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Page 1 of 41996 · PDF PAGE 150
Chapter II * Verses 73-74 151 be bold to measure the Morrow, or declare what causes conjoin to bring forth an Effect that no man knoweth? Was not Lao-tzu thrust forth from his city? Did not Buddha go begging in rags? Did not Mohammed flee for his life into exile? Was not Bacchus the scandal and the scorn of men? Than Joseph Smith1 had any man less learning? Yet each of these attained to do his Will; each cried his Word, that all the Earth yet echoes it! And each was able to accomplish this by virtue of that very cir cumstance which seems so cr…
1996 · PDF PAGE 157
…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 f…
1996 · PDF PAGE 188
Chapter III * Verses 68-75 189 But apparently Ra-Hoor-Khuit had an Universe in his left hand, and crushed it so that naught remains. I think this “Universe” is that of monistic metaphysics; in one hand is the “Double Wand,” in the other “naught.” This seems to refer to the “none and two” ontology outlined in previous notes. 73. Paste the sheets from right to left and from top to bottom: then behold! 74. There is a splendour in my name hidden and glorious, as the sun of midnight is ever the son. 75. The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabr…
1996 · PDF PAGE 132
Chapter II A Verses 58-60 133 This passage may perhaps be interpreted in a sense slightly dif ferent from that assumed in the above paragraph. We should indeed love all—is not the Law “love under will”? By this I mean that we should make proper contact with all, for love means union; and the proper condition of union is determined by will. Consider the right attitude to adopt in the matter of cholera. One should love it, that is, study it intimately; not otherwise can one be sure of maintaining the right relation with it, which is, not to allo…
1996 · PDF PAGE 98
Chapter II A Verses 11 — 13 99 13. for why? Because thou wast the knower, and me. Commentary: Hadit had to overcome the silly “knower,” who thought everything was Sorrow. Cf. “Who am I?”—“Thou knowest” in Chapter I. I am far from satisfied with the above interpretation of this verse. We shall see a little later, verses 27 sqq., a general objection to “Because” and “why”. Then how is it that Hadit does not dis dain to use those terms? It must be for the sake of my mind. Then, “for why” is detestably vulgar; and no straining of grammar excuses o…
1996 · PDF PAGE 100
Chapter II a Verses 13—20 101 There is no contradiction here, by the way, with verses 4 and 5. The words “know me” are used loosely as is natural in a stanza; or, more likely, are used (as in the English Bible) to suggest the root Vgn, identity in transcendental ecstasy. Possibly “not” and “me” are once more intended to apply to Nuit. With “know” itself, they may be “Nothing under its three forms”1 of negativity, action, and individuality. 1 [From “Liber Trigrammaton sub figura XXVII,” The Holy Books of Thelema (The Equinox 111(9)) (1983), p. 4…
1996 · PDF PAGE 58
Chapter I a Verses 51—52 59 ness sets up the illusion of duality, which leads to excision and destruction. “direful”: because Ra-Hoor-Khuit is a “god of War and of Vengeance”; see Cap. III. The doctrine of the previous verses, which appears not merely to allow sexual liberty in the ordinary sense, but even to advocate it in a sense which is calculated to shock the most abandoned lib ertine, can do no less than startle and alarm the magician, and that only the more so as he is familiar with the theory and prac tice of his art. “What is this, i…
1996 · PDF PAGE 152
Chapter II a Verses 74-79 153 he is. He shams dead, like other vile insects, at the approach of danger; he tries to escape notice by assuming the colour and form of his surroundings, using “protective mimicry” like certain other invertebrates. He exudes stink or ink like the skunk or the cuttle-fish, calling the one Morality and the other Decency. He is slippery with Hypocrisy, like a slug; and, labelling the totality of his defects Perfection, defines God as Faeces so that he may flatter himself with the epithet divine. The whole manœuvre is d…
1996 · PDF PAGE 86
…nguages) of these names. Nu is clearly stated to be 56, 1]; but Had is only hinted obscurely. This matter is discussed later more fully; verses 15 and 16. 2. Come! all ye, and learn the secret that hath not yet been revealed. I, Hadit, am the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not extended, and Khabs is the name of my House. Commentary: Khabs—“a star”—is an unit of Nuit, and therefore Nuit Herself. This doctrine is enormously difficult of apprehension, even after these many years of study. Hadit is the “core of every star”, verse 6. He is thus th…
1996 · PDF PAGE 164
Chapter III * Verses 23—37 165 31. There cometh a rich man from the West who shall pour his gold upon thee. 32. From gold forge steel! 33. Be ready to fly or to smite! 34. But your holy place shall be untouched throughout the centuries: though with fire and sword it be burnt down & shattered, yet an invisible house there standeth, and shall stand until the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise and the double-wanded one assume my throne and place. Another prophet shall arise, and bring fresh fever from the skies; another woman sh…
1996 · PDF PAGE 186
Chapter III A Verses 61 — 67 187 Such Life and Mind may therefore be utterly different to any thing we know of; the “girders” of their souls in other spheres may be other than ours. The above argument is a case of a “girder”; we are bound mentally by our race-experience of the environment in which our own lives flourish. A pioneer choosing a camp must look for wood, water, perhaps shelter, perhaps game. In another planet he might not need any of these. The “girders” which determine the “form” of our souls are therefore limitations to our thoug…
1996 · PDF PAGE 34
Chapter I * Verses 10—26 35 14. Above, the gemmed azure is The naked splendour of Nuit; She bends in ecstasy to kiss The secret ardours of Hadit. The winged globe, the starry blue, Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu! 15. Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men. 16. For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the …
1996 · PDF PAGE 134
Chapter II * Verses 61 — 67 135 “Higher Self”; True Self is more the idea. For each Star is the husk of Hadit, unique and conqueror, sublime in His own virtue, independent of hierarchy. There is an external hierarchy, of course, but that is only a matter of convenience. 66. Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be our bed in working! Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be glad. Thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our agelong love. Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one;…
1996 · PDF PAGE 32
Chapter I a Verses 7—10 33 ridiculous, a senseless and inexcusable folly. It would throw us back on the dilemma of Manichaeism. The idea of incarnations “perfecting” a thing originally perfect by definition is imbecile. The only sane solution is as given previously, to suppose that the Perfect enjoys experience of (apparent) Imperfection. (There are deeper resolutions of this problem appropriate to the highest grades of initiation; but the above should suffice the average intelligence.) 9. Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over y…
1996 · PDF PAGE 44
Chapter I * Verses 41-42 45 42. Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing. So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will. Commentary: “manyhood bound and loathing.” An orga nized state is a free association for the common weal. My personal will to cross the Atlantic, for example, is made effective by cooperation with others on agreed terms. But the forced asso ciation of slaves is another thing. A man who is not doing his will is like a man with cancer, an independent growth in him, yet one from which he cannot get free. Th…
1996 · PDF PAGE 99
…a personal rebuke to which I had no possible reply, involving a knowledge of my own mental state which was superior to my own. These two verses are sufficient in themselves to demonstrate the prasterhuman qualities of the Author of this Book. 14. Now let there be a veiling of this shrine: now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness! 15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for …
1996 · PDF PAGE 184
Chapter III & Verses 58-60 185 I have myself practiced constantly to prove the Law by many and divers modes in many and divers spheres of thought, until it has become absolutely fixed in me, so much so that it appears an “identical equation,” axiomatic indeed, and yet not a platitude, but a very sword of Truth to sunder every knot at a touch. As the practical ethics of the Law, I have formulated in words of one syllable my declaration of the RIGHTS OF MAN Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. There is no god but Man. Man has the righ…
1996 · PDF PAGE 88
Chapter II A Verses 2—5 89 3. In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found. Commentary: This is again interesting as throwing light on the thesis: “Every man and every woman is a star.” There is no place soever that is not a Centre of Light. This Truth is to be realized by direct perception, not merely by intellection. It is axiomatic; it cannot be demonstrated. It is to be assimilated by experience of the Vision of the “Star-Sponge.” 4. Yet she shall be known & I never. Commentary: See later, verse 13, …
1996 · PDF PAGE 24
Chapter I A- Verses 1—3 25 Further, this verse is to be taken with the next. The “company of heaven” is Mankind, and its “unveiling” is the assertion of the independent godhead of every man and every woman! Further, as Khabs1 (see verse 8) is “Star,” there is a further meaning; this Book is to reveal the Secret Self of a man, i.e. to initiate him. 1 [Usually khaib in modern Egyptian transliteration.] 2 [A Crowley diary from 1919 e.v.; the relevant passage is quoted on p. 26.] 3. Every man and every woman is a star. Commentary: This thesis is fu…
1996 · PDF PAGE 62
…nment in the present, and, in the third, their possibilities with regard to the modification of the future. In these supremely important verses of The Book of the Law, it becomes clear that Nuit is aware of all these facts, and that she regards them as no less than the combination of the lock of the strong-room of the future. “This” (doctrine) “shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister”. The misunderstanding of sex, the ignorant fear like a fog, the ignorant lust like a miasma, these things have done more to keep back humanity from…