Ora et Labora

With wide-ranging and highly eclectic essays from around the world, Ora Et Labora gathers together the research and findings of the practitioner-scholars of Thelema.

Gathered, curated, and produced by the Grand Lodge of Australia, OTO.

In this special fifth volume of the Ora et Labora series, the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) Grand Lodge of Australia turns its gaze to our immediate neighbours and collaborators. Thelema and the East presents a bold and nuanced collection of essays from O.T.O. members across Australasia, exploring the intersections between Thelemic practice and lived experience in Vajrayana Buddhism, Dzogchen, Daoism, classical Yoga, and Japanese esoteric traditions.

More than an exercise in comparative theory, these writings emerge from decades of dedicated practice, and from fraternal and cultural exchanges across the region. This volume reflects Thelema as both a universal current and a crucible-always testing, refining, experimenting and at times transforming the wisdom it encounters and the traditions that have influenced it.

With reverence for Aleister Crowley’s own disciplined study and integration of Eastern systems, and with our continuing commitment to honest, lived inquiry, Thelema and the East invites readers into an exploration of sacred traditions in which Eastern systems are not distant curiosities, but living influences and inspirations in the ongoing unfolding of Australasian Thelema.

Shiva X°, National Grand Master General,

Ordo Templi Orientis Australia

Contents for this Volume, Ora et Labora Volume V “Thelema and the East”

The Balance of Opposites – Christopher Chung Wai Wong
Nibbana, Anhiliantion and Return to the Eye in the Triangle – Hiroyuki Takeuchi
Tenchijin – Shawn Gray
The Goddess and the Serpent – Chris Carr
Aye! Feast! Rejoice! – Ian Drummond
Kundalini and the Book of the Law – Michael O’Leary
The Wish Fulfilling Vase – Brother Varja Math