February 20, 1989 e.v. key entry by Rusty Sporer and Bill Heidrick
Has been proof read but needs further proof reading
(c) O.T.O.
O.T.O.
JAF Box 7666
New York, NY 10116
USA
(718) 965-9551 ---- messages only.
Note: In various footnotes to the text, Crowley makes correspondences to
Enochian letters and Astrological symbols. An ambiguity exists in regard
to the letter "T". The Germer/Thelema Publishing Edition of 1952 e.v.
makes extensive use of symbols for Astrological concepts, and it is not
possible to clearly differentiate the signs for Leo and Caput Draconis in
all instances, since the handwritten symbols for these two correspondences
are usually indistinguishable in the Germer edition. Enochian corresponds
directly to English letters, while the astrological correspondences come
from correspondences to Hebrew letters. There are two letters in Hebrew
which are loosely rendered "T" in English/Enochian; Tet = Leo and Taw =
Caput Draconis/Saturn. Crowley uses both Leo and Caput Draconis for the
Enochian "T" in his notes. Where Leo or Caput Draconis is made clear by
the context of the note, the rendering has been duplicated here. Where
this is ambiguous, T is assumed to be matched to Leo in this text.
F.I.Regardie, in his edition, usually renders the Enochian "T" as Caput
Draconis, a practice reversed in this present version. A concise edition
should therefore be made only after careful examination of the notations
for every instance of the use of the Enochian "T", with citation of
uncertainty in regard to Leo or Caput Draconis where Crowley's intention is
unclear.
---- WEH = Bill Heidrick (William E. Heidrick, TG OTO)
LIBER XXX AERUM
Vel Saecvli
Svb Figvra
CCCCXVIII
Being of the Angels of the 30 Aethyrs
THE VISION AND THE VOICE
With COMMENTARY by THE MASTER THERION
THELEMA PUBLISHING COMPANY
October 12 1952
A{.'.} A{.'.} Publication in Class A B
Imprimatur:
D.D.S. 7x = 4{square x} Praemonstrator
O.S.V. 6x = 5{square x} Imperatior
N.S.F. 5x = 6{square x} Cancellarius
I N T R O D U C T I O N
_The Vision and the Voice_ of the Angels of the thirty Aethyrs,
reprinted from the _Equinox,_ Volume 1, Supplement to No. 5, but here
represented for the first time with an elaborate commentary by the MASTER THERION, is
unique in that it attempts to describe in a perfectly sane and scientific manner spiritual
experiences, and the investigations of the more subtle planes.
The first attempts to obtain these visions were made in 1900, in
Mexico, where FRATER PERDURABO had journeyed in his efforts to obtain a perfect
understanding of the mystic traditions and methods of attainment of every race and clime.
The first two Aires were investigated on November 14 and 17, 1900. _The Vision and the
Voice_ was mysterious and terrific in character. But what he saw was not altogether beyond
his previous experiences; what he heard was as unintelligible to him as William Blake to a
7th Day Adventist. He was encouraged by the evident importance of these results, but found
that he was absolutely unable to proceed with the 28th Aethyr. It became evident, some 9
years later, that what stopped his further exploration of the Aethyrs in 1900 was simply
that his Grade did not entitle him to go further than the 29th. In fact only a Master of
the Temple, 8x = 3{square x}, can penetrate beyond a certain point, and further, as
sections of the Comment point out, even a Master of the Temple cannot pierce through the
veils surrounding the outer of these Aires.
The Seer had not thought of continuing this work for nearly 9 years.
It is not at all clear how the idea came to him in 1909, during a walk
through the Desert with Frater O.V., (Victor Neuburg) a Probationer of the
A{.'.} A{.'.}, but at Aumale a Hand suddenly smote its lightning into his
heart, and he knew that now, that very day, he must take up _The Vision and
the Voice_ from the point where he had laid it down in 1900. Parallel to
this, it is also possible that he had in his ruck sack one of his earliest
Magical Note Books, where he had copied with infinite patience the 19 Calls or Keys
obtained by Sir Edward Kelly from certain Angels and written down by Queen Elizabeth's
astrologer, Dr. John Dee.
The facts that stamp these Keys or Calls are these. Over 100 squares
filled with letters were obtained by these two Magicians, in a manner which no one yet has
quite understood. Dee would have one or more of these tables (as a rule 49 by 49) --- some
full, others lettered only on
alternate squares --- before him on a writing table. Kelly would sit at
what they called the Holy Table, and gaze into a "Shewstone" in which he
would see an Angel, who would point with a wand to letters on one of these
charts in succession. Kelly would report, for example, "He points to
column 6, rank 31", and so on, apparently not mentioning the letter, which
Dee found and wrote down from the "Table" before him. When the Angel had
finished, the message was rewritten backwards. It had been dictated
backwards
- page 1 -
as being too dangerous to communicate forwards --- each word being in its
nature so powerful that its direct communication would have evoked forces
which were not wanted at that time.
These Keys being re-written backwards, there then appeared
conjurations in a language which they called "Enochian", or "Angelic".
It
is not a jargon; it has a grammar and a syntax of its own. It is far more
sonorous, stately and impressive than even Greek or Sanskrit and the
English translations, though in places difficult to understand, contain
passages of a sustained sublimity that Shakespeare, Milton and the Bible do
not surpass.
"Can the Wings of the Wind understand your voices of Wonder? O Ye!
The Second of the First! whom the burning flames have framed in the
depths of my Jaws! Whom I have prepared as cups for a wedding, or
as flowers in their beauty for the chamber of Righteousness!
Stronger are your feet than the barren stone! and mightier are your
voices than the manifold winds! For you are become a building such
as is not, save in the mind of the All-Powerful."
(Second Key)
There are nineteen of these Keys: the first two conjuring the element
called Spirit; the next sixteen invoke the Four Elements; each sub-divided
into four; the nineteenth, by changing two names, may be used to invoke any
one of what are called the thirty "Aethyrs" or "Aires".
The genuineness of these Keys, altogether apart from any critical
observation, is guaranteed by the fact that anyone with the smallest
capacity for Magick finds that they _work_. The Seer had used these Keys a
great deal, --- always with excellent effect. It was in Mexico that the
idea occurred to him to discover for himself what these Aethyrs really
were, by invoking them in turn by means of the nineteenth key, and, by
skrying in the Spirit Vision, judge their nature by what he saw and heard.
It was then in Aumale, that he prepared to commence once more the
investigations of these Aethyrs, and accordingly bought a number of
notebooks. After dinner, on the 23rd of November, 1909, he invoked the
28th Aethyr by means of this 19th Key. When it was compared with those of
the 29th and 30th Aethyrs, --- lo and behold, there were exhibited the same
peculiarities of subject and style. This is true also of the 27th, and so
on to the 24th; yet there is a continuous advance towards coherence both in
each Aethyr itself, and as regards its neighbour. The subject shows
solemnity and sublimity, as well as the tendency to fit in with those
conceptions of the Cosmos, those mystic Laws of Nature, and those ideas of
transcendental Truth which had already been foreshadowed in _The Book of the Law_ (Vernal
Equinox, 1904), and the more exalted of the trances which the Seer had experienced prior
to this date.
The Method of obtaining _The Vision and the Voice_ was as follows.
- page 2 -
The Seer had with him a great golden topaz (set in a Calvary Cross of six
squares, made of wood, and painted vermillion) which was engraved with a Greek Cross of
five squares charged with the Rose of 49 petals. He held
this, as a rule, in his hand. After choosing a spot where he was not
likely to be disturbed he would take this stone and recite the Enochian
Call, and after satisfying himself that the forces invoked were actually
present, made the topaz play a part not unlike that of the looking glass in
the case of Alice. (He had long learned not to trouble himself to travel
to any particular place in his Body of Light. He realized that Space was
not a thing in itself, but merely a convenient category [one of many such]
by reference to which we can distinguish objects from each other.) He
would then describe what he saw and repeat what he heard, and Frater O.V., the Scribe,
would write down his words, and incidentally observe any phenomena which struck him as
peculiar. (For instance, He would at times pass into a deep trance so that many minutes
might pass between two
successive sentences, as the text to the later Aethyrs shows.)
They walked steadily through the Desert, invoking the Aethyrs, one by
one, at convenient times and places, or when the Spirit moved them. As a
rule, one Aethyr was obtained every day. Bou-Sada was reached on November 30th; on
December 8th they started again through the desert for Biskra which they reached on
December 16th, completing the work on the 19th. By the time Bou-Sada was reached, and they
had arrived at the 20th Aethyr, the Seer began to understand that these visions were, so
to speak,
cosmopolitan. They brought all systems of Magical doctrine into harmonious relation. The
symbolism of Asiatic cults; the ideas of the Qabalah, both Jewish and Greek; the Arcana of
the Gnostics; the Pagan Pantheon, from Mithras to Mars; the Mysteries of Ancient Khem; the
Rites of Eleusis; the Scandinavian Sagas; Celtic and Druidical ritual; Mexican and
Polynesian traditions; the Mysticism of Molinos no less than that of Islam,--- all these
fell into their proper places without the slightest tendency to quarrel. The whole of the
past Aeon, in short, appeared in detailed
perspective, and each element therefore surrendered its sovereignty to
Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child, the Lord of the Aeon announced in
_The Book of the Law_
Love is the law, love under will.
Frater E{.'.}N{.'.}L{.'.}
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The titles of the Thirty AEthyrs whose dominion extendeth in ever
widening circles without and beyond the Watch Towers of
the Universe
(The first is Outermost)
1 LIL 16 LEA
2 ARN 17 TAN
3 ZOM 18 ZEN
4 PAZ 19 POP
5 LIT 20 KHR
6 MAZ 21 ASP
7 DEO 22 LIN
8 ZID 23 TOR
9 ZIP 24 NIA
10 ZAX 25 VTI
11 ICH 26 DES
12 LOE 27 ZAA
13 ZIM 28 BAG
14 UTA 29 RII
15 OXO 30 TEX
THE CALL OR KEY OF THE THIRTY AETHYRS
MADARIATZA das perifa LIL{SUP:1}cahisa micaolazoda saanire caosago od fifisa
balzodizodarasa Iaida. Nonua gohulime: Micama adoianu MADA faoda beliorebe, soba ooaona
cahisa luciftias peripesol, das aberaasasa nonuafe netaaibe caosaji od tilabe adapehaheta
damepelozoda, tooata nonuafe jimicalazodoma larasada tofejilo marebe yareryo
IDOIGO{SUP:2}; od torezodulape yaodafe gohola, Caosaga, tabaoreda saanir od caharisateosa
yorepoila tiobela busadire, tilabe noalanu paida oresaba, od dodaremeni zodayolana.
Elazodape tilaba paremeji peripesatza, od ta qurelesata booapisa. Ianibame oucaho
sayomepe, od caharisateosa ajitoltorenu, mireca qo tiobela lela. Tonu paomebeda dizodalamo
asa pianu, od caharisateosa aji-la-tore-torenu paracahe a sayomepe. Coredazodizoda
dodapala od fifalazoda, lasa manada, od faregita bamesa omaoasa.
Conisabera od auauotza tonuji oresa; catabela noasami tabejesa
leuitahemonuji. Vanucahi omepetilabe oresa! Bagile? Moooabe OL
coredazodizoda. El capimao itzomatzipe, od cacocasabe gosaa. Bajilenu pii tianuta a
babalanuda, od faoregita teloca uo uime.
Madariiatza, torezodu!!! Oadariatza orocaha aboaperi! Tabaori
periazoda aretabasa! Adarepanu coresata dobitza! Yolacame periazodi
arecoazodiore, od quasabe qotinuji! Ripire paaotzata sagacore!
---------------------
1. Or other Aire as may be willed.
2. This name may be appropriately varied with the Aire.
- page 4 -
Umela od peredazodare cacareji Aoiveae coremepeta! Torezodu! Zodacare od Zodameranu,
asapeta sibesi butamona das surezodasa Tia balatanu. Odo
cicale Qaa, od Ozodazodama pelapeli IADANAMADA!
THE CALL OR KEY OF THE THIRTY AETHYRS
O Ye Heavens which dwell in the first Aire{SUP:1}, ye are mighty in the
parts of the Earth, and execute therein the Judgment of the Highest! Unto
you it is said: Behold the Face of your God, the beginning of Comfort,
whose eyes are the brightness of the Heavens, which provided you for the
Government of the Earth, and her unspeakable variety, furnishing you with
the power of understanding to dispose of all things according to the
Foresight of Him that Sitteth on the Holy Throne{SUP:2}, and rose up in the
Beginning, saying: The Earth, let her be governed by her parts, and let
there be Division in her, that the glory of her may be always ecstasy and
imitation of orgasm. Her course, let it run with the Heavens; and as an
handmaid let her serve them. One season, let it confound another, and let
there be no creature upon or within her the same. All her members, let
them differ in their qualities, and let there be no one Creature equal with
another. The reasonable Creatures of the Earth, and Men, let them vex and
weed out one another; and their dwelling-places, let them forget their
Names. The work of man and his pomp, let them be defaced. His building,
let it be a Cave for the Beast of the Field! Confound her understanding
with darkness! For why? It repenteth me concerning the Virgin and the
Man. One while let her be known, and another while a stranger: because
she is the bed of an Harlot, and the dwelling-place of him that is fallen.
O ye Heavens arise! The lower heavens beneath you, let them serve you!
Govern those that govern! Cast down such as fall. Bring forth with those
that increase, and destroy the rotten. No place let it remain in one
number. Add an diminish until the stars be numbered. Arise! Move! and
appear before the Covenant of His mouth, which He hath sworn unto us in His Justice. Open
the Mysteries of your Creation, and make us partakers of THE UNDEFILED KNOWLEDGE.
---------------------
1. Or other Aire as may be willed.
2. This name may be appropriately varied with the Aire.
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This page is intentionally blank
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A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE CONTENTS OF THE CALLS OF THE
THIRTY AIRES OR AETHYRS
_Aethyr_
30. "Exordium of the Equinox of the Gods."
29. "The Disruption of the Aeon of Osiris."
28. "The Vision of the Dawn of the Aeon of Horus (Atu XVII)"
27. "The Vision of the Initiation of Hecate (Atu XIV)
The Redemption of the Woman of Witchcraft by Love."
26. "The Slave-Gods superseded (The Vision of Atu XX, the Stl)
The Vision of the Stl of Revealing, abolishing the
Aeon of the Slave-Gods."
25. "The Path of Teth (Atu XI. The Fire-Kerub in the Initiation).
The Vision of the Fruit of the Great Work of the Beast -
666. The Lion."
24. "The Rose. (The Woman of Atu XIV. Minister of Babalon;
The Water-Kerub in the Initiation.) The First Kiss
Of the Lady of Initiation."
23. "The Kerubim of Earth and Air (Minor officers in the
Initiation to 8x = 3{square x}.) The Vision of the Interplay
And Identity of Earth and Air."
22. "The 49-fold Table (First appearance of the Crowned and
Conquering Child to the Exempt Adept as in the Pastos)
The Vision of the Rose, the Heart of BABALON and of
The Birth of the Universe."
21. "Kether. (TheHierophant prepares the Candidate). The
Vision of the Ineluctable Destiny."
20. "The Path of Kaph (Atu X). The Hiereus prepares the
Candidate). The Vision of the Wheel of Fortune. The
Three Energies of the Universe."
19. "The Path of Gimel (The Hegemone between the Pillars.
Preliminary: The Vision of the Unguided Universe.)"
18. "Tiphereth. (The King's Chamber. The Vision of the holy
Guardian Angel.) The Instruction concerning the
Obtaining of the Vision and the Voice of the Thirty
Aethyrs. The Preparation of the Candidate."
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_Aethyr_
17. "The Path of Lamed. (The combination Gimel, Lamed, Samech.
The Vision of the Justice or Balance of the Universe."
16. "Keter. (Path of Pe.) The Overthrow of the Salve-Gods by
The Beast 666."
15. "The Vision of the rose of 49 petals, and of the Holy
12-fold Table. Examination of the Candidate for M.T."
14. "The Vision of the City of the Pyramids. The Reception
Of the Master of the Temple."
13. "The Garden of Nemo. The Work of the Magister Templi."
12. "The Path of Cheth. The Bearer of the Sangraal. The Black
Brothers."
11. "Yesod. The Frontier of the Abyss."
10. "The Abyss. Choronzon, his Nature."
9. "Malkuth. (The Pure Virgin.) The reward of the Magister
Templi."
8. "The Holy Guardian Angel. His instruction."
7. "The Path of Daleth. The Black Brothers."
6. "The Vision of the Urn. The Magus 9x = 2{square x}. The Three
Schools of Magick."
5. "The Vision of the Middle Pillar. (Arrow). The Mystery
Of Atheism."
4. "The Marriage of Yod and He. (The common Tibetan Symbol.)
The Seer identifies himself with it."
3. "The Magus of the Tarot. (Atu 1). Mayan, the Maker of
Illusion. The Seer in Illusion (Lilith)."
2. "The Marriage of the Seer with BABALON. (Atu VI)."
1. "The Vision of The Crowned and Conquering Child, the Lord
Of the Aeon."
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THE VISION AND THE VOICE
The Cry of the Thirtieth or Inmost Aire or Aethyr,
Which is Called TEX{SUP:1}
I AM in a vast crystal cube in the form of the Great God Harpocrates. This
cube is surrounded by a sphere{SUP:2}. About me are four archangels in
black robes, their wings and armour lined out in white.
In the North{SUP:3}is a book on whose back and front are A.M.B.Z.
{SUP:4} in Enochian characters. ({ENO:z}{ENO:b}{ENO:m}{ENO:a})
Within it is written:
I AM, the surrounding of the four.
Lift up your heads, O Houses of Eternity: for my Father goeth forth to
judge the World. One Light, let it become a thousand, and one sword ten
thousand, that no man hide him from my Father's eye in the Day of Judgment
of my God. Let the Gods hide themselves: let the Angels be troubled and
flee away: for the Eye of My Father is open, and the Book of the Aeons is
fallen.
Arise! Arise! Arise! Let the Light of the Sight of Time be
extinguished: let the Darkness cover all things: for my Father goeth forth
to seek a spouse to replace her who is fallen and defiled.
Seal the book with the seals of the Stars Concealed: for the Rivers
have rushed together and the Name {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Vau} {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Yod}is broken in a
thousand pieces (against the Cubic Stone).
Tremble ye, O Pillars of the Universe{SUP:5}, for Eternity is in
travail of a Terrible Child; she shall bring forth an universe of Darkness,
whence shall leap forth a spark that shall put his father to flight.
The Obelisks are broken; the stars have rushed together: the Light hath
plunged into the Abyss: the Heavens are mixed with Hell.
My Father shall not hear their Noise: His ears are closed: His eyes
are covered with the clouds of Night.
--------------------
1. {Leo}{Virgo}{Spirit}
2. cf. AL, II, 7
3. North: Destruction = the Old Formula is abrogated.
4. {Taurus}{Aquarius}{Aries}{Leo}. The Forthsaying of the New Aeon.
5. cf. AL, III, 71. Also LIL.
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The End! the End! the End: For the Eye of Shiva He hath opened: the
Universe is naked before Him: for the Aeon of Saturn leaneth toward the
Bosom of Death{SUP:1}.
[Figure: This is an isosceles triangle with height about 7 times the
base. It extends with base on a true vertical from the left. A line
extends vertically upward from the apex, equal to the length of the base.
A trefoliate of three isosceles triangles of base slightly smaller than the
first triangle and sides equal to the first triangle is created at the
upper tip of the line. The tree component triangles of the terfolate meet
the upper tip of the line with their apices --- one vertically and two to
right and left.]{SUP:2}
The Angel of the East{SUP:3} hath a book of red written in letters of
Blue A.B.F.M.A.{SUP:4} in Enochian ({ENO:a} {ENO:m} {ENO:f} {ENO:b}{ENO:a}). The Book
grows before my eyes and filleth the Whole Heaven.
Within: "It is Written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God."
I see above the Book a multitude of white-robed Ones from whom droppeth
a great rain of Blood{SUP:5}; but above them is a Golden Sun, having an
eye, whence a great Light{SUP:6}.
I turned me to the South{SUP:7}: and read therein:
Seal up the Book! Speak not that which thou seest and reveal it unto
none: for the ear is not framed that shall hear it: nor the tongue that can
speak it!
O Lord God, blessed, blessed, blessed be Thou for ever!
Thy Shadow is as great Light.
Thy Name is as the Breath of Love across all Worlds.
[Figure: This is a swastika or fylfot cross. It is widdershins, with
each bend going to the right when viewed down one arm from the center. All elements are
either vertical or horizontal, none diagonal.]{SUP:8}
-------------------
1. {Saturn} = 400 Death = 50 400 + 50 = 450 {GRK:Nu}{GRK:Upsilon} etc.
2. Represents the formula of Drawing all to a point: whence blooms
erect a Triple Triad.
3. East. Adepts: cleansed of their Blood, and brought to Light. =
There is a way to light through giving up one's Blood. (See 12th
Aethyr)
4. {Taurus}{Aries}{Cauda Draconis}{Aquarius}{Taurus} = Opening of New Aeon.
5. Symbolism of the Cup of Babalon.
6. This refers to Kether --- Horus.
7. South. Silence. Marriage in Binah. = This leads to the Rapture
of the Ineffable Union. Closing of Old Aeon.
8. The Swastika has 17 squares out of 25, The Pentagram, or Human
square. It is also {HEB:Aleph} = Harpocrates, Bacchus Diphues,
Parzival, etc., the Pure Fool, the Wanderer, who weds the King's
Daughter.
- page 10 -
(A vast Svastika is shewn unto me behind the Angel with the Book.)
Rend your garments, O ye clouds! Uncover yourselves! for the Love of
My Son!
Who are they that trouble thee?
Who are they that slew thee?
O Light! Come thou, who art joined with me to bruise the Dragon's
head{SUP:1}. We, who are wedded, and the Earth perceiveth it not!
O that Our Bed were seen of Men, that they might rejoice in My
Fertility: that My Sister might partake of My Great Light.
O Light of God, when wilt thou find the heart of man --- write not! I
would not that men know the Sorrow of my Heart, Amen!
I turned me to the West{SUP:2}, and the Archangel bore a flaming Book,
on which was written AN{SUP:3} in Enochian ({ENO:n}{ENO:a}). Within was drawn a fiery
scorpion, yet cold withal{SUP:4}.
Until the Book of the East be opened!
Until the hour sound!
Until the Voice vibrate!
Until it pierce my Depth;
Look not on High!
Look not Beneath!
For thou wilt find a life which is as Death: or a Death which should
be infinite.
For Thou art submitted to the Four: Five thou shalt find, but Seven is
lone and far{SUP:5}.
--------------------
1. Means the Stooping Dragon (see 4x = 7{square x} ritual): but also the
phrase = break the Maidenhead of Draco (Nuit).
2. West. Fate (Refusing Initiation.) = The alternative is despair --- of
loneliness.
3. {Taurus}{Scorpio} AN (Hebrew) means Pain: NA = Failure. These = 51 = 3x17.
Note the Three Vibrations as spoiling the ideas of 17 (IAC). The Doom
of the Old Aeon.
4. {Scorpio} = {HEB:Nun} = Fish = Jesus.
5. Tetragrammaton --- the blind forces of the Elements --- bind the
Uninitiate. He may attain to the Pentagram --- Jeheshua ---the Man
Master of those Elements. But he cannot reach Seven --- Babalon. (See
Sigil of A{.'.} A{.'.} 77 +_ 7 + 7 _ + 77 = 156 Babalon)
7
For she is "lone and far", i.e., beyond the Abyss.
- page 11 -
O Lord God, let Thy Spirit hither unto me!
For I am lost in the night of infinite pain: no hope: no God: no
resurrection: no end: I fall: I fear.
O Saviour of the World, bruise Thou my Head with Thy foot to save the
world, that once again I touch Him whom I slew, that in my death I feel the
radiance and the heat of the moving of Thy Robes!
Let us alone! What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Go! Go!
If I keep silence --- Or if I speak each word is anguish without hope.
And I heard the Aethyr cry aloud "Return! Return! Return! For the
work is ended; and the Book is shut; and let the glory be to God the
Blessed for ever in the Aeons, Amen." Thus far is the voice of TEX and no
more.
The Cry of the Twenty and Ninth Aire or Aethyr,
Which is Called RII{SUP:1}
The sky appears covered with stars of gold; the background is of green.
But the impression is also of darkness.
An immense eagle-angel is before me. His wings seem to hide all the
Heaven{SUP:2}.
He cried aloud saying: The Voice of the Lord upon the Waters: the
Terror of God upon Mankind. The voice of the Lord maketh the Skies to
tremble: the Stars are troubled: the Aires fall. The First Voice Speaketh
and saith: Cursed, cursed be the Earth, for her iniquity is great. Oh
Lord! Let Thy Mercy be lost in the great Deep! Open thine eyes of Flame
and Light, O God, upon the wicked! Lighten thine Eyes! The Clamour of Thy Voice, let it
smite down the Mountains!
Let us not see it! Cover we our eyes, lest we see the End of Man.
--------------------
1. {Pisces}{Sagittarius}{Sagittarius} = {HEB:Qof}{HEB:Samekh}{HEB:Samekh}
= 220. 220 is the number of verses of _The Book of the Law_:
And this book brings about the disruption described in this Aethyr.
2. In the East. He thus represents the immediate future: and this is
dark, Bewildering, and terrifying.
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Close we our ears, lest we hear the cry of Woman.
Let none speak of it: let none write it: I, I am troubled, my eyes are
moist with dews of terror: surely the Bitterness of Death is past.
And I turned me to the South and lo! a great lion{SUP:1} as wounded
and perplexed.
He cried: I have conquered! Let the Sons of Earth keep silence; for my
Name is become as That of Death!
When will men learn the Mysteries of Creation?
How much more those of the Dissolution (and the Pang of Fire)?
I turned me to the West and there was a great Bull{SUP:2}; White with
horns of White and Black and Gold. His mouth was scarlet and his eyes as
Sapphire stones. With a great sword he shore the skies asunder, and amid
the silver flashes of the steel grew lightnings and deep clouds of Indigo.
He spake: It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself!
My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its
Mystery.
The work of the Moon is done! Motion is ended for ever!
Clipped are the eagle's wings: but my Shoulders have not lost their
strength.
I heard a Great Voice from above crying: Thou liest! For the Volatile
hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight. The World is
desert: but the Abodes of the House of my Father are peopled; and His
Throne is crusted over with white Brilliant Stars, a lustre of bright gems.
In the North is a Man upon a Great Horse, having a Scourge and
Balances{SUP:3} in his hand (or a long spear glitters at his back or in his
hand). He is clothed in black velvet and his face is stern and terrible.
--------------------
1. {Leo}. This is the Beast 666 as yet unprepared for his Work. But
already (1900 e.v.) He was dreaded by his fellow Magicians. South:
proper place of {Sun} in his strength.
2. The Bull is Osiris or Jesus: he complains of the terrible things that
are Happening, especially the Freedom (which he thinks shamelessness)
or Woman. He does not understand the New Aeon, or that he is about to
be destroyed. He is in the West, i.e. going into Oblivion. Cr. West
in he 30th Aethyr.
3. The severest aspect of Justice. Libra.
- page 13 -
He spake saying: I have judged! It is the end: the gate of the
beginning. Look in the Beneath and thou shalt see a new world!
I looked and saw a great abyss and a dark funnel of whirling waters or
fixed airs, wherein were cities and monsters and trees and atoms and
mountains and little flames (being souls) and all the material of an
universe.
And all are sucked down one by one, as necessity hath ordained. For
below is a glittering jewelled globe of gold and azure, set in a World of
Stars{SUP:1}.
And there came a Voice from the Abyss, saying: "Thou seest the Current
of Destiny! Canst thou change one atom in its path? I am Destiny. Dost
thou think to control me? for who can move my course?"
And there falleth a thunderbolt therein: a catastrophe of explosion:
and all is shattered. And I saw above me a Vast Arm reach down, dark and
terrible, and a voice cried: I AM ETERNITY.
And a great mingled cry arose: "No! no! no! All is changed; all is
confounded; naught is ordered: the white is stained with blood: the black
is kissed of the Christ! Return! Return! It is a new chaos that thou
findest here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"
I said: Tell me this truth: for I have conjured ye by the Mighty Names
of God, the which ye cannot but obey.
The voice said:
Light is consumed as a child in the Womb of its Mother to develop
itself anew. But pain and sorrow infinite, and darkness are invoked. For
this child riseth up within his Mother and doth crucify himself within her
bosom. He extendeth his arms in the arms of his Mother and the Light
becometh fivefold{SUP:2}.
Lux in Luce,
Christus in Cruce;
--------------------
1. Nuit.
2. The LVX Cross hidden in the Svastika is probably the Arcanum here
connoted. This Cross on Mars square adds to 65 Adonai, Shone, Gloried,
ha-Yekal HS = keep silence. Svastika itself adds to 231 = 0 + 1 + 2 +
... + 21, the 21 Keys. The cubical Svastika regarded as composed of
this LVX Cross and the arms has a total of 78 Faces
---
Tarot and Mezla.
- page 14-
Deo Duce
Sempiterno{SUP:1}.
And be the glory for ever and ever unto the Most High God, Amen!
Then I returned within my body, giving glory unto the Lord of Light and
of the Darkness. In Saecula Saeculorum. Amen!
(On composing myself to sleep, I was shewn an extremely brilliant
{HEB:Dalet}{SUP:2} in the Character of the Passing of the River, in an egg of white light.
And I take this as the best of Omens. The letter was
extremely vivid and indeed apparently physical. Almost a Dhyana.)
November 17, 1900, Die.
A NOTE{SUP:3}
Concerning the thirty Aethyrs:
The Visions of the 29th and 30th Aethyrs were given to me in Mexico in
August{SUP:4}, 1900, and I am now (23.11.9) trying to get the rest. It is
to be remarked that the last three aethyrs have ten angels attributed to
them{SUP:5}, and they therefore represent the ten Sephiroth. Yet these ten
form but one, a Malkuth-pendant to the next three, and so on, each set
being, as it were, absorbed in the higher. The last set consists,
therefore, of the first three aethyrs with the remaining twenty-seven as
their Malkuth. And the letters of the first three aethyrs are the key-
sigils of the most exalted interpretation of the Sephiroth.
I is therefore Kether;
L, Chokmah and Binah;
--------------------
1. This is but the beginning of a sort of hymn. It was never written
down, the Seer being unable to hear it properly. These four lines are
in fact probably incorrect, certainly incomplete. There were four more
lines which he failed to hear --- from fear of getting hem wrong.
2. Daleth = the Gateway.
3. This note, written before invoking the 28th Aire, represents a crude
and imperfect view. It is retained so as to show how very inadequate
was the Understanding of the Seer; therefore the immense superiority of
the communicating Intelligences and Their separate individual
Consciousness.
4. Query: November ? See above.
5. See _Equinox_ I, VII, pp. 242-3.
- page 15 -
A, Chesed;
N, Geburah;
R, Tiphereth;
Z, Netzach;
N, Hod;
O, Jesod.
The geomantic correspondences of the Enochian alphabet form a sublime
commentary.
Note that the total angels of the aethyrs are 91, the numeration of
Amen.
The Cry of the 28th Aethyr, Which is Called BAG{SUP:1}
There cometh an Angel into the stone with opalescent{SUP:2} shining
garments like a wheel{SUP:3} of fire on every side of him, and in his hand
is a long flail of scarlet lightning{SUP:4}; his face is black{SUP:5}, and
his eyes white without any pupil or iris{SUP:6}. The face is very terrible
indeed to look upon. Now in front of him is a wheel{SUP:7}, with many
spokes, and many tyres; it is like a fence{SUP:8} in front of him.
And he cries: O man, who art thou that wouldst penetrate the
Mystery{SUP:9}? for it is hidden unto the End of Time{SUP:10}.
And I answer him: Time{SUP:11} is not, save in the darkness of Her womb
by whom evil came.
And now the wheel breaks away, and I see him as he is. His garment is
black beneath the opal veils, but it is lined with white, and he has the
shining belly of a fish, and enormous wings of black and white feathers,
and innumerable little legs and claws like a
--------------------
1. {Aries}{Taurus}{Cancer} = {HEB:Heh} + {HEB:Vau} + {HEB:Chet} = 19.
{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Chet} = Eve = to manifest, to shew forth.
2. Opal = rainbow = {Sagittarius}
3. XIX = The Wheel of the Sun, symbolic of universally radiating energy;
and 19 is the glyph of the circle.
4. 19 = Angel L.T.D. Of {Sagittarius}
5. 19 = {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Dalet} was black.
6. References to Binah.
7. See above, note 3.
8. {HEB:Chet} = Fence.
9. And 10. Binah = Eve. 19 is the Great Glyph of the Feminine.
11. {HEB:Taw} Time = {Saturn} = Binah.
- page 16 -
centipede, and a long tail like a scorpion. The breasts are human, but
they are all scored with blood; and he cries: O thou who hast broken down
the veil, knowest thou not that who cometh where I am must be scarred by
many sorrows{SUP:1}?
And I answer him: Sorrow{SUP:2} is not, save in the darkness of the
womb of Her by whom came evil.
I pierce the Mystery{SUP:2} of his breast{SUP:2}, and therein is a
jewel{SUP:2}. It is a sapphire as great as an ostrich egg{SUP:2}, and
thereon is graven this sigil:
[Figure: This is in the form of two "U" shapes, very elongated in the
risers. The one to the right is lower than the first, and its left riser
extends 2/3's of the way up inside the center of the one to the left. The
left "U" turns back down to the far left, ending 1/5th the way down in a
tiny circle. The right bends abruptly horizontally left across the other
and also ends there in a tiny circle.]
But there is also much writing on the stone, very minute characters
carved. I cannot read them. He points with his flail to the sapphire,
which is now outside him and bigger than himself{SUP:3}; and he cries:
Hail! warden of the Gates of Eternity who knowest not{SUP:4} thy right
hand from thy left{SUP:5}; for in the aeon of my Father is a god with
clasped hands wherein he holdeth the universe, crushing{SUP:6} it into the
dust that ye call stars.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right eye{SUP:5} from thy left; for
in the aeon of my Father there is but one light.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right nostril{SUP:5} from thy left;
for in the aeon of my Father there is neither life nor death.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right ear{SUP:5} from thy left; for
in the aeon of my Father there is neither sound nor silence.
Whoso hath power to break open this sapphire stone shall find therein
four elephants having tusks of mother-of-pearl, and upon whose backs are
castles, those castles which ye call the watch-towers
--------------------
1. i.e. must attain to 8x = 3{square x}
2. All are references to Binah.
3. Binah absorbs all.
4. Binah destroys knowledge.
5. Hands: {Mercury}: for Hand is Iod, Virgo. Also the two hands are the
Twin Serpents. Eyes {Sun} & {Moon} The Positive and Negative.
Executive currents of the Logos. Nostrils {Mars} & {Venus} The mouth
attributed the Mercury in the usual system, cannot be used in this
phrase; for the Ears {Jupiter} & {Saturn} Mouth is One, not Two, being
the Logos itself. And the Lodgos is essentially an Unity, although
manifested through Vibration. It is therefore not destroyed with the
other objects of Knowledge, though its dual modes of expression, the
hands, are no longer known apart.
6. See _Liber AL_, III, v. 72.
- page 17 -
of the Universe{SUP:1}.
Let me dwell in peace within the breast of the Angel that is warden of
the aethyr. Let not the shame of my Mother be unveiled. Let not her be
put to shame that lieth among the lilies that are beyond the stars.
O man, that must ever be opening, when wilt thou learn to seal up the
mysteries of the creation? to fold thyself over thyself as a rose in the
embrace of night? But thou must play the wanton to the sun, and the wind
must tear thy petals from thee, and the bee must rob thee of thy honey, and
thou must fall into the dusk of things. Amen and Amen.
Verily the light is hidden, therefore he who hideth himself is like
unto the light; but thou openest thyself; thou art like unto the darkness
that bindeth the belly of the great goddess{SUP:2}.
OLAHO VIRUDEN MAHORELA ZODIREDA! ON PIREDA EXENTASER; ARBA PIRE GAH
GAHA GAHAL GAHALANA VO ABRA NA GAHA VELUCORSAPAX{SUP:3}.
And the voice of the aeon cried: Return, return, return! the time
sickeneth, and the space gapeth, and the voice of him that is, was and
shall be crowned rattles in the throat of the mighty dragon of eld{SUP:4}.
Thou canst not pass by me, except thou have the mystery of the word of the
abyss.
Now the angel putteth back the sapphire stone into his breast; and I
spake unto him and said, I will fight with thee and overcome thee, except
thou expound unto me the word of the abyss.
Now he makes as if to fight with me. (It is very horrible, all the
tentacles moving and the flail flashing, and the fierce eyeless face,
strained and swollen.) And with the Magic sword I pierce through his
armour to his breast. He fell back, saying: Each of these my scars was
thus made, for I am the warden of the aethyr. And he would have said more;
but I cut him short, saying: expound the word of the Abyss. And he
said{SUP:5}: Discipline is sorrowful and ploughing is laborious and age is
weariness.
Thou shalt be vexed by dispersion{SUP:6}.
--------------------
1. The Elements are hidden in Binah.
2. In the light of the cry ofLOE, this passage seems to mean precisely the
opposite of its apparent meaning. The whole cry, from "Let me dwell
..." is an Invocation of Binah. It is a foreshadowing of the Mysteries
of the Crossing of the Abyss.
3. The translation of this is in my private copy (white and gold binding).
Possibly also in the Cefalu set which was copied from that (?) by
Estai. (?).
4. Binah or Nuit = Draco, the Dragon.
5. See the 14th and 13th Aethyr.
6. See the 10th Aethyr. These statements are prophetic.
- page 18 -
But now, if the sun arise{SUP:1}, fold thou thine arms{SUP:1}; then
shall God smite thee into a pillar of salt{SUP:2}.
Look not so deeply into words and letters; for this Mystery hath been
hidden by the Alchemists. Compose the sevenfold into a fourfold
regimen{SUP:3}; and when thou hast understood thou mayest make
symbols{SUP:4}; but by playing child's games with symbols thou shalt never
understand{SUP:5}. Thou hast the signs; thou hast the words; but there are
many things that are not in my power, who am but the warden of the 28th
Aethyr.
Now my name thou shalt obtain in this wise. Of the three angels of the
Aethyr, thou shalt write the names from right to left and from left to
right and from right to left, and these are the holy letters:
The first 1, the fifth 2, the sixth 3, the eleventh 4, the seventh 5,
the twelfth 6, the seventeenth 7.
Thus hast thou my name{SUP:6} who am above these three, but the angels
of the 30th Aethyr are indeed four, and they have none above them;
wherefore dispersion and disorder{SUP:7}.
Now cometh from every side at once a voice, terribly great, crying:
Close the veil; the great blasphemy hath been uttered; the face of my
Mother{SUP:8} is scarred by the nails of the devil. Shut the book, destroy
the breaker of the seal!
And I answered: Had he not been destroyed he had not come hither, for I
am not save in the darkness in the womb of Her{SUP:9} by whom came evil
into the world.
And this darkness swallows everything up{SUP:10}, and the angel is
--------------------
1. Tiphereth; and the sign of Osiris risen in 5x = 6{square x}.
2. Prophetic of the 8x = 3{square x} attainment; the pillar is phallic,
and salt is {Salt}, of Binah, the Great Sea. Cf. _Lib. LXV_, Cap. V,
vv. 5, 23, 25.
3. The completed system which is made by the 7x = 4{square x}.
4. The 8x = 3{square x} may devise a new Qabalah.
5. One cannot become 8x = 3{square x} by intellectual manipulations.
6. This would appear to be:
PXINBAL <---?FCCISNI --->C = LIXIPSP = {Cancer}{Sagittarius}{Spirit} {Sagittarius}
{Leo}{Gemini}{Leo}={HEB:Chet}{HEB:Samekh}{HEB:Taw} {HEB:Samekh}{HEB:Tet} {HEB:Zain}
{HEB:Tet} = 553 =
RAPOLXD <---Y{HEB:Lamed}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Dalet}
{HEB:Gemel}{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Nun}{HEB:Ta w} = Draco Magnus, the Mighty Dragon. This
is the symbol of Nuit or Binah. The whole symbolism of this Angel is therefore exactly
confirmed through a Qabalistic equation of which the Seer had no idea at the time. N.B. He
is above the dispersion and disorder just as Binah is above the Abyss of Choronzon.
7. The four elements unharmonized break up into Choronzon.
8. Further reference to Binah.
9. Binah.
10. Typical gesture of Binah.
- page 19 -
gone from the stone{SUP:1}; and there is no light therein, save only the
light of the Rose and of the Cross{SUP:2}.
Aumale, Algeria.
November 23, 1909, between 8 and 9 p.m.
The Cry of the 27th Aethyr, Which is Called ZAA{SUP:3}
There is an angel with rainbow wings, and his dress is green{SUP:4}
with silver, a green veil over silver{SUP:5} armour. Flames of many-
coloured fire dart from him in all directions. It is a woman of some thirty
years old, and she has the moon for a crest, and the moon is blazoned on her
heart, and her sandals are curved silver, like the moon.
And she cries: Lonely am I and cold in the wilderness of the
stars{SUP:7}. For I am the queen of all them that dwell in Heaven, and the
queen of all them that are pure upon earth, and the queen of all the
sorcerers of hell{SUP:8}.
I am the daughter of Nuit, the lady of the stars. And I am the Bride
of them that are vowed unto loneliness{SUP:9}. And I am the mother of the
Dog Cerberus{SUP:10}. One person am I, and three gods{SUP:11}.
And thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing me. For I am cold
as thou art cold, and burn with thy fire{SUP:12}. Oh, when shall the war
of the Aires and the elements be accomplished{SUP:13}?
--------------------
1. The general attribution of this Aethyr is to Atu XVII.
2. Binah being gone, the seer descends to his normal place in Tiphereth.
3. ZAA = {Leo}{Taurus}{Taurus} = {HEB:Tet}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Vau} = 21. A mystery of Atu XVIII,
"The Moon". {Pisces} in which {Venus} is
exalted.
4. Possibly the traditional green of the huntress.
5. Colour of {Moon}.
6. The green of Venus is perhaps the natural veil of Luna, her external
show.
7. For {Moon} is virgin, and the path of {HEB:Gemel} crosses the
wilderness of the Abyss.
8. Diana Trivia is thus described. She is the Virgin Goddess of Pure
Love; and the Lady of Heaven. She is the Virgin Goddess of Pure Love;
and she is Hecate, the waning Moon, presiding over Witchcraft. (See
Macbeth, etc.)
9. {Virgo} = IX = The Hermit (opposite {Pisces} in the Zodiac).
10. The Jackals of Atu XVIII.
11. {Moon} = {HEB:Gemel} = 3. Cerberus has three heads.
12. For the {Moon} is the Sensorium; she reflects man's spiritual state in
terms of sensuous experiences.
13. i.e. the coefficients of the Circle and the Square be commensurable.
"When" means "Through what mode of resolution?" --- "On what
plane?"
- page 20 -
Radiant are these falchions of my brothers, invisibly about me, but the
might of the aethyrs beneath my feet beareth me down. And they avail not
to sever the Kamailow{SUP:1}. There is one in green armour, with green
eyes, whose sword is of vegetable fire{SUP:2}. They shall avail me. My
son is he{SUP:3}, ---and how shall I bear him that have not known man?
All this time intolerable rays are shooting forth to beat me back or
destroy me; but I am encased in an egg of blue-violet, and my form is the
form of a man with the head of a golden hawk{SUP:4}. While I have been
observing this, the goddess has kept up a continuous wail, like the baying
of a thousand hounds{SUP:5}; and now her voice is deep and guttural and
hoarse, and she breathes very rapidly words that I cannot hear. I can hear
some of them now.
UNTU LA LA ULULA UMUNA TOFA LAMA LE LI NA AHR IMA TAHARA ELULA ETFOMA
UNUNA ARPETI ULU ULU ULU MARABAN ULULU MAHATA ULU ULU LAMASTANA{SUP:6}.
And then her voice rises to a shriek, and there is a cauldron{SUP:7}
boiling in front of her; and the flames under the cauldron are like unto
zinc flames{SUP:8}, and in the cauldron is the Rose, the Rose of 49
petals{SUP:9}, seething in it. Over the cauldron she has arched her
rainbow wings; and her face is bent over the cauldron, and she is blowing
opalescent silvery rings on to the Rose; and each ring as it touches the
water bursts into flame, and the Rose takes new colours{SUP:10}.
And now she lifts her head, and raises her hands to heaven,
--------------------
1. {GRK:Kappa}{GRK:alpha}{GRK:mu}{GRK:eta}{GRK:lambda} {GRK:omicron}{GRK:sigma}, a camel,
i.e. {HEB:Gemel} Jimmel. {GRK:Kappa}{GRK:alpha}{GRK:mu}{GRK:alpha} {GRK:iota}
{GRK:lambda}{GRK:omicron} {GRK:sigma}, a rope. And Jimmel is likened to a rope, a
threefold ({HEB:Gemel} = 3) cord linking Kether and Tiphereth.
2. The Angel of {HEB:Dalet} = {Venus} who is green, and {HEB:Dalet}
"avails" {HEB:Gemel}, crossing it on the Tree by joining Chokmah and
Binah. That is, the Love of these Supernals balances the Isolation of
the Virgin Moon.
3. {Moon} in 20x {Pisces} at nativity of 666.
4. i.e. I assume the god-form of Horus, Sol in the Womb of the Night-sky
blue of Binah, who is the Mother of all Stars and thus is potent
against Hecate.
5. The hounds that follow Hecate. The jackals of Atu XVIII. Quote A.C.
"Ode to Hecate".
6. The Lunar language. "Ye hounds! Ho! Ho! Tally-ho! sent the poison
of the path --- Here! There! Bark! Sweep around! There goes the
quarry down the glade of mossy rock. The foremost has caught him.
Tally ho! Tally ho! Tally ho! pull him down! Tally-ho boys! Wind
the mort! Tally ho! Tally ho! The hunt is ended." ULU = "Hail" plus
"come" = very nearly "Ahoy!"
7. The witches' cauldron.
8. Ultra violet of {Pisces}.
9. {Venus} in {Pisces}.
10. All this paragraph refers to Atu XIV Sagittarius, for she is now in her
huntress form. Hence the Alchemical and rainbow symbolism.
- page 21 -
and cries: O Mother{SUP:1}, wilt thou never have compassion on the children of earth? Was
it not enough that the Rose should be red with the blood of thine heart{SUP:2}, and that
its petals should be by 7 and by 7?
She is weeping, weeping{SUP:3}. And the tears grow and fill the whole
stone with moons{SUP:4}. I can see nothing and hear nothing for the tears,
though she keeps on praying. "Take of these pearls{SUP:5}, treasure them
in thine heart. Is not the Kingdom of the Abyss accurst?" She points
downward to the cauldron; and now in it there is the head of a most cruel
dragon{SUP:6}, black and corrupted. I watch, and watch; and nothing
happens.
And now the dragon rises out of the cauldron, very long and slim (like
Japanese Dragons, but infinitely more terrible), and he blots out the whole
sphere of the stone{SUP:7}.
Then suddenly all is gone, and there is nothing in the stone save
brilliant white light and flecks like sparks of golden fire; and there is a
ringing, as if bells were being used for anvils. And there is a perfume
which I cannot describe; it is like nothing that one can describe, but the
suggestion is like lignum aloes{SUP:8}. And now all these things are there
at once in the same place and time{SUP:9}.
Now a veil of olive and silver{SUP:10} is drawn over the stone, only I
hear the voice of the angel{SUP:11} receding, very sweet and faint and
sorrowful, saying: Far off and lonely in the secret stone is the unknown,
and interpenetrated is the knowledge with the will and the understanding.
I am alone. I am lost, because I am all and in all; and my veil is woven
of the green earth and
--------------------
1. She appeals to Binah, the highest form of Luna.
2. This is the use to which BABALON puts the Blood of the Masters of the
Temple (see 12th Aethyr) to vivify the rose of Universal Creation, i.e.
The Attainment of the Master of the Temple fills the World with Life
and Beauty. Hecate does not understand this, or else she regards it as
hostile to her own Formula.
3. {Water} of {Pisces}.
4. She can produce nothing but images of herself.
5. Pearls, the M.T.'s secreted by Binah round the specks of dust which
they have become.
6. A veil or mask of Khephra (in Atu XVIII).
7. All Hecate can see of the Great Work of 8x = 3{square x} is the Black
Brotherhood; i.e., the failure of that Work.
8. Sagittarius (Atu XIV) again. The phenomena are the experiences of the
attained Master of the Temple.
9. The attainment has destroyed the conditions of physical manifestation.
10. Olive --- Water in Malkuth (Queen Scale) also Water (Emperor Scale).
Silver is Luna in Queen Scale.
11. Hecate now aspires to Binah, accepts the Formula of Love (kisses),
surrenders her nature ("Fall back" etc.) and so finds the Word.
- page 22 -
the web of stars. I love; and I am denied, for I have denied myself. Give
me those hands, put them against my heart. Is it not cold? Sink, sink,
the abyss of time remains. It is not possible that one should come to ZAA.
Give me thy face. Let me kiss it with my cold kisses. Ah! Ah! Ah! Fall
back from me. The word, the word of the aeon is MAKHASHANAH{SUP:1}. And these words
shalt thou say backwards: ARARNAY OBOLO MAHARNA TUTULU NOM LAHARA EN NEDIEZO LO SAD FONUSA
SOBANA ARANA BINUF LA LA LA ARPAZNA UOHULU{SUP:2}. when thou wilt call my burden unto
appearance, for I who am the Virgin goddess am the pregnant goddess, and I have cast down
my burden even unto the borders of the universe{SUP:3}. They that blaspheme me are stoned,
and my veil{SUP:4} is fallen about me even unto the end of time{SUP:5}.
Now there arises a great raging of thousands and thousands of mighty
warriors flashing through the aethyr so thickly that nothing is to be seen
but their swords, which are like blue-gray plumes. And the noise is
confused, thousands of battle-cries harmonizing
--------------------
1. {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Nun}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Shin}{HEB:Aleph} {HEB:Koph}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB : Mem} =
418. A word of 8 letters is necessary to perform the Great work on one whose Formula is 3:
8x = 3{square x}. The Seer "knew" that this Word was _not_ the correct Word,
which is Abrahadabra = 418. But on writing it down in Hebrew, as above, he saw that it was
the correct word after all. Observe that this proves the Angel to have been an
Intelligence not of the Seer's conscious mind. Had he given the Word which the Seer knew,
it might have been derived from his
subconscious Self. Furthermore, this Word contains more than the mere
418 because of its 8 letters suiting the special Formula required by
this particular Angel, whereas the other Word is a general Formula,
being of 11 letters, all Magick being referred to 11. so far as
ABRAHADABRA is specialized, it refers to the Work of 5x = 6{square x}, there being 5
alephs and 6 other letters. In the Latin script also
Makhashanah does have 11 letters. Again, the operation of the Cauldron
(above) is described by the 5 consonants of this Word.
{HEB:Mem} = {Water} (Water)
{HEB:Koph} = Wheel (Rose)
{HEB:Shin} = Fire {Dee}
{HEB:Nun} = {Scorpio}
{HEB:Heh} = Binah
2. Translation: "Hither, O Holy one/ whose burden pulls at thy spine/
Ho! Ho! Ho! The two-headed God (Janus) ploughs thy back/ sows
habitations upon thy back/ thou many-phallused queen/ of princely
loves/ which are all sodomies/ so that the holy ones laugh and shake
with laughter/ while the lords of mischief/ spend upon thee/ TUTULU
(this word cannot be translated. See _Liber VII_). down bounces from
thy back/ the merry mad foetus-faces/ an emission/ Gather ye sun-roses,
sun-roses gather ye from the split backside of the Virgin (Earth).
3. The Word of the Master has gone forth into every part of the world.
Therefore it is always possible to call Him forth to one's assistance
by the proper use of the above Formula.
4. and 5. Symbols of Binah.
- page 23 -
to a roar, like the roar of a monstrous river in flood. And all the stone
is dull, dull gray. The life is gone from it{SUP:1}.
There is no more to see.
Sidi Aissa, Algeria.
November 24, 1909, 8-9 p.m.
The Cry of the 26th Aethyr, Which is Called DES{SUP:2}
There is a very bright pentagram: and now the stone is gone, and the
whole heaven is black, and the blackness is the blackness of a mighty
angel{SUP:3}. And though he is black (his face and his wings and his robe
and his armour are all black), yet is he so bright that I cannot look upon
him. And he cries: O ye spears and vials of poison and sharp swords and
whirling thunderbolts that are about the corners of the earth{SUP:4},
girded with wrath and justice, know ye that His name is Righteousness in
Beauty{SUP:5}? Burnt out are your eyes, for that ye have seen me in my
majesty. And broken are
--------------------
1. Many of these Visions end in some way unconnected with the substance of the Aethyr. One
must not look for coherence in such places. They are
merely episodes on the return journey, useful to break the shock.
analogy: one might see a cab accident while returning to one's house
from the theatre. This spectacle need have no connection with either
the play or one's home life.
2. DES = <{Virgo}{Gemini} = {HEB:Zain}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Dalet} = 31 + 10 + 7 = 48 =
{HEB:Bet}{HEB:Koph}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Koph} = Kokab, the sphere of {Mercury}. This Aethyr
describes the supersession of the Aeon of Jehovah and Jesus. The Stele of Revealing, which
led to _The Book of the Law_, whose key number is 31. {HEB:Dalet} = D = < = 31. I =
{HEB:Yod} = {Virgo} = Nuit and the Point, Hadit. S = {HEB:Zain} =
{Gemini} = the twins, Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-Paar-Kraat combined in
Heru-Ra-Ha, the Lord of the Aeon. Also {Virgo} & {Gemini} are the
Houses of {Mercury}, the Logos. Thus the name of the Aethyr actually
means: The Sacred Secret Keyletter of _The Book of the Law_ of
Thelema, appearing through the Operation of Mercury as well as gibing a
complete symbolical description of the Stele itself. The Arcanum is of
Atu XX = {HEB:Shin} = < + {Dee} = "The Last Judgment" or "The
Angel".
The old form of XX shows the Resurrection Formula of the Old Aeon: the
new form shews the Stele of Revealing = 718.
3. The Pentagram indicates that the subject of the Vision is to be the
Destiny of Man. The blackness, which is bright, is Solar. The context
shows that Binah is not here implied.
4. All symbols of division and destruction, also extending only to the
Blind Four Elements.
5. Righteousness = Jupiter --- Jehovah --- Beauty = Osiris --- Jesus.
These are the qualities they claimed; Their failure is that they never
even had the idea of the Supernals beyond the Abyss.
- page 24 -
the drum-heads of your ears{SUP:1}, because my name is as two mountains of fornication,
the breasts of a strange woman{SUP:2}; and my Father is not in them.
Lo! the pools of fire and torment mingled with sulphur! Many are
their colours, and their colour is as molten gold, when all is said. Is
not He one, one and alone, in whom the brightness of your countenance is as
1,728 petals of fire{SUP:3}.
Also he spake the curse, folding his wings across and crying: Is not
the son the enemy of his father? And hath not the daughter stolen the
warmth of the bed of her mother{SUP:4}? therefore is the great curse
irrevocable. Therefore there is neither wisdom nor understanding nor
knowledge in this house, that hangeth upon the edge of hell{SUP:5}. Thou
art not 4 but 2, O thou blasphemy spoken against 1{SUP:6}.
Therefore whoso worshippeth thee is accursed. He shall be brayed in a
mortar and the powder thereof cast to the winds, that the birds of the air
may eat thereof and die; and he shall be dissolved in strong acid and the
elixir poured into the sea, that the fishes of the sea may breathe thereof
and die. And he shall be mingled with dung and spread upon the earth, so
that the herbs of the earth may feed thereof and die; and he shall be burnt
utterly with fire, and the ashes thereof shall calcine the children of
flame, that even in hell may be found an overflowing lamentation.
And now on the breast of the Angel is a golden egg between the
blackness of the wings, and that egg{SUP:7} grows and grows all over the
aethyr. And it breaks, and within there is a golden eagle.
And he cries: Woe! woe! woe! Yea, woe unto the world! For there is
no sin, and there is no salvation{SUP:8}. My plumes are like waves of gold
upon the sea. My eyes are brighter than the sun. My tongue is swifter than
the lightning.
Yet am I hemmed in by the armies of night, singing, singing
--------------------
1. Hearing pertains to Spirit, as sight to fire. These gods have deprived
man of his highest faculties.
2. See the 10th Key.
3. The Zodiac brought down to the material plane. 12{SUP:3}
4. The Oedipus complex. Christianity.
5. The Cult of Jehovah cannot even reach to Dath.
6. i.e. Jehovah is not even the true Chesed, but the evil Dyad, (as
opposed to the true Dyad of Chokmah, which interprets Keter in terms of
Vibration, the Logos.)
7. The promise of breaking the tyranny of Jehovah, who was the evil 4 in
the Aeon of the true 4, Isis, by the Solar (golden) Jesus. He appears
as an eagle, the bird of Jupiter. so that despite the glittering hope,
it was only the old Aeon all over again.
8. He knows this truth, which destroys the whole idea of his formula.
Nobody will bother about him, it they are not sinners, and need no
saviour.
- page 25 -
phrases unto Him that is smitten by the thunderbolt of the abyss. Is not
the sky clear behind the sun? These clouds that burn thee up, these rays
that scorch the brains of men with blindness; these are heralds before my
face of the dissolution and the night.
Ye are all blinded by my glory; and though ye treasure in your heart
the sacred word that is the last lever of the key to the little door beyond
the abyss, yet ye gloss and comment thereupon; for the light itself is but
illusion. Truth itself is but illusion. Yea, these be the great illusions
beyond life and space and time.
Let thy lips blister with my words! Are they not meteors in thy
brain? Back, back from the face of the accursed one, who am I; back into
the night of my father, into the silence; for all that ye deem right is
left, forward is backward, upward is downward{SUP:1}.
I am the great god adored of the holy ones. Yet am I the accursed
one, child of the elements and not their father{SUP:2}.
O my mother! wilt thou not have pity upon me? Wilt thou not shield
me? For I am naked, I am manifest, I am profane. O my father! wilt not
thou withdraw me? I am extended, I am double, I am profane.
Woe, woe unto me! These are they that hear not prayer. It is I that
have heard all prayer alway, and there is none to answer _me_. Woe unto
me! Woe unto me! Accursed am I unto the aeons!
All this time this brilliant eagle-headed god has been attacked,
seemingly, by invisible people{SUP:3}, for he is wounded now and again,
here and there; little streams of fresh blood come out over the feathers of
his breast. And the smoke of the blood is gradually filling the Aethyr
with a crimson veil. There is a scroll over the top, saying: _Ecclesia
abhorret a sanguine_{SUP:4}; and there is another scroll below it in a
language of which I do not know the sounds. The meaning is, Not as they
have understood{SUP:5}.
--------------------
1. Observe the loud words, the confusion of the thought, throughout this
excited passage.
2. He knows that he is not an image of the Simple, Sublime, Self, but an
ill-concocted mess of Blind Forces.
3. Jesus has been destroyed by myriads of minute facts; the observations
of Nature which have broken down the theories on which his existence
depended. His blood is spilt, and veils Truth; whereas the Blood of
the Master of the Temple is gathered in the Cup of BABALON, and floods
the world with Life and Beauty. (See 27th Aire, footnote 3, page 19).
4. The Christian, incapable of the formula of the Master of the Temple,
abhors the shedding of blood. He fears to lose his vile life.
5. i.e. The meaning of the Latin is that given above, not the traditional
ecclesiastical interpretation. Cf. also, AL 1, vv. 45048.
-page 26 -
The blood is thicker and darker now, and it is becoming clotted and
black, so that everything is blotted out; because it coagulates,
coagulates. And then at the top there steals a dawn of pure night- blue
{SUP:1}, --- Oh, the stars, the stars in it deeply set! --- and drives the
blood down; so that all round the top of the oval gradually dawns the
figure of our Lady Nuit, and beneath her is the flaming winged disk, and
below the altar of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, even as it is upon the Stele of
Revealing{SUP:2}. But below is the supine figure of Seb, into whom is
concentrated all that clotted blood{SUP:3}.
And there comes a voice: It is the dawn of the aeon. The aeons of
cursing are passed away. Force and fire, strength and sight, these are for
the servants of the Star and the Snake.
And now I seem to be lying in the desert, exhausted{SUP:4}.
The Desert, near Sidi Aissa.
November 25, 1909. 1:10 - 2 p.m.
The Cry of he 25th Aethyr, Which is Called VTI{SUP:5}
There is nothing in the stone but the pale gold of the Rosy Cross.
Now there comes an Angel with bright wings, that is the Angel of the
25th Aire. And all the aire is a dark olive about him, like an alexandrite
{SUP:6} stone. He bears a pitcher{SUP:7} or amphora{SUP:8.} And
--------------------
1. Not only symbolic, but actually visible even to the physical eyes, when
Nuit is manifested. Also when Ra-Hoor-Khuit is invoked, or Aiwass.
2. See the various special accounts of the Stele. The New Atu XX - 718.
3. Earth has absorbed all the ruin wrought by Jesus, to rebuild life
through putrefaction, by her regular formula --- as opposed to the
Higher Magick.
4. This vision, being so close to the physical plane, required no
intermediate stations on the way back. The exhaustion was due to the
same cause. Communion with high spiritual forces renews the vitality
of the Seer.
5. VTI = {Capricorn}{Leo}{Sagittarius} = Caput Draconis, the head of the
Lion-Serpent, the Beast 666. His father is {Capricorn} Set or Pan; his
mother, the woman clothed with the Sun as in Atu XIV. See 27th Aethyr.
He is the burden of the Moon, sanctified by 418. Atu XI (a partial
form) with Atu XX (XI + XX = XXXI) gives the Key of the New Aeon.
6. The stone of Gemini, the twins, composing Heru-Ra-Ha, his Lord. Also
the house of {Mercury}; that is, his form is Oracular.
7. The angel is an avatar of BABALON.
8. {GRK:alpha}{GRK:mu}{GRK:phi}{GRK:omicron}{GRK:rho}{GRK:eta} = 719.
This Angel is a veil for 156, the Woman who closes the mouth of the
lion in the old Atu XI, and is the Scarlet Woman who rides upon
him in the new form.
- page 27 -
now there comes another Angel upon a white horse{SUP:1}, and yet again
another Angel upon a black bull{SUP:2}. And now there comes a lion{SUP:3} and swallows the
two latter angels up. The first angel goes to the lion and closes his mouth{SUP:4}. And
behind them are arrayed a great company of Angels with silver spears, like a forest. And
the Angel says: Blow, all ye trumpets, for I will loose my hands from the mouth of the
lion, and his roaring shall enkindle the worlds{SUP:5}.
Then the trumpets blow, and the wind rises and whistles terribly. It
is a blue wind with silver specks; and it blows through the whole Aethyr.
But through it one perceives the lion, which has become as a raging
flame{SUP:6}.
And he roareth in an unknown tongue. But this is the interpretation
thereof: Let the stars be burnt up in the fire of my nostrils{SUP:7}! Let
all the gods and the archangels and the angels and the spirits that are on
the earth, and above the earth, and below the earth, that are in all the
heavens and in all the hells, let them be as motes dancing in the beam of
mine eye{SUP:8}!
I am he that swalloweth up death{SUP:9} and victory{SUP:10}. I have
slain the crowned goat{SUP:11}, and drunk up the great sea{SUP:12}. Like
the ash of dried leaves the worlds are blown before me. Thou hast passed
by me, and thou hast not known me. Woe unto thee, that I have not devoured
thee altogether!
On my head is the crown, 419 rays{SUP:13} far-darting. And my body is
the body of the Snake{SUP:14}, and my soul is the soul of the Crowned
Child{SUP:15}. Though an Angel in white robes leadeth me{SUP:16},
--------------------
1. The sorrow of Death.
2. This represents Jehovah and Jesus. The Pain of Toil. (Sin is
Restriction).
3. Symbol of the Beast, 666.
4. See Atu XI. Babalon and the Beast conjoined.
5. BABALON prepared 666 (in a certain very secret manner) to utter the
word {GRK:Theta}{GRK:epsilon}{GRK:lambda}{GRK:eta}{GRK:mu}{GRK:alpha}.
6. i.e. 666 is now inspired.
7. Nostrils = {Mars} and {Venus}. Energy and passion, also Breath of the
Word.
8. Eye = Creative Light, i.e. of the Word.
9. Scorpio.
10. Netzach.
11. Capricornus.
12. Hod (the mercurial water): in all the Sephiroth below Tiphereth, out
of balance, and the paths leading from them/
13. Leo = {Leo} = {HEB:Tet} = {HEB:Taw}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Tet} = 419. t =
{Leo}. {HEB:Tet} = snake by meaning. {Leo} = Horus.
14. The magical image of the 1st Decan of Leo, rising at the birth of 666,
is a lion-headed serpent.
15. Horus, the Lord of 666.
16. The Avatar of Binah, in the opening of this Aethyr.
- page 28 -
who shall ride upon me but the Woman of Abominations{SUP:1}? Who is the Beast{SUP:2}? Am
not I one more than he{SUP:3}? In his hand is a sword that is a book{SUP:4}. In his hand
is a spear that is a cup of
fornication{SUP:5}. Upon his mouth is set the great and terrible
seal{SUP:6}. And he hath the secret of V{SUP:7}. His ten horns spring
from five points{SUP:8}, and his eight heads{SUP:9} are as the charioteer
of the West{SUP:10}. Thus doth the fire of the sun temper the spear of
Mars{SUP:11}, and thus shall he be worshipped, as the warrior lord of the
sun{SUP:12}. Yet in him is the woman that devoureth with her water all the
fire of God{SUP:13}.
Alas! my lord, thou art joined with him that knoweth not these
things{SUP:14}.
When shall the day come that men shall flock to this my gate, and fall
into my furious throat, a whirlpool of fire? This is hell unquenchable,
and all they shall be utterly consumed therein. Therefore is that asbestos
unconsumable made pure{SUP:15}.
Each of my teeth{SUP:16} is a letter of the reverberating name. My
tongue is a pillar of fire{SUP:17}, and from the glands of my mouth arise
four pillars of water{SUP:18}.TAOTZEM{SUP:19} is the name by which
--------------------
1. BABALON. See Atu XI.
2 and 3. 419-418=1. Or 667-666=1. 667 = {GRK:eta}{GRK:kappa}
{GRK:omicron} {GRK:kappa} {GRK:kappa}{GRK:iota}{GRK:sigma}{GRK:eta}
{GRK:gamma}{GRK:upsilon}{GRK:nu}{GRK:eta}, the Scarlet Woman. (WEH note: This is the
correct Greek 667 entry from _Liber MCCLXIV_).
4. _Liber AL_, his weapon.
5. This allusion must remain secret.
6. This seal is that of BBABALON. The Seal of the A{.'.} A{.'.} See the
_Book of Lies_, {GRK:Kappa}{GRK:epsilon}{GRK:phi}. {GRK:Mu}{GRK:theta}
(Cap. 49).
7. His motto as a Master of the Temple is this V.V.V.V.V. (Vi Veri
Vniversum Vivus Vici).
8. V.V.V.V.V. Has 10 horns that spring from 5 points.
9. See the _Book of Lies_, Cap. {GRK:Mu}{GRK:theta}, 49. But there is One
Eighth Head too Sacredly terrible to mention.
10. Refers to Atu VII. {HEB:Chet} = The Chariot = 8. the Bearer of the
Sangraal.
11. The Mystery 5x = 6{square x} and 6x = 5{square x}, Heru-Ra-Ha is the
Martial aspect of Sol.
12. See AL, Cap. III, v. 74.
13. Again a secret allusion. (WEH note: Join O.T.O. and attain to the
mystery).
14. The Seer was not yet a full initiate, and was hampered by A.C.
15. This paragraph prophesies the purging of the worldly Fire in the Aeon
of Horus. "Hell" is the pure Inmost Self of Man, that suffereth not
extinction, but consumeth all the experiences of Life, coming thereby
to know its own Perfection.
16. 32 teeth; hence the Name is {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Yod}
{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Aleph} = 32. Macroprosophus interfused with
Microprosophus.
17. The tongue is the instrument of the Logos and so a Phallic or creative
organ. Chokmah the logos, is the Root of Fire, and the Masculine
Energy.
18. These are the "Four Rivers of Eden". It is the fourfold understanding
of the Logos. These reflect Him so perfectly that they reproduce His
Form.
19. {HEB:Mem}{HEB:Tzaddi}{HEB:Ayin}{HEB:Taw} = 600. A "great number" of
Sol, normally 6. 600 = Kosmos. The blasphemy is in taking the
material for the Spiritual Sun.
- page 29 -
I am blasphemed. My name thou shalt not know, lest thou pronounce it and
pass by.
And now the Angel comes forward again and closes his mouth.
All this time heavy blows have been raining upon me from invisible
angels, so that I am weighed down as with a burden greater than the
world{SUP:1}. I am altogether crushed. Great millstones are hurled out of
heaven upon me{SUP:2}. I am trying to crawl to the lion{SUP:3}, and the
ground is covered with sharp knives. I cut myself at every inch{SUP:4}.
And the voice comes: Why art thou there who art here{SUP:5}? Hast
thou not the sign of the number{SUP:6}, and the seal of the name{SUP:7},
and the ring of the eye{SUP:8}? Thou wilt not{SUP:9}.
And I answered and said: I am a creature of earth, and ye would have
me swim.
And the voice said: Thy fear is known; thine ignorance is known; thy
weakness is known; but thou art nothing in this matter. Shall the grain
which is cast into the earth by the hand of the sower debate within itself,
saying, am I oats or barley? Bondslave of the curse, we give nothing, we
take all. Be thou content. That which thou art, thou art. Be
content{SUP:10}.
And now the lion passeth over through the Aethyr with the crowned
beast upon his back, and the tail of the lion goes on instead of stopping,
and on each hair of the tail is something or other --- sometimes a little
house, sometimes a planet, at other times a town. Then there is a great
plain with soldiers fighting upon it, and an enormously high mountain
carved into a thousand temples, and more houses and fields and trees, and
great cities with wonderful buildings in them, statues and columns and
public buildings generally. This goes on and on and on and on and on and
on and on all on the hairs of this lion's tail{SUP:11}.
And then there is the tuft of his tail, which is like a comet, but the
head is a new universe, and each hair streaming away from it is a Milky
Way.
--------------------
1. "The Sin of the whole world". See the Mediterranean Manifesto.
2-4. Prophetic of the pains, the initiation to 9x = 2{square x},
undergone by 666 in order to become himself.
5. i.e. "Why art Thou not consciously identical with 666?"
6. The Qabalistic Proofs (of the truth of Aiwass) given by the virtues of
93.
7. 666.
8. The ring of V.V.V.V.V., mentioned in LXV, v. 16.
9. My resistance to the Great Work.
10. The Angel promises the Seer that he shall be 666 in all truth, and
counsels him to await His Hour in perfect confidence.
11. Prophetic of the results of the Great Work delivered by 666.
And then there is a pale stern figure, enormous, enormous, bigger than
all that universe is, in silver armour, with a sword and a pair of
balances{SUP:1}. That is only vague. All has gone into stone-gray, blank.
There is nothing.
Ain el Hajel.
November 25, 1909. 8:40-9:40 p.m.
(There were two voices in all this Cry, one behind the other --- or,
one was the speech, and the other the meaning. And the voice that was the
speech was simply a roaring, one tremendous noise, like a mixture of
thunder and water-falls and wild beasts and bands and artillery. And yet
it was articulate, though I cannot tell you what a single word was. But
the meaning of the voice --- the second voice --- was quite silent, and put
the ideas directly into the brain of the Seer, as if by touch. It is not
certain whether the millstones and the sword-strokes that rained upon him
were not these very sounds and ideas.)
The Cry of the 24th Aethyr, Which is Called NIA{SUP:2}
An angel comes forward into the stone like a warrior clad in chain-
armour. Upon his head are plumes of gray{SUP:3}, spread out like the fan
of a peacock{SUP:4}. About his feet a great army of scorpions and dogs,
lions, elephants, and many other wild beasts. He stretches forth his arms
to heaven and cries; In the crackling of the lightning, in the rolling of
the thunder, in the clashing of the swords and the hurling of the
arrows{SUP:5}: be thy name exalted!
Streams of fire come out of the heavens, a pale brilliant
--------------------
1. This refers to the Aeon which is to follow this of Horus. See _Liber
AL_, Cap. III, v. 34. Its Lord is "the double-wanded one" "Thmaist ---
Justice."
2. NIA = {Scorpio}{Sagittarius}{Taurus} = 116. She is Atu XIV --- "The
Woman clothed with the Sun", see 27th Aire, between {Scorpio}, Love as
the instrument of change by Putrefaction, and {Taurus}, the heavenly
Isis. But cf. also AL III, v. 72 -- Coph Nia. This completes the
Mystery of Atu XI by the Vision of 156, also in a partial form.
The Beast and the Scarlet Woman at attributed to {Leo} and Water
{Scorpio}. They are the two-in-one Chief Officers, of the Temple of
the New Aeon of Heru-Ra-Ha. (Note: The Eagle Kerub in the 23rd Aire is
Aquarius {Aquarius}. Scorpio is the Woman-Serpent. This is important;
for the old attribution is of the Eagle to {Scorpio})
3. The Ajna-Chakra --- Chokmah.
4. Sacred to Juno.
5. Arrows of {Sagittarius} the rainbow which follows this storm.
- page 31 -
blue{SUP:1}, like plumes. And they gather themselves and settle upon his
lips. His lips are redder than roses, and the blue plumes gather
themselves into a blue rose{SUP:2}, and from beneath the petals of the rose
come brightly coloured humming-birds{SUP:3}, and dew falls from the rose- honey-coloured
dew{SUP:4}. I stand in the shower of it.
And a voice proceeds from the rose: Come away! Our chariot is drawn
by doves{SUP:5}. Of mother-of-pearl and ivory is our chariot{SUP:6} and
the reins thereof are the heart-strings of men. Every moment that we fly
shall cover an aeon. And every place on which we rest shall be a young
universe rejoicing in its strength; the meadows thereof shall be covered
with flowers. There shall we rest but a night, and in the morning we shall
flee away, comforted.
Now, to myself, I have imagined the chariot of which the voice spake,
and I looked to see who was with me in the chariot. It was an Angel of
golden hair and golden skin, whose eyes were bluer than the sea, whose
mouth was redder than the fire, whose breath was ambrosial air. Finer than
a spider's web were her robes. And they were of the seven colours{SUP:7}.
All this I saw; and then the hidden voice went on low and sweet: Come
away! The price of the journey is little, though its name be death. Thou
shalt die to all that thou fearest and hopest and hatest and lovest and
thinkest and art. Yea! thou shalt die, even as thou must die. For all
that thou hast, thou hast not; all that thou art, thou art not{SUP:8}!
NENNI OFEKUFA ANANAEL LAIADA I MAELPEREJI NONUKA AFAFA ADAREPEHETA PEREGI ALADI NIISA
NIISA LAPE OL ZODIR IDOIAN{SUP:9}.
And I said: ODO KIKALE QAA. Why art thou hidden from me, whom I hear?
And the voice answered and said unto me: Hearing is of the
--------------------
1. Blue of Sagittarius (Atu XIV).
2. Woman in {Sagittarius}.
3. Sacred to Venus.
4. Distilled from Cauldron in Atu XIV. The Elixir. In this Aire is a
Mystery of the IXx of the O.T.O.
5. Sacred to {Venus}. This woman combines {Jupiter} (Juno) and {Venus};
but she is more than all this, the Quintessence of Scorpio, the Lady
of the Cup.
6. Chariot = Atu VII = {Cancer} cardinal sign of {Water}. Mother of Pearl
is sacred to {Water}; cups symbolize Pleasure, especially sexual
pleasure. Ivory comes from the tusks of the Elephant: teeth pertain
to {HEB:Shin}, the fire of the Spirit. Ivory is thus a symbol of the
hard gleaming militant delight of sexual energy, which bears Love in
her Chariot through Heaven.
7. All typical of {Venus}.
8. Prophetic of the 8x = 3{square x} Initiation. Love is the motive power
which makes the Adeptus Exemptus take the plunge into the Abyss.
9. Enochian.
- page 32 -
spirit alone{SUP:1}. Thou art a partaker of the five-fold mystery{SUP:2}.
Thou must roll up the ten divine ones like a scroll, and fashion therefrom
a star{SUP:3}. Yet must thou blot out the star in the heart of
Hadit{SUP:4}.
For the blood of my heart is like a warm bath of myrrh and ambergris;
bathe thyself therein. The blood of my heart is all gathered upon my lips
if I kiss thee, burns in my fingertips if I caress thee, burns in my womb
when thou art caught up into my bed. Mighty are the stars; mighty is the
sun; mighty is the moon; mighty is the voice of the ever-living one, and
the echoes of his whisper are the thunders of the dissolution of the
worlds. But my silence is mightier than they. Close up the worlds like
unto a weary house; close up the book of the recorder, and let the veil
swallow up the shrine, for I am arisen, O my fair one, and there is no more
need of all these things.
If once I put thee apart from me, it was the joy of play. Is not the
ebb and flowing of the tide a music of the sea? Come, let us mount unto
Nuit our mother and be lost! Let being be emptied in the infinite abyss!
For by me only shalt thou mount; thou hast none other wings than
mine{SUP:5}.
All this while the Rose has been shooting out blue flames, coruscating
like snakes through the whole Aire. And the snakes have taken shapes of
sentences. One of them is: _Sub umbra alarum tuarum Adonai quies et
felicitas_{SUP:6}. And another: _Summum bonum, vera sapientia, magnanima vita, sub noctis
nocte sunt_{SUP:7}. And another is: _Vera medicina est vinum mortis_{SUP:8}. And another
is: _Libertas__evangelii per jugum legis ob gloriam dei intactam ad vacuum nequaquam
tendit_{SUP:9}.
And another is: _Sub aqu lex terrarum_{SUP:10}. And another is: _Mens
edax rerum, cor__umbra rerum; intelligentia via summa_{SUP:11}. And
another is: _Summa via lucis: per Hephaestum_
--------------------
1. The traditional attribution.
2. i.e. of the Pentagram.
3. The ten Sephiroth form the Flaming Sword. The idea is to make a
perfect Man. (the Pentagram) by folding up his 10 consecutive
qualities into a single symmetrical symbol.
4. This star must itself be blotted out in the Point-of View, the
Quintessence of Individuality.
5. The totality of experiences has amounted to Perfection. There is then
no more need of a manifested Universe. See AL. I, v. 29, for the
Object of Division.
6. Refers to 5x = 6{square x} initiation.
7. Refers to the Night of Pan (see later Aires) and so to 8x = 3{square x}
which with 5x = 6{square x} make the two initiated steps.
8. Cf. the general doctrine about Death. AL II, vs. 72-74, et al.
9. Combines the four sentences in this order {Aquarius}{Taurus}{Leo}
{Scorpio} on the circular altar in the vault of Christian Rosencreutz.
The meaning is: Liberty, Law, Light fill the Universe.
10. S.A.L.T.
11. M.E.R.C.U.R.I.U.S. Meaning: the mind destroys the external (by
abstracting its reality: see any good Yoga treatise). The heart is
their shadow (i.e. Reality only appears as impressions). Binah (8x =
3{square x}) is the Highest Way.
- page 33 -
_undas regas_{SUP:1}. And another is: _Vir introit tumulum regis, invenit
oleum lucis_{SUP:2}.
And all round the whole of these things are the letters TARO; but the
light is so dreadful that I cannot read the words. I am going to try
again. All these serpents are collected together very thickly at the edges
of the wheel, because there are an innumerable number of sentences. One
is: _tres annos regimen oraculi_{SUP:3}. And another is: _terribilis ardet
rex_ {HEB:Nun-final}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Lamed} {HEB:Ayin}{SUP:4}.
And another is: _Ter amb_ (amp?) (can't see it) _Rosam oleo_ (?){SUP:5}.
And another is: _Tribus annulis regna olisbon_{SUP:6}. And the marvel is
that with those four letters you can get a complete set of rules for doing
everything, both for white magic and black.
And now I see the heart of the rose again. I see the face of him that
is the heart of the rose, and in the glory of that face I am ended. My
eyes are fixed upon his eyes; my being is sucked up through my eyes into
those eyes. And I see through those eyes, and lo! the universe, like
whirling sparks of gold, blown like a tempest. I seem to swell out again
into him. My consciousness fills the whole Aethyr. I hear the cry NIA,
ringing again and again from within me. It sounds like infinite music, and
behind the sound is the meaning of the Aethyr. Again there are no words.
All this time the whirling sparks of gold go on, and they are like
blue sky, with a lot of rather thin white clouds in it, outside. And now I
see mountains round, far blue mountains, purple mountains. And in the
midst is a little green dell of moss, which is all sparkling with dew that
drips from the rose. And I am lying on that moss with my face upwards,
drinking, drinking, drinking, drinking, drinking of the dew.
I cannot describe to you the joy and the exhaustion of everything that
was, and the energy of everything that is, for it is only a corpse that is
lying on the moss. I am the soul of the Aethyr{SUP:7}.
--------------------
1. S.U.L.P.H.U.R. An alchemical injunction; a reference to AL, Cap. 2, v.
57.
2. V.I.T.R.I.O.L. Reference to IXx O.T.O.
3. Refers to time required to assimilate the Initiation of 8x=3{squarex}
For three years is 156 weeks; and 156 = BABALON.
4. Elyon: the exalted one, nVLI (?). 156, a name of BABALON, (see the
Urn) with with the Phallic Yod in the midst.
5. Meaning: the Rose must be thrice anointed (?) with oil. (That is, with
the oil.)
6. Refers to the Tree of Life; to be ruled by the three reciprocating
Paths, {HEB:Dalet}, {HEB:Tet}, {HEB:Peh}; that is, by the supernal
love, by the Formula of Babalon and the Beast conjoined, and by that
Formula at which is hinted in Liber AL. 1,2,3,4. all T.A.R.O.
7. This passage describes an Initiation, the first of this series. It is
the exhaustion of the lower Self of the Seer in his first union with
BABALON.
- page 34 -
Now it reverberates like the swords of archangels, clashing upon the
armour of the damned; and there seem to be the blacksmiths of heaven
beating the steel of the worlds upon the anvils of hell, to make a roof to
the Aethyr{SUP:1}.
For if the great work were accomplished and all the Aethyrs were
caught up into one, then would the vision fail; then would the voice be
still.
Now all is gone from the stone.
Ain el Hajel.
November 26, 1909. 2-3:25 p.m.
The Cry of the 23rd Aethyr, Which is Called TOR{SUP:2}.
In the brightness of the stone are three lights, brighter than all,
which revolve ceaselessly{SUP:3}. And now there is a spider's web of
silver{SUP:4} covering the whole of the stone. Behind the spider's web is
a star of twelve rays{SUP:5}; and behind that again, a black bull,
furiously pawing up the ground. The flames from his mouth increase and
whirl, and he cries: Behold the mystery of toil, O thou who art taken in
the toils of mystery{SUP:6}. For I who trample the earth thereby make
whirlpools in the air; be comforted, therefore, for though I be black, in
the roof of my mouth is the sign of the Beetle{SUP:7}. Bent are the backs
of my brethren, yet shall they gore the lion with their horns. Have I not
the wings of the eagle, and the face of the man?
And now he is turned into one of those winged Assyrian bull-men.
--------------------
1. This roof seems to be the Path of {HEB:Peh} (Mars, blacksmiths, steel,
etc., the first ring that binds the {GRK:omicron}{GRK:lambda}
{GRK:iota}{GRK:omicron}{GRK:beta}{GRK:omicron}{GRK : sigma}). The union with his Mate
first occurs In Yesod, of which {HEB:Peh} may be called the roof. Later we shall find the
other marriages of {HEB:Tet} and {HEB:Dalet}.
2. TOR = {Leo}{Libra}{Pisces}.
3. The Three Gunas, Sattvas, Rajas, Tamas. This is an Introit to the
Aethyr. As we proceed, we find more and more obstacles to entering.
4. More introit; veils to the true Vision.
5. Tamas, Kerub of Earth. He and the Eagle of Air make up the 4 Officers
of the New Temple.
6. A warning to the Seer not to allow himself to ignore or despise the
plain facts of life. Mysteries --- nay, even The Mysteries themselves!
are apt to seduce the Aspirant. He becomes exalt (as the cold
rational French, observing these errors, call him) instead of exalted.
7. The tradition of the Bull Apis. The Beetle is the Midnight Sun, the
hidden hope of Earth.
- page 35 -
And he sayeth: The spade of the husbandman is the sceptre of the
king{SUP:1}. All the heavens beneath me, they serve me. They are my
fields and my gardens and my orchards and my pastures.
Glory be unto thee, who didst set thy feet in the North{SUP:2}; whose
forehead is pierced with the sharp points of the diamonds in thy crown
{SUP:3}; whose heart is pierced with the spear of thine own fecundity
{SUP:4}.
Thou art an egg of blackness, and a worm of poison. But thou hast
formulated thy father, and made fertile thy mother.
Thou art the basilisk whose gaze turns men to stone, and the
cockatrice at the breast of an harlot that giveth death for milk. Thou art
the asp that has stolen into the cradle of the babe. Glory unto thee, who
art twined about the world as the vine that clingeth to the bare body of a
bacchanal{SUP:5}.
Also, though I be planted so firmly upon the earth, yet is my blood
wine and my breath fire of madness. With these wings, though they be but
little, I lift myself above the crown of the yod{SUP:6}, and being without
fins I yet swim in the inviolate fountain{SUP:7}.
I disport myself in the ruins of Eden, even as Leviathan in the false
sea{SUP:8}, being whole as the rose at the crown of the cross. Come ye
unto me, my children, and be glad. At the end of labour is the power of
labour{SUP:10}. And in my stability is concentrated eternal change
{SUP:11}.
For the whirlings of the universe are but the course of the blood in
my heart. And the unspeakable variety thereof is but my divers hairs, and
plumes, and gems in my tall crown. The change which ye lament is the life
of my rejoicing, and the sorrow that blackeneth your hearts is the myriad
deaths by which I am renewed.
--------------------
1. The King rules by virtue of the labour of his people. Even {Taurus}
Earth is necessary as the support of Heaven. Nuit is upheld by Shu,
who stands on Seb. Neglect to understand this causes many "pure
Mystics" to fall lamentably. They "go off their base" in the
significant slang of common-sense folk.
2. The Bull is stationed in the North.
3. The Bull is sacred to Osiris. This refers to the Crown of Thorns.
4. Again a reference to the Formula of Osiris. The Spear (Sacred Lance,
Phallus) pierces the heart of the Dying God.
5. These two paragraphs declare the identity of the Bull with his Zodiacal
opposite, Scorpio.
6. The Crown of Yod (as a path on the Tree) is Chesed. It leads thither
from Tiphereth. The path of the Bull leads from Chokmah down to
Chesed.
7. Refers to the Symbol of the woman and the Bull. See 16th Aire.
8. See Knorr von Rosenroth on theQlipoth.
9. "The Rose of Earth" surmounts the Cross of Fire in the symbol {Venus}.
10. Toil creates kinetic energy.
11. See 11th Aire.
- page 36 -
And the instability which maketh ye to fear, is the little waverings of
balance by which I am assured{SUP:1}.
And now the veil of silver tissue-stuff closes over him, and above
that, a purple veil, and above that, a golden veil, so that now the whole
stone is like a thick mat of woven gold wires; and there come forth, one
from each side of the stone, two women, and grasp each other by both hands, and kiss, and
melt into one another; and melt away{SUP:2}. And now the veils open again, the gold parts,
and the purple parts, and the silver
parts, and there is a crowned eagle, also like the Assyrian eagles.
And he cries: All my strength and stability are turned to the use of
flight{SUP:3}. For though my wings are of fine gold, yet my heart is the
heart of a scorpion{SUP:4}.
Glory unto thee, who being born in a stable didst make thee mirth of
the filth thereof, who didst suck in iniquity from the breast of thy mother
the harlot; who didst flood with iniquity the bodies of thy concubines.
Thou didst lie in the filth of the streets with the dogs; thou wast
tumbled and shameless and wanton in a place where four roads meet. There
wast thou defiled, and there wast thou slain, and there wast thou left to
rot. The charred stake was thrust through thy bowels, and thy parts were
cut off and thrust into thy mouth for derision{SUP:5}.
All my unity is dissolved; I live in the tips of my feathers{SUP:6}.
That which I think to be myself is but infinite number{SUP:7}. Glory unto
the Rose and the Cross, for the Cross is extended unto the uttermost end
beyond space and time and being and knowledge and delight! Glory unto the
Rose that is the minute point of its center! Even as we say; glory unto
the Rose that is Nuit the circumference of all, and glory unto the Cross
that is the heart of the Rose{SUP:8}!
--------------------
1. All this paragraph explains this doctrine of Stability = Change.
(Yesod, Support of the Tree, is also {Air} & {Moon}).
2. These are intended to show symbolically that the Bull is the same as
the Eagle.
3. This transformation into Air shows the identity (in ultimate
philosophy) of the two forces of change which constitute the Lesser
Mysteries of the Sword and the Disk.
4. Refers to the Scorpion in the Symbol of the Bull of Mithras.
5. These two paragraphs refer to the Formula of the Dying God, its
perversion and profanation at the hands of those who abused it.
6. Air has a peripheral consciousness.
7. The True Unity does not exist in any particular number, but in
{HEB:Aleph}x as a whole.
8. The Rose and Cross are not merely symbols of definite types of energy,
female and male. They are extended in the correlative symbols of
Infinity: Nuit and Hadit.
- page 37 -
Therefore do I cry aloud, and my scream is the treble as the bellowing
of the bull is the bass{SUP:1}. Peace in the highest and peace in the
lowest and peace in the midst thereof! Peace in the eight quarters, peace
in the ten points of the Pentagram! Peace in the twelve rays of the seal
of Solomon, and peace in the four and thirty whirlings of the hammer of
Thor{SUP:2}! Behold! I blaze upon thee. (The eagle is gone; it is only a
flaming Rosy Cross of white brilliance.) I catch thee up into rapture.
FALUTLI, FALUTLI{SUP:3}!
... O it dies, it dies.
Bou Sada.
November 28, 1909. 9:30-10:15 A.M.
The Cry of the 22nd Aethyr, Which is Called LIN{SUP:4}
There comes first into the stone the mysterious table of forty-nine
squares{SUP:5}. It is surrounded by an innumerable company of
--------------------
1. Air and Earth are harmonious vibrations, complementary.
2. The vibrations of Tetragrammaton, Jeheshua, the Hexagram, and the
Swastika are Swastika re duplicated, being complete in each of the two
Series, Air and Earth, the lower forms of Masculine and Feminine.
3. See _Liber VII_, Cap. V, v. 30. It is the cry of the consummated
rapture of the Dissolution of any symbol by virtue of Love. FAL is
Aleph (AFL, thick darkness; PLA, the Hidden Wonder, a title of Kether.)
The whole symbolism of Aleph, 111, must be studied thoroughly. It is
especially the equations: One = Zero; and Three = One. Aleph is
Iacchus, Lord of Ecstasy; Harpocrates, Lord of Silence: Zeus
Arrhenotheleus; Bacchus Diphues, Baphomet, etc. Lord of the Two-in-One
Love; Parsifal, The Pure Fool, the Wandering Spirit of God, who
impregnates the King's Daughter. UT is the title of the Holy Guardian
Angel in the Upanishads. C.q.v. also the poem of "UT" in "The Winged
Beetle". LI is the Hebrew for "to me". See AL I, v. 51, 53, 61, 62,
63. (L is Atu VIII = {HEB:Lamed} = the Satisfied Woman; I is
{HEB:Yod}, Atu IX, the Hermit). See AL II, v. 24 --- The Hidden Virtue
which satisfies Her. {GRK:Phi}{GRK:Alpha}{GRK:Lambda}
{GRK:Upsilon}{GRK:Tau}{GRK:Lambda}{GRK: I ota} = 1271 = 2542/2. 2542 =
{GRK:Theta}{GRK:epsilon}{GRK:lambda} {GRK:eta}{GRK:mu}{GRK:alpha} spelt in full.
4. LIN = {Cancer}{Sagittarius}{Scorpio} {HEB:Nun-final}{HEB:Samekh}
{HEB:Chet} is Chassan, ruler of Air; also, Strength. 118 = 2 x 59.
59 = Brethren (referred especially to Lilith and Samael). LIN declares
therefore the Twins concealed in Heru-Ra-Ha. 118 is also "to change,
pass, renew" and "to ferment"; indicating the Formula of Horus; His
first Formula is that of BABALON, for He is as yet within Her womb.
But see note on 10th Aire, regarding PARAOAN.
5. See _The Equinox_, I, VII, page 231. This table contains the names of
the Angels of the Seven Planetary Spheres: Shabathiel, Tzedquiel,
Madimiel, Shemashiel, Negahal, Kokabiel, and Levaniel. This seven-fold
arrangement is of the Sigil of A{.'.} A{.'.} Babalon. See _Book of
Lies_, Cap. 49. And she is the Mother of Heru-Ra-Ha.
- page 38 -
angels; these angels are of all kinds, --- some brilliant and flashing as
gods, down to elemental creatures. The light comes and goes on the tablet;
and now it is steady, and I perceive that each letter of the tablet is
composed of forty-nine other letters, in a language which looks like that
of Honorius; but when I would read, the letter that I look at becomes
indistinct at once.
And now there comes an Angel, to hide the tablet with his mighty wing.
This Angel has all the colours mingled in his dress; his head is proud and
beautiful; his headdress is of silver and red and blue and gold and black,
like cascades of water, and in his left hand he has a pan-pipe of the seven
holy metals, upon which he plays{SUP:1}. I cannot tell you how wonderful
the music is, but it is so wonderful that one only lives in one's ears; one
cannot see anything any more.
Now he stops playing and moves with his finger in the air. His finger
leaves a trail of fire of every colour, so that the whole Aire is become
like a web of mingled lights. But through it all drops dew{SUP:2}.
(I can't describe these things at all. Dew doesn't represent what I
mean in the least. For instance, these drops of dew are enormous globes,
shining like the full moon, only perfectly transparent, as well as
perfectly luminous.)
And now he shows the tablet again, and he says: As there are 49
letters in the tablet, so are there 49 kinds of cosmos in every thought of
God. And there are 49 interpretations of every cosmos, and each
interpretation is manifested in 49 ways. Thus also are the calls
49{SUP:3}, but to each call there are 49 visions. And each vision is
composed of 49 elements, except in the 10th Aethyr, that is accursed, and
that hath 42{SUP:4}.
All this while the dewdrops have turned into cascades of gold finer
than the eyelashes of a little child{SUP:5}. And though the extent of the
Aethyr is so enormous, one perceives each hair separately, as well as the
whole thing at once{SUP:6}. And now there is a
--------------------
1. This "Angel" is in fact PAN. See the 9th Aire "unto All hath she born
him."
2. This "dew" is the Supernal Lion-Serpent in his Menstruum of liquid
Pearl.
3. 42 is the number of the Demiurge (see Genesis I), of the Assessors of
the Dead (see any book on Egyptian religion), of the Sterile Mother
{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Mem}{HEB:Aleph}, of Terror and Destruction
{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Lamed}{HEB:Bet}, of loss ({HEB:Yod}{HEB:Lamed}{HEB:Bet}), of the
verb "to cease" ({HEB:Lamed}{HEB:Dalet}{HEB:Chet}), and of {HEB:Dalet}
{HEB:Lamed}{HEB:Tzaddi-final}, the Earth of Malkuth. It is
connected with the 10th Aethyr. See _Equnox_ I, VII, pages 229-243,
for the whole symbolism.
4. See_Equnox_ I, VIII, pp. 99-128.
5. The Solar Child develops from the "Dew".
6. These violations of Normal Logic are stigmatic of most of the higher
types of Spiritual Experience. There must be no muddle; that is the
usual mistake made by most Mystics. Confused thought is the evil and
averse image of the One Clear Light.
- page 39 -
mighty concourse of angels rushing toward me from every side, and they melt upon the
surface of the egg in which I am standing in the form of the god Kneph{SUP:1}, so that the
surface of the egg is all one dazzling blaze of liquid light.
Now I move up against the tablet, --- I cannot tell you with what
rapture. And all the names of God, that are not known even to the
angels{SUP:2}, clothe me about.
All the seven senses are transmuted into one sense, and that sense is
dissolved in itself ...{SUP:3} (Here occurs Samadhi.) ... Let me speak, O
God; let me declare it ... all. It is useless; my heart faints, my breath
stops. There is no link between me and P . . .{SUP:4} I withdraw myself.
I see the table again.
(He was behind the table for a very long time{SUP:5}. O.V.)
And all the table burns with intolerable light; there has been no such
light in any of the Aethyrs until now. And now the table draws me back
into itself; I am no more.
My arms were out in the form of a cross, and that Cross was extended,
blazing with light into infinity. I myself am the minutest point in it.
This is _the birth of form_{SUP:6}.
I am encircled by an immense sphere of many-coloured bands; it seems
it is the sphere of the Sephiroth projected in the three dimensions. This
is _the birth of death_{SUP:7}.
Now in the centre within me is a glowing sun. That is _the birth of
hell_{SUP:8}.
Now all that is swept away, washed away by the table. It is the
virtue of the table to sweep everything away. It is the letter
--------------------
1. The winged Egg, the omniform Zero (0x) from which all positive
manifestation comes.
2. This experience is perfectly clear and definite, to the peculiar type
of higher consciousness which is aware of it.
3. These are those of the Table itself, read across or down, instead of
diagonally, as is done to obtain the names given in note 5, p. 32. See
also LXXXIV (page 231).
4. Perdurabo, the Motto (in the Outer Order) of the Seer. Even below the
True Consciousness with the material and intellectual basis of him.
5. i.e. The Seer was in Samadhi; the Table had been a Veil of the
Infinite.
6. Form is the conception of the Self in extension.
7. Death is the conception of the Self extended, not into the positive
balanced cross, but into the negative circle (or sphere) of Nuit.
8. For Hell, see _Liber Aleph_. Hell, is the Secret Centre of the Self.
One perceives one's Star as one's True Self.
- page 40 -
I in this Aethyr that gives this vision, and L is its purity, and N is its
energy{SUP:1}. Now everything is confused, for I invoked the Mind, that is
disruption{SUP:2}. Every Adept who beholds this vision is corrupted by
mind. Yet it is by virtue of mind that he endures it, and passes on, if so
be that he pass on. Yet there is nothing higher than this, for it is
perfectly balanced in itself. I cannot read a word of the holy Table, for
the letters of the Table are all wrong. They are only the shadows of
shadows. And whoso beholdeth this Table with this rapture, is light. The
true word for light hath seven letters. They are the same as ARARITA,
transmuted{SUP:3}.
There is a voice in this Aethyr, but it cannot be spoken. The only
way one can represent it is as a ceaseless thundering of the word Amen. It
is not a repetition of Amen, because there is no time. It is one Amen
continuous{SUP:4}.
Shall mine eye fade before thy glory? I am the eye. That is why the
eye is seventy{SUP:5}. You can never understand why, except in this
vision{SUP:6}.
And now the table recedes from me. Far, far it goes, streaming with
light. And there are two black angels bending over me, covering me with
their wings, shutting me up into the darkness; and I am lying in the Pastos
of our Father Christian Rosenkreutz, beneath the Table in the Vault of
seven sides. And I hear these words:
The voice of the Crowned Child, the Speech of the Babe that is hidden
in the egg of blue{SUP:7}. (Before me is the flaming Rosy Cross.) I have
opened mine eye, and the universe is dissolved
--------------------
1. {ENO:j} = {Sagittarius}. The Rainbow is connected with the Sevenfold
projection. {ENO:l} = {Moon} decreasing in {Cancer}. Luna, when
active, always purifies. It is the passive Moon that may be "evil";
i.e. when she reflects not the Sun, her Lord, but divers spectres of
the Night. {ENO:n} = {Mars} in {Scorpio}, the type of energy which
informs Vision. {Mars} in {Taurus} would cause action.
2. The Seer had begun to analyze the conceptions presented to him by the
Vision. Instantly the internal coherence of its Unity was destroyed.
The next two phrases show that this is a difficulty peculiar to this
Vision.
3. {HEB:Resh}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Vau} {HEB:Taw}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Yod} the
essence of the Yod girt by Sun's tending inwardly upon it.
{HEB:Resh}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Resh}
(?) = 412 = {HEB:Taw}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Bet} = {HEB:Bet} = {Mercury}. For
ultimately Kether and Sol are not Light. Light is a duplex vibration,
energized by Them and is, _therefore_, of their Messenger, Mercury.
(Alostrael's notebook has a different version from Yorke's
"...energized by Them and is {.'.} of their Messenger Mercury."
--- Copyist's note.)
4. AUMGN (See explanation in _Book 4_, Part III).
5. {HEB:Nun-final}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Ayin} = an Eye = {HEB:Ayin} = 70.
6. The general idea is perhaps this: 70 = {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Samekh}{HEB:Heh}
Hush! and {HEB:Lamed}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Lamed}, NIght, and {HEB:Dalet}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Samekh} The
Secret. The Glory is so great that it cannot be manifested by any positive means.
7. Heru-Ra-Ha.
- page 41 -
before me, for force is mine upper eye-lid and matter is my lower eye-
lid{SUP:1}. I gaze into the seven spaces, and there is naught{SUP:2}.
The rest of it comes without words; and then again:
I have gone forth to war, and I have slain him that sat upon the sea,
crowned with the winds{SUP:3}. I put forth my power and he was broken. I
withdrew my power and he was ground into fine dust.
Rejoice with me, O ye Sons of the Morning; stand with me upon the
Throne of Lotus{SUP:4}; gather yourselves up unto me, and we shall play
together in the fields of light. I have passed into the Kingdom of the
West after my Father{SUP:6}.
Behold! where are now the darkness and the terror and the
lamentation? For ye are born into the new Aeon; ye shall not suffer
death{SUP:7}. Bind up your girdles of gold! Wreathe yourselves with
garlands of my unfading flowers! In the nights we will dance together, and
in the morning we will go forth to war; for, as my Father liveth that was
dead, so do I live and shall never die{SUP:8}.
And now the table comes rushing back. It covers the whole stone, but
this time it pushes me before it, and a terrible voice cries: Begone! Thou
hast profaned the mystery; thou hast eaten of the shew-bread; thou hast
spilt the consecrated wine{SUP:9}! Begone! For the Voice is accomplished.
Begone! For that which was open is
--------------------
1. These ideas are complementary; when they combine they produce positive manifestation,
which covers up the Glance of the Eye of Shiva, which annihilates all external existence.
2. The Seven spaces are the "Palaces" which contain the Sephiroth.
3. This is the foe of Horus, the Dweller of Nile. The winds which crown
him are not the pure powers of Air of Libra, but the cloudy (mixed)
forces of Aquarius, opposite in the Zodiac to Leo, the sign of Horus.
4. The Energy of Horus destroys indeed, but must be withdrawn to complete
the work, for His rays, if left in their object, would keep it
vitalized. The coherence of the broken matter must be withdrawn.
5. Harpocrates stands or sits upon the Lotus, his fortress against the
malice of the Water-demon.
6. Osiris has been chased into Amennti by Horus, who follows him thither,
that his reign may be established even in the realms of "Death". In
the New Aeon, Death is become Life Triumphant, not through
Resurrection, but in its own Essence.
7. See last note. The Thelemite does not "suffer death". He is eternal
and perceives Himself the Universe, by virtue of the _categories_ of
Life and Death, which are not real but subjective forms of his artistic
presentation.
8. Osiris, tricked into the belief in death, had to overcome it by Magick,
the Formula IAO.
9. The Seer has erred, it seems, by translating the Doctrine into
intelligible symbols. for this is likely to cause a new "Fall" into
the barren kingdoms of Ratiocination.
- page 42 -
shut. And thou shalt not avail to open it, saving by virtue of him whose
name is one, whose spirit is one, whose individuum is one, and whose
permutation is one{SUP:1}; whose light is one, whose life is one, whose
love is one. For though thou art joined to the inmost mystery of the
heaven, thou must accomplish the sevenfold task of the earth, even as thou
sawest the Angels from the greatest unto the least. And of all this shalt
thou take back with thee but a little part, for the sense shall be
darkened, and the shrine re-veiled. Yet know this for thy reproof, and for
the stirring up of discontent in them whose swords are of lath{SUP:2}, that
in every word of this vision is concealed the key of many mysteries, even
of being, and of knowledge, and of bliss{SUP:3}; of will, of courage,
of wisdom, and of silence{SUP:4}, and of that which, being all these, is
greater than all these. Begone! For the night of life is fallen upon
thee. And the veil of light hideth that which is.
With that, I suddenly see the world as it is, and I am very sorrowful.
Bou-Sada.
November 28, 1909. 4-6 p.m.
(_Note_. --- You do not come back in any way dazed; it is like going
from one room into another. Regained normal consciousness completely and immediately.)
--------------------
1. ARARITA (--- a name of God, which is a Notariqon of the sentence:
"One is His beginning; One is his Individuality; His Permutation One.")
The use of this Name and Formula is to equate and identify every idea
with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking
any one of them as "true" (and therefore binding); one can withdraw
oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach. See _Liber 813, vel
Ararita._ Contrast each verse of Cap. I with the corresponding verse
of Cap. II for the first of these methods. Thus in Cap. III (stil
verse by verse correspondence) the Quintessence of the ideas is
extracted; and in Cap. IV they are withdrawn each one into the one
beyond it. In Cap. V they have disappeared into the Method itself. In
Cap. VI they reappear in the Form appointed by the Will of the Adept.
Lastly, in Cap. VII they are dissolved, one into the next until all
finally disappear in the Fire Qadosh, the Quintessence of Reality.
2. Those whose analytical methods are incapable of destroying Illusion.
This insistence on the Virtue of the Vision is intended to encourage
them to make greater efforts.
3. Sat-Chit-Ananda.
4. The Sphinx.
- page 43 -
The Cry of the 21st Aethyr, Which is Called ASP{SUP:1}.
A mighty wind rolls through all the Aethyr; there is a sense of
absolute emptiness; no colour, no form, no substance. Only now and then
there seem as it were, the shadows of great angels, swept along. No sound;
there is something very remorseless about the wind, passionless, that is
very terrible. In a way, it is nerve-shaking. It seems as if something
kept on trying to open behind the wind, and just as it is about to open,
the effort is exhausted. The wind is not cold or hot; there is no sense of
any kind connected with it. One does not even feel it, for one is standing
in front of it.
Now, the thing opens behind, just for a second, and I catch a glimpse
of an avenue of pillars, and at the end a throne, supported by sphinxes.
All this is black marble{SUP:2}.
Now I seem to have gone through the wind, and to be standing before
the throne; but he that sitteth thereon is invisible. Yet it is from him
that all this desolation proceeds{SUP:3}.
He is trying to make me understand by putting tastes in my mouth, very
rapidly one after the other. Salt, honey, sugar{SUP:4},
--------------------
1. ASP = {Taurus}{Virgo}{Leo} = {HEB:Vau}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Tet} = 25 =
{HEB:Dalet}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Heh}{HEB:Yod} = Jehevid, God of Geburah of Briah =
{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Chet} The Beast. The aire shows the supplanting of that
by this. (A's MS. has "Mythus (?)" for "by this".) Taurus is Osiris.
Virgo the Virgin (the lonely one).
These are the Dying God symbols, which Leo --- the Lion, Atu XI, The
Beast --- replaces.
2. This setting symbolizes the Way of Time in the Temple of Inscrutable
Destiny.
3. This Deity is Necessity or Fate. This whole Aire is of a metaphysic
more difficult to understand than any of the earlier. The student must
have finally shut out of his mind not only the crude ideas of Good and
Evil, but the most fundamental logical conceptions, such as that of
being obliged to think of a state of mind, or an individual, as being
true to itself. This God is at the same time an Abomination and a
supreme Overlord. One may indeed say that the student ought to be in a
state not far from Samadhi before meditating the meaning of the Aire.
4. Salt Water or Earth, probably ............................ M
Honey Bees: feminine symbol. Binah. Probably ............. E
(This E is not a real vowel. It enables consonants
to join with the minimum of disturbance. This is
exactly the role of the feminine passive element.)
Sugar Venus ............................................... D
Assafoetida Saturn --- Capricornus = {HEB:Ayin} .......... {Taurus}
Bitumen Fiery --- Water = {HEB:Nun-final} ................... N
Honey ..................................................... E
Unknown Possibly Kether .................................... St
Garlic Saturnian element of Venus .......................... L
(footnote continues on next page)
- page 44 -
assafoetida, bitumen, honey again, some taste that I don't know at all;
garlic, something very bitter like nux vomica, another taste, still more
bitter; lemon, cloves, rose-leaves, honey again; the juice of some plant,
like a dandelion, I think; honey again, salt, a taste something like
phosphorus, honey, laurel, a very unpleasant taste which I don't know,
coffee, then a burning taste, then a sour taste that I don't know. All
these tastes issue from his eyes; he _signals_them.
I can see his eyes now. They are very round, with perfectly black
pupils, perfectly white iris, and the cornea pale blue. The sense of
desolation is so acute that I keep on trying to get away from the
vision{SUP:1}.
I told him that I could not understand his taste-language, so instead
he set up a humming very much like a big electric plant with dynamos going.
Now the atmosphere is deep night-blue; and by the power of that
atmosphere, the pillars kindle to a dull glowing crimson, and the throne is
a dull, ruddy gold{SUP:2}. And now, through the humming, come very clear, bell-like notes,
and farther still a muttering, like that of a gathering
storm.
And now I hear the meaning of the muttering: I am he who was
--------------------
(footnote # 4 from page 44 continues)
Nux vomica Tonic. Geburah.
Still more bitter.
Lemon Mercury
Cloves Venus --- earthy. Taurus ........................ U or V
Rose Leaves Venus. Mercury ..................................... I
Honey ..................................................... E
Dandelion Solar. Tiphereth ................................... O
Honey ..................................................... E
Salt ..................................................... M
Phosphorus Sol. Leo or Geburah ................................Th
Honey ..................................................... E
Laurel Apollo .............................................. R
Very unpleasant --- ? --- the insipidness of Mercury ................ I
Coffee Stimulant --- wakeful. Erectile ............. {Taurus}
Burning Scorpio ............................................. N
Sour End of oxidation --- acid --- Sagittarius ........... S
Translation: "The Earth is sick of love; with disease and death is she
sick ... the natural lust, fierce as it is, is not enough; virgins,
boys woman (make men) sick, weak of semen and sick. The earth shall be
cured of her sickness by true Art-of-Sun, and thine own pleasures, and
thou ..., shall abolish the world's woe, and bring on the Age of
Righteousness.
1. Black, white, and pale blue, there is no _warmth_ in Destiny. It is
intolerable to see the mere mechanism of life.
2. Now comes the warm Night-Blue of Nuit and of Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The
pillars assume the crimson of Binah, and the throne, the gold of
Tiphereth. Thus is it as if Ra-Hoor-Khuit were alive in the midst of
the Womb of His Mother.
- page 45 -
before the beginning, and in my desolation I cried aloud, saying, let me
behold my countenance in the concave of the abyss{SUP:1}. And I beheld,
and lo! in the darkness of the abyss my countenance was black, and empty,
and distorted{SUP:2}, that was (once) invisible and pure.
Then I closed mine eye, that I might not behold it, and for this was
it fixed. Now it is written that one glance of mine eye shall destroy
it{SUP:3}. And mine eye I dare not open, because of the foulness of the
vision. Therefore do I gaze with these two eyes throughout the
aeon{SUP:4}. Is there not one of all my adepts that shall come unto me,
and cut off mine eyelids, that I may behold and destroy{SUP:5}?
Now I take a dagger, and, searching out his third eye, seek to cut off
the eye-lids, but they are of adamant. And the edge of the dagger{SUP:6}
is turned.
And tears{SUP:7} drop from his eyes, and there is a mournful voice:
So it hath been ever: so must it ever be! Though thou hast the strength of
five bulls, thou shalt not avail in this{SUP:8}.
And I said to him: Who shall avail? And he answered me: I know
not{SUP:9}. But the dagger of penance{SUP:10} thou shalt temper seven
times, afflicting the seven courses of thy soul. And thou shalt sharpen
its edge seven times by the seven ordeals.
--------------------
1. cf. the account of the beginning in the Upanishads.
2. See Eliphaz Levi's drawing of the two Countenances.
3. The Shivaite Dogma.
4. cf. the Qabalah. The Most Holy Ancient One has One Eye: Microprosophus two.
5. Shiva again. For the eyelids, see above, the 22nd Aire, the speech of
the Babe Horus.
6. This minor elemental weapon is evidently useless against fundamental
ideas like force and matter, of which it is itself but a trivial complex.
7. Binah, mother of Sorrow, the tears from the Great Sea, Her symbol.
The first issue of Understanding is the trance of Sorrow.
8. The Bull = {Taurus} = {HEB:Vau} = V. The Motto of the Seer as in the
Grade of Binah 8x = 3{square x}, is V.V.V.V.V., the five Bulls. He had
already chosen this motto, through he had refused to accept the Grade
when offered to him three years before by the Chiefs. We now approach
those Aethyrs in which his full Initiation to that Grade was
accomplished.
9. I = {HEB:Yod}{HEB:Nun}{HEB:Aleph} = 61. Know = No ={HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Lamed} = 31. Not =
{HEB:Nun-final}{HEB:Yod}{HEB:Aleph} = 61.
Also I know not --- I know that which is Not. Such are the roots of
the Equation of Ambiguity, used often by Higher Intelligences
(especially in _The Book of the Law_, q.v.) to prove their identity as
Individuals separate from the Seer, and superior to him.
10. This rebukes the Seer for having tried to use the elemental Dagger.
Perhaps the four sevens in the injunction refer to Netzach, Victory.
For Netzach = 7; and 28 = {GRK:Sigma}1-7 as well as 4x7, 28 is a
"perfect" number; its factors add up to itself.
- page 46 -
(One keeps on looking round to try to find something else because of
the terror of it. But nothing changes{SUP:1} at all. Nothing but the
empty throne, and the eyes, and the avenue of pillars!)
And