Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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1909 · PDF PAGE 14

Clouds Without Water

… ecstacy. Mine eyes grow aged with that hieroglyph Of doom that I have sought : the fatal end. That which is written is written, even if Great Zeus himself— great Zeus! — were to befriend. Even in the spring of the first floral kiss : ‘’ No happy end the gods have given for this ”.

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1909 · PDF PAGE 57

Clouds Without Water

…e star. We neared; we saw Each other, knew each other; in your face Mine equal self with majesty and awe Abode; and thus we stayed for a great space. What was the manner of our countenance? I saw you seated, as a great lost God With blasphemy exulting in your glance And horror at your lips ; my soul was shod With glory, and your body bathed in glory, So that from out the uttermost abyss The very darkness churned itself to hoary And phosphor foam of agony and bliss. The authentic seal of our majestic might Stamped on the light in light the light…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 74

Clouds Without Water

…. We cannot bear such worlds of happiness. Even in this torture that consumes and taints, We writhe in bliss, one terrible caress Of the great Gods of Hell. Ah! surely, dear, Our way is wise, transcending human woe: We are most happy and of great good cheer. What do we know? It matters net. We know, This is enough, that we have slain the Sphinx, Worked out her wizardry, dissolved her doom; And though her wine be death to him that drinks We shall carouse for ever in the tomb. We drank bull’s blood and all our pangs immense Are better than eupept…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 39

Clouds Without Water

… dust this consecrated brow, And answer Thee in broken murmur thus, That Iam altogether base and vile, That Thou art altogether good and great, That Thou hast given the guerdon grace for guile Even while I lifted up myself to Fate And cursed Thee. And from me who scorned to pray Thou hast rolled the sad sepulchral stone away. III On this wise : that by uttermost good Fortune I met you walking out in London city, Even when from Heaven I did not dareimportune Hardly to pass your house! The Gods took pity They whirled us in a chariot of fire About…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 8

Clouds Without Water

… harder task; were it permitted me to ask a recompense, I would ask none but that of His divine blessing upon my fellow-labourers in His great field. The Manuscript

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1909 · PDF PAGE 4

Clouds Without Water

PREFACE BY THE REVD. C. VEREY “ Receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. ” So wrote the great apostle nearly two thou- sand years ago ; and surely in these latter days, when Satan seems visibly loosed upon earth, the words have a special and dreadful significance even for us who —thanks be to God for His un- speakable mercy ! — are washed in the blood of the Lamb and freed from the chains of death — and of hell. Surely this terrible history is a true Sign of the Times. We walk in the last days, and all the

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1909 · PDF PAGE 54

Clouds Without Water

… Looking with fire-keen evvs on life and death In simple state and cardinal content : Even as the holy hawk that towers sublime Into the great abyss, with icy gaze Fronting the calm immensities of time And making space to shudder; so I praise With infinite contempt the joyous world That I have figured in this brain of mine. The sails of this life’s argosy are furled; The anchor drops in those abodes divine. Master of self and God, freewill and Fate. [ am alone — at last — to meditate,

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1909 · PDF PAGE 7

Clouds Without Water

…ech (save the mark) but I am firmly resolved (and I believe that I have the blessing of God on my work) toawake my fellow-workers in the great vineyard to the facts of modern existence. Unblushing, the old Serpent rears its crest to the sky; unashamed, the Beast and the Scarlet Woman chant the blasphemous litanies of their fornication. Surely the cup of their abominations is nigh full ! Surely we who await the Advent of our bles- sed Lord are emboldened to trust that this fren- zy of wickedness is a sure sign of the last days ; that He will sho…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 24

Clouds Without Water

IV Lola. The name is like the amorous call Of some bright-bosomed bird in bowers of blue. Tis like the great moon-crested waterfall With hammering heart. ’Tis like the rain of dew That quires to the angel stars. ’Tis like a bell Rung by an holy anchoret to summon Out of the labyrinths of heaven and hell Some grave, majestic, and deep-breasted woman To bring her naked body shining, shining With flowers of heaven or flames of Phlegethon Into his hermit cell, her love entwining Into his life with spells that murmur on Black words! For one thing be…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 61

Clouds Without Water

… are one ” is all, and allis naught; And this one “ one”, and “all”, and “naught " The whole content of our imagining, [shall throng The great arcanum in the adytum hid From men, and though we carve or kiss or sing, The Sphinx is dumb, and blind the Pyramid. ~~ Now our affairs are ordered perfectly. Give me your mouth, your mouth, and let us die! - — GQ) — “I

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1909 · PDF PAGE 26

Clouds Without Water

…thy mother maw We wrench the lion child of wonder and awe! — 26 — IX This wine is sovereign against all complaints. This is the wine the great king-angels use To inspire the souls of sinners and of saints Unto the deeds that win the world or lose. One drop of this raised Attis from the cead ; One drop of this, and slain Osiris stirs; One drop of this; before young Horus fled Thine hosts, Typhon ! — this wine is mine and hers Ye Gods that gaveit! not in trickling gonts, But from the very fountain whence 'tis drawn Gushing in crystal jets and rub…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 43

Clouds Without Water

…ne! Bless all the company of heaven, agreeing To veil their fires to our stupendous sun! Bless all the lesser glories that excite In the great gladness of our mother light! — 60 ~ XI How purely unexpected was the chance: When things looked blackest, ou asudden,thesun! Chance is another word for ignorance ; We do not know how all these things are done. But what has happened once may happen again, And” Hitherto the Lord hath helped us ”, dear: “History repeats itself” -—- which makes it plain That ’ Evermore the Lord will help us. " Fear And sorr…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 68

Clouds Without Water

…rimming measure. The moon is dead — all glory to the Sun! Now, now! Oh no! Oh no! I penetrate — I pierce. Enough. God! God! how Thou art great! —- TIE —

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1909 · PDF PAGE 5

Clouds Without Water

… found in these poems, Alas ! that we should be compelled to write the words! That an art essentially spiritual, an art dignified by the great names of Gascoigne Mackie, Chris- tina Rossetti, Alfred Tennyson, George Herbert, should here be prostituted to such “ ignoble use ”, Truly the corruption of the best is the lowest —- corruptio optimi pessima. Nor can one gleam of Hope, even in the infinite mercy of our loving Father, tinge with gold the leprous gloom of our outlook. These clouds without water havenosilver lining. The unhappy man need no…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 81

Clouds Without Water

…re dangerous than a mere voluptuary, Doomisday. — An affected archaism for the Day of Judgment. How can the writer dare to speak of this great day, on which he shall be damned for ever? “ For he that believeth not 1s condemned already, Mother. — Nature. How true would be these striking words, if only for “ the love-taught magus, the hermaphrodite ” with all its su- perstition, blasphemy, and obscenity, one were to write “ The Christ-saved sinner, brought into the light”, The arcanum in the adytum. — More classical affectation for “ the secret t…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 82

Clouds Without Water

…ic papyrus. THE INITIATION This shocking sonnet awakes pity and disgust in equal proportions. If even then they had only turned to the “ Great Physician! ” But no! ‘ God hardened Pharach’s heart ”. Alas! no doubt that the reference is to our blessed Lordand Master, The barren fig-tree has been no doubt a stumbling-block to many weak souls. But the fig tree has here a Vin VI. VIL 33. IX. 9. 10, AIL. 1, AIT, deeper signification in its reference to certain loathsome forms of disease, and it is a symbol of lust, See Rosenbaum’s “ Plague of Lust ” …

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