Liber Aleph

THE BOOK OF WISDOM OR FOLLY 151 Et De Sphinge Ægyptiorum (Of the Sphinx of the Egyptians) T is now expedient that I instruct thee concerning the Four Powers of the Sphinx, and firstly, that this most arcane of the Mysteries of Antiquity was never at any Period the Tool of the Slave-Gods, but a Witness of Horus through the dark Æon of Osiris to His Light and Truth, His Force and Fire. Thou canst by no means interpret the Sphinx in Terms of the Formula of the Slain God. This did I comprehend even when as Eliphas Levi Zahed I walked up and down the Earth, seeking a Reconciliation of these Antagonisms, which was a Task impossible, for in that Plane they have Antipathy. (Even so may no Man form a Square Magical of Four Units.) But the Light of the New Æon revealeth this Sphinx as the true Symbol of this our Holy Art of Magick under the Law of Thelema. In Her is the equal Development and Disposition of the Forces of Nature, each in its Balanced Strength; also Her True Name has the Digamma for Phi, and endeth in Upsilon, not in Xi, so that Her Orthography is S#inu whose Numer-ation is Six Hundred and Three Score and Six. For the Root thereof is S#, which signifieth the Incarnation of the Spirit; and of Kin are not only the Sun, Our Father, but Sumer, where Man knew himself Man, and Soma, the Divine Potion that giveth Men Enlightenment, and Scin, Light Astral, and Scire also, by a far Travelling. But especially is this Root hidden in Sus, that is of the Sow, Swine, because the Most Holy must needs take its Delight under the Omphalos of the Unclean. But this was hidden by Wisdom in Order that the Arcanum should not be profaned during the Æon of the Slain God. But now it has been given unto me to understand the Heart of Her Mystery, wherefore, o my Son, by Right of the Great Love that I bear unto thee, I will inform thee thereof. i