separate holiday. You could choose to celebrate the change of the seasons with the Equinox and then bring in other ways of celebrating and start your own family traditions centered around the New Year. Since Thelemic years correspond with the Thoth Tarot Trumps there is a variable plethora of symbolism and rich details that can be explored there. Some Thelemites celebrate a Thelemic High Holy Season. This is the twenty-two days between the Invocation of Horus on March 20th and the first of the Three Holy Days, April 10th. Since we do not live in a culture that recognizes the Thelemic Calendar we are forced to translate them to dates on the common calendar. For this reason, there could be some dispute among Thelemites as to which days are best suited for observing which holidays. The dates I have given here are the most common, though I’m sure some would disagree.

The third holiday level is biographical. Biographical holidays for Thelemites could include the birth of Aleister Crowley on October 12, or “Crowleymas,” or “Perdurabo Day” on Novembers 18 celebrates Crowley’s first initiation; December 3rd marks the day of his “Annihilation” or attainment to Master of the Temple; and a feast for To Mega Therion on December 1st to honor his death. In addition to these, Thelemites sometimes celebrate the legendary Gnostic Saints on their traditional festival dates that have been given to them throughout history and some other Gnostic Saints on the anniversaries of their deaths.

There are also special occasion holidays. These holidays are usually observed only by the families themselves, but I believe that there is much Thelemites can gain from sharing in these events as a community. Birth is a showing forth of spirit as it reveals itself to mankind. Death is our response. Striving is what we all do in between. When we come together as a community to celebrate the birth of a child, we welcome that child into our midst with a Feast for Life celebration. A Feast for Fire marks a boy’s progression into puberty and a Feast for Water celebrates a girl’s menarche. It seems reasonable that for a child whose family is a part of our com- munity we would also come together to observe these as well as other milestone markers such as Baptism and Conformation. I have attended more Greater Feasts than Feasts for Life or coming of age feasts. If a community holds a Greater Feast when someone dies then they should be open to celebrating and balancing themselves out by marking the birth and growth of the children within their midst, if it be desirable to the families themselves of course.

Other special occasions that could be observed as celebrations include Ordination Ceremonies within the community. It is important for children to see adults celebrating their own accomplishments and those of fellow Thelemites. This could be as simple as light snacks after a Deacon Ordination or even a cake, music and other festivities following Baptisms and Conformations.

Everyone coming together to celebrate the same Thelemic Holidays on a regular basis is a rare occurrence in many regions. When you are a part of a large Thelemic community you might have the opportunity to attend annual public celebrations of some of these holidays, but none of these events mirror the capacity for celebration that mainstream holidays do. Thelemic holidays will probably never reach the awesome magnitude of Christmas, Easter and Halloween. You are certainly not going to find greeting cards for the Three Holy Days at your local Wal-Mart any time soon, but you can find them. They are out there at last and that is certainly a step in the right direction.

Some Thelemic parents allow their children to celebrate some form of mainstream holidays. I have found that the best thing you can do for your child is to feed their curiosity about these Holidays by explaining their origins, who primarily celebrates them now and for what purposes. Ultimately the best thing to do is to create your own family traditions. Celebrate the Holidays you chose to, but be honest with your kids and tell them where these holidays originated and why your family celebrates in the manner you have chosen. We have had a group of children from the community coloring eggs on the Spring Equinox and decorating pine trees with handmade Egyptian themed ornaments for the Winter Solstice. You could celebrate the birth of Horus, or Mithras, on December 25th or the resurrection of Horus, Dionysus, Attis or Ishtar on Easter. Rabbits and eggs have long been pagan symbols associated with Spring Holidays. Throw in a serpent to give it more Thelemic flavor if you’d like. Do what makes you and your family comfortable and happy. If you are baking your own specialized “Thelemic” treats, making Thelemic holiday cards with your children and doing fun Thelemic art projects then most of the candy and commercialism surrounding the mainstream holiday seasons will somewhat be forgotten. Their memory is being built on the things you do consistently together as a family. Mix family and community festivals. Create your own family traditions. Make it your own and include as much, or as little, of the main stream holidays as you chose to.

As adults, we sometimes feel isolated going about our daily lives surrounded by a mostly Judaeo-Christian culture. The mainstream Holiday season is a time in which these feelings are often brought to the forefront. Local Thelemic communities provide adults with a sense of belonging and fellowship we don’t often find within society in general. It is reasonable to assume that our children may also experience this type of alienation from time to time. Learning to process these feelings in a positive way is an invaluable tool for existing within the mainstream communities we all live, work and play in. Celebrating Thelemic holidays as a community alleviates some of these feelings in another way and helps us to develop a sense of cohesion amongst each other. Holidays, Holy Days and opportunities for Thelemic festivals and celebrations are a great time to include children in our Thelemic culture in much more prominent ways. We must not compromise our religion by closing the doors to young minds or by excluding them, or their parents. In fact, we need to discover ways in which to be more inclusive when it comes to Thelemic families and Holidays are a great place to start.

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