Sacred texts Thelema
This is the Profit of mine Intoxication of this Holy Herb, he Grass of the Arab, that it has shewed me this Mystery (with many others) not as a new Light, for I had that aforetime, but by its swift Synthesis and Manifestation of a Long Sequence of Events in a Moment, I had Wit to analyse this Method, and to discover its Essential Law, which before had escaped the Focus of the Lens of mine Understanding. Yea, o my Son, there is no true Path of Light, save that which I have formerly made plain; yet in every Path is Profit, if thou be cunning to perceive it and to clasp it. For we win Truth oftentimes by Reflection or by the Composition and Selection of an Artist in his Presentation thereof, when else we were blind thereunto; lacking his Mode of Light. Yet were that Art of none avail unless we had already the Root of that Truth in our Nature, and a Bud ready to flower at the Summoning of that Sun. In Witness, nor a Boy nor a Stone hath Knowledge of the Sections of a Cone, and their Properties; but thou mayst teach hese to the Boy by right Presentation, because he hath in his Nature those laws of Mind that are consonant with our Art Mathematical, and hath Need only of the Fledging (I may say his) so that he apply them consciously to the Work, when all being in Truth, that is, in the necessary Relations that rule our Illusion, he cometh in Course to Apprehension.
Here then o my Son, that shall be mightier than all the Kings of the Earth, as it is prophesied, ---an thou be He--- because thou shalt establish the Law which I have given, even he Law of Thelema, here in this which I have written is a Point of Judgment in they Work to bring into the Light of Initiation such as come unto thee, affirming their Will to his Attainment. For every One hath his own Path and his own Law, and there is no Art in Magick but to seek out that Path and that Law, that he may pursue the one by the right Used of he Other. It shall be that one cometh unto thee, desiring Amen-Ra (I speak in a Figure or Exemplar) another Asi, a third Hoor-Pa-Kraat; or again, one seeketh Instruction in Obeah, and his Fellow in Wanga; and of all these not one in Ten Thousand shall be aware of his true Way. For albeit our last step is one for all, yet his next stem is particular to each. Therefore is the Preparation of a Student that seeketh Our Holy Order of A{.'.} A{.'.} most general, informing his Mind of all known Methods, so that his Will may select among these by Instinct: then after, as a Probationer, he practiseth those which he hath preferred, and by the Examination of his Record after the Period appointed thou mayst have Wisdom concerning him, to confirm him in those Ways which are shewed thereby to be germane to his True Nature.
Thus I was brought unto the Knowledge of myself in a certain secret Grace, and as a Poet, by Jerome Politt of Kendal; Oscar Eckenstein of the Mountain discovered Manhood in me, teaching me to endure Hardship, and to dare many Shapes of Death; also he nurtured me in Concentration, the Art of the Mystics, but without Lumber of Theology. Allan Bennett bestowed upon me the right Art of Magic, and Our Holy Qabalah, with a great Treasure of Learning in many Matters, but especially concerning Egypt, and Asia, the Mysteries of their Arcane Wisdom. But of Cecil Jones had I the Great Gift of the Holy Magick of Abramelin, and he inducted me into that Order which we name not, because of the Silliness of the Profane hat pretend thereto, and he brought me to the Knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel; also, he was the Herald of the Masters of the Temple when They bade me welcome o their Order, appointing a Siege for me in the City of the Pyramids, under the Night of Pan; but for three Years I was not willing to avail myself thereof. Now mark well this, o my Son, that this Path was peculiar to the law of my Star, and none other should follow me herein, or seek to follow me, for he hath his own proper Orbit. O my Son, err not by Generalisation and Conformity, for this is the very Idleness, and breedeth Ideals and Standards that are Death.
Nevertheless, this one Affliction shall touch nigh all that come to thee, and that is this great Pox of Sin, that is our Bane inherited of the Aeon of Slain Gods. Look the first of all, when any Postulant boweth before thee, whether there be not Conflict and Restriction in his Mind, and in his Will. If he deem Good and Evil to be absolute, instead of as relative o the Health of this Body, or the Weal of the Society of which he is a Member, or what not, as it may be, instruct him. Or, if he will say that he will sacrifice all for Initiation, correct him, as it is written: "but whoso gives one Particle of Dust shall lose all in that Hour." For it is Conflict if he weigh one Thing with another; and Renunciation, being sorrowful, is not worthy of Acceptance. But he must with Joy unite all he is and hath, heaping the Whole into one Billow of Love, under Will. Yea, o my son, until thou hast brought the Postulant into our Freedom from Sin, and the Sense and Conviction thereof, he is not ready for the Path of our Magick and Illumination; because every Way soever is a Going, and his Sin is an obstacle and a Fetter and an Hoodwink on every one of them, for it is Restriction, whether he set out by the Meditations of the Dhamma, or by Our Qabalah, or by Vision or Theurgy, or how else soever.
How shall a Man attain to the Trance where All is One, if he yet debate within his Mind concerning Virtue as a Thing Absolute? Thus, o my Son, there be those that are fuddled with Doubt whether Meat is to be eaten (I choose this as a Reference with Habit is proper to the Lion, as Grass to the Horse, so that his right Problem is solely thus, what is fitting to his own Nature. Or again, I suppose that he is in Vision, and an Angel, visiting him, imparteth a Truth contrary o his Prejudice, as it fell out in mine own Case, when I inhabited the Body of Sir Edward Kelly, or so do I in Part remember, as it seemeth dimly. This nevertheless is sure (or he learned Casaubon, publishing the Record of that Word with he Magician Dee, sayeth falsely) that an Angel did declare unto Kelly the very Axiomata of our Law of Thelema, in good Measure, and plainly; but Dee, afflicted by the Fixity of his Tenets that were of the Salve-Gods, was wroth, and by his Authority prevailed upon the other, who was indeed not wholly perfected as an Instrument, or the World ready for that Sowing. Consider also how in this very Life I was the Enemy of mine own Law, and wrote down "The Book of the Law" contrary o my conscious Will by the Virtue of Obedience as a Scribe, and strove constantly to escape mine own Work, and the Utterance of my Word, until by Initiation I was made All-One.
Do thou understand how few be they whose Work in this their present Lives is our Way of Initiation. Yet it is written in "The Book of the Law" that the Law is for all, so that thou shalt in no wise err if thou establish it as the formula of he Aeon, universal among Men. Also, ever for them that are fitted to advance in our Light, there is Order and Diversity in Function, as reagardeth their Work in our Sub;lime Brotherhood, Thus, it might well be that, in a Profess-House of the Temple, or College of the Holy Ghost, each Knight or Brother might severally attain Experience of every Trance, unto the Perfection of all Illumination; yet by this there ought not to arise Confusion, one usurping the appointed office of another. For the Abbot, although he be not enlightened wholly, is yet Abbot; and the Place of the Cook, were he Saint, Arhan, and Paramahamsa in one Person, is in his Kitchen. Confound not thou in any wise therefore the Degree of Attainment of any Man with his right Function in our Holy Order; for although by initiation cometh the Light, and the Right, and the Might to accomplish all Works soever, yet these are inoperative save as they are able to use a Machine which is of the same Order of Things as the Effect required. As the best Swordsman hath Need of a Sword, so hath every magician of a Body and Mind capable to the Work that he willeth; and he can do nothing, save it be proper to his Nature.
By this Understanding be they rebuked that make a Reproach o our Art, saying in their Insolence that if we have all Power, why are we betimes in Stress of Poverty, and in Contempt of men, and in Pain of Disease, and so forth, mocking us, and holding our Magick for Delusion. But they behold not our Light, how it guideth us in our Path unto a Goal that is not in their Comprehension, so that we crave not that which seemeth to them the Sole Food and Comfort of Life. Also, this which we attain, though it be the Essence of Omniscience and Omnipotence, informeth and moveth the Matherial World (so to call it) only according to the Nature of that which is herein. For the Light of the Sun (by His very Wholeness itself) sheweth a Rose Red, but a Leaf Green; and His Heat gathereth the Clouds, and disperseth them also. So I then, hough I were perfect ion Magick, might not work in Metals as a Smith, or become rich by Commerce as a Merchant; for I have not in my Nature the Engines proper to these Capacities, and herefore it is not of my will to seek to exercise them. Here hen is my Case, that I can not because I will not, and it were Conflict, should I turn thither. But let every man become perfect in his own Work, not heeding the Rebuke of another, that some Way not his own is more Noble, or Profitable, but being constant in mindfulness concerning his Business.
How shall the measure our Statue and our Success by that Cannon of Relation and Illusion, and their ignorance of our Nature? Time is but Sequence, and a moment of Light outweigheth an Age of Darkness. What is Happiness but the Issue of the Harmony of our Consciousness with our Truth, and he Conformity of Will with Action? To the Initiate is Certainty of his Fulfilment, which to the Profane is but the Effect of Hazard, and he feareth to lose what he loveth, or hinketh he loveth. But we, loving only in Light, suffer not by Fear or by Bereavement, because to us every Event is Welcome, being right, necessary and proper to our particular Path. The Knowledge of this one Matter is the End of Dread and of Regret; make it the Governor of thy Mind, to rule its Pace, lest it hasten or lag by Stress of thine Environment. How this Attainment is possible for all Mankind, since it asketh but Resolution of Complexities that already exist; so hat this true Wisdom and Happiness cometh by the Acceptance of our Law, and its Use is the Key to all locked Doors of the Mind, and the Reconcilement of every Contention. O my Son, in he Promulgation of the Law lieth the Reward of our Chief Work, the making whole of Mankind from the Conscience of Sin which divideth him, and afflicteth his Spirit.
O my Son, is it not a marvel, this Light whereof we are the Quintessence and the Seed? By it are we made Whole, dissolved in the Body and in the Soul of Our Lady Nuith even as Her Lord Hadith, so that the Gnostic Sacrament of the Cosmos is perpetually Elevated before us. We behold all that is and comprehend its Mystery, and its Order in this High Mass eternally celebrated among us, acknowledging the Perfection of he Rite, neither confusing the Parts thereof, nor discriminating in Worship between them. So unto us is every Phenomenon a Shew of Godliness, proceeding continually in a Pageant that returneth unto itself, identical in the Phase of Naught as of Many, but whirling in the Orgia of Ineffable Holiness as it were a Dance that weaveth Figures of Beauty in Variety inexhaustible. Shall the Initiate bestir him, to better so prime a Perfection? Nay, this Will that was his is accomplished; he hath attained the Summit; so without Hope or Fear he abideth, and leaveth his Vehicle of Illusion and Magical Engine, that is, as Man say, his Body and Mind, to work out their Ritual of Change without his interference. O my son, ask not to what End! As it is written in "The Book of the Heart Girt with the Serpent", concerning the Boy and the Swan: is there not joy ineffable in this aimless Winging?
Thou hast made Question of me concerning Death, and this is my Opinion, of which I say not: this is the Truth. First in he Temple called Man is the God, his Soul, or Star, individual and eternal, but also inherent in the Body of Our Lady Nuith. Now this Soul, as an Officer in the High Mass of he Cosmos, taketh on the Vesture of his Office, that is, inhabiteth a Tabernacle of Illusion, a Body and Mind. And his Tabernacle is Subject to the Law of Change, for it is complex, and diffuse reacting to every Stimulus or Impression. If then the mind be attached constantly to the Body, Death hath no Power to decompose it wholly, but a decaying Shell of he dead Man, his Mind holding together for a little his Body of Light, haunteth the Earth, seeking a new Tabernacle (in its Error that feareth Change) in some other Body. These Shells are broken away utterly from the Star that did enlighten them, and they are Vampires, obsessing them that adventure hemselves into the Astral World without Magical Protection, or invoke them, as do the Spiritists. For by Death is Man released only from the Gross Body, at the first, and is complete otherwise upon the Astral Plane, as he was in his Life. But this Wholeness suffereth Stress, and its Girders are loosened, the weaker first and after that the stronger.
Consider now in this Light what shall come to the Adept, to him that hath aspired constantly and firmly to his Star, attuning the Mind unto the Musick of its Will. In him, if his Mind be knit perfectly together is itself, and conjoined with he Star, is so strong a Confection that it breaketh away easily not only from the Gross Body, but the fine. It is this Fine Body which bindeth it to the Astral, as did the Gross to he Material World so then it accomplisheth willingly the Sacrament of a second Death and leaveth the Body of Light. But the Mind, cleaveth closely, by Right of its Harmony, and Might of its Love, to its Star, resisteth the Ministers of Disruption, for a Season, according to its Strength. Now, if his Star be of those that are bound by the Great Oath, incarnating without Remission because of Delight in the Cosmic Sacrament, it seeketh a new Vehicle in the appointed Way, and indwelleth the Foetus of a Child, and quickeneth it. And if at this Time the mind of its Former Tabernacle yet cling to it, then is there Continuity Character, and it may be Memory between the two Vehicles. This is, briefly and without Elaboration, the Way of Asar in Amenti, according to mine Opinion, of which I say not: This is the Truth.
Now then to this Doctrine, o my Son, add thou that which hou hast learned in "The Book of the Law", that Death is the Dissolution in the Kiss of Our Lady Nuith. This is a true Consonance as of Bass with Treble for here is the Impulse that setteth us to Magick, the Pain of the Conscious Mind. Having hen Wit to find the Cause of this Pain in the Sense of Separation, and its Cessation by the Union of Live, it is the Summit of our Holy Art to present the whole Being of our Star o Our Lady in the Nuptial of our Bodily Death. We are then o make our whole Engine the true and real Appurtenance of our Force, without Leak, or Friction, or any other Waste or Hindrance to its Action. Thou knowest well how an Horse, or even a Machine propelled by a Man's feet, becometh as it were as Extension of the Rider, though his Skill and Custom. Thus let thy Star have profit of thy Vehicle, assimilating it, and sustaining it, so that it be healed of its Separation, and his even in Life, but most especially in Death. Also thou oughtest to increase thy Vehicle in Mass by true Growth in Balance, that thou be a Bridegroom comely and wellfavoured, a Man of might, and a Warrior worthy of the Bed of so divine a Dissolution.
There is a certain Objection, o my Son, to our Thesis concerning Will that it should flow freely in its Way: namely hat for such as I am it is well, because I am endowed by Nature with a Lust insatiable in any Kind, so that the Universe itself seemeth incapable to appease it. For I have poured myself out unceasingly, in Bodily Passion, and in Battles with Men, and with Wild Beasts, and with Mountains and Deserts, and in Poetry and other Writings of the Musick of mine Imagination, and in Books of our own Mysteries, and in Works Magical, and so forth, so that in Mine Age I am become verily a Slave to mine own Genius and my Law is that unless I sleep or create, my Soul is sick, and fain to claim the Reward and the Recreation of my Death. But (I hear thee say it) this is not the Case of All, or even of many Men; but their Act of Will is satisfied easily at its first Guerdon. Should not hen their Wisdom be to resist themselves for a Space, as Water heaped up by a Dam gathereth Force, and Hunger feedeth upon Abstinence? Also, there is that which I have written in a former Chapter of the right Use of Discipline; and thirdly, his free Flowing is without Subtility of Art, as it were an Harlot that plucketh Men by the Sleeve.
Here therefore will I write down the Answer to this Indictment of our Wisdom; that every Act of Will is to be made in its Perfection, which State is to be attained according to hese Conditions: firs, those of its own Law; second, those of its Environment. Judge thine own Case individually, each as it pleadeth; for there is no Cannon or Code, since every Star hath its own Law diverse from every other. Now there is the Restraint of Conflict which is Impotance and Disruption; the he Restraint of Discipline is a Fortification of the Will by Repose and by Preparation, as a Conqueror resteth his Armies, and feedeth them, and looketh to their Furniture and to their Spirit, before he joineth the Battle. Also, there is the Restraint of Art, which includeth that other of Discipline, and its Nature is to adorn the Will and to admire its Strength and its Beauty, and to enjoy its Victory by Anticipation in full Confidence, not fearful of Time that robbeth them that are ignorant concerning him, how he is but Mirage and Illusion, incapable to besiege the Fortress of the Soul. Work hou thy Will, as I said aforetime by the Mouth of Eliphas Levi Zahed, knowing thyself Omnipotent, and thine Habitation Eternity. O my Son, attend well this Word, for it is an Heirloom, and a Ring of Ruby and Emerald in thine Inheritance.
Subtler than the Serpent of Hermes, o my Son, is this Way of Restraint of Art, and thou shalt meet therein with the God Pan, and have him to thy Playmate. So shalt thou devise Comedy and Tragedy, as it were Settings for the Jewel of thy Will, to enhance the Beauty thereof, and to refine thy Pleasures. This is that which is written in "The Book of the Law": "... Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety herein! But exceed! exceed!" Thus thou mayst even toy with hy tamed Devil of Sin, and use the Pain thereof to sharpen he taste of thy Meat, being Adult, and thy Tongue keen to the Olive, and cloyed by the Sweet, while a Child is opposite to his in his Preference; or as a skilled Match of Love aboundeth in Pinchings, Slappings, Bitings and the like, to intensify the Bout and to prolong it. But this is Risk and Peril unless thou be wholly Master, one in thy Will; for there is Poison in these dead Snakes, to destroy thee if thou lend hem of thy Life by so little as one Doubt of thyself, as a Seed of Division.
In this Mystery of the Restraint of Art is also the Secret of Illusion. Why, sayest thou, hath not Our Lady Nuith her Will of Her Lord Hadith, and He of Her, and so all ended? But his is the Play of Her Love, that She veileth Her Beauty in he Robe of Illusion many-coloured, and evadeth Him in Sport, yea, and divorceth Him from the Embrace, weaving new Modesties and allurements in Her Dance. Now, o my Son, the full Comprehension of this Arcanum is the Fruit of Contemplation, if this be prepared by the Experience of this Art in thine own Case. But to them that understand not, and have Grief and Separation, being deceived by this Play so that they deem it he Division of Hate, She can but speak in Simplicity by that Word written in "The Book of the Law": "To me!" For until thou love, the Play of Love is but Emptiness; and its cruelty is Cruelty indeed, except thou know it to be but a Sauce to wet Appetite, and to give Emphasis of Contrast, as a Painter dimmeth the Light by Cunning of his Shadows. But all this Delight that thou mayst have of the Universe both in its Veils and in its Nakedness is a Reward of thine Attainment of Truth, and followeth after it. Nor canst thou comprehend this Doctrine by Mind, for the Division in thee crieth aloud in its Agony, denying it, unless thou be wholly Initiate.
O my Son, this Sin itself that is our Disease is but Misunderstanding of the Art of Love of Our Lady Nuith. Yea, verily, it is all a Trick of Her Wit, and a Device of Her Delight, that Sin should appear, and also (Mark thou well!) he Misapprehension of its Nature. Therefore the Pain of any Sinner in his Division and His Separation is to Her a little Spasm of Pleasure. But as for him, let him apprehend this Doctrine, and dissolve himself in Her Love. Thou then, being Initiate and Illuminated in this Truth, mayst accept thine own Sorrow, or rather that of thy Vehicle, as Lackey to the Joy hat thou hast in thy True Self, the Star among the Stars of Her Body. The Adept of our Art is not compassionate concerning Sin, in his own Vehicle or another's, unless the Healing thereof were proper to his Will, for he is aware of he whole Truth of the Matter. So goeth he upon his Way, and ighteneth not a Rein upon the Horses of the Universe, but is content, beholding the Speed of their Course. Verily, o my Son, it is well written in the Book of the Magus that it is he Curse of my Grade that I must needs preach my Law unto Men. For I am afflicted in my Tabernacle on this Count, but in my Self, I rejoice, and join in the Laughter of Her love.
Behold, how comfortable is this thy Wisdom, wherein I have resolved every Conflict soever that is or that can be, even in all dimensions, that Antagonism of Things no less than their Limitations. I have said: Evil be thou my Good; for it is the Magical Mirror of Our Astarte and the Caduceus of our Hermes. Now this was the Error of Elder Philosophers, that perceiving Changeful Duality as the Cause of Sorrow, they sought the Reconcilement in Unity and in Stability. But I shew thee the Universe as the Body of Our Lady Nuith, who is None and Two, with Hadith Her Lord as the Alternator of those Phases. This Universe is then a perpetual By-coming, the Vessel of every Permutation of infinity, wherein every Phenomenon is a Sacrament, Change being the act of Love, and Duality the Condition prodromal to that Act even as an Axe must be taken back from a Cedar that it may deliver its Stroke. The Error herefore of thee Philosophers lay in their false Assumption hat Bliss, Knowledge and Being (the Qualities of their Changeless Unity) could be States. O my Son, how pitiful is heir Beggary, these Paupers of Sense and of Experience and of Observation! The Emptiness of their Bellies was it that bred Phantoms of Ideal, so that they sought Joy by a crude Denial of what Truth (or rather, Fact) they had perceived concerning he Universe, so that they set up an Idol of Death for their God, in very Rage of Hatred against the Sum of their own Selves.
These Philosophers, or shall I not say Misosophers and Pseudo-Sophists, have been hard put to it to explain the Mystery of the Existence of their Evil. They have cried, frothing with Words, the Evil is Illusion. But if so, that Illusion is Evil, whence came it, and to what End? If their Devil created it, who created that Devil? All their contention resolveth to this Dilemma of Change in a Changeless, Falsity in a True, Hate in a Loving, Weakness in an Almighty, Duality in a Simple, Being as they define their God. Nor do they see that they restrict their God (whom yet hey would have to be All) by admitting Opposites to this Nature, ever when they sum these Opposites as Illusion, since Illusion is the Denial of His Truth. But the Indians, seeing his, seek Escape by denying all Duality soever to their God, or True State, I speak of Parabrahaman and of Nibbana, thus in any Reality of Thought rather denying Him or It than destroying Illusion. But in our Light we have no Need of any Denial, and accept all, yea Illusion itself, discriminating only in our Minds between Phenomena by Comparison with some convenient Standard, for the Purpose of maintaining the Order of our Conceptions in Respect of the Relation of any Being with its Environment.
So do thou apprehend this Wisdom, o my Son, laying it to hine Heart, as a Mistress, and hiding it in the Treasury of hy Mind as a Jewel of Enlightenment. Consider a Dream, how it is unreal in Respect of thine Experience of the Objects of hy Waking Sense, but real also, both as it did in Fact impress thy Mind, and as it did express some Hunger of thy Secret Nature, as I have already shewed in this Letter. Consider the Play of the Chess, how its Law hath made for itself a Language and a Literature, yet it is but an arbitrary invention; without impinging (save as it operateth though Pleasure and interest upon Minds) on any other Sphere soever of the Universe. Equally, Things called (vulgarly) Real and Material exist in the Universe of our Consciousness only by he Apprehension of their Images in mind through Sense; as, how is Colour Real or Material to a blind may or a Law mathematical true to a man that is imbecile or demented? All hings therefore exist in one form or another; but the Reality of any, though in itself absolute, is in regard of its Relation with any other thing dependent upon the Intercourse and Language between them, conscious or unconscious. Consider Azote, that hath nigh Four Parts in Five of the Air, how it is not real to the Perception of any human Sense, but yet most real to our Lungs, diluting the Oxygen, by whose Love we were else violently combust.
My son, long did I await thee, yearning, and with Price and Great Gladness did I bid thee Welcome to my City of the Pyramids, under the Night of Pan. Now then in my dear Love of hee will I reveal this Secret of Wisdom which I wrote occultly in my last Chapter, in these Words: All Things Exist. Considered by right Understanding, this is to deny hat there is anything imaginable or unimaginable which doth not exist. That is, the Body of Our Lady Nuith hath no Limit, and there is no void that She filleth not with the Variety and Beauty of Her Stars in Her Space. Nor is there any one Law of her Nature, but in Her are all Laws, so that each Thing or each Truth that thou perceiveth is as it were one Gesture of Her Dance. Shut up the Book of thy Questions, o my Son, concerning nature, Her Way, Her Origin, or Her Purpose, except in those Matters which concern thee and thine own Orbit, o hou Star, begotten of my Loins in my Lust of Hilarion, the Golden Rose, mystic and Joyous, the Lily of a Thousand Petals and One Petal, subtle and perverse, that thou mightest fulfil his Work of a Magus which I cam to accomplish, robing myself in Flesh of man, as was my Nature and the Will of my Nature, he Name of my Star that flameth in the Body of Nuith our Lady.
Behold, I draw unto the End of this Discourse of Wisdom, as a Ship that hath adventured upon Ocean, from whose mast the Watcher espieth in the Dimness of the Horizon a Point of Snow, being the Peak of a great Mountain that is Guardian of the Harbour, the Term of that Voyage. So now do I commit thee wholly unto thyself, for I exist not in thine Universe, save in my Relation with thee, wherefore this Part of me is in Truth thou rather than I. Yet do thou treasure this Letter, for it is mine especial Gift, and hath Radiance of the Light of my Wisdom, and flameth, being the Blood of my Love of thee and of Mankind. Also, it is the Word of my Will, the Charter of the Liberty of my Soul, and thine, and that of every Man, and every Woman; for we are Stars, O my Son, for many Days was I silent, until thou wast fearful lest thou hadst, by Ignorance or by Inadvertance, enkindled the Fire of my Wrath. But I spake not, because I knew in my Wisdom that thou must pass a certain Ordeal of thine Initiation by thine own Virtue. For this Cause I held aloof; but in my Love I made a Beginning of this Letter, beholding thy triumph beforehand; and with Prescience, divining thy next Need, that is to say, this Book of the Words of my Wisdom.
O my Son, in this Letter have I written the Name of my own Nature, its Law, its Quality, its Will and its Appurtenance or Ornament. For it is the Child of my Love toward thee, and the Expression through mine Art of my Will so far as that regardeth thee. Now every Child is made of the Essence of his Father, so that every Creation is a Likeness or image of the Creator, but modified by the Mother, that is to say, the Material whereon he begetteth it. So then this Letter is a Projection of mine own Star in a Mirror, to wit, mine Idea in hy Regard; and it shall be unto thee as a clear Vision of thy Father, and of the Word of the Aeon that he hath uttered unto Man. But also, because this Word is the Formula of the Aeon, hat is the Law of its Changes or Phenomena, the Equation that expresseth its Energy and its Motion, it shall serve every Man in his Measure as a Text-Book or Comment upon the Theorick and Praxis of Magick. By it may he discover his true Nature, and its Will, and apply his Force and his Intelligence to the right Fulfilment thereof. It shall be a beacon to enlighten him, to comfort him, and to direct him; and it shall be a Witness and Memorial of my Word and of my Work, as of mine Attainment unto Wisdom.
There is not one Word in this Letter that is not writ with mine own Hand and Style, slowly and heedfully (as is contrary with my custom) being the Fruit of the Tree of my Mediation, well-ripened by the Sun of mine Illumination. With much Toil have I done this, being oftentimes seated without Motion save of the Hands, while Earth rolled from Twilight unto Twilight, so that my Body became cold and rigid, even as is a Corpse. Also, in the Intervals of this Scripture, have I been given to Contemplation and to Works of High Magick, notably the Mass of he Holy Ghost, in the Concentration of my Will to impart this Wisdom unto thee, and to reveal the Mysteries of Truth. Now of all these this is the Root, that Truth is not fixed with he Rigour of Death, but vital with Lust of Change, and enflamed with the Love of its opposite. Thus even Falsehood is not alien to Truth, for the Perfection of Nature comprehendeth all. But all these Things are written in "The Book of the Law", after which do I limp painfully; afar off, upon the poor Crutch of mine Understanding of its Word; yea, I am well assured that in that Book are writ all Things soever; but we, being mostly without Wit are not able to distinguish hem. For the Stature of Aiwass is beyond our Measure, seeing hat he was able to comprehend the whole Mystery of Nuith and of Hadith, and yet to declare Their Message in the Language of Man.
O my Son, in this the Colophon of my Epistle will I recall he Title and Superscription thereof; that is, "The Book of Wisdom or Folly". I proclaim Blessing and Worship to Nuith Our Lady and Her Lord Hadith, for the Miracle of the Anatomy of he Child Ra-Hoor-Khuit, as it is shewn in the Design Minutum Mundum, the Tree of Life. For though Wisdom be the Second Emanation of his Essence, there is a Path to separate and to join them, the Reference thereof being Aleph, that is One indeed, but also an Hundred and Eleven in his full Orthography; to signify the Most Holy Trinity, and by Metathesis it is Thick Darkness, and Sudden Death. This is also the Number of AUM, which is AMOUN, and the Root-Sound of OMNE, or, in Greek, PAN, and it is a Number of the Sun. Yet is the Atu of Thoth that correspondeth thereunto marked with ZERO, and its Name is MAT, whereof I have spoken formerly, and its Image is the Fool. O my Son, gather thou all these Limbs ogether in One Body, and breathe upon it with thy Spirit, hat it may live; then do thou embrace it with Lust of they Manhood, and go in unto it, and know it; so shall ye be One Flesh. Now at last in the Reinforcement and Ecstasy of this Consummation thou shalt with by what Inspiration thou didst choose thy Name in the Gnosis, I mean PARZIVAL, "der reine Thor", the True Knight that won Kingship in Monsalvat, and made whole the Wound of Amfortas, and ordered Kundry to right Service, and regained the Lance, and revived the Miracle of he Sangral; yea also upon himself did he accomplish his Work in the End: "Hochsten Heiles Wunder! Erlosung dem Erloser !" This is the last Word of the Song that thine Uncle Richard Wagner made for Worship of this Mystery. Understand thou this, o my son, as I ake leave of thee in this Epistle, that the Summit of Wisdom is the opening of the Way that leadeth unto theCrown and Essence of all, to the Soul of the Child Horus, the Lord of he Aeon. This Way is the Path of the Pure Fool. Amoun.
And who is this Pure Fool? Lo, in the Sagas of Old Time, Legend of Scald, of Brad, of Druid, cometh He not in Green Like Spring? O thou Great Fool, thou Water that art Air, in whom all Complex is resolved! Yes, thou in ragged Raiment, with the Staff of Priapus and the Wineskin! thou standest up on the Crocodile, like Hoor-pa-Kraat; and the Great Cat leapeth upon thee! Yea, and more also I have known Thee who Thou art, Bacchus Diphues, none and two, in thy Name IAO ! Now at the End of all do I come to the Being of Thee, beyond By-coming, and I cry aloud my Word, as it was given unto Man by thine Uncle Alcofribas Masior, the Oracle of the Bottle of BACBUC, and this Word is TRINC.
Love is the law, love under will.
666.
AN XIV
{Sun} in {Aries}
{Moon} in {Aries}