The Law is for All

98 The Law is for All obey me. Reflect that I was being compelled to make an abject recantation of practically every article of my creed, and I had not even Cranmer’s excuse.11 was proud of my personal prowess as a poet, hunter, and mountaineer of admittedly dauntless virility; yet I was being treated like a hypnotized imbecile, only worse, for I was perfectly aware of what I was doing. 1 [When being burnt for heresy and treason, the Reformation theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) put his writing hand (with which he had signed his recantation and confes­ sion) into the fire, saying “this hand hath offended.”] 2 [Crowley gave “me” as capitalized in the Tss., but it is uncapitalized in both Liber CCXX and the ms. Here and on p. 99 below the commen­ tary has been conformed to Liber CCXX (giving “me” rather than “Me”). Crowley’s theories relating to capitalization are affected.] 12. Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not. Commentary: The use of capitals “me”1 2 and “Thee” empha­ sizes that Hadit was wholly manifested in The Beast. It is to be remembered that The Beast has agreed to follow the instructions communicated to Him only in order to show that “nothing would happen if you broke all the rules.” Poor fool! The Way of Mastery is to break all the rules—but you have to know them perfectly before you can do this; otherwise you are not in a position to transcend them. Aiwaz here explains that his power over me depended upon II: 12 the fact that Hadit is verily “the core of every star.” As is well known, there is a limit to the power of the hypnotist; he cannot overcome the resistance of the Unconscious of his patient. My own Unconscious was thus in alliance with Aiwaz; taken between two fires, my conscious self was paralyzed so long as the pressure lasted. It will be seen later—verses 61 to 69—that my conscious­ ness was ultimately invaded by the Secret Self, and surrendered unconditionally, so that, it proclaimed, loudly and gladly, from its citadel, the victory of its rightful Lord. The mystery is indeed this, that in so prosperous and joyous a city, there should still be groups of malcontents whose grumblings are occasionally audible.