Epistle93

AN OPEN EPISTLE

ON THE USE OF ‘93’

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. – AL I:40

I was recently asked about the use of the numbers ‘93’ in my correspondence. I explained that the reason for using these numbers is actually quite simple; followers of Aleister Crowley’s philosopher are known as ‘Thelemites’ or a seeker after one’s True Will and the word 'Thelemite' is derived from the Greek word Thelema, which means Will. In the old days Aleister Crowley would utterly refuse to deal with anyone who didn’t address him properly either in letter or in greeting. For instance; every time you greeted him, or he greeted you, a simple “Hello” would never do. The proper Thelemic welcoming was; “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” This being a phrase taken from his Holy Book, Liber AL vel Legis I:40. The proper reply to the above phrase is: “Love is the law, love under will.” from Liber AL vel Legis I:57.

However, over eighty years ago, one of Crowley’s most ardent students discovered that both ‘Will’ and ‘Love’ when written out in Greek as Thelema and Agape have a numerical value of 93. Now, thanks to our modern fast-food mentality, especially in California in the early 70s, these two lines have been abridged for convenience. Now, if someone greets you by uttering “93” you reply with a simple “93” in return. This is a little different in regards to letters or emails; instead of beginning with the lengthy phrase “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” we simply use 93 and at the end of our letter or email; instead of “Love is the law, love under will”, we use 93 93/93.

Thelema Agape

The single ‘93’ used as a greeting in the beginning as a substitute for ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law’ refers to the fact that this phrase is predominately about ‘WILL.’ ... Love is NOT mentioned.

The end phrase ‘Love is the law, love under will’ is a little more complicated. In this sentence LOVE is mentioned twice and the word WILL once. ... thus we get the three 93s, or with this info in mind it becomes easy to understandthe use of 93 93/93 if you considered the numbers this way:

Love is the law (93),

Love under Will (93/93)

Or:

Love 93 (is the law) Will 93

Love 93 (under Will) ... or 93 93/93

Also, if you're going to use the full written out version of these two greetings from Liber AL vel Legis, use both, don't mix and match a phrase in the beginning and numbers at the end, or vice versa.

I hope this makes some sense. I know that it confuses the Hell out of some. I have even seen other quite remarkable ‘interpretations’ of the reason behind using these numbers in our correspondence but in truth, it’s all quite simple and should not be complicated.

Love is the law, love under will. - AL I:57

93 93/93 Frater AO583

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93 93/93