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Page 1 of 21904 · PDF PAGE 4
…ng to comfort you.”* “Is it very long?” Alice asked. “It’s long,” said the Knight, but it’s very very beautiful. The name of the song is called ‘The Book of the Beast.’ ” “Oh! how ugly” cried Alice. “Never m ind,” s aid the mild creature. “Some people call it ‘Reason in Rhyme.’ ” “But which is the name of the song?” Alice said, trying not to seem too interested. “Ah, you don’t understand,” the Knight said, looking a little vexed. “That’s what the name is called. The nam e really is ‘Ascension Day and Pentecost; with some Prose Essay s and an Ep…
1904 · PDF PAGE 2
THE SWORD OF SONG CALLED BY CHRISTIANS THE BOOK OF THE BEAST ALEISTER CROWLEY SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH BENARES 1904
1904 · PDF PAGE 69
…s.” Magical phenomna, however, come under a special sub-class, since they are w illed, and their cause is the series of “real” phenomena called the operations of ceremonial Magic. These consist of: (1) Sight. The circle, square, triangle, vessels, lamps, robes, imple- ments, etc. (2) Sound. The invocations. (3) Smell. The perfumes. (4) Taste. The Sacraments. (5) Touch. As under (1) (6) Mind. The combination of all these and reflection on their significance. These unusual impressions ( 1-5) produce unusual brain-changes; hence their summary (6) …
1904 · PDF PAGE 122
…er fetters that restri ct his progress. But first of all he must abandon all those false hopes and beliefs; and one who has done this is called a Buddhist. And this holding of Right Views, in Pali Sam maditthi, is the first step upon the Noble Eightfold Path. “The second stage is Right Aspiration— Sammasankappo. Having realised the woe and transitoriness and soullessness of all life, there rises in the m ind this Right Aspi- ration. W hen all things suffer, we at least will not increase their burden, so we aspire to become pitiful and loving, t…
1904 · PDF PAGE 58
…of course; possibly cannot be; yet surely an allegorical order is one in essence, and I have no longer a shadow of a doubt that these so-called “precepts” are a species of savage practical joke. Apart from this there can hardly be much doubt, when critical exegesis has done its damnedest on the Logia of our Lord, that Buddha did at some time commit himself to some statement. “(Something called) C on- sciousness exists” is, said H uxley, the irreducible minimum of the pseudo-syllogism, false even for an enthymeme, “Cogito, ergo sum !” This propo…
1904 · PDF PAGE 125
… of his results, as such of them as I am acquainted with deal with objective and trivial pheno- mena.) Of course, as long as what Darwin called variation is called disease by Professor Ray Lankester, we shall (if we accept his views, 1 See note p. 116
1904 · PDF PAGE 15
…res me on To loose my pompoms on Saint John ; And, that hill being shelled, doth swear His forces never had been there. I got disgusted, called a parley, (Here comes a white-flag treachery !) Asked : “Is there anything you value, Will hold to ?” He laughed, “Chase me, Charlie !” But seeing in his mind that I Would no be so converted, “Shall you,” He added, “grope in utter dark ? The Book of Acts and that of Mark Are now considered genuine.” I snatch a Testament, begin Reading at random the first page ;— He stops me with a gesture sage : “You mu…
1904 · PDF PAGE 75
…eck.” The surgeon Crowley, with his trocar, Says you a poor but silly bloke are, Advises concentration’s knife Quick to the horny growth called life. “Yoga ? There’s danger in the biz ! But, it’s the only chance there is !” (For life, if left alone, is sorrow, And only fools hope God’s to-morrow.) Up, Guards, and at em! Second, your facts are neatly put ; —Stay ! In that mouth there lurks a foot ! One surgeon saw so many claps He thought : “One-third per cent., perhaps, Of mortals ’scape its woes that knock us, And bilk the wily gonococcus.” S…
1904 · PDF PAGE 23
…met a man (this shocks, What I now press, so heterdox, Anglican, Roman, Methodist, Peculiar Person—all the list !— I never met a man who called Himself a Christian, but appalled Shrank when I dared suggest the hope God’s mercy could expand its scope, Extend, or bend, or spread, or straighten So far as to encompass Satan Or even poor Iscariot. Yet God created (did he not ?) Both these. Omnisciently, we know ! Benevolently ? Even so ! Created from Himself distinct (Note that !—it is not meet for you To plead me Schelling and his crew) These souls…
1904 · PDF PAGE 112
… or ill matters nothing), but represent them all as pictured in, but not affecting, a certain changeless, omniscient, blissful existence called Atman. Holding to Theism , the ex- istence of evil forces them to the Fichtean position that “the Ego posits the Non-Ego,” and we learn that nothing really exists after all but Brahm. They then distinguish between Jivatma, the soul-conditioned, and Paramatma, the s oul free; the former being the basis of our normal consciousness; the latter of the Nirvikalpa-Samadhi conscious- 1 The Buddhist position ma…
1904 · PDF PAGE 118
…painfully construes “Balbus murum ædi- ficavit,” and the Roman who announces that historic fact without a thought of his grammer. I have called this m editation the most famous of the Buddhist meditations, b ecause it is stated by the Buddha himself that if one practices it honestly and intelligently a r esult is certain. And he says this of no other. I have personally not found the time to devote m yself seriously to this Mahasati- patthana, and the s tatements here m ade are those derived from reason and not from ex- perience. But I can say t…
1904 · PDF PAGE 85
…y W. Black, at the Wheatsheaf in Newgate, and sold at the Three Keys in Nags-Head Court, Gracechurch St. IT is fitting that I, Am brose, called I.A.O., should set down the life of our great Father (who now is not, yet whose name must never be spoken among men), in order that the Brethren may know what journey s he undertook in pursuit of that Knowledge whose attainment is their constant study. It was at his 119th year,1 the S tar Suaconch2 being in the sign of the Lion, that our Father set out from his Castle of Ug 3 to attain the Quint- essenc…
1904 · PDF PAGE 50
…elasian leanings: a healthy tone (we say) pervades his work. Never believe it! The sex problem is his Speciality; a morbid decadence (so-called) is hidden i’ th’ heart o’ th’ rose. In other words, the divine William is the morning star to Ibsen’s dawn and Bernard Shaw’s effulgence. The superficial, the cynical, the misanthropic will demand proof of such a statement. Let it be our contemptuous indulgence to afford them what they ask. May I premise that, ment ally o bsessed, mono-maniac indeed, as we must now consider Shakespeare to have been on …
1904 · PDF PAGE 77
…e government a weaver named Suraj Ju 2 and his wife Chandi. 3 And in the fulness of her time did she give birth to a man child, and they called him Perdu’ R Abu. 4 Now the child grew, and the tears of the mother fell, and the wrath of the father waxed: for by no means would the boy strive in his trade of weaving. The loom went merrily, but to the rhy thm of a mantra; and the silk slipped through his hands, but as if one told his beads. Where- fore the work was marred, and the hearts of the parents were woe because of him . But it is written tha…
1904 · PDF PAGE 65
…ollowing, which I can deplore, but not refute, for this type of man is probably more prone to repro- duce his species than any other. He called it “Summa Spes.” I. Existence being sorrow, The cause of it deisre, A merry tune I borrow To light upon the lyre : If death destroy me quite, Then, I cannot lament it ; I’ve lived, kept life alight, And—damned if I repent it ! Let me die in a ditch, Damnably drunk, Or lipping a punk, Or in bed with a bitch ! I was ever a hog ; Muck ? I am one with it ! Let me die like a dog ; Die, and be done with it ! …
1904 · PDF PAGE 94
…that he would have all his desi re. In the m orning therefore he arose and went his way into the desert. There he clomb an high rock and called forth the eagles, that th eir shadow floating over the desert should be as a book that men might read it. The shadows wrote and the sun recorded ; and on this wise cometh it to pass, O my Brethren, that by darkness and by sunlight y e will still learn ever these the Arcana of our Science. Lo ! who learneth by moonlight, he is the lucky one ! So our Father, having thus founded the Order, and our sacred B…
1904 · PDF PAGE 115
…it is for pleasure, and aside from the vital fact; a skirmish, and not a pitched battle. This “dream” I have thus described is the state called Dhy ana by the Hindus and Buddhists. The method of attaining it is sane, healthy , and scientific. I would not take the pains to desc ribe that method, had not illiterate, and too often m ystical advo- cates of the practice obs cured the s imple
1904 · PDF PAGE 68
…he Bible, by a * This essay forms the introduction an edition of the “Goetia” of King Solomon † “A T housand and One Nights, ” com monly called “Arabian Nights.” profound and minute study of the text, may be forced to yield up Qabalistic arcana of cosmic scope and importance, we are too often slow to apply a similar restorative to the companion volume, even if we are the lucky holders of Burton’s veritable edition. To me, then, it remains to raise the A lf Laylah wa Laylah into its proper place once more. I am not concerned to deny the objectiv…
1904 · PDF PAGE 123
…he power of this transcendent faculty, rising through the Eight High Trances to the very threshold of Nirvana, he at last, in the Trance called Nirodha Samapatti, attains, even in this life, to the Deathless Shore of Nirvana, by the power of Sammasamadhi, Right Concentration. Such a one has finished the Path—he has destroyed the cause of all his chain of lives, and has become Arahan, a Saint, a Buddha himself.” But none knows better than the venerable Bhikkhu himself, as indeed he makes clear with regard to the steps Sam mávayamo and above, tha…
1904 · PDF PAGE 63
…stasy-of-medita- tion mail.” 338. Maha-Meru.52—The “mystic moun- tain” of the Hindus. See Southey’s Curse of Kehama. 339. Gaurisankar.53—Called also Chomo- kankar, Devadhunga, and Everest. 341. Chogo.54—The Giant. This is the native name of “K 2” ; or Mount Godwin-Austen, as C ol. G odwin-Austen w ould call it. It is the second highest known mountain in the world, as Devadhunga is the first. 356. The History of the West.55— De Acosta (José) Natural and Moral His- tory of the Indies. Alison, Sir A. . History of Scotland. Benzoni . . . History of…