Breaking The Oncoming Storm

"Break, break, break

At the foot of thy stones, O Sea!

And I would that I could utter

The thoughts that arise in me!"

You're so Good;

Baby, there ain't 

nobody better — 

(Ain't nobody better —)

So you should,

Never, ever go 

by The Letter 

(Never, ever —)

You're so cool —

(Cool! —)

Everything You 

Do is Success — 

(Oooh-ooh-ooh —)

Make The Rules; 

(Rules!) then, 

Break them all, 'cause 

You are The Best —

(Yes, You are! 

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary RE-EDIT | The Star Beast Opening

  THE BOOK OF LIES ------- Aliester Crowley

 

     March 21st, 1992 e.v. key entry by Frater E.A.D.N., San Diego,

     California.

 

     ---needs minor proof reading

     (c) O.T.O. disk 1 of 1

 

     O.T.O.

     Ouroboros Camp

     El Cajon, CA

     USA

 

     Pages in the original are marked thus at the bottom: [page number]

     Comments and descriptions are also set off by ().

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            THE BOOK OF LIES

 

                            Aliester Crowley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            THE BOOK OF LIES

                         WHICH IS ALSO FALSELY

                                CALLED

 

                                BREAKS

 

                   THE WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATIONS

                         OF THE ONE THOUGHT OF

 

                           FRATER PERDURABO

                          (Aleister Crowley)

 

                        WHICH THOUGHT IS ITSELF

                                UNTRUE

 

                               A REPRINT

            with an additional commentary to each chapter.

 

                         "Break, break, break

                  At the foot of thy stones, O Sea!

                    And I would that I could utter

                    The thoughts that arise in me!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           (OPPOSITE: Photo of FRATER PERDURABO on his ass.)

                        COMMENTARY (Title Page)

 

        The number of the book is 333, as implying Dispersion, so as to correspond with the title, "Breaks"

     and "Lies".

        However, the "one thought is itself untrue", and

      therefore its falsifications are relatively true.

        This book therefore consists of statements as nearly

      true as is possible to human language.

        The verse from Tennyson is inserted partly because

      of the pun on the word "break"; partly because of the

      reference to the meaning of this title page, as explained

      above; partly because it is intensely amusing for

      Crowley to quote Tennyson.

        There is no joke or subtle meaning in the publisher's

      imprint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               FOREWORD

 

       THE BOOK OF LIES, first published in London

     in 1913, Aleister Crowley's little master work, has

     long been out of print.  Its re-issue with the author's

     own Commentary gives occasion for a few notes.  We

     have so much material by Crowley himself about this

     book that we can do no better that quote some

     passages which we find scattered about in the un-

     published volumes of his "CONFESSIONS."  He

     writes:

       "...None the less, I could point to some solid

     achievement on the large scale, although it is com-

     posed of more or less disconnected elements.  I refer

     to THE BOOK OF LIES.  In this there are 93 chapters:

     we count as a chapter the two pages filled re-

     respectively with a note of interrogation and a mark of

     exclamation.  The other chapters contain sometimes a

     single word, more frequently from a half-dozen to

     twenty paragraphs.  The subject of each chapter is

     determined more or less definitely by the Qabalistic

     import of its number.  Thus Chapter 25 gives a revised

     ritual of the Pentagram; 72 is a rondel with the refrain

     ~Shemhamphorash', the Divine name of 72 letters;

     77 Laylah, whose name adds to that number; and

     80, the number of the letter Pe, referred to Mars, a

     panegyric upon War.  Sometimes the text is serious

     and straightforward, sometimes its obscure oracles

     demand deep knowledge of the Qabalah for inter-

     pretation, others contain obscure allusions, play

     upon words, secrets expressed in cryptogram, double

     or triple meanings which must be combined in order

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  [5]

     to appreciate the full flavour; others again are

     subtly ironical or cynical.  At first sight the book is a

     jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader.  It

     requires infinite study, sympathy, intuition and

     initiation.  Given these I do not hesitate to claim that

     in none other of my writings have I given so pro-

     found and comprehensive an exposition of my

     philosophy on every plane...."

       "...My association with Free Masonry was there-

     fore destined to be more fertile that almost any other

     study, and that in a way despite itself.  A word should

     be pertinent with regard to the question of secrecy.

     It has become difficult for me to take this matter

     very seriously.  Knowing what the secret actually is,

     I cannot attach much importance to artificial

     mysteries.  Again, though the secret itself is of such

     tremendous import, and though it is so simple that

     I could disclose it...in a short paragraph, I might

     do so without doing much harm.  For it cannot be used

     indiscriminately...I have found in practice that the

     secret of the O.T.O. cannot be used unworthily...."

       "It is interesting in this connection to recall how it

     came into my possession.  It had occurred to me to

     write a book `THE BOOK OF LIES, WHICH IS

     ALSO FALSELY CALLED BREAKS, THE

     WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATION OF THE

     THOUGHT OF FRATER PERDURABO WHICH

     THOUGHT IS ITSELF UNTRUE. . . .'  One of

     these chapters bothered me.  I could not write it.  I

     invoked Dionysus with particular fervour, but still

     without success.  I went off in desperation to `change

     my luck', by doing something entirely contrary to

     my inclinations.  In the midst of my disgust, the

     spirit came over me, and I scribbled the chapter

     down by the light of a farthing dip.. When I read it

     over, I was as discontented as before, but I stuck it

     into the book in a sort of anger at myself as a

     deliberate act of spite towards my readers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  [6]

       "Shortly after publication, the O.H.O. (Outer

     Head of the O.T.O.) came to me.  (At that time I did

     not realise that there was anything in the O.T.O.

     beyond a convenient compendium of the more

     important truths of Free Masonry.)  He said that since

     I was acquainted with the supreme secret of the

     Order, I must be allowed the IX {degree} and obligated in

     regard to it.  I protested that I knew no such secret.

     He said `But you have printed it in the plainest

     language'.  I said that I could not have done so

     because I did not know it.  He went to the book-

     shelves; taking out a copy of THE BOOK OF LIES, he

     pointed to a passage in the despised chapter.  It

     instantly flashed upon me.  The entire symbolism not

     only of Free Masonry but of many other traditions

     blazed upon my spiritual vision.  From that moment

     the O.T.O. assumed its proper importance in my

     mind.  I understood that I held in my hands the key

     to the future progress of humanity...."

       The Commentary was written by Crowley prob-

     ably around 1921.  The student will find it very

     helpful for the light it throws on many of its passages.

 

                                        The Editors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  [7]

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     *                                                          *

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     {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.