158
The Law is for All
111:20
The circumstances are so striking that it is well worth the while 
of the lay reader to become acquainted with the nature of the 
reasoning which attests the præterhuman character of the Author 
of this Book.
It follows, in the words in which it was originally written, An. 
xvn, 0 in I, (£ in ®, June 8, 1921 E.v., with no preliminaries, 
in my Magical Diary, at the Abbey of Thelema in Cephalœdium 
of Trinacria.
These verses are very subtly worded. How should I under­
stand this allusion to the Stèle; how “count well its name” 
without knowing it?
I tried to count “Abomination of Desolation”, but that is 
what “they shall call” it, not its proper name.
It seemed that this name, when found, ought to add to 
718, or to be identical with some other word or phrase that 
did so. More, this name when found must somehow express 
“the fall of Because”.
For many years these two verses, despite elaborate 
research, yielded no meaning soever. At last I chanced on 
'YnOMONH as 718; it means “persistence,” the Greek noun 
corresponding to “Perdurabo,” my first magical Motto. Of 
course the Stèle had persisted since the 26th Dynasty,1 but 
that scarcely justified naming it “Persistence”; also, there was 
nothing about “the fall of Because”.
1 [Modern chronology dates the Stèle to the 25th Dynasty.]
Now (An. xvn, © in I, C in ®) I was going through the 
Law in order to repair any details of omission in the rituals 
ordained, and found these verses introduced among the 
instructions. They fascinated me; when I had finished the 
work in hand, I returned to them and worked for some hours 
with a Lexicon, starting from the word APXH, “cause,” 709, 
to find some phrase equal to 718 which would deny Cause. I 
found AZA, 9, a word meaning “dryness,” but most espe­
cially the dirt or mould upon a disused object. APXH AZA is, 
therefore, a precise expression of the doctrine expounded in 
our Law about “Because”.
So far, so good; but this is in no sense the name of the 
Stèle.
I worked on, and found XOIZA, 718, “Yesterday” which 
might be grasped as a straw if I sank the third time; but I was 
swimming strongly enough.