Thelemapedia is an open source encyclopedia focused on the subject of Thelema, a philosophical school and religious matrix established by Aleister Crowley in 1904 with the writing of The Book of the Law. It is similar in structure to Wikipedia in that it uses the Mediawiki software and its content is protected by the GNU FDL. Also like Wikipedia, anyone can join as an editor and add material on a volunteer basis. Articles are edited in wiki fashion so that materials can be added to or changed at any time. Thelemapedia was officially launched September 18, 2004 with a goal to create "the single best, most comprehensive source of information on Thelema." [1]
Thelemapedia began early in 2004 as a project of Scarlet Woman Lodge, Ordo Templi Orientis, located in Austin, Texas. However, according to the website, many editors are not members of O.T.O., and they "encourage multiple voices in the creation of [Thelemapedia] articles." As of this writing, the site has 210 members.
The topics presented on Thelemapedia are meant to be relevant to Thelemites and magicians in general. There are many articles on subjects specific to Thelema, especially the ideas of Aleister Crowley. The main sections include: Concepts Found in Thelema, Magick in Theory & Practice, Personalities in Thelema, Thelema & Religion, Godforms, Sacred Texts, and Organizations, Orders, & Communities. There are also growing reference sections on the Qabalah (as represented in Crowley's 777), astrology, and the tarot.
Policies
Thelemapedia tries to present information in a way similar to Wikipedia, except that articles should have a point of view that is pro-Thelema and magick. Otherwise, information seems to be presented in a straightforward manner, with many articles using material directly from Crowley. The site lists three "primary editorial principles":
- Articles should be sympathetic with the principles, culture, practices, and beliefs of Thelema whenever possible.
- Articles should promote clarity, accuracy, and the will to inform without distortion or fabrication.
- Articles should reflect knowledge that is generally accepted in the Thelemic community, drawing from expert sources or common knowledge.
Other editorial guidelines are very similar to those at Wikipedia. Two unique guidelines are:
- This is an OTO-friendly site. Thelemapedia is hosted by Scarlet Woman Lodge, an OTO body, and so naturally we discourage OTO-bashing (or the bashing of any order). However, we strongly encourage non-OTO contributors. Furthermore, we welcome contributions that might not be in line with standard OTO positions, as long as they are thoughtful, unbiased, and have a strong basis in fact or common consensus.
- Do not discuss items under seal. Because the world of Thelema includes initiatory orders, do not openly post information revealed within initiations or under oath, even if you feel you are justified to do so. However, with proper tact, you may discuss something that is considered secret if it is done completely out of context. Do so with great caution.
The project is forked
In January of 2005, the project was forked due to editorial differences. The forked project was named Free Encyclopedia of Thelema. [2] Some of the differences between the two projects are:
- Thelemapedia requests that articles conform to basic editorial policies similar to those of Wikipedia, namely using cited information from the knowledge base or drawing from common knowledge—with the caveat that materials should have a general pro-Thelema stance.
- Free Encyclopedia of Thelema does not require material to be from the published knowledge base and thus allows for the publication of the results of personal research and interpretation.
- Thelemapedia encourages the use of formal writing conventions as reflected in the works of major Thelemic authors—especially Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, Kenneth Grant, Jack Parsons—and other current writers like Lon Milo DuQuette, Martin Starr, and Richard Kaczynski (e.g. using the formal spellings magician and magical).
- Free Encyclopedia of Thelema allows for greater latitude in writing style, such as using more current styles of writing as seen in many Thelemic periodicals as well as in published books1 (e.g. using the informal spellings magickian and magickal).
- Thelemapedia prohibits the revelation of oath-bound secrets of esoteric orders such as those of Ordo Templi Orientis.
- Free Encyclopedia of Thelema allows the revelation of the secrets of esoteric orders, either paraphrased in the author's own words, or quoted from published works to the extent permitted under the fair use doctrine of copyright law.
1 The form magickal accounts for over 5% of the combined hits for magical/magickal on Google, and the forms magickal and magickian are used in published works, such as Phillip Cooper's The Magickian: A study in effective Magick (Weiser, 1993), in The Scarlet Letter (Vol. II, No. 1) article "Powertools: Low-Tech for the High Magickian" (Scarlet Woman Publishing, 1994 [3]), in Nema's Maat Magick (Weiser, 1995), as well as in other sources listed in the references section. They are used more widely in the Chaos Magick community.
Managing editor creates controversial promotional pages
During March of 2005, the managing editor of Thelemapedia, John Bowie, created a promotional page for Thelemapedia on several hosting sites. The page consisted of quotes from two articles on the GNU FDL-licensed site Thelemapedia (30.6% original material, mostly headings and links, and 69.4% cited quotes, by word count). The pages included a copyright notice, but no immediately following GNU Free Documentation License notice, the rationale of the creator being that said quotes were used in good faith and did not violate the GNU FDL under the fair use doctrine of copyright law.
One of the contributors of content to the GNU FDL licensed articles which were quoted contacted Mr. Bowie and asked him to post license notices in accordance with the generally accepted terms of the license. Mr. Bowie disputed the claim of license violation, but agreed to bring the issue to the attention of the Free Software Foundation, asking for their opinion and agreeing to comply with their decision and recommendations. However, before an FSF representative could answer, the managing editor rewrote the pages without the quotes so as to avoid the possibility of violating the license.
The analysis by the Free Software Foundation concluded that the use of the quotes did indeed violate the GNU FDL, and that the GNU FDL should have been applied to the entire page by appending the required license notices. The current pages do not violate the GNU FDL. [4]
See also: Fair use, Viral license
See also
References
- Alli, Antero. "Magick & Mysticism." Retrieved March 25, 2005.
- Cooper, Phillip (1993). The Magickian: A Study in Effective Magick. Samuel Weiser.
- Nema (1974). Liber Pennae Praenumbra. Retrieved March 26, 2005.
- Nema (1995). Maat Magick. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser.
- Oroboros, Soror (August 1994). "Powertools: Low-Tech for the High Magickian" in The Scarlet Letter (Vol. II, No. 1). Austin, TX: Scarlet Woman Publishing.
- Thelemapedia. (2005). About Thelemapedia. Retrieved April 6, 2005.
- ____. (2005). Thelemapedia Editorial Policy. Retrieved April 6, 2005.
External links
