The Star in the West

THE NEW WINE 257 رو1 9 Crowley explains the Qabalist's position thus : “ The Qabalists explain the First Cause , ' by the phrase : “ From O to I , as the circle opening out into the line ' ... I am bound to express my view that when the Qabalists said Not , they meant Not , and nothing else . In fact, I really claim to have re - dis covered the long - lost and central Arcanum of those divine philosophers .' “ I ASSERT THE ABSOLUTENESS OF THE QABALISTIC ZERO .” “ When we say that the Cosmos sprang from O , what kind of O do we mean ? By O in the ordinary sense of the term we mean ' absence of extension in any of the categories .' " When I say “ No cat has two tails ,'I do not mean , as the old fallacy runs , that ‘ Absence of cat possesses two tails , but that “ In the category of two - tailed things , there is no extension of cat !' “ Nothingness is that about which no positive pro position is valid . We cannot truly affirm : ‘ Nothing ness is green , or heavy , or sweet .' “ Let us call time , space , being , heaviness , hunger , the categories . If a man be heavy and hungry , he is extended in all these , besides , of course , many more . But let us suppose , that these five are all . Call the man X ; his formula is then Xt + s + b + h + h. If he now eat , he will cease to be extended in hunger ; if he be cut off from time and gravitation as well , he will now be represented by the formula Xs +b. Should he cease to occupy space and to exist , his formula would then be X °. This expression is equal to I ; wł X may represent , if it be raised to the power of O Berashith , vol . ii, p . 236 . S