LIBER CCXX ~ LIBER AL VEL LEGIS ~ ALEISTER CROWLEY ~ BOOK OF THE LAW ~ BOOK 220
i - nuit
Had the manifestation of nuit the unveiling of the company of heaven every man and every woman is a star every number is infinite there is no difference help me o warrior lord of thebes in my unveiling before the children of men be thou hadit my secret centre my heart & my tongue behold it is revealed by aiwass the minister of hoor-paar-kraat the khabs is in the khu not the khu in the khabs worship then the khabs and behold my light shed over you let my servants be few & secret they shall rule the many & the known these are fools that men adore both their gods & their men are fools come forth o children under the stars & take your fill of love I am above you and in you my ecstasy is in yours my joy is to see your joy above the gemmèd azure is the naked splendour of nuit she bends in ecstasy to kiss the secret ardours of hadit the wingèd globe the starry blue are mine o ankh-af-na-khonsu now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the beast and in his woman called the scarlet woman is all power given they shall gather my children into their fold they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men for he is ever a sun and she a moon but to him is the winged secret flame and to her the stooping starlight but ye are not so chosen burn upon their brows o splendrous serpent o azure-lidded woman bend upon them the key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have given unto him with the god & the adorer I am nothing they do not see me they are as upon the earth I am heaven and there is no other god than me and my lord hadit now therefore I am known to ye by my name nuit and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me since I am infinite space and the infinite stars thereof do ye also thus bind nothing let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing for thereby there cometh hurt but whoso availeth in this let him be the chief of all I am nuit and my word is six and fifty divide add multiply and understand then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one who am I and what shall be the sign so she answered him bending down a lambent flame of blue all-touching all penetrant her lovely hands upon the black earth & her lithe body arched for love and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers thou knowest and the sign shall be my ecstasy the consciousness of the continuity of existence the omnipresence of my body then the priest answered & said unto the queen of space kissing her lovely brows and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat o nuit continuous one of heaven let it be ever thus that men speak not of thee as one but as none and let them speak not of thee at all since thou art continuous none breathed the light faint & faery of the stars and two for I am divided for love’s sake for the chance of union this is the creation of the world that the pain of division is as nothing and the joy of dissolution all for these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all they feel little what is is balanced by weak joys but ye are my chosen ones obey my prophet follow out the ordeals of my knowledge seek me only then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain this is so I swear it by the vault of my body by my sacred heart and tongue by all I can give by all I desire of ye all then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon & said unto the queen of heaven write unto us the ordeals write unto us the rituals write unto us the law but she said the ordeals I write not the rituals shall be half known and half concealed the law is for all this that thou writest is the threefold book of law my scribe ankh-af-na-khonsu the priest of the princes shall not in one letter change this book but lest there be folly he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of ra-hoor-khu-it also the mantras and spells the obeah and the wanga the work of the wand and the work of the sword these he shall learn and teach he must teach but he may make severe the ordeals the word of the law is Θελημα who calls us thelemites will do no wrong if he look but close into the word for there are therein three grades the hermit and the lover and the man of earth do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law the word of sin is restriction o man refuse not thy wife if she will o lover if thou wilt depart there is no bond that can unite the divided but love all else is a curse accurséd accurséd be it to the aeons hell let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing so with thy all thou hast no right but to do thy will do that and no other shall say nay for pure will unassuaged of purpose delivered from the lust of result is every way perfect the perfect and the perfect are one perfect and not two nay are none nothing is a secret key of this law sixty-one the jews call it I call it eight eighty four hundred & eighteen but they have the half unite by thine art so that all disappear my prophet is a fool with his one one one are not they the ox and none by the book abrogate are all rituals all ordeals all words and signs ra-hoor-khuit hath taken his seat in the east at the equinox of the gods and let asar be with isa who also are one but they are not of me let asar be the adorant isa the sufferer Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the lord initiating there is a word to say about the hierophantic task behold there are three ordeals in one and it may be given in three ways the gross must pass through fire let the fine be tried in intellect and the lofty chosen ones in the highest thus ye have star & star system & system let not one know well the other there are four gates to one palace the floor of that palace is of silver and gold lapis lazuli & jasper are there and all rare scents jasmine & rose and the emblems of death let him enter in turn or at once the four gates let him stand on the floor of the palace will he not sink amn ho warrior if thy servant sink but there are means and means be goodly therefore dress ye all in fine apparel eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam also take your fill and will of love as ye will when where and with whom ye will but always unto me if this be not aright if ye confound the space-marks saying they are one or saying they are many if the ritual be not ever unto me then expect the direful judgments of ra hoor khuit this shall regenerate the world the little world my sister my heart & my tongue unto whom I send this kiss also o scribe and prophet though thou be of the princes it shall not assuage thee nor absolve thee but ecstasy be thine and joy of earth ever to me to me change not as much as the style of a letter for behold thou o prophet shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein the child of thy bowels he shall behold them expect him not from the east nor from the west for from no expected house cometh that child aum all words are sacred and all prophets true save only that they understand a little solve the first half of the equation leave the second unattacked but thou hast all in the clear light and some though not all in the dark invoke me under my stars love is the law love under will nor let the fools mistake love for there are love and love there is the dove and there is the serpent choose ye well he my prophet hath chosen knowing the law of the fortress and the great mystery of the house of god all these old letters of my book are aright but צ is not the star this also is secret my prophet shall reveal it to the wise I give unimaginable joys on earth certainty not faith while in life upon death peace unutterable rest ecstasy nor do I demand aught in sacrifice my incense is of resinous woods & gums and there is no blood therein because of my hair the trees of eternity my number is 11 as all their numbers who are of us the five pointed star with a circle in the middle & the circle is red my colour is black to the blind but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing also I have a secret glory for them that love me but to love me is better than all things if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me invoking me with a pure heart and the serpent flame therein thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom for one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices ye shall wear rich jewels ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour & pride but always in the love of me and so shall ye come to my joy I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe and covered with a rich headdress I love you I yearn to you pale or purple veiled or voluptuous I who am all pleasure and purple and drunkenness of the innermost sense desire you put on the wings and arouse the coiled splendour within you come unto me at all my meetings with you shall the priestess say and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple to me to me calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant sing the rapturous love-song unto me burn to me perfumes wear to me jewels drink to me for I love you I love you I am the blue-lidded daughter of sunset I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky to me to me the manifestation of nuit is at an end.
ii - hadit
Nu the hiding of hadit come all ye and learn the secret that hath not yet been revealed I hadit am the complement of nu my bride I am not extended and khabs is the name of my house in the sphere I am everywhere the centre as she the circumference is nowhere found yet she shall be known & I never behold the rituals of the old time are black let the evil ones be cast away let the good ones be purged by the prophet then shall this knowledge go aright I am the flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star I am life and the giver of life yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death I am the magician and the exorcist I am the axle of the wheel and the cube in the circle come unto me is a foolish word for it is I that go who worshipped heru-pa-kraath have worshipped me ill for I am the worshipper remember all ye that existence is pure joy that all the sorrows are but as shadows they pass & are done but there is that which remains o prophet thou hast ill will to learn this writing I see thee hate the hand & the pen but I am stronger because of me in thee which thou knewest not for why because thou wast the knower and me now let there be a veiling of this shrine now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness for I am perfect being not and my number is nine by the fools but with the just I am eight and one in eight which is vital for I am none indeed the empress and the king are not of me for there is a further secret I am the empress & the hierophant thus eleven as my bride is eleven hear me ye people of sighing the sorrows of pain and regret are left to the dead and the dying the folk that not know me as yet these are dead these fellows they feel not we are not for the poor and sad the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk is a god to live in a dog no but the highest are of us they shall rejoice our chosen who sorroweth is not of us beauty and strength leaping laughter and delicious languor force and fire are of us we have nothing with the outcast and the unfit let them die in their misery for they feel not compassion is the vice of kings stamp down the wretched & the weak this is the law of the strong this is our law and the joy of the world think not o king upon that lie that thou must die verily thou shalt not die but live now let it be understood if the body of the king dissolve he shall remain in pure ecstasy for ever nuit hadit ra-hoor-khuit the sun strength & sight light these are for the servants of the star & the snake I am the snake that giveth knowledge & delight and bright glory and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness to worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet & be drunk thereof they shall not harm ye at all it is a lie this folly against self the exposure of innocence is a lie be strong o man lust enjoy all things of sense and rapture fear not that any god shall deny thee for this I am alone there is no god where I am behold these be grave mysteries for there are also of my friends who be hermits now think not to find them in the forest or on the mountain but in beds of purple caressed by magnificent beasts of women with large limbs and fire and light in their eyes and masses of flaming hair about them there shall ye find them ye shall see them at rule at victorious armies at all the joy and there shall be in them a joy a million times greater than this beware lest any force another king against king love one another with burning hearts on the low men trample in the fierce lust of your pride in the day of your wrath ye are against the people o my chosen I am the secret serpent coiled about to spring in my coiling there is joy if I lift up my head I and my nuit are one if I droop down mine head and shoot forth venom then is rapture of the earth and I and the earth are one there is great danger in me for who doth not understand these runes shall make a great miss he shall fall down into the pit called because and there he shall perish with the dogs of reason now a curse upon because and his kin may because be accursèd for ever if will stops and cries why invoking because then will stops & does nought if power asks why then is power weakness also reason is a lie for there is a factor infinite & unknown & all their words are skew-wise enough of because be he damned for a dog but ye o my people rise up & awake let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty there are rituals of the elements and feasts of the times a feast for the first night of the prophet and his bride a feast for the three days of the writing of the book of the law a feast for tahuti and the child of the prophet secret o prophet a feast for the supreme ritual and a feast for the equinox of the gods a feast for fire and a feast for water a feast for life and a greater feast for death a feast every day in your hearts in the joy of my rapture a feast every night unto nu and the pleasure of uttermost delight aye feast rejoice there is no dread hereafter there is the dissolution and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of nu there is death for the dogs dost thou fail art thou sorry is fear in thine heart where I am these are not pity not the fallen I never knew them I am not for them I console not I hate the consoled & the consoler I am unique & conqueror I am not of the slaves that perish be they damned & dead amen (this is of the 4 there is a fifth who is invisible & therein am I as a babe in an egg) blue am I and gold in the light of my bride but the red gleam is in my eyes & my spangles are purple & green purple beyond purple it is the light higher than eyesight there is a veil that veil is black it is the veil of the modest woman it is the veil of sorrow & the pall of death this is none of me tear down that lying spectre of the centuries veil not your vices in virtuous words these vices are my service ye do well & I will reward you here and hereafter fear not o prophet when these words are said thou shalt not be sorry thou art emphatically my chosen and blessed are the eyes that thou shalt look upon with gladness but I will hide thee in a mask of sorrow they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen but I lift thee up nor shall they who cry aloud their folly that thou meanest nought avail thou shall reveal it thou availest they are the slaves of because they are not of me the stops as thou wilt the letters change them not in style or value thou shalt obtain the order & value of the english alphabet thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto begone ye mockers even though ye laugh in my honour ye shall laugh not long then when ye are sad know that I have forsaken you he that is righteous shall be righteous still he that is filthy shall be filthy still yea deem not of change ye shall be as ye are & not other therefore the kings of the earth shall be kings for ever the slaves shall serve there is none that shall be cast down or lifted up all is ever as it was yet there are masked ones my servants it may be that yonder beggar is a king a king may choose his garment as he will there is no certain test but a beggar cannot hide his poverty beware therefore love all lest perchance is a king concealed say you so fool if he be a king thou canst not hurt him therefore strike hard & low and to hell with them master there is a light before thine eyes o prophet a light undesired most desirable I am uplifted in thine heart and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body thou art exhaust in the voluptuous fullness of the inspiration the expiration is sweeter than death more rapid and laughterful than a caress of hell’s own worm oh thou art overcome we are upon thee our delight is all over thee hail hail prophet of nu prophet of had prophet of ra-hoor-khu now rejoice now come in our splendour & rapture come in our passionate peace & write sweet words for the kings I am the master thou art the holy chosen one write & find ecstasy in writing work & be our bed in working thrill with the joy of life & death ah thy death shall be lovely whoso seeth it shall be glad thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our agelong love come lift up thine heart & rejoice we are one we are none hold hold bear up in thy rapture fall not in swoon of the excellent kisses harder hold up thyself lift thine head breathe not so deep die ah ah what do I feel is the word exhausted there is help & hope in other spells wisdom says be strong then canst thou bear more joy be not animal refine thy rapture if thou drink drink by the eight and ninety rules of art if thou love exceed by delicacy and if thou do aught joyous let there be subtlety therein but exceed exceed strive ever to more and if thou art truly mine and doubt it not an if thou art ever joyous death is the crown of all ah ah death death thou shalt long for death death is forbidden o man unto thee the length of thy longing shall be the strength of its glory he that lives long & desires death much is ever the king among the kings aye listen to the numbers & the words 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L what meaneth this o prophet thou knowest not nor shalt thou know ever there cometh one to follow thee he shall expound it but remember o chosen one to be me to follow the love of nu in the star-lit heaven to look forth upon men to tell them this glad word o be thou proud and mighty among men lift up thyself for there is none like unto thee among men or among gods lift up thyself o my prophet thy stature shall surpass the stars they shall worship thy name foursquare mystic wonderful the number of the man and the name of thy house 418 the end of the hiding of hadit and blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely star.
iii - ra hoor khut
Abrahadabra the reward of ra hoor khut there is division hither homeward there is a word not known spelling is defunct all is not aught beware hold raise the spell of ra-hoor-khuit now let it be first understood that I am a god of war and of vengeance I shall deal hardly with them choose ye an island fortify it dung it about with enginery of war I will give you a war-engine with it ye shall smite the peoples and none shall stand before you lurk withdraw upon them this is the law of the battle of conquest thus shall my worship be about my secret house get the stélé of revealing itself set it in thy secret temple and that temple is already aright disposed & it shall be your kiblah for ever it shall not fade but miraculous colour shall come back to it day after day close it in locked glass for a proof to the world this shall be your only proof I forbid argument conquer that is enough I will make easy to you the abstruction from the ill-ordered house in the victorious city thou shalt thyself convey it with worship o prophet though thou likest it not thou shalt have danger & trouble ra-hoor-khu is with thee worship me with fire & blood worship me with swords & with spears let the woman be girt with a sword before me let blood flow to my name trample down the heathen be upon them o warrior I will give you of their flesh to eat sacrifice cattle little and big after a child but not now ye shall see that hour o blessèd beast and thou the scarlet concubine of his desire ye shall be sad thereof deem not too eagerly to catch the promises fear not to undergo the curses ye even ye know not this meaning all fear not at all fear neither men nor fates nor gods nor anything money fear not nor laughter of the folk folly nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth nu is your refuge as hadit your light and I am the strength force vigour of your arms mercy let be off damn them who pity kill and torture spare not be upon them that stélé they shall call the abomination of desolation count well its name & it shall be to you as 718 why because of the fall of because that he is not there again set up my image in the east thou shalt buy thee an image which I will show thee especial not unlike the one thou knowest and it shall be suddenly easy for thee to do this the other images group around me to support me let all be worshipped for they shall cluster to exalt me I am the visible object of worship the others are secret for the beast & his bride are they and for the winners of the ordeal x what is this thou shalt know for perfume mix meal & honey & thick leavings of red wine then oil of abramelin and olive oil and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood the best blood is of the moon monthly then the fresh blood of a child or dropping from the host of heaven then of enemies then of the priest or of the worshippers last of some beast no matter what this burn of this make cakes & eat unto me this hath also another use let it be laid before me and kept thick with perfumes of your orison it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me these slay naming your enemies & they shall fall before you also these shall breed lust & power of lust in you at the eating thereof also ye shall be strong in war moreover be they long kept it is better for they swell with my force all before me my altar is of open brass work burn thereon in silver or gold there cometh a rich man from the west who shall pour his gold upon thee from gold forge steel be ready to fly or to smite but your holy place shall be untouched throughout the centuries though with fire and sword it be burnt down & shattered yet an invisible house there standeth and shall stand until the fall of the great equinox when hrumachis shall arise and the double-wanded one assume my throne and place another prophet shall arise and bring fresh fever from the skies another woman shall awake the lust & worship of the snake another soul of god and beast shall mingle in the globèd priest another sacrifice shall stain the tomb another king shall reign and blessing no longer be poured to the hawk-headed mystical lord the half of the word of heru-ra-ha called hoor-pa-kraat and ra-hoor-khut then said the prophet unto the god I adore thee in the song I am the lord of thebes and I the inspired forth-speaker of mentu for me unveils the veilèd sky the self-slain ankh-af-na-khonsu whose words are truth I invoke I greet thy presence o ra-hoor-khuit unity uttermost showed I adore the might of thy breath supreme and terrible god who makest the gods and death to tremble before thee I I adore thee appear on the throne of ra open the ways of the khu lighten the ways of the ka the ways of the khabs run through to stir me or still me aum let it fill me so that thy light is in me & its red flame is as a sword in my hand to push thy order there is a secret door that I shall make to establish thy way in all the quarters (these are the adorations as thou hast written) as it is said the light is mine its rays consume me I have made a secret door into the house of ra and tum of khephra and of ahathoor I am thy theban o mentu the prophet ankh-af-na-khonsu by bes-na-maut my breast I beat by wise ta-nech I weave my spell show thy star-splendour o nuit bid me within thine house to dwell o wingèd snake of light hadit abide with me ra-hoor-khuit all this and a book to say how thou didst come hither and a reproduction of this ink and paper for ever for in it is the word secret & not only in the english and thy comment upon this the book of the law shall be printed beautifully in red ink and black upon beautiful paper made by hand and to each man and woman that thou meetest were it but to dine or to drink at them it is the law to give then they shall chance to abide in this bliss or no it is no odds do this quickly but the work of the comment that is easy and hadit burning in thy heart shall make swift and secure thy pen establish at thy kaaba a clerk-house all must be done well and with business way the ordeals thou shalt oversee thyself save only the blind ones refuse none but thou shalt know & destroy the traitors I am ra-hoor-khuit and I am powerful to protect my servant success is thy proof argue not convert not talk not overmuch them that seek to entrap thee to overthrow thee them attack without pity or quarter & destroy them utterly swift as a trodden serpent turn and strike be thou yet deadlier than he drag down their souls to awful torment laugh at their fear spit upon them let the scarlet woman beware if pity and compassion and tenderness visit her heart if she leave my work to toy with old sweetnesses then shall my vengeance be known I will slay me her child I will alienate her heart I will cast her out from men as a shrinking and despised harlot shall she crawl through dusk wet streets and die cold and an-hungered but let her raise herself in pride let her follow me in my way let her work the work of wickedness let her kill her heart let her be loud and adulterous let her be covered with jewels and rich garments and let her be shameless before all men then will I lift her to pinnacles of power then will I breed from her a child mightier than all the kings of the earth I will fill her with joy with my force shall she see & strike at the worship of nu she shall achieve hadit I am the warrior lord of the forties the eighties cower before me & are abased I will bring you to victory & joy I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay success is your proof courage is your armour go on go on in my strength & ye shall turn not back for any this book shall be translated into all tongues but always with the original in the writing of the beast for in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another in these are mysteries that no beast shall divine let him not seek to try but one cometh after him whence I say not who shall discover the key of it all then this line drawn is a key then this circle squared in its failure is a key also and abrahadabra it shall be his child & that strangely let him not seek after this for thereby alone can he fall from it now this mystery of the letters is done and I want to go on to the holier place I am in a secret fourfold word the blasphemy against all gods of men curse them curse them curse them with my hawk’s head I peck at the eyes of jesus as he hangs upon the cross I flap my wings in the face of mohammed & blind him with my claws I tear out the flesh of the indian and the buddhist mongol and din bahlasti ompehda I spit on your crapulous creeds let mary inviolate be torn upon wheels for her sake let all chaste women be utterly despised among you also for beauty’s sake and love’s despise also all cowards professional soldiers who dare not fight but play all fools despise but the keen and the proud the royal and the lofty ye are brothers as brothers fight ye there is no law beyond do what thou wilt there is an end of the word of the god enthroned in ra’s seat lightening the girders of the soul to me do ye reverence to me come ye through tribulation of ordeal which is bliss the fool readeth this book of the law and its comment & he understandeth it not let him come through the first ordeal & it will be to him as silver through the second gold through the third stones of precious water through the fourth ultimate sparks of the intimate fire yet to all it shall seem beautiful its enemies who say not so are mere liars there is success I am the hawk-headed lord of silence & of strength my nemyss shrouds the night-blue sky hail ye twin warriors about the pillars of the world for your time is nigh at hand I am the lord of the double wand of power the wand of the force of coph nia but my left hand is empty for I have crushed an universe & nought remains paste the sheets from right to left and from top to bottom then behold there is a splendour in my name hidden and glorious as the sun of midnight is ever the son the ending of the words is the word abrahadabra the book of the law is written and concealed aum ha.
the comment
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law the study of this book is forbidden it is wise to destroy this copy after the first reading whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril these are most dire those who discuss the contents of this book are to be shunned by all as centres of pestilence all questions of the law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings each for himself there is no law beyond do what thou wilt love is the law love under will the priest of the princes ankh-f-n-khonsu.
excerpts from the comment called d
The book al liber al vel legis which I wrote down as I heard the voice of aiwass mine holy guardian angel in the city of cairo in the spring april 8 9 & 10 of the year 1904 of the vulgar era is the law this law is the law for all men alike I am in some way one and the same man and ankh-f-n-khonsu whose stélè helped to bring about the writing of that book I am not to change it in one letter for not only was mine ear at the service of aiwass but also mine hand the effect of this is made plain elsewhere I comment on this book lest there be folly for many are the secret sayings and obscure in the text thereof it would be easy for the clever and the crafty to distort the true meaning of aiwass so as to suit their own conceits as hath been seen of old time in the cases of the words of the masters the q'uran and the so-called scriptures of the christians thus as a safeguard against such I by the wisdom of ra-hoor-khuit do now foresee and guard against all fraud and false ways of reading the book in simple and plain language and I lift up my voice and curse with the great curse of a magus of power him that shall seek to turn my word from its truth.
excerpts from the equinox of the gods
Certain very serious questions have arisen with regard to the method by which this book was obtained I do not refer to those doubts real or pretended which hostility engenders for all such are dispelled by study of the text... for these reasons and many more I am certain I the beast whose number is six hundred and sixty six that this third chapter of the book of the law is nothing less than the authentic word the word of the aeon the truth about nature at this time and on this planet I wrote it hating it and sneering at it secretly glad that I could use it to revolt against this task most terrible that the gods have thrust remorselessly upon my shoulders their cross of burning steel that I must carry even to my calvary the place of a skull there to be eased of its weight only that I be crucified thereon but being lifted up I will draw the whole world unto me and men shall worship me the beast six hundred and three-score and six celebrating to me their midnight mass every time soever when they do that they will and on mine altar slaying to me that victim I most relish their selves when love designs and will executes the rite whereby their god in man is offered to me the beast their god the rite whose virtue making their god of their throned beast leaves nothing howso bestial undivine... I shall not deign to answer sceptical enquiries as to the origin of the book ... I of all men on this earth reputed mightiest in magick by mine enemies more than by my friends have striven to lose this book to forget it defy it criticise it escape it these nigh sixteen years and it holds me to the course it sets...the question arises especially on examining the original manuscript in my handwriting who wrote these words of course I wrote them ink on paper in the material sense but they are not my words unless aiwaz be taken to be no more than my subconscious self or some part of it in that case my conscious self being ignorant of the truth in the book and hostile to most of the ethics and philosophy of the book aiwaz is a severely suppressed part of me such a theory would further imply that I am unknown to myself possessed of all sorts of praeternatural knowledge and power... the external evidence for the book is accumulating yearly... I aleister crowley declare upon my honour as a gentleman that I hold this revelation a million times more important than the discovery of the wheel or even of the laws of physics or mathematics fire and tools made man master of his planet writing developed his mind but his soul was a guess until the book of the law proved this I a master of english was made to take down in three hours from dictation sixty-five 8 x I0 pages of words not only strange but often displeasing to me in themselves concealing in cipher propositions unknown to me majestic and profound foretelling events public and private beyond my control or that of any man this book proves there is a person thinking and acting in a praeterhuman manner either without a body of flesh or with the power of communicating telepathically with men and inscrutably directing their actions... my sincerity and seriousness are proved by my life I have fought this book and fled it I have defiled it and I have suffered for its sake present or absent to my mind it has been my invisible ruler it has overcome me year after year extends its invasion of my being I am the captive of the crowned and conquering child... I lay claim to be the sole authority competent to decide disputed points with regard to the book of the law seeing that its author aiwaz is none other than mine own holy guardian angel to whose knowledge and conversation I have attained so that I have exclusive access to him I have duly referred every difficulty to him directly and received his answer my award is therefore absolute without appeal.
excerpts from the new and old commentaries to liber al vel legis
This is a great and holy mystery although each star has its own number each number is equal and supreme every man and every woman is not only a part of god but the ultimate god the centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere the old definition of god takes new meaning for us each one of us is the one god this can only be understood by the initiate one must acquire certain high states of consciousness to appreciate it... each star is connected directly with every other star and the space being without limit ain soph the body of nuit any one star is as much the centre as any other each man instinctively feels that he is the centre of the cosmos and philosophers have jeered at his presumption but it was he that was precisely right the yokel is no more petty than the king nor the earth than the sun each simple elemental self is supreme very god of very god ay in this book is truth almost insufferably splendid for man has veiled himself too long from his own glory he fears the abyss the ageless absolute but truth shall make him free it must be understood from the beginning that this book contains the keys of all the knowledge necessary for the operation of the magical formulae of the world during the aeon which it initiates in this very early verse is already given a master key to mathematics and metaphysics on applying this to current problems of thought it will be discovered that the long-fast doors fly open at a touch... we are not to regard ourselves as base beings without whose sphere is light or god our minds and bodies are veils of the light within the uninitiate is a dark star and the great work for him is to make his veils transparent by purifying them this purification is really simplification it is not that the veil is dirty but that the complexity of its folds makes it opaque the great work therefore consists principally in the solution of complexes everything in itself is perfect but when things are muddled they become evil... the doctrine is evidently of supreme importance from its position as the first revelation of aiwass this star or inmost light is the original individual eternal essence the khu is the magical garment which it weaves for itself a form for its being beyond form by use of which it can gain experience through self-consciousness... this khu is the first veil far subtler than mind or body and truer for its symbolic shape depends on the nature of its star why are we told that the khabs is in the khu not the khu in the khabs did we then suppose the converse I think that we are warned against the idea of a pleroma a flame of which we are sparks and to which we return when we attain that would indeed be to make the whole curse of separate existence ridiculous a senseless and inexcusable folly it would throw us back on the dilemma of manichaeism the idea of incarnations perfecting a thing originally perfect by definition is imbecile the only sane solution is as given previously to suppose that the perfect enjoys experience of apparent imperfection - there are deeper resolutions of this problem appropriate to the highest grades of initiation but the above should suffice the average intelligence - we are to pay attention to this inmost light then comes the answering light of infinite space note that the light of space is what men call darkness its nature is utterly incomprehensible to our uninitiated minds it is the veils mentioned previously in this comment that obstruct the relation between nuit and hadit we are not to worship the khu to fall in love with our magical image to do this we have all done it is to forget our truth if we adore form it becomes opaque to being and may soon prove false to itself the khu in each of us includes the cosmos as he knows it to me even another khabs is only part of my khu our own khabs is our one sole truth.
In a similar way nuit and hadit include all possible forms of existence they can only realize themselves by creating an infinite variety of forms of themselves each one real as it is their image illusory as it is a partial and divided aspect of them each such star is intelligible to them as a poem is to its author as a part of this soul mirrored by his mind but it is not intelligible to itself because it has no relation with any other ideas it only knows itself as the babe of its mother nuit to whom it yearns being stirred by its father hadit to express that instinctive attachment by inarticulate cries to know itself each such star or soul must eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil by accepting labour and pain as its portion and death as its doom that is it must reveal its nature to itself by formulating that nature as duality it must express itself by a series of symbolic gestures ostensibly external to it just as a painter reveals one facet of his delight-diamond by covering a canvas with colours in such a way that the picture seems at first sight to represent something outside himself it must in fact repeat for itself the original magick of nuit and hadit which created it as they made themselves visible piecemeal by fashioning particular souls expressing the impersonal and absolute homogeneity by means of personal relative heterogeneity so not forgetting their true nature as forms of the infinite whereby they are one with all must the stars devise methods of studying themselves they must make images of themselves apparently external and they must represent their highly complex qualities in a duality involving space and time for each star is of necessity related to every other star so that no influence is alien to its individuality it must therefore observe its reaction to every other star just so are most chemical elements possessed of but few qualities directly appreciable by our senses we must learn their natures by putting them into relation with the other elements in turn - note well that this knowledge were impossible unless there were a variety of elements so also the fact of our self-consciousness proves the existence of individual souls all related all parts of the one soul in one sense but none the less independent in themselves eternal entities expressing particular elements of existence - each star is in itself immune and innocent its proper consciousness is monistic it must therefore employ a body and mind as the instruments for interpreting its relations with other souls and comparing its nature with theirs for the mind perceives the contrast of the self and the not-self and presents its experiences classified and judged to the soul as documents for the dossier and the body reports to the mind the impressions received from its contact with alien forms as the senses receive them it must naturally require many incarnations for the soul to begin to know itself with any degree of perfection and one may recognize advanced souls by their minds which understand the a nature of their work are indifferent to the body's preference for any special forms of experience and seek eagerly after novel adventures like a philatelist after rare stamps to complete the collection they are also as a rule both very careful and very careless about their bodily welfare taking pains to preserve their powers for the purpose of gaining new experiences but utterly indifferent to them as valuable in themselves they rule them with a rod of iron and train them like pugilists but they risk them recklessly whenever the work demands it.
Each person is responsible to himself being a star to travel in his own orbit composed of his own elements to shine with his own light with the colour proper to his own nature to revolve and to rush with his own inherent motion and to maintain his own relation with his own galaxy in its own place in the universe his existence is his sole and sufficient justification for his own matter and manner his only possible error is to withdraw himself from this consciousness of himself as both unique in himself and necessary to the norm of nature to bring down this doctrine to a practical rule for every man or woman by which they may enjoy in perfection their sexual life and make it what it rightly is the holiest part of the religious life I say holiest because it redeems even physical grossness to partake with spiritual saintship the intention of this book of the law is perfectly simple whatever your sexual predelictions may be you are free by the law of thelema to be the star you are to go your own way rejoicing it is not indicated here in this text though it is elsewhere implied that only one symptom warns that you have mistaken your true will and this if you should imagine that in pursuing your way you interfere with that of another star it may therefore be considered improper as a general rule for your sexual gratification to destroy deform or displease any other star... the supreme and absolute injunction the crux of your knightly oath is that you lay your lance in rest to the glory of your lady the queen of the stars nuit your knighthood depends upon your refusal to fight in any lesser cause that is what distinguishes you from the brigand and the bully you give your life on her altar you make yourself worthy of her by your readiness to fight at any time in any place with any weapon and at any odds for her from whom you come of whom you are to whom you go your life is no more and no less than one continuous sacrament you have no word but her praise no thought but love of her you have only one cry of inarticulate ecstasy the intense spasm possession of her and death to her you have no act but the priests gesture that makes your body hers the wafer is the disk of the sun the star in her body your blood is split from your heart with every beat of your pulse into her cup it is the wine of her life crushed from the grapes of your sun-ripened vine on this wine you are drunk it washes your corpse that is as the fragment of the host broken by you the priest into her golden chalice you knight and priest of the order of the temple saying her mass become god in her by love and death this act of love... the end is everything that by the act whatever it is one worships loves possesses and becomes nuit.
Out of the millions of humanity the average person is lucky if he can take his pick of a couple of score of partners I will here add one further pillar to my temple it happens only too often that two people absolutely fitted in every way to love each other are totally debarred from expressing themselves by sheer ignorance of the technique of the act what nature declares as the climax of the mass the manifestation of god in the flesh when the flesh is begotten is so gross clumsy and brutal that it disappoints and disgusts they are horribly conscious that something is wrong they do not know how to amend it they are ashamed to discuss it they have neither the experience to guide nor the imagination to experiment countless thousands of delicate-minded lovers turn against love and blaspheme him countless millions not quite so fixed in refinement accept the fact acquiesce in the foulness till love is degraded to guilty grovelling they are dragged in the dirt of the night-cart which ought to have been their chariot of fire and the horses thereof... we of thelema like the artist the true lover of love shameless and fearless seeing god face to face alike in our own souls within and in all nature without... we have accepted love as the meaning of change change being the life of all matter soever in the universe and we have accepted love as the mode of motion of the will to change to us every act as implying change is an act of love life is a dance of delight its rhythm an infinite rapture that never can weary or stale our personal pleasure in it is derived not only from our own part in it but from our conscious apprehension of its total perfections we study its structure we expand ourselves as we lose ourselves in understanding it and so becoming one with it with the egyptian initiate we exclaim there is no part of us that is not of the gods and add the antistrophe there is no part of the gods that is not also of us therefore the love that is law is no less love in the petty personal sense for love that makes two one is the engine whereby even the final two self and not-self may become one in the mystic marriage of the bride the soul with him appointed from eternity to espouse her yea even the most high god all-in-all the truth therefore we hold love holy our heart's religion our mind's science... thus having trained our hearts and minds to be expert engineers of the sky-cleaver love the ship to soar to the sun to us the act of love is the consecration of the body to love we burn the body on the altar of love that even the brute may serve the will of the soul we must then study the art of bodily love... we are trained to interpret the soul and the spirit in terms of the body we do not deny the existence of the body or despise it but we refuse to regard it in any other light than this it is the organ of the self it must nevertheless be ordered according to its own laws those of the mental or moral self do not apply to it we love that is we will to unite then the one must study the other divine every butterfly thought as it flits and offer the flower it most fancies the vocabulary of love is small and its terms are hackneyed to seek new words and phrases is to be affected stilted it chills but the language of the body is never exhausted one may talk for an hour by means of an eye-lash there art intimate delicate things shadows of the leaves of the tree of the soul that dance in the breeze of love so subtle that neither keats nor heine in words neither brahms nor debussy in music could give them body it is the agony of every artist the greater he the more fierce his despair that he cannot compass expression and what they cannot do not once in a life of ardour is done in all fulness by the body that loving hath learnt the lesson of how to love.
True religion is intoxication in a sense we are told elsewhere to intoxicate the innermost not the outermost but I think that the word wine should be taken in its widest sense as meaning that which brings out the soul climate soil and race change conditions each man or woman must find and choose the fit intoxicant thus hashish in one or the other of its forms seems to suit the moslem to go with dry heat opium is right for the mongol whiskey for the dour temperament and damp cold climate of the scot sex-expression too depends on climate and so on so that we must interpret the law to suit a socrates a jesus and a burton or a marie antoinette and a de lamballe as well as our own don juans and faustines with this expansion to the honour and glory of them of their natures we acclaim therefore our helpers dionysus aphrodite apollo wine woman and song intoxication that is ecstasy is the key to reality it is explained ... that there are three gods whose function is to bring the soul to the realization of its own glory dionysus aphrodite apollo wine woman and song the ancients both in the highest civilizations as in greece and egypt and in the most primitive savagery as among the buriats and the papuans were well aware of this and made their religious ceremonies orgia works puritan foulness failing to understand what was happening degraded the word orgies to mean debauches it is the old story of the fox who lost his tail if you cannot do anything call it impossible or if that be evidently absurd call it wicked it is critics who deny poetry people without capacity for ecstasy and will who call mysticism moonshine and magick delusion it is manless old cats geldings and psychopaths who pretend to detest love and persecute free women and free men verbotenism has gone so far in certain slave-communities that the use of wine is actually prohibited by law I wish here to emphasise that the law of thelema definitely enjoins us as a necessary act of religion to drink sweet wines and wines that foam any free man or woman who resides in any community where this is verboten has a choice between two duties insurrection and emigration the furtive disregard of restriction is not freedom it tends to make men slaves and hypocrites and to destroy respect for law have no fear two years after vodka was verboten russia which had endured a thousand lesser tyrannies with patience rose in revolution religious ecstasy is necessary to man's soul where this is attained by mystical practices directly as it should be people need no substitutes thus the hindus remain contentedly sober and care nothing for the series of invaders who have occupied their country from time to time and governed them but where the only means of obtaining this ecstasy or a simulacrum of it known to the people is alcohol they must have alcohol deprive them of wine or beer or whatever their natural drink may be and they replace it by morphia cocaine or something easier to conceal and to take without detection stop that and it is revolution as long as a man can get rid of his surplus energy in enjoyment he finds life easy and submits deprive him of pleasure of ecstasy and his mind begins to worry about the way in which he is exploited and oppressed very soon he begins furtively to throw bombs and gathering strength to send his tyrants to the gallows.
Wine and strange drugs do not harm people who are doing their will they only poison people who are cancerous with original sin in latin countries where sin is not taken seriously and sex-expression is simple wholesome and free drunkenness is a rare accident it is only in puritan countries where self-analysis under the whip of a coarse bully like billy sunday brings the hearer to conviction of sin that he hits first the trail and then the booze can you imagine an evangelist in taormina it is to laugh this is why missionaries in all these centuries have produced no conversions whatever save among the lowest types of negro who resemble the anglo-saxon in this possession of the fear-of-god and sin psychopathies truth is so terrible to these detestable mockeries of humanity that the thought of self is a realization of hell therefore they fly to drink and drugs as to an anaesthetic in the surgical operation of introspection the craving for these things is caused by the internal misery which their use reveals to the slave-souls if you are really free you can take cocaine as simply as salt-water taffy there is no better rough test of a soul than its attitude to drugs if a man is simple fearless eager he is all right he will not become a slave if he is afraid he is already a slave let the whole world take opium hashish and the rest those who are liable to abuse them were better dead for it is in the power of all so-called intoxicating drugs to reveal a man to himself... altruism is a direct assertion of duality which is division restriction sin in its vilest form I love my neighbour because love makes him part of me not because hate divides him from me our law is so simple that it constantly approximates to truism the exposure of innocence exposure means putting out as in a shop-window the pretence of altruism and so-called virtue is a lie it is the hypocrisy of the puritan which is hideously corrupting both to the hypocrite and to his victim to lust is to grasp continually at fresh aspects of nuit it is the mistake of the vulgar to expect to find satisfaction in the objects of sense disillusion is inevitable when it comes it leads only too often to an error which is in reality more fatal than the former the denial of materiality and of animalism there is a correspondence between these two attitudes and those of the once-born and twice-born of william james - varieties of religious experience - thelemites are thrice-born we accept everything for what it is without lust of result without insisting upon things conforming with a priori ideals or regretting their failure to do so we can therefore enjoy all things of sense and rapture according to their true nature for example the average man dreads tuberculosis the christian scientist flees this fear by pretending that the disease is an illusion in mortal mind but the thelemite accepts it for what it is and finds interest in it for its own sake for him it is a necessary part of the universe he makes no difference between it and any other thing... the thelemite is able to revel in any experience soever in each he recognizes the tokens of ultimate truth it is surely obvious even intellectually that all phenomena are interdependent, and therefore involve each other.
The christians to the lions a hermit is one who dwells isolated in the desert exactly as a soul a star or an electron in the wilderness of space-time the doctrine here put forth is that the initiate cannot be polluted by any particular environment he accepts and enjoys everything that is proper to his nature thus a man's sexual character is one form of his self-expression he unites hadit with nuit sacramentally when he satisfied his instinct of physical love of course this is only one partial projection to govern to fight and so on must fulfil other needs we must not imagine that any form of activity is ipso facto incapable of supplying the elements of an eucharist suum cuique observe however the constant factor in this enumeration of the practices proper to hermits it is ecstatic delight... strife between two kings can therefore be nothing more than a friendly trial of strength we are all inevitably allies even identical in our variety to love one another with burning hearts is one of our essential qualities but who then are the low men since every man and every woman is a star the casus belli is this there are people who are veiled from themselves so deeply that they resent the bared faces of us others we are fighting to free them to make them masters like ourselves... to hell with them that is let us drive them to the hell or secret sanctuary within their consciousness there dwells the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched that is the secret serpent coiled about to spring and the flame that burns in every heart of man hadit in other words we take up arms against falsehood we cannot help it if that falsehood forces the king it has imprisoned to assent to its edicts even to believe that his interests are those of his oppressor and to fear truth as once jehovah did the serpent... the prigs the prudes the christians die in a real sense of the word for although even they are stars there is not enough body to them as it were to carry on the individuality there is no basis for the magical memory if one's incarnation holds nothing worth remembering count your years by your wounds... we are to conquer the illusion to drive it out the slaves that perish are better dead they will be reborn into a world where freedom is the air of breath so then in all kindness the christians to the lions... every star has its own nature which is right for it we are not to be missionaries with ideal standards of dress and morals and such hard-ideas we are to do what we will and leave others to do what they will we are infinitely tolerant save of intolerance it is not good however to try to prevent christians from meddling save by the one cure the christians to the lions.
Humanity errs terribly when it gets education in the sense of ability to read newspapers reason is rubbish race-instinct is the true guide experience is the great teacher and each one of us possesses millions of years of experience the very quintessence of it stored automatically in our subconscious minds the intellectuals are worse than the bourgeoisie themselves a la lanterne give us men... men should not be taught to read and write unless they exhibit capacity or inclination compulsory education has aided nobody it has imposed an unwarrantable constraint on the people it was intended to benefit it has been asinine presumption on the part of the intellectuals to consider a smattering of mental acquirements of universal benefit it is a form of sectarian bigotry we should recognize the fact that the vast majority of human beings have no ambition in life beyond mere ease and animal happiness we should allow these people to fulfil their destinies without interference we should give every opportunity to the ambitious and thereby establish a class of morally and intellectually superior men and women we should have no compunction in utilizing the natural qualities of the bulk of mankind we do not insist on trying to train sheep to hunt foxes or lecture on history we look after their physical well being and enjoy their wool and mutton this way we shall have a contented class of slaves who will accept the conditions of existence as they really are and enjoy life with the quiet wisdom of cattle it is our duty to see to it that this class of people lack for nothing the patriarchal system is better for all classes than any other the objections to it come from the abuses of it but bad masters have been artificially created by exactly the same blunder as was responsible for the bad servants it is essential to teach the masters that each one must discover his own will and do it there is no reason in nature for cut-throat competition all this has been explained previously in other connections here it is only necessary to emphasize the point it must be cleanly understood that every man must find his own happiness in a purely personal way our troubles have been caused by the assumption that everybody wanted the same things and thereby the supply of those things has become artificially limited even those benefits of which there is an inexhaustible store have been cornered for example fresh air and beautiful scenery in a world where everyone did his own will none would lack these things in our present society they have become the luxuries of wealth and leisure yet they are still accessible to any one who possesses sufficient sense to emancipate himself from the alleged advantages of city life we have deliberately trained people to wish for things that they do not really want... we must abolish the shadows by the radiant light of the sun real things are only thrown into brighter glory by his effulgence we need have no fear then to throw the christians to the lions if there be indeed true men among them who happen through defect of education to know no better they will reincarnate all right and no harm done.
There is a special incarnation of nuit and hadit for the beast and the scarlet woman as opposed to the general truth that every man and woman are images of these ineffable beings note that a woman having no soul of her own can be used always as a form for any being this explains why nuit can incarnate at will in successive women careless of the physical limits of life... now since this ego is only conscious by virtue of having formulated itself or the universe as it happens to view the case in the form of duality and since all the experiences of the ego are necessary to it as all phenomena soever are necessary it is permissible to regard the totality of the experience of the ego as the presentation in duality of a single simultaneous fact in other words life is an attempt to realize one's own nature in one's own soul the man who fails to recognize it as such is hopelessly bewildered by the irrational character of the universe which he takes to be real and he cannot but regard it as aimless and absurd the adventures of his body and mind with their desires for material and moral well-being are obviously as foredoomed to disaster as don quixote's he must be a fool if he struggles on against inexorable fate to obtain results which he knows can only end in catastrophe a climax the more bitter as he clings the more closely to his impossible ideals but once he acquiesces in the necessity of the course of events and considers his body and mind as no more than the instruments which interpret himself to himself by means of dualistic presentation he should soon acquire a complete indifference to the nature of the incidents which occur to him... he becomes able to experience the truth of the statements in the book of the law the nature of nuit and hadit and of himself as a star unique individual and eternal but yet a part of the body of nuit and therefore identical with all other stars in that respect he realizes himself as the bed in working of nuit and hadit as a particular form assumed by the latter for the sake of variety in his play with the former and he partakes in this play by his self-realization which he synthesizes from the events of his life he understands that these events are the resultant of the universe as applied to him so that his experience is equally unique and universal each star being the centre of the cosmos and the cosmos applicable as a whole to each star... one can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations because so and only so can he go and he suffers the lapse of memory of his own reality of perfection which he has during these incarnations because he knows he will come through unchanged... a male star is built up from the centre outwards, a female star from the circumference inwards this is what is meant when we say that woman has no soul it explains fully the difference between the sexes.
Reason is like a woman if you listen you are lost with a thick stick you have some sort of sporting chance reason leads the philosopher to self-contradiction the statesman to doctrinaire follies it makes the warrior lay down his arms and the lover cease to rave what is so unreasonable as man the only because in the lover's litany is because I love you... mohammed struck at the root of the insane superstition of tabu with his word women are your field go in unto them as ye will he only struck half the blow I say go in unto them as ye will and they will two-thirds of modern misery springs from woman's sexual dissatisfaction a dissatisfied woman is a curse to herself and to everybody in her neighbourhood women must learn to let themselves enjoy without fear or shame and both men and woman must be trained in the technique of sex sex-repression leads to neurosis and is the cause of social unrest ignorance of sexual technique leads to disappointment even where passion is free and unrestrained sex is not everything in life any more than food is but until people have got satisfaction of these natural hungers, it is useless to expect them to think of other things this truth is vital to the statesman now that women have some direct political power they will certainly overthrow the republic unless they obtain full sexual satisfaction also women outnumber men and one man cannot satisfy a woman unless he be skilful and diligent the new aeon will have a foundation of happy women a woman under tabu is loathsome to life detested by her fellows and wretched in herself... again we learn the permanence of the nature of a star we are not to judge by temporary circumstances but to penetrate to the true nature it has naturally been objected by economists that our law in declaring every man and every woman to be a star reduces society to its elements and makes hierarchy or even democracy impossible the view is superficial each star has a function in its galaxy proper to its own nature much mischief has come from our ignorance in insisting on the contrary that each citizen is fit for any and every social duty but also our law teaches that a star often veils itself from its nature thus the vast bulk of humanity is obsessed by an abject fear of freedom the principal objections hitherto urged against my law have been those of people who cannot bear to imagine the horrors which would result if they were free to do their own wills the sense of sin shame self-distrust this is what makes folk cling to christianity-slavery people believe in a medicine just in so far as it is nasty the metaphysical root of this idea is in sexual degeneracy of the masochistic type.
It is absurd to suppose that to indulge the passions is necessarily a reversion or degeneration on the contrary all human progress has depended on such indulgence every art and science is intended to gratify some fundamental need of nature what is the ultimate use of the telephone and all the other inventions on which we pride ourselves only to sustain life or to protect or reproduce it or to subserve knowledge and other forms of pleasure on the other hand the passions must be understood properly as what they are nothing in themselves but the diverse forms of expression employed by the will one must preserve discipline a passion cannot be good or bad too weak or too strong etc by an arbitrary standard its virtue consists solely in its conformity with the plan of the commander-in-chief its initiative and elan are limited by the requirements of his strategy for instance modesty may well cooperate with ambition but also it may thwart it this verse counsels us to train our passions to the highest degree of efficiency each is to acquire the utmost strength and intelligence but all are equally to contribute their quota towards the success of the campaign... this then being understood that we cannot call any given passion good or bad absolutely any more than we can call knight to king's fifth a good or bad move in chess without study of the position we may see more clearly what this verse implies there is here a general instruction to refine pleasure not by excluding its gross elements but by emphasizing all elements in equilibrated development thus one is to combine the joys of messalina with those of saint theresa and isolde in one single act one's rapture is to include those of blake petrarch shelley and catullus liber aleph has detailed instruction on numerous points involved in these questions exceed by delicacy this does not mean by refraining from so-called animalism one should make every act a sacrament full of divinest ecstasy and nourishment there is no act which true delicacy cannot consecrate it is one thing to be like a sow unconscious of the mire and unable to discriminate between sweet food and sour another to take the filth firmly and force oneself to discover the purity therein initiating even the body to overcome its natural repulsion and partake with the soul at this eucharist we believe in the miracle of the mass not only because meat and drink are actually transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance but because we can make the body and blood of god from any materials soever by virtue of our royal and pontifical art of magick.
There are to be no regular temples of nuit and hadit for they are incommensurables and absolutes our religion therefore for the people is the cult of the sun who is our particular star of the body of nuit from whom in the strictest scientific sense come this earth a chilled spark of him and all our light and life his vice-regent and representative in the animal kingdom is his cognate symbol the phallus representing love and liberty ra-hoor-khuit like all true gods is therefore a solar-phallic deity but we regard him as he is in truth eternal the solar-phallic deities of the old aeon such as osiris christ hiram adonis hercules etc were supposed through our ignorance of the cosmos to die and rise again thus we celebrated rites of crucifixion and so on which have now become meaningless ra-hoor-khuit is the crowned and conquering child this is also a reference to the crowned and conquering child in ourselves our own personal god except ye become as little children said christ ye shall not enter into the kingdom of god the kingdom of malkuth the virgin bride and the child is the dwarf-self the phallic consciousness which is the true life of man beyond his veils of incarnation... now this mystery of the letters is done and I want to go on to the holier place I am in a secret fourfold word the blasphemy against all gods of men the evident interpretation of this is to take the word to be do what thou wilt which is a secret word because its meaning for every man is his own inmost secret and it is the most profound blasphemy possible against all gods of men because it makes every man his own god we may then take it that this solar-phallic ra ha is each man himself as each independent cell in our bodies is to us so is each of us to heru-ra-ha each man's child consciousness is a star in the cosmos of the sun as the sun is a star in the cosmos of nuit curse them curse them curse them with my hawk's head I peck at the eyes of jesus as he hangs upon the cross we are to consider carefully the particular attach of heru ra ha against each of these gods or prophets for though they be or represent the magi of the past the curse of their grade must consume them thus it is the eyes of jesus his point of view that must be destroyed and this point of view is wrong because of his magical gesture of self-sacrifice one must not for a moment suppose that this verse supports the historicity of jesus jesus is not and never was a man but he was a god just as a bundle of old rags and a kerosene tin on a bush may be a god there is a man-made idea built of ignorance fear and meanness for the most part which we call jesus and which has been tricked out from time to time with various gauds from paganism and judaism the subject of jesus is most unfortunately too extensive for a note it is treated fully in my book 888 I flap my wings in the face of mohammed & blind him mohammed's point of view is wrong too but he needs no such sharp correction as jesus it is his face his outward semblance that is to be covered with his wings the tenets of islam correctly interpreted are not far from our way of life and light and love and liberty this applies especially to the secret tenets the external creed is mere nonsense suited to the intelligence of the peoples among whom it was promulgated but even so islam is magnificent in practice its code is that of a man of courage and honour and self-respect contrasting admirably with the cringing cowardice of the damnation-dodging christians with their unmanly and dishonest acceptance of vicarious sacrifice and their currish conception of themselves as born in sin miserable sinners with no health in us.