Over on LAShTAL.com, a discussion thread has been started by a fellow calling himself/herself “PropriaDeus93” asking “what Thelema says about animals or what happens to them in death”. The following bizarre response was received:

My condolences for the loss of your feline companion. He/she will be with you always, so long as you are bound in love. Pay close attention to your dreams, you will find your companion has not left you and will show up at crucial moments with direction and information, and occasionally warning.

Outside of the occult/newage arena, one would expect such a post to be relatively quickly followed up with comments along the lines of “if you seriously think your dead cat is providing you with ‘direction’ and ‘warnings’, then frankly you’d be well advised to seek immediate medical attention”, but true to form the occultists have outdone themselves again, hailing “I hoped to hear something like that”, “Cats are totally underestimated”, “Wholly agree…This isn’t some new age flakery…I’ve posted here many times about ‘extraterrestrial’ connections and such [apparently, not a hint of irony intended here – EH]”, “cats ONLY do their will. They’re possibly the most Thelemic creatures on the planet!” and “myself have seen the proof : ghosts of dogs, owls showing up in peculiar places at daytime, and cats following in line at mass and ritual”.

It’s like some kind of hideous subconscious game – one person says something utterly boneheaded, stupid and flaky, and every occultist within earshot jumps in with a game of one-upsmanship, trying to say something even more pathetic and daft.

On a slightly less outlandish note, in the same discussion the question of whether or not animals constitute “stars” under AL I, 3 came up, and “Los” offered the following:

Each star has its natural orbit, just as each of us has a natural course of action

to which the original poster replied:

I don’t realy see how stars have their “natural orbit” since that would be a way that is predetermined and according to “do what thou wilt” we should find our own way in our galaxy of life…amiright?

We’ve discussed this previously on this blog, but it warrants repeating, since so many people apparently don’t bother to read Liber II:

From these considerations it should be clear that “Do what thou wilt” does not mean “Do what you like.” It is the apotheosis of Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond.

“Do what thou wilt” is fundamentally and categorically not equivalent to “choose your own path”. It is, in fact, about as completely opposite to that notion as it could be. The will represents the natural course of action for the individual, as “Los” quite correctly states, and to “do one’s will” entails adhering to this course of action and doing nothing else. If you choose any other path than this one then you aren’t doing your will. Period. If you choose any path at all, the odds are billions to one against choosing one that coincides with your will.

One has no choice what one’s will is. If you start trying to judge what course of action to take, or if you start trying to be “virtuous” or “spiritual”, then you aren’t doing your will. If your conscious mind is deciding what you’re doing, then you aren’t doing your will. Of course, you don’t have to do your will if you don’t want to. But if you want to chase after a hippy dream of pride in your volition and “doing your own thing”, then please, don’t call what you’re doing Thelema, because it isn’t.