<![CDATA[ THE BOOK OF LIES
Aliester Crowley
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Eta Omicron-Upsilon-Kappa
Epsilon-Sigma-Tau-Iota Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta
Omicron!} (1)
The Ante Primal Triad which is
NOT-GOD
Nothing is.
Nothing Becomes.
Nothing is not.
The First Triad which is GOD
I AM.
I utter The Word.
I hear The Word.
The Abyss
The Word is broken up.
There is Knowledge.
Knowledge is Relation.
These fragments are Creation.
The broken manifests Light. (2)
The Second Triad which is GOD
GOD the Father and Mother is concealed in Genera-
tion.
GOD is concealed in the whirling energy of Nature.
GOD is manifest in gathering: harmony: considera-
tion: the Mirror of the Sun and of the Heart.
The Third Triad
Bearing: preparing.
Wavering: flowing: flashing.
Stability: begetting.
The Tenth Emanation
The world.
[10]
COMMENTARY (The Chapter that is not a Chapter)
This chapter, numbered 0, corresponds to the Negative,
which is before Kether in the Qabalistic system.
The notes of interrogation and exclamation on the previous
pages are the other two veils.
The meaning of these symbols is fully explained in "The
Soldier and the Hunchback".
This chapter begins by the letter O, followed by a mark of
exclamation; its reference to the theogony of "Liber Legis" is
explained in the note, but it also refers to KTEIS PHALLOS
and SPERMA, and is the exclamation of wonder or ecstasy,
which is the ultimate nature of things.
NOTE
(1) Silence. Nuit, O; Hadit; Ra-Hoor-Khuit, I.
COMMENTARY (The Ante Primal Triad)
This is the negative Trinity; its three statements are, in an
ultimate sense, identical. They harmonise Being, Becoming,
Not-Being, the three possible modes of conceiving the universe.
The statement, Nothing is Not , technically equivalent to
Something Is, is fully explained in the essay called Berashith.
The rest of the chapter follows the Sephirotic system of the
Qabalah, and constitutes a sort of quintessential comment upon
that system.
Those familiar with that system will recognise Kether,
Chokmah, Binah, in the First Triad; Daath, in the Abyss; Chesed,
Geburah, Tiphareth, in the Second Triad; Netzach, Hod and
Yesod in the Third Triad, and Malkuth in the Tenth Emanation.
It will be noticed that this cosmogony is very complete; the
manifestation even of God does not appear until Tiphareth; and
the universe itself not until Malkuth.
The chapter many therefore be considered as the most complete
treatise on existence ever written.
NOTE
(2) The Unbroken, absorbing all, is called Darkness.
[11]
1
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda Alpha}
THE SABBATH OF THE GOAT
O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
{Pi-Alpha-Nu}: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.
Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.
[12]
COMMENTARY ({Alpha})
The shape of the figure I suggests the Phallus; this
chapter is therefore called the Sabbath of the Goat, the
Witches' Sabbath, in which the Phallus is adored.
The chapter begins with a repetition of O! referred
to in the previous chapter. It is explained that this triad
lives in Night, the Night of Pan, which is mystically
called N.O.X., and this O is identified with the O in
this word. N is the Tarot symbol, Death; and the X
or Cross is the sign of the Phallus. For a fuller com-
mentary on Nox, see Liber VII, Chapter I.
Nox adds to 210, which symbolises the reduction of
duality to unity, and thence to negativity, and is thus
a hieroglyph of the Great Work.
The word Pan is then explained, {Pi}, the letter of
Mars, is a hieroglyph of two pillars, and therefore
suggest duality; A, by its shape, is the pentagram,
energy, and N, by its Tarot attribution, is death.
Nox is then further explained, and it is shown that
the ultimate Trinity, O!, is supported, or fed, by the
process of death and begetting, which are the laws of
the universe.
The identity of these two is then explained.
The Student is then charged to understand the
spiritual importance of this physical procession in
line 5.
It is then asserted that the ultimate letter A has two
names, or phases, Life and Death.
Line 7 balances line 5. It will be notice that the
phraseology of these two lines is so conceived that the
one contains the other more than itself.
Line 8 emphasises the importance of performing
both.
[13]
2
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Eta Beta}
THE CRY OF THE HAWK
Hoor hath a secret fourfold name: it is Do What
Thou Wilt.(3)
Four Words: Naught-One-Many-All.
Thou-Child!
Thy Name is holy.
Thy Kingdom is come.
Thy Will is done.
Here is the Bread.
Here is the Blood.
Bring us through Temptation!
Deliver us from Good and Evil!
That Mine as Thine be the Crown of the Kingdom,
even now.
ABRAHADABRA.
These ten words are four, the Name of the One.
[14]
COMMENTARY ({Beta})
The "Hawk" referred to is Horus.
The chapter begins with a comment on Liber Legis
III, 49.
Those four words, Do What Thou Wilt, are also
identified with the four possible modes of conceiving the
universe; Horus unites these.
Follows a version of the "Lord's Prayer", suitable
to Horus. Compare this with the version in Chapter 44.
There are ten sections in this prayer, and, as the prayer
is attributed to Horus, they are called four, as above
explained; but it is only the name of Horus which is
fourfold; He himself is One.
This may be compared with the Qabalistic doctrine
of the Ten Sephiroth as an expression of Tetra-
grammaton (1 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4 = 10).
It is now seen that this Hawk is not Solar, but
Mercurial; hence the words, the Cry of the Hawk, the
essential part of Mercury being his Voice; and the
number of the chapter, B, which is Beth the letter of
Mercury, the Magus of the Tarot, who has four
weapons, and it must be remembered that this card is
numbered 1, again connecting all these symbols with
the Phallus.
The essential weapon of Mercury is the Caduceus.
NOTE
(3) Fourteen letters. Quid Voles Illud Fac. Q.V.I.F.
196=14^2.
[15]
3
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Gamma}
THE OYSTER
The Brothers of A.'.A.'. are one with the Mother of
the Child.(4)
The Many is as adorable to the One as the One is to
the Many. This is the Love of These; creation-
parturition is the Bliss of the One; coition-
dissolution is the Bliss of the Many.
The All, thus interwoven of These, is Bliss.
Naught is beyond Bliss.
The Man delights in uniting with the Woman; the
Woman in parting from the Child.
The Brothers of A.'.A.'. are Women: the Aspirants
to A.'.A.'. are Men.
[16]
COMMENTARY ({Gamma})
Gimel is the High Priestess of the Tarot. This
chapter gives the initiated feminine point of view; it is
therefore called the Oyster, a symbol of the Yoni. In
Equinox X, The Temple of Solomon the King, it is
explained how Masters of the Temple, or Brothers of
A.'.A.'. have changed the formula of their progress.
These two formulae, Solve et Coagula, are now ex-
plained, and the universe is exhibited as the interplay
between these two. This also explains the statement in
Liber Legis I, 28-30.
NOTE
(4) They cause all men to worship it.
[17]
4
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Delta}
PEACHES
Soft and hollow, how thou dost overcome the hard
and full!
It dies, it gives itself; to Thee is the fruit!
Be thou the Bride; thou shalt be the Mother here-
after.
To all impressions thus. Let them not overcome thee;
yet let them breed within thee. The least of the
impressions, come to its perfection, is Pan.
Receive a thousand lovers; thou shalt bear but One
Child.
This child shall be the heir of Fate the Father.
[18]
COMMENTARY ({Delta})
Daleth is the Empress of the Tarot, the letter of
Venus, and the title, Peaches, again refers to the Yoni.
The chapter is a counsel to accept all impressions;
it is the formula of the Scarlet woman; but no impression
must be allowed to dominate you, only to fructify you;
just as the artist, seeing an object, does not worship it,
but breeds a masterpiece from it. This process is
exhibited as one aspect of the Great Work. The last
two paragraphs may have some reference to the 13th
Aethyr (see The Vision and The Voice).
[19]
5
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Epsilon}
THE BATTLE OF THE ANTS
That is not which is.
The only Word is Silence.
The only Meaning of that Word is not.
Thoughts are false.
Fatherhood is unity disguised as duality.
Peace implies war.
Power implies war.
Harmony implies war.
Victory implies war.
Glory implies war.
Foundation implies war.
Alas! for the Kingdom wherein all these are at war.
[20]
COMMENTARY ({Epsilon})
He is the letter of Aries, a Martial sign; while the
title suggests war. The ants are chosen as small busy
objects.
Yet He, being a holy letter, raises the beginning of the
chapter to a contemplation of the Pentagram, con-
sidered as a glyph of the ultimate.
In line 1, Being is identified with Not-Being.
In line 2, Speech with Silence.
In line 3, the Logos is declared as the Negative.
Line 4 is another phrasing of the familiar Hindu
statement, that that which can be thought is not true.
In line 5, we come to an important statement, an
adumbration of the most daring thesis in this book-
Father and Son are not really two, but one; their unity
being the Holy Ghost, the semen; the human form is a
non-essential accretion of this quintessence.
So far the chapter has followed the Sephiroth from
Kether to Chesed, and Chesed is united to the Supernal
Triad by virtue of its Phallic nature; for not only is
Amoun a Phallic God, and Jupiter the Father of All,
but 4 is Daleth, Venus, and Chesed refers to water,
from which Venus sprang, and which is the symbol of
the Mother in the Tetragrammaton. See Chapter 0,
"God the Father and Mother is concealed in genera-
tion".
But Chesed, in the lower sense, is conjoined to
Microprosopus. It is the true link between the greater
and lesser countenances, whereas Daath is the false.
Compare the doctrine of the higher and lower Manas in
Theosophy.
The rest of the chapter therefor points out the duality,
and therefore the imperfection, of all the lower Sephiroth
in their essence.
[21]
6
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Digamma}
CAVIAR
The Word was uttered: the One exploded into one
thousand million worlds.
Each world contained a thousand million spheres.
Each sphere contained a thousand million planes.
Each plane contained a thousand million stars.
Each star contained a many thousand million things.
Of these the reasoner took six, and, preening, said:
This is the One and the All.
These six the Adept harmonised, and said: This is the
Heart of the One and the All.
These six were destroyed by the Master of the
Temple; and he spake not.
The Ash thereof was burnt up by the Magus into
The Word.
Of all this did the Ipsissimus know Nothing.
[22]
COMMENTARY ({Digamma})
This chapter is presumably called Caviar because
that substance is composed of many spheres.
The account given of Creation is the same as that
familiar to students of the Christian tradition, the
Logos transforming the unity into the many.
We then see what different classes of people do with
the many.
The Rationalist takes the six Sephiroth of Micro-
prosopus in a crude state, and declares them to be the
universe. This folly is due to the pride of reason.
The Adept concentrates the Microcosm in Tiphareth,
recognising an Unity, even in the microcosm, but, qua
Adept, he can go no further.
The Master of the Temple destroys all these illusions,
but remains silent. See the description of his functions
in the Equinox, Liber 418 and elsewhere.
In the next grade, the Word is re-formulated, for the
Magus in Chokmah, the Dyad, the Logos.
The Ipsissimus, in the highest grade of the A.'.A.'.,
is totally unconscious of this process, or, it might be
better to say, he recognises it as Nothing, in that positive
sense of the word, which is only intelligible in
Samasamadhi.
[28]
7
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Zeta}
THE DINOSAURS
None are They whose number is Six:(5) else were they
six indeed.
Seven(6) are these Six that live not in the City of the
Pyramids, under the Night of Pan.
There was Lao-tzu.
There was Siddartha.
There was Krishna.
There was Tahuti.
There was Mosheh.
There was Dionysus.(7)
There was Mahmud.
But the Seventh men called PERDURABO; for
enduring unto The End, at The End was Naught
to endure. (8)
Amen.
[29]
COMMENTARY ({Zeta})
This chapter gives a list of those special messengers
of the Infinite who initiate periods. they are called
Dinosaurs because of their seeming to be terrible
devouring creatures. They are Masters of the Temple,
for their number is 6 (1 plus 2 plus 3), the mystic
number of Binah; but they are called "None", because
they have attained. If it were not so, they would be
called "six" in its bad sense of mere intellect.
They are called Seven, although they are Eight,
because Lao-tzu counts as nought, owing to the nature
of his doctrine. The reference to their "living not" is
to be found in Liber 418.
The word "Perdurabo" means "I will endure unto
the end". The allusion is explained in the note.
Siddartha, or Gotama, was the name of the last
Budda.
Krishna was the principal incarnation of the Indian
Vishnu, the preserver, the principal expounder of
Vedantism.
Tahuti, or Thoth, the Egyptian God of Wisdom.
Mosheh, Moses, the founder of the Hebrew system.
Dionysus, probably an ecstatic from the East.
Mahmud, Mohammed.
All these were men; their Godhead is the result of
mythopoeia.
NOTES
(5) Masters of the Temple, whose grade has the
mystic number 6 (= 1 + 2 + 3).
(6) These are not eight, as apparent; for Lao-tzu
counts as 0.
(7) The legend of "Christ" is only a corruption and
perversion of other legends. Especially of Dionysus:
compare the account of Christ before Herod/Pilate in
the gospels, and of Dionysus before Pentheus in
"The Baccae".
(8) O, the last letter of Perdurabo, is Naught.
[25]
8
{Kappa-epsilon-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Eta}
STEEPED HORSEHAIR
Mind is a disease of semen.
All that a man is or may be is hidden therein.
Bodily functions are parts of the machine; silent,
unless in dis-ease.
But mind, never at ease, creaketh "I".
This I persisteth not, posteth not through genera-
tions, changeth momently, finally is dead.
Therefore is man only himself when lost to himself
in The Charioting.
[26]
COMMENTARY ({Eta})
Cheth is the Chariot in the Tarot. The Charioteer is
the bearer of the Holy Grail. All this should be studied
in Liber 418, the 12th Aethyr.
The chapter is called "Steeped Horsehair" because
of the mediaeval tradition that by steeping horsehair
a snake is produced, and the snake is the hieroplyphic
representation of semen, particularly in Gnostic and
Egyptian emblems.
The meaning of the chapter is quite clear; the whole
race-consciousness, that which is omnipotent, omnis-
cient, omnipresent, is hidden therein.
Therefore, except in the case of an Adept, man only
rises to a glimmer of the universal consciousness, while,
in the orgasm, the mind is blotted out.
[27]
9
{Kappa-epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Eta Theta}
THE BRANKS
Being is the Noun; Form is the adjective.
Matter is the Noun; Motion is the Verb.
Wherefore hath Being clothed itself with Form?
Wherefore hath Matter manifested itself in Motion?
Answer not, O silent one! For THERE is no "where-
fore", no "because".
The name of THAT is not known; the Pronoun
interprets, that is , misinterprets, It.
Time and Space are Adverbs.
Duality begat the Conjunction.
The Conditioned is Father of the Preposition.
The Article also marketh Division; but the Inter-
jeciton is the sound that endeth in the Silence.
Destroy therefore the Eight Parts of Speech; the
Ninth is nigh unto Truth.
This also must be destroyed before thou enterest
into The Silence.
Aum.
[28]
COMMENTARY ({Theta})
Teth is the Tarot trump, Strength, in which a woman
is represented closing the mouth of a lion.
This chapter is called "The Branks", an even more
powerful symbol, for it is the Scottish, and only known,
apparatus for closing the mouth of a woman.
The chapter is formally an attack upon the parts of
speech, the interjection, the meaningless utterance of
ecstasy, being the only thing worth saying; yet even this
is to be regarded as a lapse.
"Aum" represents the entering into the silence, as
will observed upon pronouncing it.
[29]
10
{Kappa-epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota}
WINDLESTRAWS
The Abyss of Hallucinations has Law and Reason;
but in Truth there is no bond between the Toys of
the Gods.
This Reason and Law is the Bond of the Great Lie.
Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the Abyss
of Hallucinations.
There is no silence in that Abyss: for all that men
call Silence is Its Speech.
This Abyss is also called "Hell", and "The Many".
Its name is "Consciousness", and "The Universe",
among men.
But THAT which neither is silent, nor speaks, re-
joices therein.
[30]
COMMENTARY ({Iota})
There is no apparent connection between the number
of this chapter and its subject.
It does, however, refer to the key of the Tarot called
The Hermit, which represents him as cloaked.
Jod is the concealed Phallus as opposed to Tau, the
extended Phallus. This chapter should be studied in
the light of what is said in "Aha!" and in the Temple
of Solomon the King about the reason.
The universe is insane, the law of cause and effect
is an illusion, or so it appears in the Abyss, which is
thus identified with consciousness, the many, and both;
but within this is a secret unity which rejoices; this
unit being far beyond any conception.
[31]
11
{Kappa-epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Alpha}
THE GLOW-WORM
Concerning the Holy Three-in-Naught.
Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, are only to be under-
stood by the Master of the Temple.
They are above The Abyss, and contain all con-
tradiction in themselves.
Below them is a seeming duality of Chaos and
Babalon; these are called Father and Mother, but
it is not so. They are called Brother and Sister,
but it is not so. They are called Husband and
Wife, but it is not so.
The reflection of All is Pan: the Night of Pan is the
Annihilation of the All.
Cast down through The Abyss is the Light, the Rosy
Cross, the rapture of Union that destroys, that is
The Way. The Rosy Cross is the Ambassador of Pan.
How infinite is the distance form This to That! Yet
All is Here and Now. Nor is there any there or Then;
for all that is, what is it but a manifestation, that is,
a part, that is, a falsehood, of THAT which is not?
Yet THAT which is not neither is nor is not That
which is!
Identity is perfect; therefore the w of Identity is
but a lie. For there is no subject, and there is no
predicate; nor is there the contradictory of either
of these things.
Holy, Holy, Holy are these Truths that I utter,
knowing them to be but falsehoods, broken mirrors,
troubled waters; hide me, O our Lady, in Thy
Womb! for I may not endure the rapture.
In this utterance of falsehood upon falsehood, whose
contradictories are also false, it seems as if That
which I uttered not were true.
Blessed, unutterably blessed, is this last of the
illusions; let me play the man, and thrust it from
me! Amen.
[32]
COMMENTARY ({Iota Alpha})
"The Glow-Worm" may perhaps be translated as
"a little light in the darkness", though there may be a
subtle reference to the nature of that light.
Eleven is the great number of Magick, and this
chapter indicates a supreme magical method; but it is
really called eleven, because of Liber Legis, I, 60.
The first part of the chapter describes the universe
in its highest sense, down to Tiphareth; it is the new
and perfect cosmogony of Liber Legis.
Chaos and Babalon are Chokmah and Binah, but
they are really one; the essential unity of the supernal
Triad is here insisted upon.
Pan is a generic name, including this whole system
of its manifested side. Those which are above the Abyss
are therefore said to live in the Night of Pan; they are
only reached by the annihilation of the All.
Thus, the Master of the Temple lives in the Night of
Pan.
Now, below the Abyss, the manifested part of the
Master of the temple, also reaches Samadhi, as the
way of Annihilation.
Paragraph 7 begins by a reflection produced by the
preceding exposition. This reflection is immediately
contradicted, the author being a Master of the Temple.
He thereupon enters into his Samadhi, and he piles
contradiction upon contradiction, and thus a higher
degree of rapture, with ever sentence, until his armoury
is exhausted, and, with the word Amen, he enters the
supreme state.
[33]
12
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota Beta}
THE DRAGON-FLIES
IO is the cry of the lower as OI of the higher.
In figures they are 1001;(9) in letters they are Joy.(10)
For when all is equilibrated, when all is beheld from
without all, there is joy, joy, joy that is but one
facet of a diamond, every other facet whereof is
more joyful than joy itself.
[34]
COMMENTARY ({Iota Beta})
The Dragon-Flies were chosen as symbols of joy,
because of the author's observation as a naturalist.
Paragraph 1 mere repeats Chapter 4 in quintessence;
1001, being 11{Sigma} (1-13), is a symbol of the complete
unity manifested as the many, for {Sigma} (1-13) gives the
whole course of numbers from the simple unity of 1
to the complex unity of 13, impregnated by the magical
11.
I may add a further comment on the number 91.
13 (1 plus 3) is a higher form of 4. 4 is Amoun, the
God of generation, and 13 is 1, the Phallic unity.
Daleth is the Yoni. And 91 is AMN (Amen), a form
of the Phallus made complete through the intervention
of the Yoni. This again connects with the IO and OI
of paragraph 1, and of course IO is the rapture-cry of
the Greeks.
The whole chapter is, again, a comment on Liber
legis, 1, 28-30.
NOTES
(9) 1001 = 11{Sigma}. The Petals of the Sahas-
raracakkra.
(10) JOY = 101, the Egg of Spirit in equilibrium
between the Pillars of the Temple.
[35]
13
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda Iota-Gamma}
PILGRIM-TALK
O thou that settest out upon The Path, false is the
Phantom that thou seekest. When thou hast it
thou shalt know all bitterness, thy teeth fixed in
the Sodom-Apple.
Thus hast thou been lured along That Path, whose
terror else had driven thee far away.
O thou that stridest upon the middle of The Path, no
phantoms mock thee. For the stride's sake thou
stridest.
Thus art thou lured along That Path, whose fascina-
tion else had driven thee far away.
O thou that drawest toward the End of The Path,
effort is no more. Faster and faster dos thou fall;
thy weariness is changed into Ineffable Rest.
For there is not Thou upon That Path: thou hast
become The Way.
[36]
COMMENTARY ({Iota Gamma})
This chapter is perfectly clear to anyone who has
studied the career of an Adept.
The Sodom-Apple is an uneatable fruit found in the
desert.
[37]
14
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Delta}
ONION-PEELINGS
The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General
at the Expense of the Particular, quoth FRATER
PERDURABO, and laughed.
But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the
Universal Sorrow.
Those next to them laughed, seeing the Universal
Joke.
Below these certain disciples wept.
Then certain laughed.
Others next wept.
Others next laughed.
Next others wept.
Next others laughed.
Last came those that wept because they could not
see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they
should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought
it safe to act like FRATER PERDURABO.
But though FRATER PERDURABO laughed
openly, He also at the same time wept secretly;
and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept.
Nor did He mean what He said.
[38]
COMMENTARY ({Iota-Delta})
The title, "Onion-Peelings", refers to the well-known
incident in "Peer Gynt".
The chapter resembles strongly Dupin's account of
how he was able to win at the game of guessing odd or
even. (See Poe's tale of "The Purloined Letter".)
But this is a more serious piece of psychology. In one's
advance towards a comprehension of the universe, one
changes radically one's point of view; nearly always it
amounts to a reversal.
this is the cause of most religious controversies.
Paragraph 1, however, is Frater Perdurabo's formula-
tion of his perception of the Universal Joke, also
described in Chapter 34. All individual existence is
tragic. Perception of this fact is the essence of comedy.
"Household Gods" is an attempt to write pure comedy.
"The Bacchae" of Euripides is another.
At the end of the chapter it is, however, seen that to
the Master of the Temple the opposite perception occurs
simultaneously, and that he himself is beyond both of
these.
And in the last paragraph it is shown that he realises
the truth as beyond any statement of it.
[39]
15
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Epsilon}
THE GUN-BARREL
Mighty and erect is this Will of mine, this Pyramid
of fire whose summit is lost in Heaven. Upon it
have I burned the corpse of my desires.
Mighty and erect is this {Phi-alpha-lambda-lambda-omicron-sigma}
of my Will. The
seed thereof is That which I have borne within me
from Eternity; and it is lost within the Body of
Our Lady of the Stars.
I am not I; I am but an hollow tube to bring down
Fire from Heaven.
Mighty and marvellous is this Weakness, this
Heaven which draweth me into Her Womb, this
Dome which hideth, which absorbeth, Me.
This is The Night wherein I am lost, the Love
through which I am no longer I.
[40]
COMMENTARY ({Iota-Epsilon})
The card 15 in the Tarot is "The Devil", the
mediaeval blind for Pan.
The title of the chapter refers to the Phallus, which
is here identified with the will. The Greek word
{Pi-upsilon-rho-alpha-mu-iota-sigma}
has the same number as {Phi-alpha-lambda-lambda-omicron-sigma}.
This chapter is quite clear, but one my remark in
the last paragraph a reference to the nature of Samadhi.
As man loses his personality in physical love, so
does the magician annihilate his divine personality in
that which is beyond.
The formula of Samadhi is the same, from the
lowest to the highest. The Rosy-Cross is the Universal
Key. But, as one proceeds, the Cross becomes greater,
until it is the Ace, the Rose, until it is the Word.
[41]
16
{Kappa-Epsilon-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Sigma}
THE STAG-BEETLE
Death implies change and individuality if thou be
THAT which hath no person, which is beyond the
changing, even beyond changelessness, what hast
thou to do with death?
The bird of individuality is ecstasy; so also is its
death.
In love the individuality is slain; who loves not love?
Love death therefore, and long eagerly for it.
Die Daily.
[42]
COMMENTARY ({Iota-Sigma})
This seems a comment on the previous chapter; the
Stag-Beetle is a reference the Kheph-ra, the Egyptian
God of Midnight, who bears the Sun through the
Underworld; but it is called the Stag-Beetle to emphasise
his horns. Horns are the universal hieroglyph of energy,
particularly of Phallic energy.
The 16th key of the Tarot is "The Blasted Tower".
In this chapter death is regarded as a form of marriage.
Modern Greek peasants, in many cases, cling to Pagan
belief, and suppose that in death they are united to the
Deity which they have cultivated during life. This is "a
consummation devoutly to be wished" (Shakespeare).
In the last paragraph the Master urges his pupils to
practise Samadhi every day.
[43]
17
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Zeta}
THE SWAN(11)
There is a Swan whose name is Ecstasy: it wingeth
from the Deserts of the North;it wingeth through
the blue; it wingeth over the fields of rice; at its
coming they push forth the green.
In all the Universe this Swan alone is motionless; it
seems to move, as the Sun seems to move; such
is the weakness of our sight.
O fool! criest thou?
Amen. Motion is relative: there is Nothing that is
still.
Against this Swan I shot an arrow; the white breast
poured forth blood. Men smote me; then, per-
ceiving that I was but a Pure Fool, they let me
pass.
Thus and not otherwise I came to the Temple of the
Graal.
[44]
COMMENTARY ({Iota-Zeta})
This Swan is Aum. The chapter is inspired by
Frater P.'s memory of the wild swans he shot in the
Tali-Fu.
In paragraphs 3 and 4 it is, however, recognised that
even Aum is impermanent. There is no meaning in the
word, stillness, so long as motion exists.
In a boundless universe, one can always take any
one point, however mobile, and postulate it a a point
at rest, calculating the motions of all other points
relatively to it.
The penultimate paragraph shows the relations of
the Adept to mankind. Their hate and contempt are
necessary steps to his acquisition of sovereignty over
them.
The story of the Gospel, and that of Parsifal, will
occur to the mind.
NOTE
(11) This chapter must be read in connection with
Wagner's "Parsifal".
[45]
18
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Eta}
DEWDROPS
Verily, love is death, and death is life to come.
Man returneth not again; the stream floweth not
uphill; the old life is no more; there is a new life
that is not his.
Yet that life is of his very essence; it is more He
than all that he calls He.
In the silence of a dewdrop is every tendency of his
soul, and of his mind, and of his body; it is the
Quintessence and the Elixir of his being. Therein
are the forces that made him and his father and his
father's father before him.
This is the Dew of Immortality.
Let this go free, even as It will; thou art not its
master, but the vehicle of It.
[46]
COMMENTARY ({Iota-Eta})
The 18th key of the Tarot refers to the Moon, which
was supposed to shed dew. The appropriateness of the
chapter title is obvious.
The chapter must be read in connection with
Chapters 1 and 16.
I the penultimate paragraph, Vindu is identified
with Amrita, and in the last paragraph the disciple is
charged to let it have its own way. It has a will of its
own, which is more in accordance with the Cosmic Will,
than that of the man who is its guardian and servant.
[47]
19
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Iota-Theta}
THE LEOPARD AND THE DEER
The spots of the leopard are the sunlight in the
glade; pursue thou the deer stealthily at thy
pleasure.
The dappling of the deer is the sunlight in the glade;
concealed from the leopard do thou feed at thy
pleasure.
Resemble all that surroundeth thee; yet be Thyself
-and take thy pleasure among the living.
This is that which is written-Lurk!-in The Book
of The Law.
[48]
COMMENTARY ({Iota-Theta})
19 is the last Trump, "The Sun', which is the
representative of god in the Macrocosm, as the Phallus
is in the Microcosm.
There is a certain universality and adaptability
among its secret power. The chapter is taken from
Rudyard Kiplin's "Just So Stories".
The Master urges his disciples to a certain holy
stealth, a concealment of the real purpose of their lives;
in this way making the best of both worlds. This counsels
a course of action hardly distinguishable from hypocrisy;
but the distinction is obvious to any clear thinker,
though not altogether so the Frater P.
[49]
20
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa}
SAMSON
The Universe is in equilibrium; therefore He that is
without it, though his force be but a feather, can
overturn the Universe.
Be not caught within that web, O child of Freedom!
Be not entangled in the universal lie, O child of
Truth!
[50]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa})
Samson, the Hebrew Hercules, is said in the legend
to have pulled down the walls of a music-hall where he
was engaged, "to make sport for the Philistines",
destroying them and himself. Milton founds a poem on
this fable.
The first paragraph is a corollary of Newton's First
Law of Motion. The key to infinite power is to reach
the Bornless Beyond.
[51]
21
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Alpha}
THE BLIND WEBSTER
It is not necessary to understand; it is enough to
adore.
The god may be of clay: adore him; he becomes
GOD.
We ignore what created us; we adore what we create.
Let us create nothing but GOD!
That which causes us to create is our true father and
mother; we create in our own image, which is theirs.
Let us create therefore without fear; for we can
create nothing that is not GOD.
[52]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Alpha})
The 21st key of the Tarot is called "The Universe",
and refers to the letter Tau, the Phallus in manifesta-
tion; hence the title, "The Blind Webster".
The universe is conceived as Buddhists, on the one
hand, and Rationalists, on the other, would have us do;
fatal, and without intelligence. Even so, it may be
delightful to the creator.
The moral of this chapter is, therefore, and exposition
of the last paragraph of Chapter 18.
It is the critical spirit which is the Devil, and gives
rise to the appearance of evil.
[53]
22
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Beta}
THE DESPOT
The waiters of the best eating-houses mock the whole
world; they estimate every client at his proper
value.
This I know certainly, because they always treat me
with profound respect. Thus they have flattered
me into praising them thus publicly.
Yet it is true; and they have this insight because
they serve, and because they can have no personal
interest in the affairs of those whom they serve.
An absolute monarch would be absolutely wise and
good.
But no man is strong enough to have no interest.
Therefore the best king would be Pure Chance.
It is Pure Chance that rules the Universe; therefore,
and only therefore, life is good.
[54]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Beta})
Comment would only mar the supreme simplicity
of this chapter.
[55]
23
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Gamma}
SKIDOO
What man is at ease in his Inn?
Get out.
Wide is the world and cold.
Get out.
Thou hast become an in-itiate.
Get out.
But thou canst not get out by the way thou camest
in. The Way out is THE WAY.
Get out.
For OUT is Love and Wisdom and Power.(12)
Get OUT.
If thou hast T already, first get UT.(13)
Then get O.
And so at last get OUT.
[56]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Gamma})
Both "23" and "Skidoo" are American words
meaning "Get out". This chapter describes the Great
Work under the figure of a man ridding himself of all
his accidents.
He first leaves the life of comfort; then the world at
large; and, lastly, even the initiates.
In the fourth section is shown that there is no return
for one that has started on this path.
The word OUT is then analysed, and treated as a
noun.
Besides the explanation in the note, O is the Yoni;
T, the Lingam; and U, the Hierophant; the 5th card
of the Tarot, the Pentagram. It is thus practically
identical with IAO.
The rest of the chapter is clear, for the note.
NOTES
(12) O = {character?}, "The Devil of the Sabbath". U = 8,
the Hierophant or Redeemer. T = Strength, the Lion.
(13) T, manhood, the sign of the cross or phallus.
UT, the Holy Guardian Angel; UT, the first syllable
of Udgita, see the Upanishads. O, Nothing or Nuit.
[57]
24
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Delta}
THE HAWK AND THE BLINDWORM
This book would translate Beyond-Reason into the
words of Reason.
Explain thou snow to them of Andaman.
The slaves of reason call this book Abuse-of-
Language: they are right.
Language was made for men to eat and drink, make
love, do barter, die. The wealth of a language con-
sists in its Abstracts; the poorest tongues have
wealth of Concretes.
Therefore have Adepts praised silence; at least it
does not mislead as speech does.
Also, Speech is a symptom of Thought.
Yet, silence is but the negative side of Truth; the
positive side is beyond even silence.
Nevertheless, One True God crieth hriliu!
And the laughter of the Death-rattle is akin.
[58]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Delta})
The Hawk is the symbol of sight; the Blindworm, of
blindness. Those who are under the dominion of reason
are called blind.
In the last paragraph is reasserted the doctrine of
Chapters 1, 8, 16 and 18.
For the meaning of the word hriliu consult Liber 418.
[59]
25
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Epsilon}
THE STAR RUBY
Facing East, in the centre, draw deep deep deep thy
breath, closing thy mouth with thy right fore-
finger prest against thy lower lip. Then dashing
down the hand with a great sweep back and out,
expelling forcibly thy breath, cry: {Alpha-Pi-Omicron
Pi-Alpha-Nu-Tau-Omicron-C? Kappa-Alpha-Kappa-Omicron-Delta-
Alpha-Iota-Mu-Omicron-Nu-Omicron-C?}.
With the same forefinger touch thy forehead, and
say {C?-Omicron-Iota}, thy member, and say {Omega-Phi-Alpha-
Lambda-Lambda-Epsilon},(14) thy
right shoulder, and say {Iota-C?-Chi-Upsilon-Rho-Omicron-C?},
thy left
shoulder, and say {Epsilon-Upsilon-Chi-Alpha-Rho-Iota-C?-
Tau-Omicron-C?}; then clasp
thine hands, locking the fingers, and cry {Iota-Alpha-Omega}.
Advance to the East. Imagine strongly a Pentagram.
aright, in thy forehead. Drawing the hands to the
eyes, fling it forth, making the sign of Horus, and
roar {Chi-Alpha-Omicron-C?}. Retire thine hand in the sign of Hoor
pa kraat.
Go round to the North and repeat; but scream
{Beta-Alpha-Beta-Alpha-Lambda-Omicron-Nu}.
Go round to the West and repeat; but say {Epsilon-Rho-Omega-C?}.
Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow
{Psi-Upsilon-Chi-Eta}.
Completing the circle widdershins, retire to the
centre, and raise thy voice in the Paian, with these
words {Iota-Omicron Pi-Alpha-Nu} with the signs of N.O.X.
Extend the arms in the form of a Tau, and say low
but clear: {Pi-Rho-Omicron Mu-Omicron-Upsilon Iota-Upsilon-
Gamma-Gamma-Epsilon-C? Omicron-Pi-Iota-C?-Omega Mu-Omicron-
Upsilon Tau-Epsilon-Lambda-Epsilon-Tau-Alpha-Rho-Chi-Alpha-
Iota Epsilon-Pi-Iota Delta-Epsilon-Xi-Iota-Alpha C?-Upsilon-
Nu-Omicron-Chi-Epsilon-C? Epsilon-Pi-Alpha-Rho-Iota-C?-Tau-
Epsilon-Rho-Alpha Delta-Alpha-Iota-Mu-Omicron-Nu-Epsilon-
C? Phi-Lambda-Epsilon-Gamma-Epsilon-Iota Gamma-Alpha-Rho
Pi-Epsilon-Rho-Iota Mu-Omicron-Upsilon Omicron Alpha-C?-
Tau-Eta-Rho Tau-Omega-Nu Pi-Epsilon-Nu-Tau-Epsilon Kappa-
Alpha-Iota Epsilon-Nu Tau-Eta-Iota C?-Tau-Eta-Lambda-Eta-
Iota Omicron Alpha-C?-Tau-Eta-Rho Tau-Omega-Nu Epsilon-Xi
Epsilon-C?-Tau-Eta-Kappa-Epsilon.
Repeat the Cross Qabalistic, as above, and end as
thou didst begin.
[60]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Epsilon})
25 is the square of 5, and the Pentagram has the
red colour of Geburah.
The chapter is a new and more elaborate version of
the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
It would be improper to comment further upon an
official ritual of the A.'.A.'.
NOTE
(14) The secret sense of these words is to be sought in
the numberation thereof.
[61]
26
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Digamma}
THE ELEPHANT AND THE TORTOISE
The Absolute and the Conditioned together make
The One Absolute.
The Second, who is the Fourth, the Demiurge, whom
all nations of Men call The First, is a lie grafted
upon a lie, a lie multiplied by a lie.
Fourfold is He, the Elephant upon whom the
Universe is poised: but the carapace of the
Tortoise supports and covers all.
This Tortoise is sixfold, the Holy Hexagram.(15)
These six and four are ten, 10, the One manifested
that returns into the Naught unmanifest.
The All-Mighty, the All-Ruler, the All-Knower, the
All-Father, adored by all men and by me
abhorred, be thou accursed, be thou abolished, be
thou annihilated, Amen!
[62]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Digamma})
The title of the chapter refers to the Hindu legend.
The first paragraph should be read in connection
with our previous remarks upon the number 91.
The number of the chapter, 26, is that of Tetra-
grammaton, the manifest creator, Jehovah.
He is called the Second in relation to that which is
above the Abyss, comprehended under the title of the
First.
But the vulgarians conceive of nothing beyond the
creator, and therefore call him The First.
He is really the Fourth, being in Chesed, and of
course his nature is fourfold. This Four is conceived
of as the Dyad multiplied by the Dyad; falsehood con-
firming falsehood.
Paragraph 3 introduces a new conception; that of
the square within the hexagram, the universe enclosed
in the law of Lingam-Yoni.
The penultimate paragraph shows the redemption of
the universe by this law.
The figure 10, like the work IO, again suggest
Lingam-Yoni, besides the exclamation given in the
text.
The last paragraph curses the universe thus un-
redeemed.
The eleven initial A's in the last sentence are Magick
Pentagrams, emphasising this curse.
NOTE
(15) In nature the Tortoise has 6 members at angels
of 60 Degrees.
[63]
27
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Zeta}
THE SORCERER
A Sorcerer by the power of his magick had subdued
all things to himself.
Would he travel? He could fly through space more
swiftly than the stars.
Would he eat, drink, and take his pleasure? there
was none that did not instantly obey his bidding.
In the whole system of ten million times ten million
spheres upon the two and twenty million planes he
had his desire.
And with all this he was but himself.
Alas!
[64]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Zeta})
This chapter gives the reverse of the medal; it is the
contrast to Chapter 15.
The Sorcerer is to be identified with The Brother of
the Left Hand Path.
[65]
28
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Eta}
THE POLE-STAR
Love is all virtue, since the pleasure of love is but
love, and the pain of love is but love.
Love taketh no heed of that which is not and of that
which is.
Absence exalteth love, and presence exalteth love.
Love moveth ever from height to height of ecstasy
and faileth never.
The wings of love droop not with time, nor slacken
for life or for death.
Love destroyeth self, uniting self with that which is
not-self, so that Love breedeth All and None in
One.
Is it not so?...No?...
Then thou art not lost in love; speak not of love.
Love Alway Yieldeth: Love Alway Hardeneth.
..........May be: I write it but to write Her name.
[66]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Eta})
This now introduces the principal character of this
book, Laylah, who is the ultimate feminine symbol, to
be interpreted on all planes.
But in this chapter, little hint is given of anything
beyond physical love. It is called the Pole-Star, because
Laylah is the one object of devotion to which the author
ever turns.
Note the introduction of the name of the Beloved in
acrostic in line 15.
[67]
29
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Kappa-Theta}
THE SOUTHERN CROSS
Love, I love you! Night, night, cover us! Thou art
night, O my love; and there are no stars but thine
eyes.
Dark night, sweet night, so warm and yet so fresh,
so scented yet so holy, cover me, cover me!
Let me be no more! Let me be Thine; let me be
Thou; let me be neither Thou nor I; let there be
love in night and night in love.
N.O.X. the night of Pan; and Laylah, the night
before His threshold!
[68]
COMMENTARY ({Kappa-Theta})
Chapter 29 continues Chapter 28.
Note that the word Laylah is the Arabic for "Night".
The author begins to identify the Beloved with the
N.O.X. previously spoken of.
the chapter is called "The Southern Cross", because,
on the physical plane, Laylah is an Australian.
[69]
30
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda}
JOHN-A-DREAMS
Dreams are imperfections of sleep; even so is con-
sciousness the imperfection of waking.
Dreams are impurities in the circulation of the blood;
even so is consciousness a disorder of life.
Dreams are without proportion, without good
sense, without truth; so also is consciousness.
Awake from dream, the truth is known:(16) awake
from waking, the Truth is-The Unknown.
[70]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda})
This chapter is to read in connection with Chapter 8,
and also with those previous chapters in which the
reason is attacked.
The allusion in the title is obvious.
This sum in proportion, dream: waking: : waking:
Samadhi is a favourite analogy with Frater P.,
who frequently employs it in his holy discourse.
NOTE
(16) I.e. the truth that he hath slept.
[71]
31
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Alpha}
THE GAROTTE
IT moves from motion into rest, and rests from rest
into motion. These IT does alway, for time is not.
So that IT does neither of these things. IT does
THAT one thing which we must express by two
things neither of which possesses any rational
meaning.
Yet ITS doing, which is no-doing, is simple and yet
complex, is neither free nor necessary.
For all these ideas express Relation; and IT, com-
prehending all Relation in ITS simplicity, is out of
all Relation even with ITSELF.
All this is true and false; and it is true and false to
say that it is true and false.
Strain forth thine Intelligence, O man, O worthy
one, O chosen of IT, to apprehend the discourse
of THE MASTER; for thus thy reason shall at
last break down, as the fetter is struck from a
slave's throat.
[72]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Alpha})
The number 31 refers to the Hebrew word LA, which
means "not".
A new character is now introduce under the title of
IT, I being the secret, and T being the manifested,
phallus.
This is, however, only one aspect of IT, which may
perhaps be defined as the Ultimate Reality.
IT is apparently a more exalted thing than THAT.
This chapter should be compared with Chapter 11;
that method of destroying the reason by formulating
contradictions is definitely inculcated.
The reason is situated in Daath, which corresponds
the the throat in human anatomy. Hence the title of the
chapter, "The Garotte".
The idea is that, by forcing the mind to follow, and
as far as possible to realise, the language of Beyond
the Abyss, the student will succeed in bringing his
reason under control.
As soon as the reason is vanquished, the garotte is
removed; then the influence of the supernals (Kether,
Chokmah, Binah), no longer inhibited by Daath, can
descend upon Tiphareth, where the human will is
situated, and flood it with the ineffable light.
[73]
32
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Beta}
THE MOUNTAINEER
Consciousness is a symptom of disease.
All that moves well moves without will.
All skillfulness, all strain, all intention is contrary to
ease.
Practise a thousand times, and it becomes difficult;
a thousand thousand, and it becomes easy; a
thousand thousand times a thousand thousand,
and it is no longer Thou that doeth it, but It that
doeth itself through thee. Not until then is that
which is done well done.
Thus spoke FRATER PERDURABO as he leapt
from rock to rock of the moraine without ever
casting his eyes upon the ground.
[74]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Beta})
This title is a mere reference to the metaphor of the
last paragraph of the chapter.
Frater P., as is well known, is a mountaineer.
This chapter should be read in conjunction with
Chapters 8 and 30.
It is a practical instruction, the gist of which is
easily to be apprehended by comparatively short practice
of Mantra-Yoga.
A mantra is not being properly said as long as the
man knows he is saying it. The same applies to all other
forms of Magick.
[75]
33
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Gamma}
BAPHOMET
A black two-headed Eagle is GOD; even a Black
Triangle is He. In His claws He beareth a sword;
yea, a sharp sword is held therein.
This Eagle is burnt up in the Great Fire; yet not a
feather is scorched. This Eagle is swallowed up
in the Great Sea; yet not a feather is wetted. so
flieth He in the air, and lighteth upon the earth at
His pleasure.
So spake IACOBUS BURGUNDUS MOLENSIS(17)
the Grand Master of the Temple; and of the GOD
that is Ass-headed did he dare not speak.
[76]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Gamma})
33 is the number of the Last Degree of Masonry,
which was conferred upon Frater P. in the year 1900
of the vulgar era by Don Jesus de Medina-Sidonia in
the City of Mexico.
Baphomet is the mysterious name of the God of the
Templars.
The Eagle described in paragraph 1 is that of the
Templars.
This Masonic symbol is, however, identified by
Frater P. with a bird, which is master of the four
elements, and therefore of the name Tetragrammaton.
Jacobus Burgundus Molensis suffered martyrdom
in the City of Paris in the year 1314 of the vulgar era.
The secrets of his order were, however, not lost, and
are still being communicated to the worthy by his
successors, as is intimated by the last paragraph, which
implies knowledge of a secret worship, of which the
Grand Master did not speak.
The Eagle may be identified, though not too closely,
with the Hawk previously spoken of.
It is perhaps the Sun, the exoteric object of worship
of all sensible cults; it is not to be confused with other
objects of the mystic aviary, such as the swan, phoenix,
pelican, dove and so on.
NOTE
(17) His initials I.B.M. are the initials of the Three
Pillars of the Temple, and add to 52, 13x4, BN, the
Son.
[77]
34
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Delta}
THE SMOKING DOG(18)
Each act of man is the twist and double of an hare.
Love and death are the greyhounds that course him.
God bred the hounds and taketh His pleasure in the
sport.
This is the Comedy of Pan, that man should think
he hunteth, while those hounds hunt him.
This is the Tragedy of Man when facing Love and
Death he turns to bay. He is no more hare, but
boar.
There are no other comedies or tragedies.
Cease then to be the mockery of God; in savagery of
love and death live thou and die!
Thus shall His laughter be thrilled through with
Ecstasy.
[78]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Delta})
The title is explained in the note.
The chapter needs no explanation; it is a definite
point of view of life, and recommends a course of action
calculated to rob the creator of his cruel sport.
NOTE
(18) This chapter was written to clarify {Chi-epsilon-psi-
iota-delta} of
which it was the origin. FRATER PERDURABO
perceived this truth, or rather the first half of it, comedy,
at breakfast at "Au Chien qui Fume".
[79]
35
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Epsilon}
VENUS OF MILO
Life is as ugly and necessary as the female body.
Death is as beautiful and necessary as the male
body.
The soul is beyond male and female as it is beyond
Life and Death.
Even as the Lingam and the Yoni are but diverse
developments of One Organ, so also are Life and
Death but two phases of One State. So also the
Absolute and the Conditioned are but forms of
THAT.
What do I love? There is no from, no being, to which
I do not give myself wholly up.
Take me, who will!
[80]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Epsilon})
This chapter must be read in connection with
Chapters 1, 3, 4, 8, 15, 16, 18, 24, 28, 29.
The last sentence of paragraph 4 also connects with
the first paragraph of Chapter 26.
The title "Venus of Milo" is an argument in support
of paragraphs 1 and 2, it being evident from this
statement that the female body becomes beautiful in so
far as it approximates to the male.
The female is to be regarded as having been separated
from the male, in order to reproduce the male in a
superior form, the absolute, and the conditions forming
the one absolute.
In the last two paragraphs there is a justification of
a practice which might be called sacred prostitution.
In the common practice of meditation the idea is to
reject all impressions, but here is an opposite practice,
very much more difficult, in which all are accepted.
This cannot be done at all unless one is capable of
making Dhyana at least on any conceivable thing, at
a second's notice; otherwise, the practice would only
be ordinary mind-wandering.
[81]
36
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Sigma}
THE STAR SAPPHIRE
Let the Adept be armed with his Magick Rood [and
provided with his Mystic Rose].
In the centre, let him give the L.V.X. signs; or if
he know them, if he will and dare do them, and
can keep silent about them, the signs of N.O.X.
being the signs of Puer, Vir, Puella, Mulier. Omit
the sign I.R.
Then let him advance to the East, and make the
Holy Hexagram, saying: PATER ET MATER
UNIS DEUS ARARITA.
Let him go round to the South, make the Holy
Hexagram, and say: MATER ET FILIUS UNUS
DEUS ARARITA.
Let him go round to the West, make the Holy
Hexagram, and say: FILIUS ET FILIA UNUS
DEUS ARARITA.
Let him go round to the North, make the Holy
Hexagram, and then say: FILIA ET PATER
UNUS DEUS ARARITA.
Let him then return to the Centre, and so to The
Centre of All [making the ROSY CROSS as he
may know how] saying: ARARITA ARARITA
ARARITA.
In this the Signs shall be those of Set Triumphant
and of Baphomet. Also shall Set appear in the
Circle. Let him drink of the Sacrament and let him
communicate the same.]
Then let him say: OMNIA IN DUOS: DUO IN
UNUM: UNUS IN NIHIL: HAE NEC
QUATUOR NEC OMNIA NEC DUO NEC
UNUS NEC NIHIL SUNT.
GLORIA PATRI ET MATRI ET FILIO ET
[82]
FILIAE ET SPIRITUI SANCTO EXTERNO
ET SPIRITUI SANCTO INTERNO UT ERAT
EST ERIT IN SAECULA SAECULORUM SEX
IN UNO PER NOMEN SEPTEM IN UNO
ARARITA.
Let him then repeat the signs of L.V.X. but not the
signs of N.O.X.; for it is not he that shall arise in
the Sign of Isis Rejoicing.
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Sigma})
The Star Sapphire corresponds with the Star-Ruby
of Chapter 25; 36 being the square of 6, as 25 is of %.
This chapter gives the real and perfect Ritual of the
Hexagram.
It would be improper to comment further upon an
official ritual of the A.'.A.'.
[83]
37
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Zeta}
DRAGONS
Thought is the shadow of the eclipse of Luna.
Samadhi is the shadow of the eclipse of Sol.
The moon and the earth are the non-ego and the
ego: the Sun is THAT.
Both eclipses are darkness; both are exceeding rare;
the Universe itself is Light.
[84]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Zeta})
Dragons are in the East supposed to cause eclipses
by devouring the luminaries.
There may be some significance in the chapter
number, which is that of Jechidah the highest unity of
the soul.
In this chapter, the idea is given that all limitation
and evil is an exceedingly rare accident; there can be
no night in the whole of the Solar System, except in rare
spots, where the shadow of a planet is cast by itself.
It is a serious misfortune that we happen to live in a
tiny corner of the system, where the darkness reaches such
a high figure as 50 per cent.
The same is true of moral and spiritual conditions.
[85]
38
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Eta}
LAMBSKIN
Cowan, skidoo!
Tyle!
Swear to hele all.
This is the mystery.
Life!
Mind is the traitor.
Slay mind.
Let the corpse of mind lie unburied on the edge of
the Great Sea!
Death!
This is the mystery.
Tyle!
Cowan, skidoo!
[86]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Eta})
This chapter will be readily intelligible to E.A.
Freemasons, and it cannot be explained to others.
[87]
39
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Lambda-Theta}
THE LOOBY
Only loobies find excellence in these words.
It is thinkable that A is not-A; to reverse this is but
to revert to the normal.
Yet by forcing the brain to accept propositions of
which one set is absurdity, the other truism, a
new function of brain is established.
Vague and mysterious and all indefinite are the
contents of this new consciousness; yet they are
somehow vital. by use they become luminous.
Unreason becomes Experience.
This lifts the leaden-footed soul to the Experience
of THAT of which Reason is the blasphemy.
But without the Experience these words are the
Lies of a Looby.
Yet a Looby to thee, and a Booby to me, a Balassius
Ruby to GOD, may be!
[88]
COMMENTARY ({Lambda-Theta})
The word Looby occurs in folklore, and was supposed
to be the author, at the time of writing this book, which
he did when he was far from any standard works of
reference, to connote partly "booby", partly "lout".
It would thus be a similar word to "Parsifal".
Paragraphs 2-6 explain the method that was given
in Chapters 11 and 31. This method, however, occurs
throughout the book on numerous occasions, and even
in the chapter itself it is employed in the last paragraphs.
[89]
40
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu}
THE HIMOG(19)
A red rose absorbs all colours but red; red is therefore
the one colour that it is not.
This Law, Reason, Time, Space, all Limitation blinds
us to the Truth.
All that we know of Man, Nature, God, is just that
which they are not; it is that which they throw off
as repungnant.
The HIMOG is only visible in so far as He is imperfect.
Then are they all glorious who seem not to be glorious,
as the HIMOG is All-glorious Within?
It may be so.
How then distinguish the inglorious and perfect
HIMOG from the inglorious man of earth?
Distinguish not!
But thyself Ex-tinguish: HIMOG art thou, and
HIMOG shalt thou be.
[90]
COMMENTARY ({MU})
Paragraph 1 is, of course, a well-known scientific
fact.
In paragraph 2 it is suggested analogically that all
thinkable things are similarly blinds for the Unthinkable
Reality.
Classing in this manner all things as illusions, the
question arises as to the distinguishing between illusions;
how are we to tell whether a Holy Illuminated Man of
God is really so, since we can see nothing of him but
his imperfections. :It may be yonder beggar is a King."
But these considerations are not to trouble such mind
as the Chela may possess; let him occupy himself,
rather, with the task of getting rid of his personality;
this, and not criticism of his holy Guru, should be the
occupation of his days and nights.
NOTE
(19) HIMOG is a Notariqon of the words Holy
Illuminated Man of God.
[91]
41
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Alpha}
CORN BEEF HASH(20)
In V.V.V.V.V. is the Great Work perfect.
Therefore none is that pertaineth not to V.V.V.V.V.
In any may he manifest; yet in one hath he chosen
to manifest; and this one hath given His ring as a
Seal of Authority to the Work of the A.'.A.'.
through the colleagues of FRATER PER-
DURABO.
But this concerns themselves and their administra-
tion; it concerneth none below the grade of
Exempt Adept, and such an one only by com-
mand.
Also, since below the Abyss Reason is Lord, let men
seek by experiment, and not by Questionings.
[92]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Alpha})
the title is only partially explained i the note; it
means that the statements in this chapter are to be
understood in the most ordinary and commonplace
way, without any mystical sense.
V.V.V.V.V. is the motto of a Master of the Temple
(or so much He disclosed to the Exempt Adepts),
referred to in Liber LXI. It is he who is responsible
for the whole of the development of the A,'.A.'. move-
ment which has been associated with the publication of
THE EQUINOX; and His utterance is enshrined in
the sacred writings.
It is useless to enquire into His nature; to do so leads
to certain disaster. Authority from him is exhibited,
when necessary, to the proper persons, though in no
case to anyone below the grade of Exempt Adept. The
person enquiring into such matters is politely requested
to work, and not to ask questions about matters which
in no way concern him.
The number 41 is that of the Barren Mother.
NOTE
(20) I.e. food suitable for Americans.
[93]
42
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Beta}
DUST-DEVILS
In the wind of the mind arises the turbulence
called I.
It breaks; down shower the barren thoughts.
All life is choked.
This desert is the Abyss wherein the Universe.
The Stars are but thistles in that waste.
Yet this desert is but one spot accursed in a world of
bliss.
Now and again Travellers cross the desert; they come
from the Great Sea, and to the Great Sea they go.
As they go they spill water; one day they will irrigate
the desert, till it flower.
See! five footprints of a Camel! V.V.V.V.V.
[94]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Beta})
This number 42 is the Great Number of the Curse. See Liber
418, Liber 500, and the essay on the Qabalah in the Temple of
Solomon the King. This number is said to be all hotch-potch and
accursed.
The chapter should be read most carefully in connection with
the 10th Aethyr. It is to that dramatic experience that it refers.
The mind is called "wind", because of its nature; as has been
frequently explained, the ideas and words are identical.
In this free-flowing, centreless material arises an eddy; a
spiral close-coiled upon itself.
The theory of the formation of the Ego is that of the Hindus,
whose Ahamkara is itself a function of the mind, whose ego it
creates. This Ego is entirely divine.
Zoroaster describes God as having the head of the Hawk, and
a spiral force. It will be difficult to understand this chapter with-
out some experience in the transvaluation of values, which occurs
throughout the whole of this book, in nearly every other sentence.
Transvaluation of values is only the moral aspect of the method
of contradiction.
The word "turbulence" is applied to the Ego to suggest the
French "tourbillion", whirlwind, the false Ego or dust-devil.
True life, the life, which has no consciousness of "I", is said to
be choked by this false ego, or rather by the thoughts which its
explosions produce. In paragraph 4 this is expanded to a
macrocosmic plane.
The Masters of the Temple are now introduced; they are
inhabitants, not of this desert; their abode is not this universe.
They come from the Great Sea, Binah, the City of the Pyramids.
V.V.V.V.V. is indicated as one of these travellers; He is
described as a camel, not because of the connotation of the French
form of this word, but because "camel" is in hebrew Gimel, and
Gimel is the path leading from Tiphareth to Kether, uniting
Microprosopus and Macroprosopus, i.e. performing the Great
Work.
The card Gimel in the Tarot is the High Priestess, the Lady of
Initiation; one might even say, the Holy Guardian Angel.
[95]
43
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Gamma}
MULBERRY TOPS
Black blood upon the altar! and the rustle of angel
wings above!
Black blood of the sweet fruit, the bruised, the
violated bloom-that setteth The Wheel a-spinning
in the spire.
Death is the veil of Life, and Life of Death; for both
are Gods.
This is that which is written: "A feast for Life, and
a greater feast for Death!" in THE BOOK OF
THE LAW.
The blood is the life of the individual: offer then
blood!
[96]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Gamma})
The title of this chapter refers to a Hebrew legend,
that of the prophet who heard "a going in the mulberry
tops"; and to Browning's phrase, "a bruised, black-
blooded mulberry".
In the World's Tragedy, Household Gods, The
Scorpion, and also The God-Eater, the reader may
study the efficacy of rape, and the sacrifice of blood, as
magical formulae. Blood and virginity have always
been the most acceptable offerings to all the gods, but
especially the Christian God.
In the last paragraph, the reason of this is explained;
it is because such sacrifices come under the Great Law
of the Rosy Cross, the giving-up of the individuality,
as has been explained as nauseam in previous chapters.
We shall frequently recur to this subject.
By "the wheel spinning in the spire" is meant the
manifestation of magical force, the spermatozoon in the
conical phallus. For wheels, see Chapter 78.
[97]
44
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Delta}
THE MASS OF THE PHOENIX
The Magician, his breast bare, stands before an altar
on which are his Burin, Bell, Thurible, and two
of the Cakes of Light. In the Sign of the Enterer he
reaches West across the Altar, and cries:
Hail Ra, that goest in Thy bark
Into the Caverns of the DarK!
He gives the sign of Silence, and takes the Bell, and
Fire, in his hands.
East of the Altar see me stand
With Light and Musick in mine hand!
He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell 3 3 3-5 5 5 5 5-
3 3 3 and places the Fire in the Thurible.
I strike the Bell: I light the flame:
I utter the mysterious Name.
ABRAHADABRA
He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell.
Now I begin to pray: Thou Child,
holy Thy name and undefiled!
Thy reign is come: Thy will is done.
Here is the Bread; here is the Blood.
Bring me through midnight to the Sun!
Save me from Evil and from Good!
That Thy one crown of all the Ten.
Even now and here be mine. AMEN.
He puts the first Cake on the Fire of the Thurible.
I burn the Incense-cake, proclaim
These adorations of Thy name.
He makes them as in Liber Legis, and strikes again
Eleven times upon the Bell. With the Burin he then
makes upon his breast the proper sign.
[98]
Behold this bleeding breast of mine
Gashed with the sacramental sign!
He puts the second Cake to the wound.
I stanch the blood; the wager soaks
It up, and the high priest invokes!
He eats the second Cake.
This Bread I eat. This Oath I swear
As I enflame myself with prayer:
"There is no grace: there is no guilt:
This is the Law: DO WHAT THOU WILT!"
He strikes Eleven times upon the Bell, and cries
ABRAHADABRA.
I entered in with woe; with mirth
I now go forth, and with thanksgiving,
To do my pleasure on the earth
Among the legions of the living.
He goeth forth.
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Delta})
This is the special number of Horus; it is the Hebrew
blood, and the multiplication of the 4 by the 11, the
number of Magick, explains 4 in its finest sense. But
see in particular the accounts in Equinox I, vii of the
circumstances of the Equinox of the Gods.
The word "Phoenix" may be taken as including the
idea of "Pelican", the bird, which is fabled to feeds its
young from the blood of its own breast. Yet the two
ideas, though cognate, are not identical, and "Phoenix"
is the more accurate symbol.
This chapter is explained in Chapter 62.
It would be improper to comment further upon a
ritual which has been accepted as official by the
A.'.A.'.
[99]
45
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Epsilon}
CHINESE MUSIC
"Explain this happening!"
"It must have a `natural' cause." \
"It must have a `supernatural' cause." / Let
these two asses be set to grind corn.
May, might, must, should, probably, may be, we
may safely assume, ought, it is hardly question-
able, almost certainly-poor hacks! let them be
turned out to grass!
Proof is only possible in mathematics, and mathe-
matics is only a matter of arbitrary conventions.
And yet doubt is a good servant but a bad master; a
perfect mistress, but a nagging wife.
"White is white" is the lash of the overseer: "white
is black" is the watchword of the slave. The Master
takes no heed.
The Chinese cannot help thinking that the octave has
5 notes.
The more necessary anything appears to my mind,
the more certain it is that I only assert a limitation.
I slept with Faith, and found a corpse in my arms on
awaking; I drank and danced all night with Doubt,
and found her a virgin in the morning.
[100]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Epsilon})
The title of this chapter is drawn from paragraph 7.
We now, for the first time, attack the question of
doubt.
"Th Soldier and the Hunchback" should be care-
fully studied in this connection. The attitude recom-
mended is scepticism, but a scepticism under control.
Doubt inhibits action, as much as faith binds it. All
the best Popes have been Atheists, but perhaps the
greatest of them once remarked, "Quantum nobis
prodest haec fabula Christi".
The ruler asserts facts as they are; the slave has there-
fore no option but to deny them passionately, in order
to express his discontent. Hence such absurdities as
"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite", "In God we trust", and
the like. Similarly we find people asserting today that
woman is superior to man, and that all men are born
equal.
The Master (in technical language, the Magus) does
not concern himself with facts; he does not care whether
a thing is true or not: he uses truth and falsehood in-
discriminately, to serve his ends. Slaves consider him
immoral, an preach against him in Hyde Park.
In paragraphs 7 and 8 we find a most important
statement, a practical aspect of the fact that all truth
is relative, and in the last paragraph we see how
scepticism keeps the mind fresh, whereas faith dies in
the very sleep that it induces.
[101]
46
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Digamma}
BUTTONS AND ROSETTES
The cause of sorrow is the desire of the One to the
Many, or of the Many to the One. This also is the
cause of joy.
But the desire of one to another is all of sorrow; its
birth is hunger, and its death satiety.
The desire of the moth for the star at least saves him
satiety.
Hunger thou, O man, for the infinite: be insatiable
even for the finite; thus at The End shalt thou
devour the finite, and become the infinite.
Be thou more greedy that the shark, more full of
yearning than the wind among the pines.
The weary pilgrim struggles on; the satiated pilgrim
stops.
The road winds uphill: all law, all nature must be
overcome.
Do this by virtue of THAT in thyself before which
law and nature are but shadows.
[102]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Digamma})
The title of this chapter is best explained by a refer-
ence to Mistinguette and Mayol.
It would be hard to decide, and it is fortunately un-
necessary even to discuss, whether the distinction of
their art is the cause, result, or concomitant of their
private peculiarities.
The fact remains that in vice, as in everything else,
some things satiate, others refresh. Any game in which
perfection is easily attained soon ceases to amuse,
although in the beginning its fascination is so violent.
Witness the tremendous, but transitory, vogue of
ping-pong and diabolo. Those games in which per-
fection is impossible never cease to attract.
The lesson of the chapter is thus always to rise
hungry from a meal, always to violate on's own nature.
Keep on acquiring a taste for what is naturally
repugnant; this is an unfailing source of pleasure, and
it has a real further advantage, in destroying the
Sankharas, which, however "good" in themselves,
relatively to other Sankharas, are yet barriers upon the
Path; they are modifications of the Ego, and therefore
those things which bar it from the absolute.
[103]
47
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Zeta}
WINDMILL-WORDS
Asana gets rid of Anatomy-con- \
sciousness. | Involuntary
Pranayama gets rid of Physiology- | "Breaks"
consciousness. /
Yama and Niyama get rid of \ Voluntary
Ethical consciousness. / "Breaks"
Pratyhara gets rid of the Objective.
Dharana gets rid of the Subjective.
Dhyana gets rid of the Ego.
Samadhi gets rid of the Soul Impersonal.
Asana destroys the static body (Nama).
Pranayama destroys the dynamic body (Rupa).
Yama destroys the emotions. \ (Vedana).
Niyama destroys the passions. /
Dharana destroys the perceptions (Sanna).
Dhyana destroys the tendencies (Sankhara).
Samadhi destroys the consciousness (Vinnanam).
Homard a la Thermidor destroys the digestion.
The last of these facts is the one of which I am most
certain.
[104]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Zeta})
The allusion in the title is not quite clear, though it
may be connected with the penultimate paragraph.
The chapter consists of two points of view from which
to regard Yoga, two odes upon a distant prospect of the
Temple of Madura, two Elegies on a mat of Kusha-
grass.
The penultimate paragraph is introduced by way of
repose. Cynicism is a great cure for over-study.
There is a great deal of cynicism in this book, in one
place and another. It should be regarded as Angostura
Bitters, to brighten the flavour of a discourse which
were else too sweet. It prevents one from slopping over
into sentimentality.
[105]
48
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Eta}
MOME RATHS(22)
The early bird catches the worm and the twelve-
year-old prostitute attracts the ambassador.
Neglect not the dawn-meditation!
The first plovers' eggs fetch the highest prices; the
flower of virginity is esteemed by the pandar.
Neglect not the dawn-meditation!
early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise:
But late to watch and early to pray
Brings him across The Abyss, they say.
Neglect not the dawn-meditation!
[106]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-Eta})
This chapter is perfectly simple, and needs no
comment whatsoever.
NOTE
(22) "The mome raths outgrabe"-Lewis Carroll.
But "mome" is Parisian slang for a young girl,
and "rathe" O.E. for early. "The rathe primrose"-
Milton.
[107]
49
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Mu-Theta}
WARATAH-BLOSSOMS
Seven are the veils of the dancing-girl in the harem
of IT.
Seven are the names, and seven are the lamps beside
Her bed.
Seven eunuchs guard Her with drawn swords; No
Man may come nigh unto Her.
In Her wine-cup are seven streams of the blood of
the Seven Spirits of God.
Seven are the heads of THE BEAST whereon She
rideth.
The head of an Angel: the head of a Saint: the head
of a Poet: the head of An Adulterous Woman: the
head of a Man of Valour: the head of a Satyr:
and the head of a Lion-Serpent.
Seven letters hath Her holiest name; and it is
A B
77
B A (Drawn upon this page is the
77 77 Sigil of BABALON.)
N L
7
O
This is the Seal upon the Ring that is on the Fore-
finger of IT: and it is the Seal upon the Tombs of
them whom She hath slain.
Here is Wisdom. Let Him that hath Understanding
count the Number of Our Lady; for it is the
Number of a Woman; and Her Number is
An Hundred and Fifty and Six.
[108]
COMMENTARY ({Mu-theta})
49 is the square of 7.
7 is the passive and feminine number.
The chapter should be read in connection with Chapter 31
for IT now reappears.
The chapter heading, the Waratah, is a voluptuous scarlet
flower, common in Australia, and this connects the chapter
with Chapters 28 and 29; but this is only an allusion, for
the subject of the chapter is OUR LADY BABALON,
who is conceived as the feminine counterpart of IT.
This does not agree very well with the common or orthodox
theogony of Chapter 11; but it is to be explained by the
dithyrambic nature of the chapter.
In paragraph 3 NO MAN is of course NEMO, the
Master of the Temple, Liber 418 will explain most of the
allusions in this chapter.
In paragraphs 5 and 6 the author frankly identifies him-
self with the BEAST referred to in the book, and in the
Apocalypse, and in LIBER LEGIS. In paragraph 6 the
word "angel" may refer to his mission, and the word
"lion-serpent" to the sigil of his ascending decan. (Teth=
Snake=spermatozoon and Leo in the Zodiac, which like
Teth itself has the snake-form. theta first written {Sun} = Lingam-
Yoni and Sol.)
Paragraph 7 explains the theological difficulty referred
to above. There is only one symbol, but this symbol has
many names: of those names BABALON is the holiest.
It is the name referred to in Liber Legis, 1, 22.
It will be noticed that the figure, or sigil, of BABALON
is a seal upon a ring, and this ring is upon the forefinger
of IT. This identifies further the symbol with itself.
It will be noticed that this seal, except for the absence of
a border, is the official seal of the A.'.A.'. Compare Chapter
3.
It is also said to be the seal upon the tombs of them that
she hath slain, that is, of the Masters of the Temple.
In connection with the number 49, see Liber 418, the
22nd Aethyr, as well as the usual authorities.
[109]
50
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu}
THE VIGIL OF ST. HUBERT
In the forest God met the Stag-beetle. "Hold! Wor-
ship me!" quoth God. "For I am All-Great, All-
Good, All Wise....The stars are but sparks from
the forges of My smiths...."
"Yea, verily and Amen," said the Stag-beetle, "all
this do I believe, and that devoutly."
"Then why do you not worship Me?"
"Because I am real and your are only imaginary."
But the leaves of the forest rustled with the laughter
of the wind.
Said Wind and Wood: "They neither of them know
anything!"
[110]
COMMENTARY ({Nu})
St. Hubert appears to have been a saint who saw a
stag of a mystical or sacred nature.
The Stag-beetle must not be identified with the one
in Chapter 16. It is a merely literary touch.
the chapter is a resolution of the universe into
Tetragrammaton; God the macrocosm and the micro-
cosm beetle. Both imagine themselves to exist; both say
"you" and "I", and discuss their relative reality.
The things which really exist, the things which have
no Ego, and speak only in the third person, regard
these as ignorant, on account of their assumption of
Knowledge.
[111]
51
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Alpha}
TERRIER-WORK
Doubt.
Doubt thyself.
Doubt even if thou doubtest thyself.
Doubt all.
Doubt even if thou doubtest all.
It seems sometimes as if beneath all conscious doubt
there lay some deepest certainty. O kill it! Slay the
snake!
The horn of the Doubt-Goat be exalted
Dive deeper, ever deeper, into the Abyss of Mind,
until thou unearth the fox THAT. On, hounds!
Yoicks! Tally-ho! Bring THAT to bay!
Then, wind the Mort!
[112]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Alpha})
The number 51 means failure and pain, and its
subject is appropriately doubt.
The title of the chapter is borrowed from the health-
giving and fascinating sport of fox-hunting, which
Frater Perdurabo followed in his youth.
This chapter should be read in connection with "The
Soldier and the Hunchback" of which it is in some sort
an epitome.
Its meaning is sufficiently clear, but in paragraphs
6 and 7 it will be noticed that the identification of the
Soldier with the Hunchback has reached such a pitch
that the symbols are interchanged, enthusiasm being
represented as the sinuous snake, scepticism as the
Goat of the Sabbath. In other words, a state is reached
in which destruction is as much joy as creation.
(Compare Chapter 46.)
Beyond that is a still deeper state of mind, which is
THAT.
[113]
52
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Beta}
THE BULL-BAITING
Fourscore and eleven books wrote I; in each did I
expound THE GREAT WORK fully, from The
beginning even unto The End thereof.
Then at last came certain men unto me, saying:
O Master! Expound thou THE GREAT WORK
unto us, O Master!
And I held my peace.
O generation of gossipers! who shall deliver you
from the Wrath that is fallen upon you?
O Babblers, Prattlers, Talkers, Loquacious Ones,
Tatlers, Chewers of the Red Rag that inflameth
Apis the Redeemer to fury, learn first what is
Work! and THE GREAT WORK is not so far
beyond!
[114]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Beta})
52 is BN, the number of the Son, Osiris-Apis, the
Redeemer, with whom the Master (Fra. P.) identifies
himself. he permits himself for a moment the pleasure
of feeling his wounds; and, turning upon his generation,
gores it with his horns.
The fourscore-and-eleven books do not, we think,
refer to the ninety-one chapters of this little master-
piece, or even to the numerous volumes he has penned,
but rather to the fact that 91 is the number of Amen,
implying the completeness of his work.
In the last paragraph is a paranomasia. "To chew
the red rag" is a phrase for to talk aimlessly and per-
sistently, while it is notorious that a red cloth will excite
the rage of a bull.
[115]
53
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Gamma}
THE DOWSER
Once round the meadow. Brother, does the hazel
twig dip?
Twice round the orchard. Brother, does the hazel
twig dip?
Thrice round the paddock, Highly, lowly, wily, holy,
dip, dip, dip!
Then neighed the horse in the paddock-and lo!
its wings.
For whoso findeth the SPRING beneath the earth
maketh the treaders-of-earth to course the heavens.
This SPRING is threefold; of water, but also of steel,
and of the seasons.
Also this PADDOCK is the Toad that hath the
jewel between his eyes-Aum Mani Padmen
Hum! (Keep us from Evil!)
[116]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Gamma})
A dowser is one who practises divination, usually with
the object of finding water or minerals, by means of the
vibrations of a hazel twig.
The meadow represents the flower of life; the orchard its
fruit.
The paddock, being reserved for animals, represents life
itself. That is to say, the secret spring of life is found in the
place of life, with the result that the horse, who represents
ordinary animal life, becomes the divine horse Pegasus.
In paragraph 6 we see this spring identified with the
phallus, for it is not only a source of water, but highly
elastic, while the reference to the seasons alludes to the well-
known lines of the late Lord Tennyson:
"In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove,
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts
of love."
-Locksley Hall.
In paragraph 7 the place of life, the universe of animal
souls, is identified with the toad, which
"Ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head"
-Romeo and Juliet-
this jewel being the divine spark in man, and indeed in all
that "lives and moves and has its being". Note this phrase,
which is highly significant; the word "lives" excluding the
mineral kingdom, the word "moves" the vegetable kingdom,
and the phrase "has its being" the lower animals, including
woman.
This "toad" and "jewel" are further identified with the
Lotus and jewel of the well-known Buddhist phrase and
this seems to suggest that this "toad" is the Yoni; the
suggestion is further strengthened by the concluding phrase
in brackets, "Keep us from evil", since, although it is the
place of life, the means of grace, it may be ruinous.
[117]
54
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Delta}
Five and forty apprentice masons out of work!
Fifteen fellow-craftsmen out of work!
Three Master Masons out of work!
All these sat on their haunches waiting The Report
of the Sojourner; for THE WORD was lost.
This is the Report of the Sojourners: THE WORD
was LOVE;(23) and its number is An Hundred and
Eleven.
Then said each AMO;(24) for its number is An Hundred
and Eleven.
Each took the Trowel from his LAP,(25) whose number
is AN Hundred and Eleven.
Each called moreover on the Goddess NINA,(26) for
Her number is An Hundred and Eleven.
Yet with all this went The Work awry; for THE
WORD OF THE LAW IS {Theta-Epsilon-Lambda-Eta-Mu-Alpha}.
[118]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Delta})
The title of this chapter refers to the duty of the Tyler
in a blue lodge of Freemasons.
The numbers in paragraphs 1 to 3 are significant;
each Master-Mason is attended by 5 Fellow-Crafts,
and each Fellow-Craft by 3 Apprentices, as if the
Masters were sitting in pentagrams, and the Fellow-
Craftsmen in triangles. This may refer to the number of
manual signs in each of these degrees.
The moral of the chapter is apparently that the
mother-letter {Aleph} is an inadequate solution of the Great
Problem. {Aleph} is identified with the Yoni, for all the
symbols connected with it in this place are feminine,
but {Aleph} is also a number of Samadhi and mysticism, and
the doctrine is therefore that Magick, in that highest
sense explained in the Book of the Law, is the truer
key.
NOTES
(23) L=30, O=70, V=6, E=5=111.
(24) A=1, M=40, O=70=111.
(25) The trowel is shaped like a diamond or Yoni.
L=30, A=1, P=80=111
(26) N=50, I=10, N=50, A=1=111.
[119]
55
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Epsilon}
THE DROOPING SUNFLOWER
The One Thought vanished; all my mind was torn to
rags: --- nay! nay! my head was mashed into
wood pulp, and thereon the Daily Newspaper was
printed.
Thus wrote I, since my One Love was torn from me.
I cannot work: I cannot think: I seek distraction
here: I seek distraction there: but this is all my
truth, that I who love have lost; and how may I
regain?
I must have money to get to America.
O Mage! Sage! Gauge thy Wage, or in the Page of
Thine Age is written Rage!
O my darling! We should not have spent Ninety
Pounds in that Three Weeks in Paris!...Slash the
Breaks on thine arm with a pole-axe!
[120]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Epsilon})
The number 55 refers to Malkuth, the ride; it
should then be read in connection with Chapters 28, 29,
49.
The "drooping sunflower" is the heart, which needs
the divine light.
Since Jivatma was separated from Paramatma, as
in paragraph 2, not only is the Divine Unity destroyed
but Daath, instead of being the Child of Chokmah and
Binah, becomes the Abyss, and the Qliphoth arise.
The only sense which abides is that of loss, and the
craving to retrieve it. In paragraph 3 it is seen that this
is impossible, owing (paragraph 4) to his not having
made proper arrangements to recover the original
position previous to making the divisions.
In paragraph 5 it is shown that this is because of
allowing enjoyment to cause forgetfulness of the really
important thing. Those who allow themselves to wallow
in Samadhi are sorry for it afterwards.
The last paragraph indicaed the precautions to be
taken to avoid this.
The number 90 is the last paragraph is not merely
fact, but symbolism; 90 being the number of Tzaddi,
the Star, looked at in its exoteric sense, as a naked
woman, playing by a stream, surrounded by birds and
butterflies. The pole-axe is recommended instead of
the usual razor, as a more vigorous weapon. One
cannot be too severe in checking any faltering in the
work, any digression from the Path.
[121]
56
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Digamma}
TROUBLE WITH TWINS
Holy, holy, holy, unto Five Hundred and Fifty Five
times holy be OUR LADY of the STARS!
Holy, holy, holy, unto One Hundred and Fifty Six
times holy be OUR LADY that rideth upon THE
BEAST!
Holy, holy, holy, unto the Number of Times
Necessary and Appropriate be OUR LADY
Isis in Her Millions-of-Names, All-Mother,
Genetrix-Meretrix!
Yet holier than all These to me is LAYLAH, night
and death; for Her do I blaspheme alike the finite
and the The Infinite.
So wrote not FRATER PERDURABO, but the
Imp Crowley in his Name.
For forgery let him suffer Penal Servitude for Seven
Years; or at least let him do Pranayama all the
way home-home? nay! but to the house of the
harlot whom he loveth not. For it is LAYLAH that
he loveth...................................
And yet who knoweth which is Crowley, and which is
FRATER PERDURABO?
[122]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Digamma})
The number of the chapter refers to Liber Legis I, 24,
for paragraph 1 refers to Nuit. The "twins" in the
title are those mentioned in paragraph 5.
555 is HADIT, HAD spelt in full. 156 is
BABALON.
In paragraph 4 is the gist of the chapter, Laylah
being again introduced, as in Chapters 28, 29, 49 and
55.
The exoteric blasphemy, it is hinted i the last
paragraph, may be an esoteric arcanum, for the Master
of the Temple is interested in Malkuth, as Malkuth is
in Binah; also "Malkuth is in Kether, and Kether in
Malkuth"; and, to the Ipsissimus, dissolution in the
body of Nuit and a visit to a brothel may be identical.
[123]
57
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Zeta}
THE DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS
Dirt is matter in the wrong place.
Thought is mind in the wrong place.
Matter is mind; so thought is dirt.
Thus argued he, the Wise One, not mindful that all
place is wrong.
For not until the PLACE is perfected by a T saith
he PLACET.
The Rose uncrucified droppeth its petals; without
the Rose the Cross is a dry stick.
Worship then the Rosy Cross, and the Mystery of
Two-in-One.
And worship Him that swore by His holy T that One
should not be One except in so far as it is Two.
I am glad that LAYLAH is afar; no doubt clouds
love.
[124]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Zeta})
The title of the chapter suggest the two in one, since
the ornithorhynchus is both bird and beast; it is also
an Australian animal, like Laylah herself, and was
doubtless chosen for this reason.
This chapter is an apology for the universe.
Paragraphs 1-3 repeat the familiar arguments
against reason in an epigrammatic form.
Paragraph 4 alludes to Liber Legis I, 52; "place"
implies space; denies homogeneity to space; but when
"place" is perfected by "t"-as it were, Yoni by Lingam
-we get the word "placet", meaning "it pleases".
Paragraphs 6 and 7 explain this further; it is
necessary to separate things, in order that they might
rejoice in uniting. See Liber Legis I, 28-30, which is
paraphrased in the penultimate paragraph.
In the last paragraph this doctrine is interpreted
in common life by a paraphrase of the familiar and
beautiful proverb, "Absence makes the heart grow
fonder". (PS. I seem to get a subtle after-taste of
bitterness.)
(It is to be observed that the philosopher having first
committed the syllogistic error quaternis terminorum,
in attempting to reduce the terms to three, staggers into
non distributia medii. It is possible that considerations
with Sir Wm. Hamilton's qualification (or quantifica-
tion (?)) of the predicate may be taken as intervening,
but to do so would render the humour of the chapter too
subtle for the average reader in Oshkosh for whom
this book is evidently written.)
[125]
58
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Eta}
Haggard am I, an hyaena; I hunger and howl. Men
think it laughter-ha! ha! ha!
There is nothing movable or immovable under the
firmament of heaven on which I may write the
symbols of the secret of my soul.
Yea, though I were lowered by ropes into the
utmost Caverns and Vaults of Eternity, there is
no word to express even the first whisper of the
Initiator in mine ear: yea, I abhor birth, ululating
lamentations of Night!
Agony! Agony! the Light within me breeds veils; the
song within be dumbness.
God! in what prism may any man analyse my Light?
Immortal are the adepts; and ye hey die-They
die of SHAME unspeakable; They die as the
Gods die, for SORROW.
Wilt thou endure unto THe End, O FRATER
PERDURABO, O Lamp in The Abyss? Thou hast
the Keystone of the Royal Arch; yet the
Apprentices, instead of making bricks, put the
straws in their hair, and think they are Jesus
Christ!
O sublime tragedy and comedy of THE GREAT
WORK!
[126]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Eta})
Haggai, a notorious Hebrew prophet, is a Second
Officer in a Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons.
In this chapter the author, in a sort of raging
eloquence, bewails his impotence to express himself,
or to induce others to follow into the light. In para-
graph 1 he explains the sardonic laughter, for which he
is justly celebrated, as being in reality the expression of
this feeling.
Paragraph 2 is a reference to the Obligation of an
Entered Apprentice Mason.
Paragraph 3 refers to the Ceremony of Exaltation
in Royal Arch Masonry. The Initiate will be able to
discover the most formidable secret of that degree con-
cealed in the paragraph.
Paragraphs 4-6 express an anguish to which that of
Gethsemane and Golgotha must appear like whitlows.
In paragraph 7 the agony is broken up by the
sardonic or cynical laughter to which we have previously
alluded.
And the final paragraph, in the words of the noblest
simplicity, praises the Great Work; rejoices in its
sublimity, in the supreme Art, in the intensity of the
passion and ecstasy which it brings forth. (Note that
the words "passion" and "ecstasy" may be taken as
symbolical of Yoni and Lingam.)
[127]
59
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Nu-Theta}
There is no help-but hotch pot!-in the skies
When Astacus sees Crab and Lobster rise.
Man that has spine, and hopes of heaven-to-be,
Lacks the Amoeba's immortality.
What protoplasm gains in mobile mirth
Is loss of the stability of earth.
Matter and sense and mind have had their day:
Nature presents the bill, and all must pay.
If, as I am not, I were free to choose,
How Buddhahood would battle with The Booze!
My certainty that destiny is "good"
Rests on its picking me for Buddhahood.
Were I a drunkard, I should think I had
Good evidence that fate was "bloody bad".
[128]
COMMENTARY ({Nu-Theta})
The title is a euphemism for homo sapiens.
The crab and the lobster are higher types of crustacae
than the crayfish.
The chapter is a short essay in poetic form on
Determinism. It hymns the great law of Equilibrium
and Compensation, but cynically criticises all philo-
sophers, hinting that their view of the universe depends
on their own circumstances. The sufferer from toothache
does not agree with Doctor Pangloss, that "all is for
the best in the best of all possible worlds". Nor does the
wealthiest of our Dukes complain to his cronies that
"Times is cruel 'ard".
[129]
60
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi}
THE WOUND OF AMFORTAS(27)
The Self-mastery of Percivale became the Self-
masturbatery of the Bourgeois.
Vir-tus has become "virture".
The qualities which have made a man, a race, a city,
a caste, must be thrown off; death is the penalty
of failure. As it is written: In the hour of success
sacrifice that which is dearest to thee unto the
Infernal Gods!
The Englishman lives upon the excrement of his
forefathers.
All moral codes are worthless in themselves; yet in
every new code there is hope. Provided always that
the code is not changed because it is too hard, but
because if is fulfilled.
The dead dog floats with the stream; in puritan
France the best women are harlots; in vicious
England the best women are virgins.
If only the Archbishop of Canterbury were to go
make in the streets and beg his bread!
The new Christ, like the old, it the friend of publicans
and sinners; because his nature is ascetic.
O if everyman did No Matter What, provided that it
is the one thing that he will not and cannot do!
[130]
COMMENTARY ({Xi})
The title is explained in the note.
The number of the chapter may refer to the letter
Samech ({Samech}), Temperence, in the Tarot.
I paragraph 1 the real chastity of Percivale or
Parsifal, a chastity which did not prevent his dipping
the point of the sacred lance into the Holy Grail, is
distinguished from its misinterpretation by modern
crapulence. The priests of the gods were carefully
chosen, and carefully trained to fulfill the sacrament of
fatherhood; the shame of sex consists in the usurpation
of its function by the unworthy. Sex is a sacrament.
The word virtus means "the quality of manhood".
Modern "virtue" is the negation of all such qualities.
In paragraph 3, however, we see the penalty of
conservatism; children must be weaned.
In the penultimate paragraph the words "the new
Christ" alluded to the author.
In the last paragraph we reach the sublime mystic
doctrine that whatever you have must be abandoned.
Obviously, that which differentiates your consciousness
from the absolute is part of the content of that con-
sciousness.
NOTE
(27) Chapter so called because Amfortas was
wounded by his own spear, the spear that had made him
king.
[131]
61
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Alpha}
THE FOOL'S KNOT
O Fool! begetter of both I and Naught, resolve this
Naught-y Knot!
O! Ay! this I and O-IO!-IAO! For I owe "I"
aye to Nibbana's Oe.(28)
I Pay-Pe, the dissolution of the House of God-
for Pe comes after O-after Ayin that triumphs
over Aleph in Ain, that is O.(29)
OP-us, the Work! the OP-ening of THE EYE!(30)
Thou Naughty Boy, thou openest THE EYE OF
HORUS to the Blind Eye that weeps!(31) The Up-
right One in thine Uprightness rejoiceth-Death
to all Fishes!(32)
[132]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Alpha})
The number of this chapter refers to the Hebrew word Ain, the negative and
Ani, 61.
The "fool" is the Fool of the Tarot, whose number is 0, but refers the the le
tter
Aleph, 1.
A fool's knot is a kind of knot which, although it has the appearance of a kn
ot, is
not really a knot, but pulls out immediately.
The chapter consists of a series of complicated puns on 1 and I, with regard
to
their shape, sound, and that of the figures which resemble them in shape.
Paragraph 1 calls upon the Fool of the Tarot, who is to be referred to Ipsiss
imus,
to the pure fool, Parsifal, to resolve this problem.
The word Naught-y suggests not only that the problem is sexual, but does not
really
exist.
Paragraph 2 shows the Lingam and Yoni as, in conjunction, the foundation of
ecstasy (I)!), and of the complete symbol I A O.
The latter sentence of the paragraph unites the two meanings of giving up the
Lingam to the Yoni, and the Ego to the Absolute.
This idea, "I must give up", I owe, is naturally completed by I pay, and the
sound of the word "pay" suggest the Hebrew letter Pe (see Liber XVI), which
represents the final dissolution in Shivadarshana.
I Hebrew, the letter which follows O is P; i therefore follows Ayin, the Devi
l
of the Tarot.
AYIN is spelt O I N, thus replacing the A in A I N by an O, the letter of the
Devil, or Pan, the phallic God.
Now AIN means nothing, and thus the replacing of AIN by OIN means the
completion of the Yoni by the Lingam, which is followed by the complete dissolu
tion
symbolised in the letter P.
These letters, O P, are then seen to be the root of opus, the Latin word for
"work",
in this case, the Great Work. And they also begin the word "opening". I hindu
philosophy, it is said that Shiva, the Destroyer, is asleep, and that when he o
pens
his eye the universe is destroyed-another synonym, therefore, for the accomplis
h-
ment of the Great Work. But the "eye" of Shiva is also his Lingam. Shiva is
himself the Mahalingam, which unites these symbolisms. The opening of the eye,
the ejaculation of the lingam, the destruction of the universe, the accomplishm
ent
of the Great Work-all these are different ways of saying the same thing.
The last paragraph is even obscurer to those unfamiliar to the masterpiece
referred to in the note; for the eye of Horus (see 777, Col.
XXI, line 10, "the blind
eye that weeps" is a poetic Arab name for the lingam).
The doctrine is that the Great Work should be accomplished without creating n
ew
Karma, for the letter N, the fish, the vesica, the womb, breeds, whereas the Ey
e of
Horus does not; or, if it does so, breeds, according to Turkish tradition, a Me
ssiah.
Death implies resurrection; the illusion is reborn, as the Scythe of Death in
the
Tarot has a crosspiece. This is in connection with the Hindu doctrine, express
ed
in their injunction, "Fry your seeds". Act so as to balance your past Karma,
and create no new, so that, as it were, the books are balanced. WHile you have
either a credit or a debit, you are still in account with the universe.
(N.B. Frater P. wrote this chapter-61-while dining with friends, in about a
minute and a half. That is how you must know the Qabalah.)
NOTE
(28) Oe = Island, a common symbol of Nibbana.
(29) {Vau-Yod-Aleph} Ain. {Vau-Yod-Ayin} Ayin.
(30) Scil. of Shiva.
(31) Cf. Bagh-i-Muattar for all this symbolism.
(32) Death = Nun, the letter before O, means a fish, a symbol of Christ, and
also by its shape the Female principle
[133]
62
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Beta}
TWIG?(33)
The Phoenix hat a Bell for Sound; Fire for Sight; a
Knife for Touch; two cakes, one for taste, the other
for smell.
He standeth before the Altar of the Universe at
Sunset, when Earth-life fades.
He summons the Universe, and crowns it with
MAGICK Light to replace the sun of natura light.
He prays unto, and give homage to, Ro-Hoor_khuit;
to Him he then sacrifices.
The first cake, burnt, illustrates the profit drawn
from the scheme of incarnation.
The second, mixt with his life's blood and eaten,
illustrates the use of the lower life to feed the
higher life.
He then takes the Oath and becomes free-un
conditioned-the Absolute.
Burning up i the Flame of his Prayer, and born
again-the Phoenix!
[134]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Beta})
This chapter is itself a comment on Chapter 44.
NOTE
(33) Twig? = dost thou understand? Also the Phoenix
takes twigs to kindle the fire in which it burns itself.
[135]
63
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Gamma}
MARGERY DAW
I love LAYLAH.
I lack LAYLAH.
"Where is the Mystic Grace?" sayest thou?
Who told thee, man, that LAYLAH is not Nuit, nd
I hadit?
I destroyed all things; they are reborn in other
shapes.
I gave up all for One; this One hath given up its
Unity for all?
I wrenched DOG backwards to find GOD; now GOD
barks.
Think me not fallen because I love LAYLAH, and
lack LAYLAH.
I am the Master of the Universe; then give me a
heap of straw in a hut, and LAYLAH naked!
Amen.
[136]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Gamma})
This chapter returns to the subject of Laylah, and
to the subject already discussed in Chapters 3 and
others, particularly Chapter 56.
The title of the chapter refers to the old rime:
"See-saw, Margery Daw,
Sold her bed to lie upon straw.
Was not she a silly slut
To sell her bed to lie upon dirt?"
The word "see-saw" is significant, almost a comment
upon this chapter. To the Master of the Temple
opposite rules apply. His unity seeks the many, and
the many is again transmuted to the one. Solve et
Coagula.
[137]
64
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Delta}
CONSTANCY
I was discussing oysters with a crony:
GOD sent to me the angels DIN and DONI.
"An man of spunk," they urged, "would hardly
choose
To breakfast every day chez Laperouse."
"No!" I replied, "h would not do so, BUT
Think of his woe if Laperouse were shut!
"I eat these oysters and I drink this wine
Solely to drown this misery of mine.
"Yet the last height of consolation's cold:
Its pinnacle is-not to be consoled!
"And though I sleep with Janefore and Eleanor
"And Julian only fixes in my mind
Even before feels better than behind.
"You are Mercurial spirits-be so kind
As to enable me to raise the wind.
"Put me in LAYLAH'S arms again: the Accurst,
Leaving me that. elsehow may do his worst."
DONI and DIN, perceiving me inspired,
Conceived their task was finished: they retired.
I turned upon my friend, and, breaking bounds,
Borrowed a trifle of two hundred pounds.
[138]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Delta})
64 is the number of Mercury, and of the intelligence
of that planet, Din and Doni.
Th moral of the chapter is that one wants liberty,
although one may not wish to exercise it: the author
would readily die in defence of the right of Englishmen
to play football, or of his own right not to play it.
(As a great poet has expressed it: "We don't want to
fight, but, by Jingo, if we do-") This is his meaning
towards his attitude to complete freedom of speech and
action. He refuses to listen to the ostensible criticism of
the spirits, and explains his own position. Their real
mission was to rouse him to confidence and action.
[139]
65
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Epsilon}
SIC TRANSEAT---
"At last I lifted up mine eyes, and beheld; and lo!
the flames of violet were become as tendrils of
smoke, as mist at sunset upon the marsh-lands.
"And in the midst of the moon-pool of silver was the
Lily of white and gold. In this Lily is all honey,
in this Lily that flowereth at the midnight. In
this Lily is all perfume; in this Lily is all music.
And it enfolded me."
Thus the disciples that watched found a dead body
kneeling at the altar. Amen!
[140]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Epsilon})
65 is the number of Adonai, the Holy Guardian
Angel; see Liber 65, Liber Konx Om Pax, and other
works of reference.
The chapter title means, "So may he pass away",
the blank obviously referring to N E M O.
The "moon-pool of silver" is the Path of Gimel,
leading from Tiphareth to Kether; the "flames of violet"
are the Ajna-Chakkra; the lily itself is Kether, the
lotus of the Sahasrara. "Lily" is spelt with a capital to
connect with Laylah.
[141]
66
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Digamma}
THE PRAYING MANTIS
"Say: God is One." This I obeyed: for a thousand
and one times a night for one thousand nights and
one did I affirm th Unity.
But "night" only means LAYLAH(34); and Unity and
GOD are not worth even her blemishes.
Al-lah is only sixty-six; but LAYLAH counteth
up to Seven and Seventy.(35)
"Yea! the night shall cover all; the night shall cover
all."
[142]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Digamma})
66 is the number of Allah; the praying mantis is a
blasphemous grasshopper which caricatures the pious.
The chapter recurs to the subject of Laylah, whom
the author exalts above God, in continuation of the
reasonings given in Chapter 56 and 63. She is
identified with N.O.X. by the quotation from Liber 65.
NOTES
(34) Laylah is the Arabic for night.
(35) A L L H = 1 + 30 + 30 + 5 = 66. L + A + I
+ L + A + H = 77, which also gives MSL, the In-
fluence of the Highest, OZ, a goat, and so on.
[143]
67
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Zeta}
SODOM-APPLES
I have bought pleasant trifles, and thus soothed my
lack of LAYLAH.
Light is my wallet, and my heart is also light; and
yet I know that the clouds will gather closer for
the false clearing.
The mirage will fade; then will the desert be thirstier
than before.
O ye who dwell in the Dark Night of the Soul, beware
most of all of every herald of the Dawn!
O ye who dwell in the City of the Pyramids beneath
the Night of PAN, remember that ye shall see no
more light but That of the great fire that shall
consume your dust to ashes!
[144]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Zeta})
This chapter means that it is useless to try to abandon
the Great Work. You may occupy yourself for a time
with other things, but you will only increase your
bitterness, rivet the chains still on your feet.
Paragraph 4 is a practical counsel to mystics not
to break up their dryness by relaxing their austerities.
The last paragraph will only be understood by
Masters of the Temple.
[145]
68
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Eta}
MANNA
At four o'clock there is hardly anybody in Rumpel-
mayer's.
I have my choice of place and service; the babble of
the apes will begin soon enough.
"Pioneers, O Pioneers!"
Sat no Elijah under the Juniper-tree, and wept?
Was not Mohammed forsaken in Mecca, and Jesus
in Gethsemane?
These prophets were sad at heart; but the chocolate
at Rumpelmayer's is great, and the Mousse Noix
is like Nepthys for perfection.
Also there are little meringues with cream and
chestnut-pulp, very velvety seductions.
Sail I not toward LAYLAH within seven days?
Be not sad at heart, O prophet; the babble of the
apes will presently begin.
Nay, rejoice exceedingly; for after all the babble of
the apes the Silence of the Night.
[146]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Eta})
Manna was a heavenly cake which, in the legend, fed
the Children of Israel in the Wilderness.
The author laments the failure of his mission to
mankind, but comforts himself with the following
reflections:
(1) He enjoys the advantages of solitude. (2) Previous
prophets encountered similar difficulties in con-
vincing their hearers. (3) Their food was not equal to
that obtainable at Rumpelmayer's. (4) In a few days
I am going to rejoin Laylah. (5) My mission will
succeed soon enough. (6) Death will remove the
nuisance of success.
[147]
69
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Xi-Theta}
THE WAY TO SUCCEED-AND THE WAY TO
SUCK EGGS!
This is the Holy Hexagram.
Plunge from the height, O God, and interlock with
Man!
Plunge from the height, O Man, and interlock with
Beast!
The Red Triangle is the descending tongue of grace;
the Blue Triangle is the ascending tongue of
prayer
This Interchange, the Double Gift of Tongues, the
Word of Double Power-ABRAHADABRA!-is
the sign of the GREAT WORK, for the GREAT
WORK is accomplished in Silence. And behold is
not that Word equal to Cheth, that is Cancer.
whose Sigil is {Cancer}?
This Work also eats up itself, accomplishes its own
end, nourishes the worker, leaves no seed, is per-
fect in itself.
Little children, love one another!
[148]
COMMENTARY ({Xi-Theta})
The key to the understanding of this chapter is given
in the number and the title, the former being intelligible
to all nations who employ Arabic figures, the latter
only to experts in deciphering English puns.
The chapter alludes to Levi's drawing of the Hexa-
gram, and is a criticism of, or improvement upon, it.
In the ordinary Hexagram, the Hexagram of nature,
the red triangle is upwards, like fire, and the blue
triangle downwards, like water. In the magical hexa-
gram this is revered; the descending red triangle is
that of Horus, a sign specially revealed by him per-
sonally, at the Equinox of the Gods. (It is the flame
desending upon the altar, and licking up the burnt
offering.) The blue triangle represents the aspiration,
since blue is the colour of devotion, and the triangle,
kinetically considered, is the symbol of directed force.
In the first three paragraphs this formation of the
hexagram is explained; it is a symbol of the mutual
separation of the Holy Guardian Angel and his client.
In the interlocking is indicated the completion of the
work.
Paragraph 4 explains in slightly different language
what we have said above, and the scriptural image of
tongues is introduced.
In paragraph 5 the symbolism of tongues is further
developed. Abrahadabra is our primal example of an
interlocked word. We assume that the reader has
thoroughly studied that word in Liber D., etc. The
sigil of Cancer links up this symbolism with the number
of the chapter.
The remaining paragraphs continue the Gallic
symbolism.
[149]
70
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron}
BROOMSTICK-BABBLINGS
FRATER PERDURABO is of the Sanhedrim of the
Sabbath, say men; He is the Old Goat himself,
say women.
Therefore do all adore him; the more they detest
him the more do they adore him.
Ay! let us offer the Obscene Kiss!
Let us seek the Mystery of the Gnarled Oak, and of
the Glacier Torrent!
To Him let us offer our babes! Around Him let
us dance in the mad moonlight!
But FRATER PERDURABO is nothing but AN
EYE; what eye none knoweth.
Skip, witches! Hop, toads! Take your pleasure!-
for the play of the Universe is the pleasure of
FRATER PERDURABO.
[150]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron})
70 is the number of the letter Ain, the Devil in the
Tarot.
The chapter refers to the Witches' Sabbath, the
description of which in Payne Knight should be
carefully read before studying this chapter. All the
allusions will then be obvious, save those which we
proceed to not.
Sanhedrim, a body of 70 men. An Eye. Eye in
Hebrew is Oin, 70.
The "gnarled oak" and the "glacier torrent" refer
to the confessions made by many witches.
I paragraph 7 is seen the meaning of the chapter;
the obscene and distorted character of much of the
universe is a whim of the Creator.
[151]
71
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Alpha}
KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL
For mind and body alike there is no purgative like
Pranayama, no purgative like Pranayama.
For mind, for body, for mind and body alike-
alike!-there is, there is, there is no purgative, no
purgative like Pranayama-Pranayama!-Prana-
yama! yea, for mind and body alike there is no
purgative, no purgative, no purgative (for mind
and body alike!) no purgative, purgative, purgative
like Pranayama, no purgative for mind and body
alike, like Pranayama, like Pranayama, like
Prana-Prana-Prana-Prana-pranayama!
-Pranayama!
AMEN.
[152]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Alpha})
This chapter is a plain statement of fact, put in
anthem form for emphasis.
The title is due to the circumstances of the early
piety of Frater Perdurabo, who was frequently
refreshed by hearing the anthems in this chief of the
architectural glories of his Alma Mater.
[153]
72
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Beta}
HASHED PHEASANT
Shemhamphorash! all hail, divided Name!
Utter it once, O mortal over-rash!-
The Universe were swallowed up in flame
-Shemhamphorash!
Nor deem that thou amid the cosmic crash
May find one thing of all those things the same!
The world has gone to everlasting smash.
No! if creation did possess an aim
(It does not.) it were only to make hash
Of that most "high" and that most holy game,
Shemhamphorash!
[154]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Beta})
There are three consecutive verses in the Pentateuch,
each containing 72 letters. If these be written beneath
each other, the middle verse bring reversed, i.e. as in
English, and divisions are then made vertically, 72
tri-lateral names are formed, the sum of which is
Tetragrammaton; this is the great and mysterious
Divided Name; by adding the terminations Yod He,
or Aleph Lamed, the names of 72 Angels are formed.
The Hebrews say that by uttering this Name the
universe is destroyed. This statement means the same
as that of the Hindus, that the effective utterance of
the name of Shiva would cause him to awake, and so
destroy the universe.
In Egyptian and Gnostic magick we meet with pylons
and Aeons, which only open on the utterance of the
proper word.
In Mohammedan magick we find a similar doctrine
and practice; and the whole of Mantra-Yoga has been
built on this foundation.
Thoth, the god of Magick, is the inventor of speech;
Christ is the Logos.
Lines 1-4 are now clear.
In lines 507 we see the results of Shivadarshana. Do
not imagine that any single ides, however high, however
holy (or even however insignificant!!), can escape the
destruction.
The logician my say, "But white exists, and if
white is destroyed, it leaves black; yet black exists. So
that in that case at least one known phenomenon of this
universe is identical with one of that." Vain word!
The logician and his logic are alike involved in the
universal ruin.
Lines 8-11 indicate that this fact is the essential one
about Shivadarshana.
The title is explained by the intentionally blasphemous
puns and colloquialisms of lines 9 and 10.
[155]
73
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Gamma}
THE DEVIL, THE OSTRICH, AND THE
ORPHAN CHILD
Death rides the Camel of Initiation.(36)
Thou humped and stiff-necked one that groanest in
Thine Asana, death will relieve thee!
Bite not, Zelator dear, but bide! Ten days didst
thou go with water in thy belly? Thou shalt go
twenty more with a firebrand at thy rump!
Ay! all thine aspiration is to death: death is the
crown of all thine aspiration. Triple is the cord of
silver moonlight; it shall hang thee, O Holy One,
O Hanged Man, O Camel-Termination-of-the-
third-person-plural for thy multiplicity, thou
Ghost of a Non-Ego!
Could but Thy mother behold thee, O thou UNT!(37)
The Infinite Snake Ananta that surroundeth the
Universe is but the Coffin-Worm!
[156]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Gamma})
The Hebrew letter Gimel adds up to 73; it means a camel.
The title of the chapter is borrowed from the well-known lines of Rudyard
Kipling:
"But the commissariat camel, when all is said and done,
'E's a devil and an awstridge and an orphan-child in one."
Paragraph 1 may imply a dogma of death as the highest form of initiation.
Initiation is not a simple phenomenon. Any given initiation must take place
on several planes, and is not always conferred on all of these simultaneously.
Intellectual and moral perception of truth often, one might almost say usually,
precedes spiritual and physical perceptions. One would be foolish to claim
initiation unless it were complete on every plane.
Paragraph 2 will easily be understood by those who have practised
Asana. there is perhaps a sardonic reference to rigor mortis, and certainly
one conceives the half-humorous attitude of the expert towards the beginner.
Paragraph 3 is a comment in the same tone of rough good nature. The word
Zelator is used because the Zelator of the A.'.A.'. has to pass an examination
in Asana before he becomes eligible for the grade of Practicus. The ten days
allude merely to the tradition about the camel, that he can go ten days without
water.
Paragraph 4 identifies the reward of initiation with death; it is a cessation
of all that we call life, in a way in which what we call death is not. 3, silv
er,
and the moon, are all correspondences of Gimel, the letter of the Aspiration,
since gimel is the Path that leads from the Microcosm in tiphareth to the
Macrocosm in Kether.
The epithets are far too complex to explain in detail, but Mem, the Hanged
man, has a close affinity for Gimel, as will be seen by a study of Liber 418.
Unt is not only the Hindustani for Camel, but the usual termination of the
third person plural of the present tense of Latin words of the Third and
Fourth Conjugations.
The reason for thus addresing the reader is that he has now transcended the
first and second persons. Cf. Liber LXV, Chapter III, vv. 21-24, and
FitzGerald's Omar Khayyam:
"Some talk there was of Thee and Me
There seemed; and then no more of Thee and Me.")
The third person plural must be used, because he has now perceived himself
to be a bundle of impressions. For this is the point on the Path of Gimel when
he is actually crossing the Abyss; the student must consult the account of this
given in "The Temple of Solomon the King".
The Ego is but "the ghost of a non-Ego", the imaginary focus at which the
non-Ego becomes sensible.
Paragraph 5 expresses the wish of the Guru that his Chela may attain safely
to binah, the Mother.
Paragraph 6 whispers the ultimate and dread secret of initiation into his
ear, identifying the vastness of the Most Holy with the obscene worm that
gnaws the bowels of the damned.
NOTES
(36) Death is said by the Arabs to ride a Camel. The Path of Gimel (which
means a Camel) leads from Tiphareth to Kether, and its Tarot trump
is the "High Priestess".
(37) UNT, Hindustani for Camel. I.e. Would that BABALON might look
on thee with favour. [157]
74
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Delta}
CAREY STREET
When NOTHING became conscious, it made a bad
bargain.
This consciousness acquired individuality: a worse
bargain.
The Hermit asked for love; worst bargain of all.
And now he has let his girl go to America, to have
"success" in "life": blank loss.
Is there no end to this immortal ache
That haunts me, haunts me sleeping or awake?
If I had Laylah, how could I forget
Time, Age, and Death? Insufferable fret!
Were I an hermit, how could I support
The pain of consciousness, the curse of thought?
Even were I THAT, there still were one sore
spot-
The Abyss that stretches between THAT and
NOT.
Still, the first step is not so far away:-
The Mauretania sails on Saturday!
[158]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Delta})
Carey Street is well known to prosperous Hebrews
and poor Englishmen as the seat of the Bankruptcy
buildings.
Paragraphs 1-4 are in prose, the downward course,
and the rest of the chapter in poetry, the upward.
The first part shows the fall from Nought in four
steps; the second part, the return.
The details of this Hierarchy have already been
indicated in various chapters. It is quite conventional
mysticism.
Step 1, the illumination of Ain as Ain Soph Aour;
step 2, the concentration of Ain Soph Aour in Kether;
step 3, duality and the rest of it down to Malkuth;
step 4, the stooping of Malkuth to the Qliphoth, and
the consequent ruin of the Tree of Life.
Part 2 show the impossibility of stopping on the
Path of Adeptship.
The final couplet represents the first step upon the
Path, which must be taken even although the aspirant
is intellectually aware of the severity of the whole
course. You must give up the world for love, the
material for the moral idea, before that, in its turn, is
surrendered to the spiritual. And so on. This is a
Laylah-chapter, but in it Laylah figures as the mere
woman.
[159]
75
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Epsilon}
PLOVERS' EGGS(38)
Spring beans and strawberries are in: goodbye to the
oyster!
If I really knew what I wanted, I could give up
Laylah, or give up everything for Laylah.
But "what I want" varies from hour to hour.
This wavering is the root of all compromise, and so
of all good sense.
With this gift a man can spend his seventy years in
peace.
Now is this well or ill?
Emphasise gift, then man, then spend, then seventy
years, and lastly peace, and change the intonations
--each time reverse the meaning!
I would show you how; but-for the moment!
--I prefer to think of Laylah.
[160]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Epsilon})
The title is explained in the note, but also alludes to
paragraph 1, the plover's egg being often contemporary
with the early strawberry.
Paragraph 1 means that change of diet is pleasant;
vanity pleases the mind; the idee fixe is a sign of
insanity. See paragraphs 4 and 5.
Paragraph 6 puts the question, "Then is sanity or
insanity desirable?" The oak is weakened by the ivy
which clings around it, but perhaps the ivy keeps it
from going mad.
The next paragraph expresses the difficulty of
expressing thought in writing; it seems, on the face of
it, absurd that the the text of this book, composed as it is
of English, simple, austere, and terse, should need a
commentary. But it does so, or my most gifted Chela
and myself would hardly have been at the pains to
write one. It was in response to the impassioned appeals
of many most worthy brethren that we have yielded up
that time and thought which gold could not have bought,
or torture wrested.
Laylah is again the mere woman.
NOTE
(38) These eggs being speckled, resemble the wander-
ing mind referred to.
[161]
76
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Digamma}
PHAETON
No.
Yes.
Perhaps.
O!
Eye.
I.
Hi!
Y?
No.
Hail! all ye spavined, gelded, hamstrung horses!
Ye shall surpass the planets in their courses.
How? Not by speed, nor strength, nor power to stay,
But by the Silence that succeeds the Neigh!
[162]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Digamma})
Phaeton was the charioteer of the Sun in Greek mythology.
At first sight the prose of this chapter, though there is only one dissyllabl
e in
it, appears difficult; but this is a glamour cast by Maya. It is a compendium
of
various systems of philosophy.
No = Nihilism; Yes = Monism, and all dogmatic systems; Perhaps =
Pyrrhonism and Agnosticism; O! = The system of Liber Legis. (See Chapter 0.)
Eye = Phallicism (cf. Chapters 61 and 70); I = Fichteanism; Hi! =
Transcendentalism; Y? = Scepticism, and the method of science. No denies
all these and closes the argument.
But all this is a glamour cast by Maya; the real meaning of the prose of this
chapter is as follows:
No, some negative conception beyond the IT spoken of in Chapters 31, 49
and elsewhere.
Yes, IT.
Perhaps, the flux of these.
O!, Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
Eye, the phallus in Kether.
I, the Ego in Chokmah.
Hi!, Binah, the feminine principle fertilised. (He by Yod.)
Y?, the Abyss.
No, the refusal to be content with any of this.
But all this is again only a glamour of Maya, as previously observed in the
text (Chapter 31). All this is true and false, and it is true and false to say
that
it is true and false.
The prose of this chapter combines, and of course denies, all these meanings,
both singly and in combination. It is intended to stimulate thought to the
point where it explodes with violence and for ever.
A study of this chapter is probably the best short cut to Nibbana.
The thought of the Master in this chapter is exceptionally lofty.
That this is the true meaning, or rather use, of this chapter, is evident fro
m
the poetry.
The master salutes the previous paragraphs as horses which, although in
themselves worthless animals (without the epithets), carry the Charioteer in th
e
path of the Sun. The question, How? Not by their own virtues, but by the
silence which results when they are all done with.
The word "neigh" is a pun on "nay", which refers to the negative conception
already postulated as beyond IT. The suggestion is, that there may be somethin
g
falsely described as silence, to represent absence-of-conception beyond that
negative.
It would be possible to interpret this chapter in its entirety as an adverse
criticism of metaphysics as such, and this is doubtless one of its many sub-
meanings.
[163]
77
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Zeta}
THE SUBLIME AND SUPREME SEPTENARY
IN ITS MATURE MAGICAL MANIFESTATION
THROUGH MATTER: AS IT IS WRITTEN: AN
HE-GOAT ALSO
Laylah.
[164]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Zeta})
77 is the number of Laylah (LAILAH), to whom this
chapter is wholly devoted.
The first section of the title is an analysis of 77 considered
as a mystic number.
7, the septenary; 11, the magical number; 77, the mani-
festation, therefore, of the septenary.
Through matter, because 77 is written in Hebrew Ayin
Zayin (OZ), and He-Goat, the symbol of matter, Capri-
cornus, the Devil of the Tarot; which is the picture of the
Goat of the Sabbath upon an altar, worshipped by two other
devils, male and female.
As will be seen from the photogravure inserted opposite
this chapter, Laylah is herself not devoid of "Devil", but,
as she habitually remarks, on being addressed in terms
implying this fact, "It's nice to be a devil when you're one
like me."
The text need no comment, but it will be noticed that it is
much shorter that the title.
Now, the Devil of the Tarot is the Phallus, the Redeemer,
and Laylah symbolises redemption to Frater P. The
number 77, also, interpreted as in the title, is the redeeming
force.
The ratio of the length of title and text is the key to the
true meaning of the chapter, which is, that Redemption is
really as simple as it appears complex, that the names (or
veils) of truth are obscure and many, the Truth itself plain
and one; but that the latter must be reached through the
former. This chapter is therefore an apology, were one
needed, for the Book of Lies itself. In these few simple
words, it explains the necessity of the book, and offers it-
humbly, yet with confidence-as a means of redemption to
the world of sorrowing men.
The name with full-stops: L.A.Y.L.A.H. represents an
analysis of the name, which may be left to the ingenium of
the advanced practicus (see photograph).
[165]
78
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Eta}
WHEEL AND--WOA!
The Great Wheel of Samsara.
The Wheel of the Law [Dhamma].
The Wheel of the Taro.
The Wheel of the Heavens.
The Wheel of Life.
All these Wheels be one; yet of all these the Wheel of
the TARO alone avails thee consciously.
Meditate long and broad and deep, O man, upon this
Wheel, revolving it in thy mind
Be this thy task, to see how each card springs
necessarily from each other card, even in due order
from The Fool unto The Ten of Coins.
Then, when thou know'st the Wheel of Destiny
complete, mayst thou perceive THAT Will which
moved it first. [There is no first or last.}
And lo! thou art past through the Abyss.
[166]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Eta})
The number of this chapter is that of the cards of the
Tarot.
The title of this chapter is a pun of the phrase "weal
and woe". It means motion and rest. The moral is the
conventional mystic one; stop thought at its source!
Five wheels are mentioned in this chapter; all but
the third refer to the universe as it is; but the wheel of
the Tarot is not only this, but represents equally the
Magickal Path.
This practice is therefore given by Frater P. to
his pupils; to treat the sequence of the cards as cause
and effect. Thence, to discover the cause behind all
causes. Success in this practice qualifies for the grade
of Master of the Temple.
In the penultimate paragraph the bracketed passage
reminds the student that the universe is not to be
contemplated as a phenomenon in time.
[167]
79
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Omicron-Theta}
THE BAL BULLIER
Some men look into their minds into their memories,
and find naught but pain and shame.
These then proclaim "The Good Law" unto mankind.
These preach renunciation, "virtue", cowardice in
every form.
These whine eternally.
Smug, toothless, hairless Coote, debauch-emascu-
lated Buddha, come ye to me? I have a trick to
make you silent, O ye foamers-at-the mouth!
Nature is wasteful; but how well She can afford it!
Nature is false; but I'm a bit of a liar myself.
Nature is useless; but then how beautiful she is!
Nature is cruel; but I too am a Sadist.
The game goes on; it y have been too rough for
Buddha, but it's (if anything) too dull for me.
Viens, beau negre! Donne-moi tes levres encore!
[168]
COMMENTARY ({Omicron-Theta})
the title of this chapter is a place frequented by
Frater P. until it became respectable.
The chapter is a rebuke to those who can see nothing
but sorrow and evil in the universe.
The Buddhist analysis may be true, but not for
men of courage. The plea that "love is sorrow", because
its ecstasies are only transitory, is contemptible.
Paragraph 5. Coote is a blackmailer exposed by The
Equinox. The end of the paragraph refers to Catullus,
his famous epigram about the youth who turned his
uncle into Harpocrates. It is a subtle way for Frater P.
to insist upon his virility, since otherwise he could not
employ the remedy.
The last paragraph is a quotation. In Paris,
Negroes are much sought after by sportive ladies. This
is therefore presumably intended to assert that even
women may enjoy life sometimes.
The word "Sadist" is taken from the famous Marquis
de Sade, who gave supreme literary form to the joys of
torture.
[169]
80
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi}
BLACKTHORN
The price of existence is eternal warfare.(39)
Speaking as an Irishman, I prefer to say: The price
of eternal warfare is existence.
And melancholy as existence is, the price is well
worth paying.
Is there is a Government? then I'm agin it! To Hell
with the bloody English!
"O FRATER PERDURABO, how unworthy are
these sentiments!"
"D'ye want a clip on the jaw?"(40)
[170]
COMMENTARY ({Pi})
Frater P. continues the subject of Chapter 79.
He pictures himself as a vigorous, reckless, almost
rowdy Irishman. he is no thin-lipped prude, to seek
salvation in unmanly self-abnegation; no Creeping
Jesus, to slink through existence to the tune of the Dead
March in Saul; no Cremerian Callus to warehouse his
semen in his cerebellum.
"New Thoughtist" is only Old Eunuch writ small.
Paragraph 2 gives the very struggle for life, which
disheartens modern thinkers, as a good enough reason for
existence.
Paragraph 5 expresses the sorrow of the modern
thinker, and paragraph 6 Frater P.'s suggestion for
replying to such critics.
NOTES
(39) ISVD, the foundation scil. of the universe = 80
= P, the letter of Mars.
(40) P also means "a mouth".
[171]
81
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Alpha}
LOUIS LINGG
I am not an Anarchist in your sense of the word:
your brain is too dense for any known explosive
to affect it.
I am not an Anarchist in your sense of the word:
fancy a Policeman let loose on Society!
While there exists the burgess, the hunting man, or
any man with ideals less than Shelley's and self-
discipline less than Loyola's-in short, any man
who falls far short of MYSELF-I am against
Anarchy, and for Feudalism.
Every "emancipator" has enslaved the free.
[172]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Alpha})
The title is the name of one of the authors of the affair
of the Haymarket, in Chicago. See Frank Harris,
"The Bomb".
Paragraph 1 explains that Frater P. sees no use
in the employment of such feeble implements as bombs.
Nor does he agree even with the aim of the Anarchists,
since, although Anarchists themselves need no restraint,
not daring to drink cocoa, lest their animal passions
should be aroused (as Olivia Haddon assures my
favourite Chela), yet policemen, unless most severely
repressed, would be dangerous wild beasts.
The last bitter sentence is terribly true; the personal
liberty of the Russian is immensely greater than that of
the Englishman. The latest Radical devices for
securing freedom have turned nine out of ten English-
men into Slaves, obliged to report their movements to
the government like so many ticket-of-leave men.
The only solution of the Social Problem is the
creation of a class with the true patriarchal feeling,
and the manners and obligations of chivalry.
[173]
82
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Beta}
BORTSCH
Witch-moon that turnest all the streams to blood,
I take this hazel rod, and stand, and swear
An Oath-beneath this blasted Oak and bare
That rears its agony above the flood
Whose swollen mask mutters an atheist's prayer.
What oath may stand the shock of this offence:
"There is no I, no joy, no permanence"?
Witch-moon of blood, eternal ebb and flow
Of baffled birth, in death still lurks a change;
And all the leopards in thy woods that range,
And all the vampires in their boughs that glow,
Brooding on blood-thirst-these are not so strange
And fierce as life's unfailing shower. These die,
Yet time rebears them through eternity.
Hear then the Oath, with-moon of blood, dread
moon!
Let all thy stryges and thy ghouls attend!
He that endureth even to the end
Hath sworn that Love's own corpse shall lie at noon
Even in the coffin of its hopes, and spend
All the force won by its old woe and stress
In now annihilating Nothingness.
This chapter is called Imperial Purple
and A Punic War.
[174]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Beta})
The title of this chapter, and its two sub-titles, will
need no explanation to readers of the classics.
This poem, inspired by Jane Cheron, is as simple
as it is elegant.
The poet asks, in verse 1, How can we baffle the
Three Characteristics?
In verse 2, he shows that death is impotent against
life.
In verse 3, he offers the solution of the problem.
This is, to accept things as they are, and to turn
your whole energies to progress on the Path.
[175]
83
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Gamma}
THE BLIND PIG(41)
Many becomes two: two one: one Naught. What
comes to Naught?
What! shall the Adept give up his hermit life, and
go eating and drinking and making merry?
Ay! shall he not do so? he knows that the Many is
Naught; and having Naught, enjoys that Naught
even in the enjoyment of the Many.
For when Naught becomes Absolute Naught, it
becomes again the Many.
Any this Many and this Naught are identical; they
are not correlatives or phases of some one deeper
Absence-of-Idea; they are not aspects of some
further Light: they are They!
Beware, O my brother, lest this chapter deceive
thee!
[176]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Gamma})
The title of this chapter refers to the Greek number,
PG being "Pig" without an "i".
The subject of the chapter is consequently corollary
to Chapters 79 and 80, the ethics of Adept life.
The Adept has performed the Great Work; He has
reduced the Many to Naught; as a consequence, he
is no longer afraid of the Many.
Paragraph 4. See berashith.
Paragraph 5, takes things for what they are; give up
interpreting, refining away, analysing. Be simple and
lucid and radiant as Frater P.
Paragraph 6. With this commentary there is no
further danger, and the warning becomes superfluous.
NOTE
(41) {Pi-Upsilon} = PG = Pig without an I = Blind Pig.
[177]
84
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Delta}
THE AVALANCHE
Only through devotion to FRATER PERDURABO
may this book be understood.
How much more then should He devote Himself to
AIWASS for the understanding of the Holy Books
of {Theta-Epsilon-Lambda-Eta-Mu-Alpha}?
Yet must he labour underground eternally. The
sun is not for him, nor the flowers, nor the voices
of the birds; for he is past beyond all these. Yea,
verily, oft-times he is weary; it is well that the
weight of the Karma of the Infinite is with him.
Therefore is he glad indeed; for he hath finished THE
WORK; and the reward concerneth him no whit.
[178]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Delta})
This continues the subject of Chapter 83.
The title refers to the mental attitude of the Master;
the avalanche does not fall because it is tired of staying
on the mountain, or in order to crush the Alps below it,
or because that it feels that it needs exercise. Perfectly
unconscious, perfectly indifferent, it obeys the laws of
Cohesion and of Gravitation.
It is the sun and its own weight that loosen it.
So, also, is the act of the Adept. "Delivered from the
lust of result, he is every way perfect."
Paragraphs 1 and 2. By "devotion to Frater Per-
durabo" is not meant sycophancy, but intelligent
reference and imaginative sympathy. Put your mind
in tune with his; identify yourself with him as he
seeks to identify himself with the Intelligence that
communicates to him the Holy Books.
Paragraphs 3 and 4 are explained by the 13th
Aethyr and the title.
[179]
85
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Epsilon}
BORBORYGMI
I distrust any thoughts uttered by any man whose
health is not robust.
All other thoughts are surely symptoms of disease.
Yet these are often beautiful, and may be true within
the circle of the conditions of the speaker.
Any yet again! Do we not find that the most robust
of men express no thoughts at all? They eat, drink,
sleep, and copulate in silence.
What better proof of the fact that all thought is
dis-ease?
We are Strassburg geese; the tastiness of our talk
comes from the disorder of our bodies.
We like it; this only proves that our tastes also are
depraved and debauched by our disease.
[180]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Epsilon})
We now return to that series of chapters which started
with Chapter 8 ({Eta}).
The chapter is perfectly simple and needs no com-
ment.
[181]
86
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Digamma}
Ex nihilo N. I. H. I. L. fit.
N. the Fire that twisteth itself and burneth like a
scorpion.
I, the unsullied ever-flowing water.
H. the interpenetrating Spirit, without and within.
Is not its name ABRAHADABRA?
I. the unsullied ever-flowing air.
L. the green fertile earth.
Fierce are the Fires of the Universe, and on their
daggers they hold aloft the bleeding heart of earth.
Upon the earth lies water, sensuous and sleepy.
Above the water hangs air; and above air, but also
below fire-and in all-the fabric of all being
woven on Its invisible design, is
{Alpha-Iota-Theta-Eta-Rho}.
[182]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Digamma})
The number 86 refers to Elohim, the name of the elemental
forces.
The title is the Sanskrit for That, in its sense of "The Existing".
This chapter is an attempt to replace Elohim by a more
satisfactory hieroglyph of the elements.
The best attribution of Elohim is Aleph, Air; Lamed, Earth;
He, Spirit; Yod, Fire; Mem, Water. But the order is not good;
Lamed is not satisfactory for Earth, and Yod too spiritualised a
form of Fire. (But see Book 4, part III.)
Paragraphs 1-6. Out of Nothing, Nothing is made. The word
Nihil is taken to affirm that the universe is Nothing, and that is
now to be analysed. The order of the element is that of Jeheshua.
The elements are taken rather as in Nature; N is easily Fire,
since Mars is the ruler of Scorpio: the virginity of I suits Air
and Water, elements which in Magick are closely interwoven:
H, the letter of of breath, is suitable for Spirit; Abrahadabra is
called the name of Spirit, because it is cheth: L is Earth, green
and fertile, because Venus, the greenness, fertility, and earthiness
of things is the Lady of Libra, Lamed.
In paragraph 7 we turn to the so-called Jetziratic attribution
of Pentagrammaton, that followed by Dr. Dee, and by the Hindus,
Tibetans, Chinese and Japanese. Fire is the Foundation, the
central core, of things; above this forms a crust, tormented
from below, and upon this condenses the original steam. Around this
flows the air, created by Earth and Water through the action of
vegetation.
Such is the globe; but all this is a mere strain in the aethyr,
{Alpha-Iota-Theta-Eta-Rho}. Here is a new Pentagrammaton, presumably suitable
for another analysis of the elements; but after a different manner.
Alpha ({Alpha}) is Air; Rho ({Rho}) the Sun; these are the Spirit and the
Son of Christian theology. In the midst is the Father, expressed
as Father-and-Mother. I-H (Yod and He), Eta ({Eta}) being used
to express "the Mother" instead of Epsilon ({Epsilon}), to show that She
has been impregnated by the Spirit; it is the rough breathing and
not the soft. The centre of all is Theta ({Theta}), which was originally
written as a point in a circle ({Sun}), the sublime hieroglyph of the
Sun in the Macrocosm, and in the Microcosm of the Lingam
in conjunction with the Yoni.
This word {Alpha-Iota-Theta-Eta-Rho} (Aethyr) is therefore a perfect hierogly
ph
of the Cosmos in terms of Gnostic Theology.
The reader should consult La Messe et ses Mysteres, par Jean
'Marie de V .... (Paris et Nancy, 1844), for a complete
demonstration of the incorporation of the Solar and Phallic
Mysteries in Christianity.
[183]
87
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Zeta}
MANDARIN-MEALS
There is a dish of sharks' fins and of sea-slug, well set
in birds' nests...oh!
Also there is a souffle most exquisite of Chow-Chow.
These did I devise.
But I have never tasted anything to match the
(?)
which she gave me before She went away.
March 22, 1912. E. V.
[184]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Zeta})
This chapter is technically one of the Laylah chapters.
It means that, however great may be one's own
achievements the gifts from on high are still better.
The Sigil is taken from a Gnostic talisman, and
refers to the Sacrament.
[185]
88
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Eta}
GOLD BRICKS
Teach us Your secret, Master! yap my Yahoos.
Then for the hardness of their hearts, and for the
softness of their heads, I taught them Magick.
But...alas!
Teach us Your real secret, Master! how to become
invisible, how to acquire love, and oh! beyond all,
how to make gold.
But how much gold will you give me for the Secret
of Infinite Riches?
Then said the foremost and most foolish; Master, it
is nothing; but here is an hundred thousand
pounds.
This did I deign to accept, and whispered in his ear
this secret:
A SUCKER IS BORN EVERY MINUTE.
[186]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Eta})
The term "gold bricks" is borrowed from American
finance.
The chapter is a setting of an old story.
A man advertises that he could tell anyone how to
make four hundred a year certain, and would do so
on receipt of a shilling. To every sender he dispatched
a post-card with these words: "Do as I do."
The word "sucker" is borrowed from American
finance.
The moral of the chapter is, that it is no good trying
to teach people who need to be taught.
[187]
89
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Pi-Theta}
UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
I am annoyed about the number 89.
I shall avenge myself by writing nothing in this
chapter.
That, too, is wise; for since I am annoyed, I could
not write even a reasonably decent lie.
[188]
COMMENTARY ({Pi-Theta})
Frater P. had been annoyed by a scurvy doctor, the
number of whose house was 89.
He shows that his mind was completely poisoned in
respect of that number by his allowing himself to be
annoyed.
(But note that a good Qabalist cannot err. "In Him
all is right." 89 is Body-that which annoys-and
the Angel of the Lord of Despair and Cruelty.
Also "Silence" and "Shut Up".
The four meanings completely describe the chapter.)
[189]
90
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Rho}
STARLIGHT
Behold! I have lived many years, and I have travelled
in every land that is under the dominion of the
Sun, and I have sailed the seas from pole to pole.
Now do I lift up my voice and testify that all is
vanity on earth, except the love of a good woman,
and that good woman LAYLAH. And I testify
that in heaven all is vanity (for I have journeyed
oft, and sojourned oft, in every heaven), except the
love of OUR LADY BABALON. And I testify
that beyond heaven and earth is the love of OUR
LADY NUIT.
And seeing that I am old and well stricken in years,
and that my natural forces fail, therefore do I rise
up i my throne and call upon THE END.
For I am youth eternal and force infinite.
ANd at THE END is SHE that was LAYLAH, and
BABALON, and NUIT, being...
[190]
COMMENTARY ({Rho})
This chapter is a sort of final Confession of Faith.
It is the unification of all symbols and all planes.
The End is expressible.
[191]
91
{Kappa-Epsilon-Phi-Alpha-Lambda-Eta Rho-Alpha}
THE HEIKLE
A. M. E. N.
COMMENTARY ({Rho-Alpha)
The "Heikle" is to be distinguished from the
"Huckle", which latter is defined in the late Sir W.S.
Gilbert's "Prince Cherry-Top".
A clear definition of the Heikle might have been
obtained from Mr Oscar Eckenstein, 34 Greencroft
Gardens, South Hampstead, London, N.W. (when
this comment was written).
But its general nature is that of a certain minute
whiteness, appearing at the extreme end of great
blackness.
It is a good title for the last chapter of this book, and
it also symbolises the eventual coming out into the light
of his that has wandered long in the darkness.
91 is the numberation of Amen.
The chapter consists of an analysis of this word, but
gives no indication as to the result of this analysis, as
if to imply this: The final Mystery is always insoluble.
FINIS.
CORONAT OPUS.
[192]
BOOKS BY ALEISTER CROWLEY
mentioned in the Commentary
The Soldier and the Hunchback ! and ? The Eqx.
I, i.
Berashith. Coll. Works, II, 233.
The Vision and The Voice (Liber 418). The Eqx.,
I, v. Reprint, Barstow, Cal., 1952, with Com-
mentary.
Liber VII (Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli). Out of
print; some reprints available.
Liber Legis. The Eqx., I, vii.
The Book of Thoth (The Tarot). London, 1944.
AHA! The Eqx., I, iii.
The Temple of Solomon the King. The Eqx.
Household Gods. Pallanza, 1912.
Liber LXI vel Causae. The Eqx., III, i.
Liber 500. Unpublished.
The World's Tragedy. Paris, 1910.
The Scorpion. The Eqx., I, vi.
The God-Eater. London, 1903.
Liber XVI. The Eqx., I, vi.
777, London 1909. Reprint with Commentary,
London, 1955.
Liber LXV. The Eqx., III, i.
Liber O (Liber VI). The Eqx., I, ii.
Konx Om Pax. London, 1907.
Book 4, part III, same as Magick in Theory and
Practice. Paris, 1929.
[193]
PRO AND CON TENTS
(dots?)
1. The Sabbath of the Goat.
2. The Cry of the Hawk.
3. The Oyster.
4. Peaches.
5. The battle of the Ants.
6. Caviar.
7. The Dinosaurs.
8. Steeped Horsehair.
9. The Branks.
10. Windlestraws.
11. The Glow-Worm.
12. The Dragon-Flies.
13. Pilgrim-Talk.
14. Onion-Peelings.
15. The Gun-Barrel.
16. The Stag-Beetle.
17. The Swan.
18. Dewdrops.
19. The Leopard and the Deer.
20. Samson.
21. The Blind Webster.
22. The Despot.
23. Skidoo!
24. The Hawk and the blindworm.
25. THE STAR RUBY.
26. The Elephant and the Tortoise.
27. The Sorcerer.
28. The Pole-Star.
29. The Southern Cross.
30. John-a-Dreams.
[194]
31. The Garotte.
32. The Mountaineer.
33. BAPHOMET.
34. THe Smoking Dog.
35. Venus of Milo.
36. THE STAR SAPPHIRE.
37. Dragons.
38. Lambskin.
39. The Looby.
40. The HIMOG.
41. Corn Beef Hash.
42. Dust-Devils.
43. Mulberry Tops.
44. THE MASS OF THE PHOENIX.
45. Chinese Music.
46. Buttons and Rosettes.
47. Windmill-Words.
48. Mome Raths.
49. WARATAH-BLOSSOMS.
50. The Vigil of St. Hubert.
51. Terrier Work.
52. The Bull-Baiting.
53. The Dowser.
54. Eaves-Droppings.
55. The Drooping Sunflower.
56. Trouble with Twins.
57. The Duck-Billed Platypus.
58. Haggai-Howlings.
59. The Tailess Monkey.
60. The Wound of Amfortas.
61. The Fool's Knot.
62. Twig?
63. Margery Daw.
64. Constancy.
65. Sic Transeat ---
66. The Praying Mantis.
67. Sodom-Apples.
68. Manna.
[195]
69. The Way to Succeed-and the Way to Suck
Eggs!
70. Broomstick-Babblings.
71. King's College Chapel.
72. Hashed Pheasant.
73. The Devil, the Ostrich, and the Orphan Child.
74. Carey Street.
75. Plover's Eggs.
76. Phaeton.
77. THE SUBLIME AND SUPREME SEPTEN-
ARY IN ITS MATURE MAGICAL MANI-
FESTATION THROUGH MATTER: AS IT
IS WRITTEN: AN HE-GOAT ALSO.
78. Wheel and-Woa!
79. The Bal bullier.
80. Blackthorn.
81. Louis Lingg.
82. Bortsch: also Imperial Purple (and A PUNIC WAR).
83. The Blind Pig.
84. The Avalanche.
85. Borborygmi.
86. TAT.
87. Mandarin-Meals.
88. Gold Bricks.
89. Unprofessional Conduct.
90. Starlight.
91. The Heikle.
Comments to Maxfield Chandler
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