Submission Guidelines

Mere Thelema is a peer-reviewed literary journal devoted to serious writing, rigorous thought, and work of genuine artistic and intellectual consequence. We publish work that is lucid, disciplined, daring, and alive. We are less interested in trend performance, ideological reflex, or aesthetic posturing than in writing that has been honestly created by an author that can stand up to multiple rereadings.

We welcome submissions from both emerging and established writers. What matters most is not your back catalog of work but the quality of your work: the strength of language, clarity of intention, formal control, and seriousness of vision.

What follows are the submission guidelines and information for Mere Thelema. We encourage you to read this carefully before submission. 

We currently consider original work in the following categories:

• Essays and Creative Nonfiction
  Literary essays, reflective prose, criticism, memoir, literary journalism, and hybrid nonfiction.
• Poetry
  Individual poems or small groups of poems.
• Fiction
  Short stories, flash fiction, and self-contained novel excerpts.

A note on fiction: We are open to fiction, but not fiction in the abstract. Fiction submitted to Mere Thelema should bear some meaningful relation to the journal’s nature and purpose. That does not mean it must be doctrinal, sectarian, or programmatic. It does mean that it should participate, however indirectly, in the journal’s broader intellectual, spiritual, philosophical, cultural, or literary concerns. Fiction that could have been sent anywhere may not be right for us.

• Translations
  We welcome translations of literary work when accompanied by any necessary permissions and sufficient information about the original text and author.

Because Mere Thelema is an online journal, we are especially interested in work that reads well on screen without sacrificing literary density, seriousness, or stylistic distinction. We will do everything we can to present your work with the visual style and construction that match your intention. Please see the comments under File Format and Manuscript Preparation about visual style and our policy regarding usual spacing (typically about poetry, but any content that requires a nonstandard visual style).

We are not open to publishing blog posts.

We consider original work and generally prefer work that has not been previously published.

We do not accept simultaneous submissions.

We will consider previously published work only by editorial review and only where the author provides a clear justification for republication. Any prior publication must be disclosed at the time of submission, including the original venue and date of appearance, so that proper credit may be given to the first publisher. Acceptance of previously published work will be exceptional rather than routine. Authors should also indicate whether the submitted version has been maintained as originally published or substantially revised since its first appearance.

Please submit only work that is complete and carefully edited. We do not consider rough drafts, pitches for unwritten pieces, or book-length manuscripts unless specifically invited.

We ask that writers submit no more than three submissions per genre at a time. Note that we will only publish one submission at a time.

These are general limits, not promises of acceptance within range:

• Essays / Creative Nonfiction: up to 6,000 words
• Fiction: up to 6,000 words
• Flash Fiction: up to 1,500 words
• Poetry: up to 5 poems in a single submission, not to exceed 10 pages total
• Translations: same limits as the relevant genre, unless otherwise arranged

We remain open to exceptional work outside these limits, but writers should assume that proportion, control, and concision matter.

Because our editorial backend is built on WordPress, we ask that submissions be sent in file formats that move cleanly through a web-based editorial workflow. WordPress supports common document uploads including .doc, .docx, and .odt, which makes those formats the most practical for our editorial handling and archiving.

Please submit your work in one of the following formats:

• .doc
• .docx
• .odt
• .rtf if necessary

Please do not submit PDFs unless the visual form of the work is essential to its meaning and cannot be conveyed otherwise. If this is the case, we ask that you submit both the PDF file for visual assessment and a file in one of the above formats for editorial assistance.

For prose submissions, please use:

• a legible 12-point font
• double spacing
• 1-inch margins
• page numbers
• a single file for each submission

These are conventional manuscript-preparation standards and are consistent with Chicago-oriented manuscript practice.

Poetry may be single-spaced where lineation requires it. However, because our editorial workflow depends on WordPress-friendly documents and web publication, poetry that relies on highly unusual spacing, exact visual placement, or other intricate typographic effects may encounter formatting limitations in online presentation. We will make a good-faith effort to preserve the form of the poem, but we cannot guarantee exact visual replication in every case.

We prefer clean, minimally styled manuscripts. Please avoid unnecessary formatting, embedded design elements, unusual fonts, or elaborate layout choices that do not serve the work itself.

Rather than a formal cover letter, please include the following information with your submission:

• your name
• email address
• title of the work
• genre
• word count for prose
• a brief author bio (you only need to do this once; we’ll set up an author page that you can edit yourself)
• any prior publications you would like us to note
• disclosure of prior publication, if applicable, with original venue and date
• a brief justification, only if you are asking us to consider previously published work

This information should be practical and brief. There is no need for a formal introductory letter, and no need to explain the meaning of the work or provide an interpretive roadmap.

Mere Thelema follows The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, as its primary reference point, except where house preference warrants otherwise. Chicago is widely used as a manuscript and editorial standard, though publications routinely supplement it with their own internal conventions.

In practice, this means:

• spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage should be consistent
• quotations, citations, references, and foreign-language terms should be accurate and properly presented
• excessive typographic styling should be avoided
• intentional stylistic deviations should be truly deliberate and artistically meaningful

In what will be a major change for most Thelemic writers, Mere Thelema uses arabic numbers for primary sources even with Thelemic hierological texts (e.g., AL 3.37–38, not AL III:3.37-38). Citing verses from books without chapters are cited as if there is a single numbered chapter (e.g., Tza 1:21, not Tza 21). We will make those changes silently in your work.

Accepted work may be edited for grammar, punctuation, clarity, internal consistency, title styling, and presentation for the web. We will respect the integrity of the work, but final editorial decisions regarding copyediting and presentation remain with the journal.

We are looking for work that is:

• literary without being self-indulgent
• intelligent without becoming academic sludge
• spiritually, philosophically, culturally, or artistically serious without collapsing into jargon
• original in thought and language
• shaped by genuine craft rather than posture

We are generally less interested in:

• polemic masquerading as literature
• shapeless confession
• fashionable abstraction without felt necessity
• work that relies on shock, slogan, or performance in place of form

This is not a prohibition against difficult subject matter, strong conviction, experimental practice, or intensity of opinion. It is simply to say that we expect a sense of intelligence and sophistication in the work we publish.

We reserve the right to refuse publication of images. There are some limitations on image use in WordPress, but we will make every attempt to ensure the images necessary for your article are included. 

FeatureD ImageS

 Each article is accompanied by a “featured image.” This can be anything that is reflective of your article’s content. You may choose your own featured image, subject to editorial approval, or we will choose one for you at our discretion. 

 Featured images must be exactly 1456 x 800 pixels. 

Upon publication, Mere Thelema acquires First Worldwide Serial Rights to the work. This means that Mere Thelema will be the first publisher of the piece anywhere in the world.

After first publication, all rights revert to the author, except that Mere Thelema retains the nonexclusive right to archive, display, reproduce, and promote the work as part of the journal, its website, and its ongoing records as the place of first publication.

If the work is later republished elsewhere, we ask that the author acknowledge Mere Thelema as the place of first publication.

Authors are responsible for securing permission for any copyrighted material included in their work, including extended quotations, song lyrics, and epigraphs.

Accuracy, Attribution, and Permissions

Authors are responsible for the factual accuracy of their submissions, including names, dates, quotations, citations, and permissions.

Where a submission engages historical, literary, scriptural, or scholarly material, sources should be checked with care before submission. Clean copy is part of seriousness.

Mere Thelema reserves the right to retract any published work upon notice of copyright infringement or ethical conflict.

We’d like to discourage—though we do not disallow at this time—the use of the standard “Frater/Soror Whatever” monikers that are so typical in the occult community. Once upon a time, “magical mottos” were a thing of sophistication and elegance. Today, they merely reek of childish posturing and avoidance of accountability. One of our goals with Mere Thelema is to raise the bar of mature writing and the mature appearance of the people doing the writing.

That said, there are very real dangers in the world today, and we recognize and respect that some cannot write under their civil name for any number of reasons. You do not have to justify to us your reasons for using a pseudonym or a reasonable, AI facimile of yourself. We accept it. Period. If you use a nom de plume, all we ask is that you stick with it if you continue submitting multiple articles. Take ownership of your work, even as we protect your civil identity under the cloak of anonymity.

We expect all submitted work to be the author’s own.

Mere Thelema does not accept literary work generated solely by AI. Limited use of digital tools for spelling, grammar, or administrative assistance is one thing; outsourcing authorship is another.

We aim to respond within 8–12 weeks, though response times may vary depending on editorial volume and capacity.

Because of the volume of submissions we receive, we may not be able to provide individualized feedback on declined work.

Please submit through our designated online submissions platform only submissions email address: submissions@merethelema.com. We appreciate your patience while we continue to work on a more streamlined online submission portal.

Do not send unsolicited work through social media, direct message, or editors’ personal accounts unless specifically invited.