Thelema’s central law

Thelema’s central law—“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”—is presented in the book as a maxim attributed to Aleister Crowley and spoken by Jinx during Coven’s staged Black Mass. Its significance in the account lies in how it operates within the performance: not as an explained doctrine, but as part of a choreographed sequence that joined music, religious imagery, and an explicit salute to Satan.

Attribution and wording

The maxim is identified as Crowley’s, and Jinx recites it as one of the Latin passages in her Black Mass benediction. The account gives no further explanation of the law’s meaning and does not describe it as a rule Coven followed in ordinary life. Its documented setting is a public stage performance, which makes the distinction between a quoted religious maxim and evidence of personal belief important.

Place in Coven’s performance

Coven incorporated material from its album and other songs into a live spectacle, using the Black Mass as a segue between numbers. An altar stood behind the stage, with a performer representing Jesus attached to a cross; red lighting and candles completed the scene. Near the end of the set, the band performed Procol Harum’s “Walpurgis,” moving into “Ave Maria.” Jinx then recited Latin passages, including the law, before hailing Satan at the altar and cross. The performer playing Jesus released himself, inverted the cross into a Satanic symbol, and danced offstage while the music continued. Within this sequence, the law functioned as a spoken component of the benediction, positioned between the musical transition and the finale’s staged reversal of Christian imagery.

What the evidence establishes

The episode shows the maxim being used theatrically in a performance that deliberately combined Christian symbols, Crowley’s words, and Satanic gestures. It does not establish that Coven’s use of the line expressed a settled ethical program, nor does it explain the band’s interpretation of the law. The book separately distinguishes international Satanic groups that regard Satan symbolically from Norwegian Black Metal teenagers who regarded Satan as real; that contrast cautions against treating different uses of Satanic language as evidence of a single shared belief. In the account of Coven, the firm evidence is narrower: Crowley’s maxim was spoken as part of a staged Black Mass.