The Vision and the Voice

[2] See Liber AL vel Legis, II, v. 7: "I am the Magician and the Exorcist." (The language alone is reminiscent of a Golden Dawn document entitled, "Z-2.") "I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle." (The Book of the Law is to be found in The Equinox of the Gods, also in Gems from the Equinox, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minn. There is a cheap paper back edition published by Xeno Publications, North Hollywood, Calif., 1967.)

[3] North: Destruction — the Old Formula is abrogated. (In the Golden Dawn Neophyte Ceremony the North is the station of the Stolistes, the Cupbearer in the North, to symbolize Cold and Moisture. Furthermore, in Book T, p.221, Vol. 4, Golden Dawn, Mathers wrote, "The Northern Pole, and Kether of the Material Planet — even of our Erthe, earth — lookth constantly unto Binah, for as much as she is under sorrow and suffering." Saturn is attributed to Binah, and one of the meanings of Saturn under such considerations is sorrow, death and destruction.

[4] AMBZ = Taurus, Aquarius, Aries, Leo. The forthsaying of the New Aeon. (No doubt the book is equated with The Book of the Law, but under the circumstance the meaning of the letters is not sufficiently clarified.)

[5] See Liber AL vel Legis, III, v. 71. "Hail! ye twin warriors about the pillars of the world! for your time is nigh at hand." See also the 1st Aethyr, named LIL. (But the two Pillars are basic items of the Golden Dawn Temple, as arranged for the Neophyte Grade — thus it is a Microcosm of the Macrocosm.)

[6] Saturn is attributed in the Sepher Yetzirah to the letter Tau which has a numerical value of 400. Saturn is also attributed to Binah on the Tree of Life, with Death being one of its several meanings. Death is also the name of a Tarot Trump attributed to the Hebrew letter נ which is 50. The two added together make 450 which in the Greek alphabet is NU, representing Nuit, the Queen of the Stars.

[7] Represents the formula of drawing to a point; whence blooms erect a triple triad.

[8] East: the station of the Hierophant in the Neophyte Ceremony holding the banner of the morning light, which is the Banner of the East. He is also called power and mercy and abundance and he is the expounder of the Mysteries — therefore an Adept. Adepts: cleansed of their blood and brought to Light = there is a way to Light through giving up one's blood (or the ego). See 12th Aethyr.

[9] ABFMA = Taurus, Aries, Cauda Draconis, Aquarius and Taurus — the Opening of the New Aeon. The East represents the rising of the Light, the process of illumination, and so of the New Aeon of the Sun. (Horus has taken his place in the East.)

[10] Symbolism of the Cup of BABALON. (This theme is elaborated in later notes on the subsequent Aethyrs.)

[11] This refers to Kether = Horus.

[12] South: Silence. Marriage in Binah. This leads to the rapture of the ineffable union. Closing of the Old Aeon. (The South represents the station of the Dadouchos who carries the fire and censer — represents the Sun at its highest point, at noon.)

[13] The Swastika has 17 squares out of the 25 of the Magical Square of Mars — the Pentagram, or the human square. It is also Aleph (to which the Swastika is attributed) Harpocrates, Bacchus Diphues, Parzival, etc., the Pure Fool, the Wanderer, who weds the King's daughter. (I know of no better exposition of this theme than in Crowley's book on the Tarot, The Book of Thoth, Weiser, New York, 1969.) The square of 25 squares is really a 5 x 5 figure. See 29th Aethyr, Note 7.

[14] Means the Stooping Dragon (See 4° = 7^□ Ritual of the Golden Dawn.

[15] West: Fate (refusing initiation). The alternative is despair, of loneliness. (In the Neophyte Ritual, the West is the Station of the Hierus who is a symbol of the "increase of Darkness and decreas of Light and I am the Master of Darkness.")

[16] AN = Taurus and Scorpio. In Hebrew the letters אן mean Pain; also, by reversing the letters, נא = Failure. (See Sepher Sephiroth in Equinox VIII for a long list of Hebrew words classified according to their gematria, that is their numerical value, abstracted from the Zohar and the Old Testament.) These two letters added together equal 51 which is 3 x 17. Note the three vibrations as spoiling the ideas of 17 (AIO = יאו). The doom of the Old Aeon.

[17] Scorpio = נ = Fish = Jesus. The common symbol of Jesus is that of a fish, Ichthus. (The apostles were known as fishers of men.)

[18] Tetragrammaton, the blind forces of the Four Elements, bind the uninitiate. (To each letter of YHVH, one of the four letters is attributed in the Golden Dawn teaching.) He may attain to the Pentagram = Yeheshuah, the Man-master of those Elements (referred to the 5° = 6^□ grade). But he cannot reach Seven = BABALON (see the Sigil of the A∴A∴) for she is "lone and far", that is beyond the Abyss.

[2] In the East. The Eagle-Angel covering the heavens thus represents the immediate future, and this is dark, bewildering and terrifying.

[3] Leo. This is the Beast 666, as yet unprepared for his Work. But already (1900 era vulgarum) he was dreaded by his fellow magicians. South: Proper place of the Sun in his Strength.

[4] The Bull is Osiris or Jesus. He complains of the terrible things that are happening, especially the freedom (which he thinks shameless) of woman — a foreshadowing of the current feminist liberation movement. He does not understand the New Aeon, or that he is about to be destroyed. He is in the West, that is going into oblivion — the place of the setting sun. Note the previous references to West in the 30th Aethyr.

[5] The severest aspect of Justice, Libra. Saturn, black and stern, is exalted in Libra.

[6] Nuit — the world of the Stars. See The Equinox of the Gods for an elaboration of her place in this new Theogony.

[7] The LVX Cross hidden in the Swastika is probably the arcanum here connoted. The Swastika has 17 squares. IAO adds to 17 and, by the Golden Dawn formula, discloses LVX, the Light of the Cross. (See the Introduction to the 2nd edition of The Golden Dawn, Vol 2. This Cross on the Mars Square or Kamea adds to 65 which, according to the Sepher Sephiroth (Equinox VIII), is the number of Adonai, the Hebrew words shone or glorified = ha-Yekal = 65 Heh and Samech, a verb meaning "keep silence." Swastika itself adds to 231 = 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 21; the 21 Tarot keys. The cubical Swastika regarded as composed of this LVX Cross and the arms has a total of 78 faces — the number of Mezla (the influence descending from Kether through the Paths to Malkuth and the Tarot cards.)

[8] This is but the beginning of a sort of hymn. It was never written down — the Seer being unable to hear it properly. These four lines are, in fact, probably incorrect — certainly incomplete. There are four more lines which he failed to hear, for fear of getting them wrong.

[9] ד in Hebrew means a door or gateway. ד is referred to Venus (the door in the vault of the Adepts in the 5° = 6^□ ceremony of the Golden Dawn) as well as to the highest reciprocal Path on the Tree of Life. It separates the lower Sephiroth from the Supernals and is therefore the gate to the Highest.)

[10] This note, written before invoking the 29^th Aethyr, represents a crude and imperfect view. It is retained so as to show how very inadequate was the understanding of the Seer at this time; therefore the immense superiority of the communicating Intelligences and their separate individual consciousness.

[11] Query: November? See Note 10. Some discrepancy in Crowley's recollection of when the first two visions in Mexico were obtained.

[12] See Equinox VII, pp. 242-3, now reproduced in Gems from the Equinox and in the Enochian section of Vol. 4 of The Golden Dawn.

[2] Opal = rainbow = Sagittarius.

[3] (We might as well get used in the beginning to Crowley's terminology. Where other authorities speak of the Tarot Trumps, or the Major Arcana, Crowley uses the Egyptian word Atu. He is consistent in this usage, and for this reason the word is retained rather than to alter it needlessly throughout the commentary to Tarot Trump.)

[4] 19 = Angel L.T.D. of Sagittarius. (L.T.D. means Lord of the Triplicity by Day. In this case it is אהוז = Ahooz = 19. This is one of the several occasions when Liber 777 must be consulted for specific information.)

[5] 19 = Dayah — דיה‎, meaning, "was black."

[6] References to Binah.

[7] Cheth = Fence. Spell this letter as Cheth, Yod, Tau, and it becomes literally a fence. Its number is 418 — a very meaningful number to Crowley, representing the Great Work itself. It depicts the Adept in his chariot drawn by a black and white sphinx, the reconciliation and union of the two opposites.

[8] Binah = Eve. 19 is the great glyph of the feminine, because it relates to the gematria (numerology) of Eve, the first woman in Genesis (as indicated in note 1) and therefore equates with Babalon.

[9] Tau = Time = Saturn = Binah.

[10] That is, must attain to 8° = 3^□ which refers to Binah, the sphere of Saturn and, of course, of sorrow and bitterness.

[11] All are references to Binah.

[12] Binah absorbs all, as black (Saturn) absorbs all colors.

[13] Binah destroys knowledge. (It is above Daath — knowledge.)

[14] (This is another of the innumerable sets of correspondences having their roots in Golden Dawn symbolism. See the essay "On Man, the Microcosm" in Vol I. Golden Dawn, presumably written by Mathers.)
Hands: Mercury, for hand is י, Virgo. Also the two hands are the twin serpents. Eyes: Sun and Moon. The positive and negative, executive currents of the Logos. Nostrils: Mars and Venus. The mouth attributed to Mercury in the usual system, cannot be used in this phrase; for the mouth is one, not two, being the Logos. ears: Jupiter and Saturn. Itself. The Logos is essentially an unity, although manifested through vibration. It is therefore not destroyed with the other objects of knowledge, though its dual modes of expression, the hands, are no longer known apart.

[15] See Liber AL vel Legis, III, v. 72.

[16] The elements are hidden in Binah.

[17] In the light of the Cry of LOE, this passage seems to mean precisely the opposite of its apparent meaning. The whole cry from "Let me dwell" on the preceding page, is an invocation of Binah. It is a foreshadowing of the mysteries of the Crossing of the Abyss.

[19] Binah or Nuit = Draco, the Dragon.

[20] See the 14th and 13th Aethyrs.

[21] See the 10th Aethyr. These statements are prophetic.

[22] Tiphareth and the sign of Osiris risen, which is the basic theme of the 5° = 6^□ (Adeptus Minor grade, The Order of the R.C.)

[23] Prophetic of the 8° = 3^□ attainment. The pillar is phallic, and the salt is the Alchemical Salt of Binah, the Great Sea. See also Liber LXV, The Holy Books, Cap. V, vv. 5, 23, 25. (Sangreal Foundation, Dallas, 1970).

[24] The completed system of attainment which is made by the 7° = 4^□, Adeptus Exemptus.

[25] The 8° = 3^□ may devise a new system of Qabalah.

[26] One cannot become 8° = 3^□ merely by intellectual manipulations.

[28] The four elements unharmonized break up into Choronzon, the Demon of the Abyss.

[29] Further reference to Binah.

[30] Binah.

[31] Typical gesture of Binah.

[32] The general attribution of this Aethyr is to the Tarot Trump or Atu XVII attributed to the Star (Heh not Tzaddi as before).

[33] Binah being gone, the Seer descends to his normal place in Tiphareth.

[2] Possibly the traditional green of the huntress.

[3] Color of Venus.

[4] The green of Venus is perhaps the natural veil of Luna, her external show. (Silver is Luna in Queen Scale.)

[5] For Luna is Virgin, and the Path of Gimel, the Moon, crosses the wilderness of the Abyss.

[6] Diana Trivia is thus described. She is the High Priestess and the Lady of Heaven. She is the virgin goddess of pure love; and she is also Hecate, the waning Moon, presiding over witchcraft. (See Crowley's notes concerning Venus and Luna on page 63 of the second revised edition of Liber 777.)

[7] Virgo — the Tarot Trump IX — the Hermit. (Virgo is opposite Pisces in the Zodiac.)

[8] The Jackals of the Atu XVIII — the Moon.

[9] Luna = ג‎ = 3. Cerberus has three heads.

[10] For Luna is the sensorium; she reflects man's spiritual state in terms of sensuous experiences.

[11] That is, when shall the coefficients of the circle and the square be commensurable. When means through what mode of resolution? Or, on what plane?

[12] Camelos (Greek) = a camel, referred to ג in Hebrew. Kamailos (Greek) = a rope. ג is therefore likened to a rope, a three-fold (ג being 3) cord linking Kether and Tiphareth on the Tree of Life.

[13] The Angel of ד — Venus, who is green, and ד avails Venus, crossing it on the Tree by joining Chokmah and Binah. That is, the love of these Supernals balances the isolation of the Virgin Moon.

[14] Luna in 20° Pisces at the nativity of 666.

[15] Which means, I assume the god-form of Horus, Sol in the womb of the night-sky blue of Binah, who is the mother of all stars and thus is potent against Hecate.

[16] The hounds that follow Hecate. The jackals of Atu XVIII — the Moon.

[17] The Lunar language. "Ye hounds! Ho! Ho! Tally-ho! Scent the poison of the path. Here! There! Bark! Sweep around! There goes the quarry down the glade of mossy rock. The foremost has caught him! Tally-ho! Tally-ho! The hunt is ended." ULU = Hail plus come — very nearly Ahoy!

[18] The witches' cauldron.

[19] Ultra violet color of Pisces.

[20] All this paragraph refers to Atu XIV — Art = Sagittarius, for she is now in her huntress form. Hence the Alchemical and rainbow symbolism.

[21] She appeals to Binah, the highest form of Luna.

[22] She appeals to Binah, the highest form of Luna.

[23] This is the use to which Babalon puts the blood of the Masters of the Temple (see 12th Aethyr) to vivify the rose of universal creation; i.e., the attainment of the Master of the Temple fills the world with life and beauty. Hecate does not understand this, or else she regards it as hostile to her own formula.

[24] Water of Pisces.

[25] She can produce nothing but images of herself.

[26] Pearls represent the Masters of the Temple secreted by Binah around the specks of dust which they have become upon crossing the Abyss. (Specs of dust — the remains of the abnegated ego.)

[27] A veil or mask of Khephra (in Atu XVIII — the Moon).

[28] All Hecate can see of the Great Work of 8° = 3^□ is the Black Brotherhood; i.e., the failure of that work.

[29] Sagittarius (Atu XIV — Art) again. The phenomena are the experiences of the attained Master of the Temple.

[30] The attainment has destroyed the conditions of physical manifestation.

[31] Olive colour = Water in Malkuth (Queen Scale), also Water in the Emperor Scale. Silver is Luna in Queen Scale.

[32] Hecate now aspires to Binah, accepts the formula of love (kisses) surrenders her nature (fall back, etc.) and so finds the Word.

[34] Translation: "Hither, O Holy One … whose burden pulls at thy spine. Ho! Ho! Ho! The two-headed God (Janus) ploughs thy back, sows habitations upon thy back, thou many-phallused queen … of princely loves … which are all sodomies … so that the holy ones laugh and shake with laughter … while the lords of mischief … spend upon thee … TUTULU (this word cannot be translated. See Liber VII.) Down bounces from thy back … the merry mad foetus-faces … an emission … Gather ye sun-roses, sun-roses, gather ye from the split backside of the virgin (Earth)."

[35] The word of the Master has gone forth into every part of the world. Therefore it is always possible to call him forth to one's assistance by the proper use of the above formula.

[36] Symbol of Binah.

[37] Symbol of Binah.

[38] Many of these visions end in some way unconnected with the substance of the Aethyr. One must not look for coherence in such places. They are merely episodes on the return journey, useful to break the shock. Analogy: one might see a taxi accident while returning to one's house from the theatre. The spectacle need have no connection with either the play or one's home life.

[2] The Pentagram indicates that the subject of the vision is to be the destiny of man. The blackness, which is bright, is solar. The context shows that Binah is not here implied.

[3] All symbols of division and destruction, also extending only to the blind Four Elements.

[4] Righteousness = Jupiter = Jehovah = Beauty = Osiris = Jesus. These are the qualities they claimed. Their failure is that they never had the idea of the Supernals beyond the Abyss.

[5] Hearing pertains to the element Spirit, as sight to the element of Fire. These gods have deprived man of his highest faculties.

[6] See the 10th Key.

[7] The Zodiac brought down to the material plane.

[8] The Oedipus complex. Christianity.

[9] The cult of Jehovah cannot even reach to Daath.

[10] Meaning, Jehovah is not even the true Chesed, but the evil dyad (as opposed to the true dyad of Chokmah, which interprets Kether in terms of vibration, the Logos).

[11] The promise of breaking the tyranny of Jehovah, who was the evil 4 in the Aeon of the true 4, Isis, by the solar (golden) Jesus. He appears as an eagle (the bird of Jupiter) so that despite the glittering hope, it was only the Old Aeon all over again.

[12] He knows this truth, which destroys the whole idea of his formula. Nobody will bother about him, if he is a sinner and needs no saviour.

[13] Observe the loud words, the confusion of the thought, throughout this excited passage.

[14] He knows that he is not an image of the simple, sublime self, but an ill-concocted mess of blind forces.

[15] Jesus has been destroyed by myriads of minute historical and other facts; the observations of nature which have broken down the theories on which his existence depended. His blood is spilt, and veils truth; whereas the blood of the Master of the Temple is gathered in the Cup of Babalon and floods the world with life and beauty. (See 27th Aethyr, Note 26.) (In this connection, Crowley should have insisted on the reading of his own, as yet unpublished book on Jesus and the New Testament entitled, The Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw. It is without equal.)

[16] The Christian, incapable of the formula of the Master of the Temple, abhors the shedding of blood. He fears to lose his vile life (despite the biblical promise that he who loses his life shall find it).

[17] The meaning of the Latin is that given in Note 16, not the traditional ecclesiastical interpretation. See also Liber AL vel Legis, I, vv. 45-48.

[18] Not only symbolic, but actually visible even to the physical eyes, when Nuit is manifested. Also when Ra-Hoor-Khuit is invoked, or Aiwass.

[19] See the various special aqccounts of the Stele — in Equinox VII and The Equinox of the Gods. The new Tarot Card XX — The Aeon = 718, really depicts the Stele of Revealing. (For Crowley's rendition of the Crowley-Harris Tarot Pack, his book The Book of Thoth — Weiser, New York, 1969 — should be consulted. A pack of the cards drawn by Lady Frieda Harris has been published by Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minn.

[20] Earth has absorbed the ruin wrought by Jesus, to rebuild life through putrefaction, by her regular formula — as opposed to the higher magick.

[21] This vision, being so close to the physical plane, required no intermediate stations on the way back. The exhaustion was due to the same cause. Communion with high spiritual forces renews the vitality of the Seer.

[2] The stone of Gemini, the twins, composing Heru-Ra-Ha, his Lord. Also the house of Mercury; that is, his form is oracular.

[3] This Angel is an avatar of Babalon.

[4] Amphora (in Greek) = 719. This Angel is a veil for Babalon = 156, the woman who closes the mouth of the lion in the old Tarot Trump XI — Lust, and is the Scarlet Woman who rides upon him in the new form.

[5] The sorrow of death.

[6] This represents Jehovah and Jesus. The pain of toil. (Sin is restriction.)

[7] Symbol of the Beast, 666.

[8] See Atu XI — Lust. Babalon and the Beast conjoined.

[9] Babalon prepared 666 (in a certain very secret manner) to utter the word Thelema. (This may have some reference to Crowley's first wife Rose who was the moving spirit in getting him prepared for invoking Thoth and Horus in the spring of 1904, and then for the writing of The book of the Law.)

[10] 666 is now inspired.

[11] Nostrils — Mars and Venus. Energy and passion, also breath of the Word.

[12] Eye — Creative light; i.e., of the Word.

[13] Scorpio.

[14] Netzach.

[15] Capricorn.

[16] Hod (the Mercurial water) : in all the Sephiroth below Tiphareth, out of balance, and the Paths leading from them.

[17] Leo = Teth. Teth spelt in full as Teth, Yod, Tau = 419. Teth, by meaning, is a snake. Leo also equals Horus.

[18] The magical image of the first Decan of Leo, rising at the birth of 666, is a lion-headed serpent.

[19] Horus, the Lord of 666.

[20] The avatar of Binah, in the opening of this Aethyr.

[21] Babalon. See Atu XI — Lust.

[22] 419 - 418 = 1. Or 667 - 666 = 1. 667 is the gematria of the Greek spelling of the Scarlet Woman.

[23] Liber AL vel Legis, his weapon.

[24] This allusion must remain secret.

[25] This seal is that of Babalon, the seal of the A∴A∴ See The Book of Lies, Cap. 49. See also 30th Aethyr, Note 18.

[26] His motto as a Master of the Temple is this V.V.V.V.V. (Vi Verum Universum Vivus Vici = In my lifetime I have conquered the Universe by the power of Truth).

[27] V.V.V.V.V. has ten horns that spring from 5 points.

[28] See The Book of Lies, Cap. 49. But there is an eighth head, too sacredly terrible to mention.

[29] Refers to Atu VII — the Chariot = 8 = Cheth, the bearer of the Sangreal.

[30] The Mystery 5° = 6^□ and 6° = 5^□, Heru-Ra-Ha is the Martial aspect of Sol.

[31] See Liber AL vel Legis, Cap. III, v. 74.

[32] Again a secret allusion.

[33] The Seer was not yet a full initiate, and was hampered by Aleister Crowley.

[34] This paragraph prophesies the purging of the worldly fire in the Aeon of Horus. Hell is the pure inmost self of man, that suffereth not extinction, but consumeth all the experiences of life, coming thereby to know its own perfection.

[35] 32 teeth. Hence the name is compounded of Eheieh and Tetragrammaton, thus: Aleph, Heh, Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh = 32. Macroprosopus interfused with Microprosopus.

[36] The tongue is the instrument of the Logos and so a phallic or creative organ. Chokmah, the Logos, is the Root of Fire, and the masculine energy.

[38] Taotzem = Tau, Ayin, Tzaddi, Mem = 600. A 'great number' of Sol,normally 6. 600 = Kosmos. The blasphemy is in taking the material for the spiritual Sun.

[40] Prophetic of the pains, the initiation to 9° = 2^□, undergone by 666 in order to become Himself.

[41] Which means, "Why art thou not consciously identical with 666?"

[42] The qabalistic proofs (of the truth of Aiwass) given by the virtues of 93.

[43] 666.

[44] The ring of V.V.V.V.V., mentioned in Liber LXV, V, v. 16.

[45] My resistance to the Great Work.

[46] The Angel promises the Seer that he shall be 666 in all truth, and counsels him to await his hour in perfect confidence.

[47] Prophetic of the results of the Great Work delivered by 666.

[48] This refers to the Aeon which is to follow this of Horus. See Liber AL vel Legis, Cap. III, v. 32. Its Lord is the Double-Wanded One, Thmaist-Justice.

[2] The Ajna-Chakra — Chokmah.

[3] Sacred to Juno.

[4] Arrows of Sagittarius, the rainbow which follows this storm.

[5] Blue of Sagittarius (Atu XIV — Art).

[6] Woman in Sagittarius.

[7] Sacred to Venus.

[8] Distilled from cauldron in Atu XIV — Art. The elixir. In this Aethyr is a mystery of the IX° of the O.T.O.

[9] Sacred to Venus. This woman combines Jupiter (Juno) and Venus; but is more than all this, the quintessence of Scorpio, the Lady of the Cup.

[10] Chariot — Atu VII = Cancer, cardinal sign of Water. Mother of pearl is sacred to Water. Cups symbolize pleasure, especially sexual pleasure. Ivory comes from the tusks of the elephant; teeth pertain to the letter Shin, the Fire of the Spirit. Ivory is thus a symbol of the hard gleaming militant delight of sexual energy, which bears love in her Chariot through heaven.

[11] All typical of Venus.

[12] Prophetic of the 8° = 3^□ initiation. Love is the motive power which makes the Adeptus Exemptus take the plunge into the Abyss.

[13] This passage in Enochian translates, roughly, into English as follows: "You have become elevated to the secret wisdom. Yet the true secret is unto you as a through-thrusting flame, casting down the empty by the fire of its gathering. Come forth! Come forth! For I am of the Holy Name." The Seer's answer on the next line, also in Enochian, translates, "Open the mysteries of your Creation."

[14] The traditional attribution (See the document "On Man, the Microcosm" in Vol. 1, The Golden Dawn.)

[15] That is, the Pentagram.

[16] The Ten Sephiroth form the Flaming Sword. The idea is to make a perfect man (the Pentagram) by folding up his ten consecutive qualities into a single symmetrical symbol.

[17] This Star must itself be blotted out in the Point-of-View, the Quintessence of Individuality.

[18] The totality of experiences has amounted to perfection. There is then no more need of a manifested universe. See Liber AL vel Legis, v. 29, for the Object of Division.

[19] Refers to the 5° = 6^□ initiation. Under the shadow of thy wings, Adonai, repose and happiness.

[20] Refers to the Night of Pan, and so to 8° = 3^□ which with 6° = 5^□, make the two initiated steps. The highest good, the true wisdom, the generous life, are under the night of night.

[21] This refers to the general doctrine about death. Liber AL vel Legis, Cap. II, v. 72-74, et al. The true medicine is the wine of death.

[22] Combines the four sentences (in this order, Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio) on the circular altar in the vault of Christian Rosencreutz. (See p. 224, Vol. II, The Golden Dawn.) The meaning is, Liberty, Law, Light fill the universe. The gospel of liberty by the yoke of the law to the glory of god pure in the vacuum ["tends not" — meaning is unclear].

[23] S.A.L.T. (These letters are the initials of the Latin words in the text.) Under the water, the law of the earth

[24] M.E.R.C.U.R.I.U.S. Meaning: the mind destroys the eternal (by abstracting its reality). (See any good Yoga treatise.) The heart is their shadow; i.e., reality only appears as impressions. Binah (8° = 3^□) is the highest way. Mind is the destroyer of things, heart is the shadow of things, understanding is the way of the highest.

[25] S.U.L.P.H.U.R. An alchemical injunction; a reference to Liber AL vel Legis, Cap. 2, v. 57. The sum of the way of light: through Hephaestus you may rule the water.

[26] V.I.T.R.I.O.L. Reference to IX° O.T.O. A man entered the tomb of the king and found the oil of light.

[27] Refers to the time required to assimilate the initiation of 8° = 3^□. For three years is 156 weeks; and 156 = Babalon. Three years control the oracle.

[28] Elyon, the exalted one. Ayin, Lamed, Yod, Vau, Nun = 156, a name of Babalon, with the phallic Yod in the midst.) Terrible burns the king in the highest.

[29] Meaning, the rose must be thrice anointed with oil. (That is, with the oil.)

[30] Refers to the Tree of Life, to be ruled by the three reciprocating Paths — Daleth, Teth, Peh; that is, by the Supernal Love, by the formula of Babalon and the Beast conjoined, and by that formula which is hinted at in Liber AL vel Legis.

[31] This passage describes an initiation, the first of this series. It is the exhaustion of the lower self of the Seer in his first union with Babalon.

[32] This roof seems to be the Path of Peh (Mars, blacksmiths, steel, etc., the first ring that binds the Olisbon referred to in Note 30). The union with his mate first occurs in Yesod, of which Peh may be called the roof. Later we shall find the other marriage of Teth and Daleth.

[2] The three Gunas — Sattvas, Rajas, Tamas. This is an introit to the Aethyr. As we proceed, we find more and more obstacles to entering.

[3] More introit; veils to the true vision.

[4] Tamas, Kerub of Earth. He and the Eagle of Air make up the four officers of the new temple. (I presume this to mean here that the three Gunas or qualities plus the Eagle of Air make four.)

[5] A warning to the Seer not to allow himself to ignore or despise the plain facts of life. Mysteries — nay, even the Mysteries themselves — are apt to seduce the aspirant. He becomes exalté (as the cold rational French, observing these errors, call him) instead of exalted.

[6] The tradition of the bull Apis. The Beetle is the Midnight Sun, the hidden hope of Earth.

[7] The King rules by virtue of the labour of his people. Even Taurus (Earth) is necessary as the support of Heaven. Nuit is upheld by Shu, who stands on Seb. Neglect to understand this causes many pure mystics to fail lamentably. They go off their base, in the significant slang of commonsense folk.

[8] The Bull is stationed in the North.

[9] The Bull is sacred to Osiris. This refers to the Crown of Thorns.

[10] Again a reference to the formula of Osiris. The spear (the sacred lance, phallus) pierces the heart of the Dying God.

[11] These two paragraphs declare the identity of the Bull with his Zodiacal opposite, Scorpio.

[12] The crown of Yod (as a Path on the Tree of Life) is Chesed. It leads thither from Tiphareth. The path of the Bull leads from Chokmah down to Chesed.

[13] Refers to the symbol of the woman and the Bull. See 16th Aethyr.

[14] See Knorr von Rosenroth on the Qlippoth (the Shells). He wrote Kaballa Denudata in Latin which was translated into English as The Kaballah Unveiled by McGregor Mathers, one of the Chiefs of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

[15] The Rose of Earth surmounts the Cross of Fire in the symbol of Venus.

[16] Toil creates kinetic energy.

[17] See 11th Aethyr.

[18] All this paragraph explains the Qabalistic doctrine of stability = change. (Yesod, support of the Tree, is both Air and Luna.)

[19] These are intended to show symbolically that the Bull is the same as the Eagle.

[20] This transformation into Air shows the identity (in ultimate philosophy) of the two forces of change which constitute the Lesser Mysteries of the Sword and the Disk.

[21] Refers to the Scorpion in the symbol of the Bull of Mithras.

[22] These two paragraphs refer to the formula of the Dying God, its perversion and profanation at the hands of those who abused it.

[23] Air has a peripheral consciousness.

[24] The true unity does not exist in any particular number, but in Aleph as a whole.

[25] The Rose and Cross are not merely symbols of definite types of energy — female and male. They are extended in the correlative symbols of infinity — Nuit and Hadit.

[26] Air and Earth are harmonious vibrations — complementary.

[27] The vibrations of Tetragrammaton, Yeheshuah, the Hexagram, and the Swastika are duplicated, being complete in each of the two series, Air and Earth, the lower forms of masculine and feminine. (This refers to a variation of a Buddhist meditation in which peace and love are directed to all points of the universe. By the time Crowley obtained this vision, he had come to know Buddhism — and to discard it.)

[2] See Equinox VII, p. 231. This table contains the names of the Angels of the seven Planetary spheres: Shabathiel, Tzadquiel, Madimiel, Shemashiel, Nogahel, Kikabiel, and Levaniel. This seven-fold arrangement is of the Sigil of the A∴A∴ = Babalon. (See The Book of Lies, Cap. 49.) And she is the mother of Heru-Ra-Ha.

[3] This angel is in fact Pan. See the 9th Aethyr, unto all hath she borne him.

[4] This "dew" is the supernal Lion-Serpent in his menstruum of liquid pearl. A reference to the IX° O.T.O.

[5] 42 is the number of the Demiurge (See Genesis, I), of the Assessors of the Dead (See any book on Egyptian religion), of the sterile mother Ama (Aleph, Mem, Aleph); of terror and destruction (Beth, Lamed, Heh, Heh), of loss (Beth, Lamed, Yod), of the verb, "to cease" (Chadal — Cheth, Daleth, Lamed) and the 10th Aethyr. (See Equinox VII, pp. 229-243, for the whole symbolism.)

[6] See Equinox VII, pp.99-128.

[7] The solar child develops from the dew.

[8] These violations of normal logic are stigmatic of most of the higher types of spiritual experience. There must be no muddle; that is the usual mistake made by most mystics. Confused thought is the evil and averse image of the one clear light.

[9] The winged egg, the omniform Zero (0) from which all positive manifestation comes.

[10] These are of the table itself, read across or down, instead of diagonally, as is done to obtain the names given in Note 5. See also LXXXIV (page 321), Equinox VII, relative to the Enochian system.

[11] This experience is perfectly clear and definite to the peculiar type of higher consciousness which is aware of it.

[12] Perdurabo, the motto (in the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn) of the Seer. Even that high and holy part of him was, in this samadhi, left far below the true consciousness with the material and intellectual basis of him.

[13] The Seer was in samadhi. The table had been a veil of the infinite.

[14] Form is the conception of the self in extension.

[15] Death is the conception of the self extended; not into the positive balanced cross, but into the negative circle (or sphere) of Nuit.

[16] For Hell, see Liber Aleph, The Book of Wisdom or Folly. Hell is the secret centre of the self. One perceives one's star as one's true self.

[17] The Enochian letter I = Sagittarius. The Rainbow is connected with the sevenfold projection. L (Enochian) = Luna, decreasing in Cancer. Luna, when active, always purifies. It is the passive Moon that may be evil; i.e., when she reflects not the Sun, her Lord, but divers spectres of the night. N (Enochian) = Mars in Scorpio, the type of energy which informs vision. Mars in Taurus would cause action.

[18] The Seer had begun to analyze the conceptions presented to him by the vision. Instantly the internal coherence of its unity was destroyed. The next two phrases show that this is a difficulty peculiar to this vision.

[19] Yod, Aleph, Tau, Vau, Aleph, Yod, Aleph, Resh = the essence of the Yod girt by the Sun's tending inwardly upon it. Resh, Aleph, Yod, Aleph, Resh = 412 = Beth (meaning a house) = the letter Beth attributed to Mercury (the letter Beth being spelled out in full: Beth, Yod, Tau = 412). For ultimately Kether and Sol are not light. Light is a duplex vibration energized by them and is therefore of their messenger, Mercury.

[20] AUMGN. (See explanation in Magick in Theory and Practice, pp. 45-49.)

[21] Ayin = an eye = 70.

[22] The general idea is perhaps this: 70 = Heh, Shin, Heh = Hush!; and Layil = Lamed, Yod, Lamed = Night; and Sod = Samech, Vau, Daleth, the Secret. The glory is so great that it cannot be manifested by any positive means.

[23] Heru-Ra-Ha.

[24] These ideas are complementary; when they combine they produce positive manifestation which covers up the glance of the Eye of Shiva, which annihalates all external existence.

[25] The seven spaces are the Palaces which contain the Sephiroth.

[26] This is the foe of Horus, the dweller of Nile. The winds which crown him are not the pure powers of Air of Libra, but the cloud (mixed) forces of Aquarius, opposite in the Zodiac to Leo, the sign of Horus.

[27] The energy of Horus destroys indeed, but must be withdrawn to complete the work, for his rays, if left in their object, would keep it vitalized. The coherence of the broken matter must be withdrawn.

[28] Harpocrates stands or sits upon the lotus, his fortress against the malice of the water-demon.

[29] Osiris has been chased into Amennti by Horus, who follows him thither, that his reign may be established even in the realms of death. In the New Aeon death is become life triumphant, not through resurrection, but in its own essence.

[30] See Note 29. The Thelemite does not suffer death. He is eternal and perceives himself the Universe, by virtue of the categories of life and death, which are not real but subjective conditions of his perception, like time and space. They are forms of his artistic presentation.

[31] Osiris, tricked into the belief in death, had to overcome it by Magick, the formula IAO.

[32] The Seer has erred, it seems, by translating the doctrine into intelligible symbols. For this is likely to cause a new fall into the barren kingdoms of ratiocination.

[33] ARARITA (a name of God, which is a notariqon of the sentence: "One is His beginning; one is His individuality; His permutation one.") The use of this name and formula is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as "true" (and therefore binding), one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach. See Liber 813 vel Ararita, the Holy Books. Contrast each verse of Cap. I with the corresponding verse of Cap. II for the first of these methods. Thus in Cap III (still verse by verse correspondence) the quintessence of the ideas is extracted, and in Cap. IV they have disappeared into the method itself. In Cap. VI they reappear in the form appointed by the will of the adept. Lastly, in Cap. VII they are dissolved, one into the next until all finally disappear in the fire Qadosh, the quintessence of reality.

[34] Those whose analytical methods are incapable of destroying illusion. This insistence on the virtue of the vision is intended to encourage them to make greater effort.

[35] Sat-Chit-Ananda. (Being-Consciousness-Bliss.)

[36] The Sphinx. (See Enochian section, Vol. 4, Golden Dawn.)

[2] This setting symbolizes the way of time in the Temple of Inscrutable Destiny.

[3] This deity is necessity or fate. This whole Aethyr is of a metaphysic more difficult to understand than any of the earlier. The student must have finally shut out of his mind not only the crude ideas of good and evil, but the most fundamental logical conceptions; such as, that of being obliged to think of a state of mind, or an individual, as being true to itself. This God is at the same time an abomination and a supreme overlord. One may indeed say that the student ought to be in a state not far from samadhi before meditating on the meaning of the Aethyr.

[5] Black, white, and pale blue, there is no warmth in destiny. It is intolerable to see the mere mechanism of life.

[6] Now comes the warm night-blue of Nuit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The pillars assume the crimson of Binah, and the throne, the gold of Tiphareth. Thus it is as if Ra-Hoor-Khuit were alive in the midst of the womb of his mother.

[7] See the account of the beginning of the Upanishads.

[8] See Eliphaz Levi's drawing of the two countenances.

[9] The Shivaite dogma. (This is a reference to the philosophical notion that if Shiva opened his eyes, the universe would be destroyed. I.R.)

[10] See the Kaballah Unveiled by McGregor Mathers. The Most Holy Ancient One has one eye; Microprosopus, two.

[11] Shiva again. For the eyelids, see 22nd Aethyr, Note 24, the speech of the babe Horus.

[12] The minor elemental weapon is evidentally useless against fundamental ideas like force and matter, of which it is itself but a trivial complex.

[13] Binah, Mother of Sorrow — the tears from the Great Sea, her symbol. The first issue of understanding of the trance of sorrow.

[14] The Bull = Taurus = Vau = V. The motto of the Seer in the grade of Binah, 8° = 3^□, is V.V.V.V.V., the five bulls. He had already chosen this motto, though he had refused to accept the grade when offered to him three years before by the chiefs, after the episode of crossing the Abyss during the walk across the lower borders of China. We now approach those Aethyrs in which his full initiation to that grade was accomplished.

[15] I = Ani (Alep, Nun, Yod) = 61. This is also the number of Not = Ain (Aleph, Yod, Nun). "Know" is a play on No = Lamed, Aleph = 31. Therefore "I know not" may represent "I know that which is not." Such are the roots of the equation of ambiguity often used by higher intelligences (especially in The Book of the Law, which should be consulted) to prove their identity as individuals separate from the Seer, and superior to him.

[16] This rebukes the Seer for having tried to use the elemental dagger. Perhaps the four sevens in the injunction refer to Netzach (Victory) for Netzach = 7 and 28 is the sum of all numbers from 1-7, as well as 4 x 7. 28 is a 'perfect' number. Its factors add up to itself.

[17] That is the extreme horror: For change is life, the issue of love.

[18] Arikh Anpin, The Great Countenance or Macroprosopus (one of the titles of Kether) which beheld not countenances. See McGregor Mathers' Kaballah Unveiled.

[19] The chapter of the unity of God in Qu'ran.

[20] This may refer to the formula of The Book of the Law: 0 = 2. (This refers to Crowley's mathematical deduction that, from Nothing (or Nuit) issues duality, which is a symbol of the multiplicity of things. I.R.)

[21] Kether, of course, does not speak. His nature is made apparent by Thoth, the Logos, the creative word. But this word must evidently be false, since he is silence. Thoth, however, is himself accompanied by the Cynocephalos (the dog-headed ape) who imitates and caricatures all his actions and misinterprets his speech.

[22] The idea is that truth may be stated by denying a falsehood. This leads us in the quagmires of zigzagginess, the paradox of Epaminondas, et hoc genus omne ["and all of this sort"]. One great point of the initiated doctrine is that the Ruach (the mechanism of thought) is, in its essential nature, self-contradictory. From now on, the Angels of the Aethyrs begin to speak in the language of Neshamah; they used the logic which pertains above the Abyss. The student will, accordingly, find statements which must be reversed and reversed again and again; both are true and false at once; neither is true or false, and so on. [N.b. I think Crowley means "Epimenides", not "Epaminondas".]

[23] The sign of the grades up to 7° = 4^□.

[24] The sign of 8° = 3^□.

[25] The signs of 9° = 2^□ and 10° = 1^□; necessary because this vision pertains to Kether.

[26] See the "Wake World" in Konx Om Pax.

[27] See "One Star in Sight," first published in Magick in Theory and Practice, and reprinted in Gems from the Equinox.

[28] Observe the point-of-view, so totally opposite to any ever previously set forth, about the psychology of Kether.

[29] In the ontology of the New Aeon, whose prime theorem is 0 = 2, Kether exists only as the child of any marriage of one particular Hadit with one particular aspect of Nuit. There are thus as many Kethers as there are positive possibilities. More, Kether is not in any case a sole unity for each marriage produces a twin, Yod plus Heh equals Vau plus Heh (final). There is a positive third being, a Kether; and there is an ecstasy, or dissolution into nothing, by the same event. One is the magical, the other the mystical result of an act of love under will.

[30] See Liber AL vel Legis, III, v. 22.

[2] These preliminary visions are veils.

[3] The bird sacred to Juno, the feminine counterpart of Jupiter, whose energy is about to appear.

[4] The Chashmalim, the Brilliant Ones, are the Choir of Angels which pertain to Chesed and so to Jupiter.

[5] This unification is necessary to all true comprehension.

[6] The Wheel of Fortune (so-called), Atu X, is the Wheel of Samsara (of manifestation or illusion), whose spokes are the three Gunas, the three fundamental modes of energy. Sattvas, Rajas, and Tamas. See also The Book of Lies, Cap. 78.

[7] The symbolism of the table (see 22nd Aethyr) still retains its prominence. 7 is the number of the inferiors, of the feminine imperfection. 3 x 49 = 147 = Tetragrammaton, Eheieh, Agla, and Adonai — the four names of God used in the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. Thus there is here the symbolism of the fourfold regimen (Tetragrammaton) implied in 3 x 7 x 7.

[8] Hand = the letter Yod, spelt in full as Yod, Vau, Daleth = 20. This number is that of Caph = Jupiter. But the word hand is itself Caph. There is, however, an esoteric doctrine in this phrase. Yod is the spermatozoon (the source of all spiritual energy, the minute point, Hadit, the foundation of the Hebrew alphabet). But also Caph (spelled in full as Caph, Peh = 100 = 10 x 10 = Yod by Yod) and the letters Caph and Peh are the initials of Kteis and Phallus whose union releases Yod. Thus the universe is shown as being set in motion by love under will. See The Book of Lies, Cap. 43.

[9] See the usual drawing of Atu X — the Wheel of Fortune — by minor initiates.

[10] The symbolism here assumes the form of Liber LXV, The Holy Books. It is simpler and therefore more difficult than the sevenfold. The counter charges become more frequent; the Seer is being led up to the state in which opposites are not only equal, but identical.

[11] All unbalanced symbols are necessarily evil. They distract the attention from the true object of vision, and so destroy concentration.

[12] Note that no hostile force is hurtful. The enemy is always oneself.

[13] The attacks are against Nephesch, Ruach, and Neshamah respectively.

[14] When the aspiration (Neshamah) — the natural protection against all lower forces — is sullied, befooled or weakened, the wretch becomes an easy prey to grosser forms of temptation. We see in fact only too often that a man of the utmost probity and intellectual integrity (who errs in some strictly spiritual matter) loses ebvery trace of rationality and throws off all moral restraint — becoming the helpless victim of ludicrous and hideous temptations which had never threatened him before in his whole life. His nature is so radically corrupted that his friends believe him to have become insane. But his fall is quite logical, as a tumbling steeple may crush the perfectly sound structures beneath it.

[15] It is the superficial appeal of the idea of Jesus to the sentimental type of aspiration (the vilest parody of Neschamah is this pollution by the least virile elements of Nephesch) that has made possible the corruption implied in the doctrines of sin and vicarious atonement. From this error have sprung the putrefaction of the reasoning faculties, and the suppression of all clear thinking and the abominations of greed, persecution and the rest.

[16] Salt is for Neschamah; Mercury for Ruach; Sulphur for Nephesch. Here Crowley is using the three priciples of Alchemy.

[17] N.O.X. = Nun, Ayin, Tzaddi = 210. NOX is symbolized by (a holistic symbol for N. O. and X.) which represents the reduction of the dyad to unity by love under will, and thence to Zero by dissolution in Nuit. It is here used by the Seer to destroy all positive symbols, for the true Wheel (apart from ornaments) is the Circle, Nuit herself.

[18] Note the above-the-Abyss-consciousness. See also "I who am all, and made it all, abide its separate Lord." This is to be found in the poetic version of the Bhagavad Gita made by Sir Edwin Arnold and entitled, "The Song Celestial".

[19] This "personality paradox" is characteristic of visions of similar exaltation, superadded to that natural description of things seen and heard, which are yet not subject to the ordinary laws of perception.

[20] See previous note on Falutli, 23rd Aethyr, Note 28.

[21] These are solar, not Jupiterean deities. The Jupiter of the wheel is that invisible energy whom one can only divine from his hand — his means of expression. He is Amoun, the concealed one, whose plumes are truth and whose phallus is the middle pillar — the Shivalingham. We find accordingly that these solar deities, who spring from the manifested Jupiter (as it at first sight appears), are soon recognized in their deeper nature.

[22] Change = Stability. 2° = 9^□. (See the 11th Aethyr.) Again this series of paradoxes (implied in the equations 0° = 0^□, 1° = 10^□, etc.) is of the essence of the Aethyr.

[23] See any true image of Shiva, who dances upon the Yogi (whom he has destroyed in the union of love).

[24] Ptah, the still and silent creative energy.

[25] That is, the form of the Seer is now the Earth itself (the Malkuth) at the other end of the scale from, yet identical with, his Kether.

[26] See Note 17. Any vision as exalted as this must obviously be indicible. The plastic form of the expression, the definite character of the shapes, colours, and numbers employed, is far better mnemonically than the vaguely beatific outbursts customary in the records usually offered by mystics.

[27] The psychology of the previous note explained at length.

[28] In previous visions the Angel of the Aethyr has always been peculiar to his Aethyr. Even in ZAA, where the Angel is Luna and the vision represents the lustration of the lunar body (the automatic consciousness) of the Seer, he was not so wholly involved. For his normal consciousness was above that which the Aethyr affected.

[29] It seems that the Seer recognized in this Aethyr the Knowledge and Conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel.

[30] In the Crossing of the Abyss by the Seer (The Temple of Solomon the King, Equinox VIII, pp. 9-13) during his Burma-China journey, he accomplished the meditation called Sammasati. He became aware of his True Will, of the purpose for which he had undertaken incarnation. This was expressed thus: To aid mankind to take the next step, and at the time he understood this as meaning: To lead them to aspire to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

[31] Liber LXV describes this attainment in the fullest detail. The first quotation is from Liber VII, Cap. VI, v. 35. The second is from Liber LXV, Cap. III, v. 62. (The persons are transposed — I to Thou, etc.) (See The Holy Books.)

[32] The splendour of the vision would have made too rapid a return of shock intolerable to human weakness.

[33] It was done. —O.V. (Victor Neuburg)

[34] The Seer had not previously experienced so intense a communion and had contributed his physical energy to maintain it. This was, of course, an error.

[2] The Hegemone wears a black cross as a lamen. (See the description of the different lamens worn by the initiating officers in Vol III of The Golden Dawn. See also the 16th Aethyr, last paragraph.)

[3] The idea is that every idea, however apparently atomic, is to be analyzed.

[4] Worship all things, for all things are alike necessary to the being of the all, but keep separate the planes. Failure to do this is the most frequent cause of error. (This is one of the most insistent and important of any of Crowley's messages.)

[5] For purity means full simplification — the keeping of each idea in its own true perfection, separate from all others.

[6] Worship each thing in itself for its own sake, not inventing ideas.

[7] See Note 1. This is the sphere of Kokab, Mercury — hence the man of Atu IX — the Hermit

[8] The Chariot (Atu VII) of the Bearer of the Sangreal. (See Note 1.) The Chariot = Cheth, and depends from Binah, the sphere of the Hegemone.

[9] This seems to be a vision of the ideas which the Alphabet of Daggers is to analyze. The confusion suggests the influence of Choronzon. It is a warning of what the aspirant must expect if he once lost his grip on Binah.

[10] One of the noblest trees of Hindustan.

[11] The Tree of Life bears fruit of innumerable ideas. They are all self-destroying and valueless unless organized by understanding.

[12] The Saturnian destroyer — as opposed to Shiva. Time swallows up all ideas, all experiences, life itself. That is a statement of the condition which the Exempt Adept aspires to transcend by becoming a Magister Templi.

[13] She is the Angel of Binah, though in this form. For Atu XIV – Death – is Sagittarius, the house of the huntress. [This seems to be a misprint. Atu XIII is Death, Scorpio, whereas XIV is Art, Sagittarius.]

[14] She keeps love alight by patient fidelity — the Holy Guardian Angel awaits eternally the address of her charge. And she is also the arch-harlot, always ready to seduce and intoxicate him who lusts after her.

[15] Relations with the Seer have been established long ago.

[16] The destruction of the universe by the devourer of all things is the necessary beginning of the initiation to the grade of Magister Templi.

[17] Man is the candidate; he partakes of the truth of all the Gods initiating.

[18] See Note 1.

[19] See Note 1. She is Isis-Urania, in Atu II — the Priestess. As Atu XIV — Art — she leads directly upwards to Tiphareth (Vau of Tetragrammaton); as Atu VII — the Chariot — directly upwards to Binah (Heh) and as Atu II — the Priestess — she is Gimel, leading directly upwards to Kether (the top point of Yod, the last letter of Tetragrammaton). (See the Tree of Life to trace out these correspondences.)

[20] The full title of Atu II — the Priestess. Note "Silver Star" as the title of the Third Order. Hence she must appear as Hegemone to lead the candidate to the first grade of that Order — Magister Templi.

[21] The Babe of the Abyss is taken to its Mother's breast. (There is a reference here to the technique of the grade.)

[22] "The rose of the world is the lily of heaven." That is, Malkuth is Binah. (The two Hehs of Tetragrammaton are attributed to these Sephiroth; the daughter does indeed become the mother.)

[23] "These are not all the fish." Pisces = fish. Nun literally means fish. Qoph refers to the sign Pisces. The versicle means: She is not attained by all men.

[24] Icchthus (in Greek) adds to 1219, which number in Hebrew is also Yotzer Berashith (Yod, Vau, Tzaddi, Resh — Beth, Resh, Aleph, Shin, Yod, Tau.) The former (rockmaker) of that which was in the beginning. It refers to Nun and Qoph (to Nun because the fish is "life in the water", i.e., the primal water of Thales; to Qoph because Atu XVIII — the Moon — shows that life appearing in the waters of midnight, Khephra in the pool or Great Dark Sea). This is the glyph of birth natural to Binah. There is presumably a further mystery — numerical — still not found.

[26] The seer cannot make union with his guide. She is the feminine form of his Holy Guardian Angel, but the impulse to unite is only valid when it comes from above. In the 20th Aethyr this was the case and so the marriage was accomplished.

[27] This, to the Seer at that time, was a revelation of the most appalling terror. The doctrine of the Third Order had not been promulgated. He expected to unite with the Great Mother in a mode similar to that experienced in attaining to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel but the attainment of the grade of Magister Templi involves the annihalation of the aspirant. "Osiris was a black god"; i.e., of the nature of Binah — black. The love of Binah is that of the queen scorpion, who devours her mate. This revelation therefore, was much as if a romantic lover of the Richard Feveral type were suddenly made fully aware that the maiden of his dreams intended to conclude their first night of love by a breakfast, of which he was to form the staple dish! The doctrine implied is that one must not be of the child, but the mother.

[2] The Exempt Adept must be freed from all attachment.

[3] The aspirant is reminded by this vision of the horror which is always ready to take the place of a True Magical Operation. Coruptio optimi pessima. [The worst corrupts the best.]

[4] This warning is given directly.

[5] It is repeated in detail.

[6] The number of the letters of Shemhamphorash, the "Divided Name", i.e., Tetragrammaton in detail. Also, 72 = עב‎, the "Secret Nature" of Atziluth, the archetypal world of pure reality.

[7] The cone is a figure of Iacchus, Lord of the Highest Ecstasy. It is the Phallus. Its mathematical implications are many and important. In particular, its relations with the Great Pyramid of Cheops yield remarkable correspondences.

[8] πυραμισ = 831.

[9] Similarly, the Hexagram is attributed to the Seven Planets; for the Centre contains Sol.

[10] Compare this whole geometrical symbolism with that given in the Ritual of Adeptus Minor.

[11] Compare, in external nature, the appearance of the blue sky.

[12] This very strange phenomenon is perhaps quite inadequately described. It is a general condition of most spiritual experience that the familiar laws of nature do not obtain in their accustomed forms. It is only when experience enables one to observe them with detachment that they are seen to be as uniform, simple and exact as those of normal physics.

[14] There is a fleeting image of the horror of the Abyss; as a mountaineer, leaping a bergschrund, obtains a momentary glimpse of the terrors beneath his airy path. Cf. 10th Aethyr for these images of madness.

[15] This quotation is from Liber VII, I, v. 40. (This book describes in detail the whole attainment of the grade of Magister Templi. It had been given to the Seer, years previously but he had not understood it, even with his Neshamah, as a coherent entity. Nor does he even yet (An XXI, Sun in Cancer) understand it with his Ruach. Incidentally the full meaning of this book "418" (The Vision and the Voice) as a connected account of his initiation, is only now becoming clear to him in the process of writing this commentary upon it. For N.O.X., see 20th Aethyr, Note 14. Observe that although the Exempt Adept, or the Babe of the Abyss, is completely baffled by the circumstances, and in no wise understands the situation, his Chiah, the Magician in him, acts with sublime confidence and correctness. (For Liber VII see The Holy Books)

[16] The quotation, accepting annihilation, instantly destroys the myriad of insane images which hastened to occupy the vacuum created by the leap of the Exempt Adept into the Abyss. Had he faltered, he would have become — against his will — a "black brother". But this being involuntary, he would not have attempted to maintain his coherence, as the black brothers do. He would therefore have been destroyed at once; that is, to outward appearance he would have become a demented babbler. Spiritists present this phenomenon, on a much lower plane, and in a diluted form; though, with them as with the average Theosophist, there is usually a certain degree of obsession by pet phantoms — a "Chinese Guide," or "Koot Hoomi," or what not — to lend a species of semi-organized structure to the legions of disconnected ideas that throng their disintegrated gray matter.

[17] (No Angel has been mentioned. The Seer was lost to being.) In this preliminary — and so to say, symbolic — crossing of the Abyss, His Holy Guardian Angel comes to the rescue of the aspirant. Contrast the unspeakable Terror of the actual crossing, when that Angel Himself abandons the Seer (see 11th Aethyr, the last paragraph.) Exactly how the Angel dealt with the Seer in this 20 minutes of earthly time is impossible to say; for he has no memory soever — nor had he even at the time — of what took place. We may, however, deduce from that fact that the Communion took place in a sphere beyond even Neschamah. It may well have been a quintessence of union sufficiently intimate to have identified the Seer with his Angel so perfectly as to have given him the right to make the passage fully, in every sense; and to have ensured his safety on the way. For the Angel cometh forth from above the Abyss, and dwelleth of right in the bosom of the Great Mother. But the Angel deals not with the little pile of dust in the City of the Pyramids, (see 14th Aethyr) but with the Star that is cast forth to give light to the Earth.

[18] This pyramid, where is the Pastos, is the chamber of annihilation. The Pastos contains the essence of the Aspirant, and is in a Chamber containing the essence of the universe. This is all ready to be burnt up in the energy of aspiration to the creative annihilation, the ruby pyramid of phallus. Finally, this pyramid is within a cone, a figure combining the straight line and the circle (rose and cross in their purest form) representing the new universe into which the old is to be transmuted. It is established, like all types of universe, upon the four elements (divided into 72) which are the conditions of manifested existence. (The elements are not only material; they include categories like time, space and causality.)

[19] This is the birth-chamber, where the Magister Templi awakes from the oblivion of the Abyss.

[20] These sacraments furnish him with the material of his new Life. Bread (Earth) is labour, the nourishment of his being. Fire is the perception of clear understanding (Neschamah). The Rose (Air) is Sin, the restriction which prevents him from being dissolved in pure light (Kether) for his oath as a Master of the Temple is to deny himself the enjoyment of that privilege; wherefore is that sin fragrant with the sent of love. Finally, Wine (Water) is death, the ecstasy of transmuting all things into joy by the sacrament of creative love.

[22] The Seer's first impulse was to proceed with the Work on which he had been engaged when the Dissolution of his Being took place.

[23] As stated in a previous Aire, these higher visions are not to be obtained by the methods applicable to less exalted spheres.

[24] See the Book of the Dead, as adopted for modern use by the authorities of the Golden Dawn.

[25] He must be a neophyte to have access to the Ritual of Passing Through the Tuat.

[26] See Liber AL vel Legis I. v. 51. The general idea is to create true appetite in a body purified by fasting and a mind clarified by meditation, so as to make certain of being perfectly intoxicated. It should be needless to say that this state of mind, like all others, should be absolutely willed, criticized and controlled.

[27] The Aethyrs pertain to an order of nature, sui generis. Though they possess many correspondences with the 32 Paths of Wisdom, all of these must be impartially banished; otherwise the vacuum would be disturbed by an unequilibrated symbol sympathetic with the Aethyr to be invoked, which would flood the circle, and prevent the Aethyr arising in its perfect plenitude.

[28] This injunction has several obvious magical advantages. The symbolic gesture is to consume the matter of the operation in the spirit thereof.

[29] This is by no means a gesture of supplication, the vile attitude of the unmanly devotee of the slave-gods. It has a specific and positive practical purpose, which should be easy for the Neophyte to divine if his Zelator have well and wisely so instructed him.

[31] This injunction is to be taken very seriously. I have known uninitiates made ill by the shock of seeing Adepts of too high residual charge; worse, thrown off their moral balance.

[32] Presumably Sir Edward Kelly. There is certainly no hint of the sublimity and profundity of such visions as the present series in the working of that adept.

[33] This peroration suggests that early working by its style. It has little definite thought contained in it; the sublimity of the language ill conceals its vagueness. Nevertheless, it is a fitting conclusion to the mystery of this Aethyr. The ritual, and its lyrical outburst, were doubtless necessary to let the seer down gently from the colossal exaltation of the central event of the Aethyr.

[2] See Casaubon's edition of the Sixth book of Dr. Dee's "Conversations with some Spirits."

[3] A profound truth of universal application. The master-key to any man's character is his appreciation of the universe. To one, Pan means terror and madness, to another, the All-God.

[4] This is more and more the case as we progress.

[5] Judgment = the unmitigated feminine, the severity of sterility. Justice = she is satisfied by the sword (phallus) and balances (testes) as shown in Atu XIII — Death. The symbolism of the letter Lamed must be very thoroughly studied. It represents the flux of the universe in extension. Contrast this positive equilibrium with the negative, Aleph. The two together form AL (the title of The Book of the Law) which expresses the universe in its phases, 0 and 2.

[6] The Enochian word for Justice used at the end of the Call of the 30 Aethyrs is Balatanu, (the 2nd A and the U merely support their constonants L and N). Bal is Hebrew for Lord, i.e. the phallus. See Note 5.

[7] It disturbs the simplicity, introducing a new dimension.

[8] The blue feather is Maat, the Goddess of Truth.

[9] Breath implies duality, vibration. It thus disturbs peace and silence.

[10] The middle pillar of the Tree of Life. Quartz, perhaps as auriferous.

[11] The winged disk = Hadit, i.e. any point which one chooses to consider as being the centre from which to contemplate the universe.

[12] To twist one's point of view is to obtain a false idea.

[13] The beginning of whirling motions (attributed to Kether) introduces duality.

[14] The Demiurgos, Microprosopus, the black reflected countenance, the creator. He must be distinguished from the Logos. The difference is that the Demiurge creates on his own account; he is not like the Logos, the transmitter of energy of Kether, and its formulation in a word.

[15] Macroposopus himself. For in the ontology of the New Aeon, he is no longer the unique and supreme point-of-view, to which every ego is subsidiary and must conform.

[16] Nuit (See Liber LXV, V, v. 65.)

[17] Hadit (See Liber AL vel Legis, II, v. 4)

[18] Space cannot move, being an idea invented to explain motion.

[19] See Liber AL vel Legis, II, v. 7

[20] Meaning, it does not matter what mode we choose to represent these ideas for if it did, we should be unable to measure phenomena at all.

[21] The outburst is realized as Love (Venus = green). The green light that comes through thin lamin of gold. And this is absorbed in the true blue of Nuit — its goal.

[22] Severity and Mercy (Geburah and Chesed) are joined by the reciprocating path of Leo. This is Atu IX — the Hermit — countercharged with Atu VIII — Adjustment (Libra). Thus Leo, the strength of the Sun, life itself, is one with Libra, justice; for the letter Lamed signifies the Universe in extension. (A word or two is required in this connection. In some of the older tarot packs, Strength and Justice, VII and XI were transposed, and this has created confusion down through the years. What was once called Justice is now labelled Adjustment VIII in the new Crowley pack. And what was once called Strength is now Lust, XI.)

[23] TAN is given in Note 1 as meaning the Balances. Thus, as shown in the previous note, the truth of Justice is Mercy. Hence, to aim at Mercy, which is an idea without measure, and therefore incommensurable with truth, is to invoke Justice. The injunction is: Be strictly just, and you will find that you have accomplished the true work of love.

[24] See Note 21. The blue is again that of Nuit. Justice is only complete when the disturbance of positive existence is annulled by absorption into the Body of Our Lady of the Stars.

[25] See Liber AL vel Legis, II, v. 9. "Remember all ye that existence is pure joy;" et al.

[26] This silver is the queen scale of Luna, the reflection in positive material nature of the personified idea of Nuit. The angel appears in the path of Gimel uniting Tiphareth with Kether. He is Atu II — the Priestess. See Note 33.

[27] Human justice is a compromise intended to meet an admittedly false situation. (See Lao-tse: Benevolence and righteousness only appear when all naturalness is gone.)

[28] Hence the justice of making the attainment of the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel as the next step. The original evil is the separation from Him; so the only approximation to truth is one's oath to Him.

[29] This spark is Hadit; (hence the reference to Liber AL vel Legis, II) he cannot be moved because he is already in motion at the limit of velocity.

[30] The Oracle of Zoroaster says: "And when, after all the phantoms are vanished shall appear that holy and formless fire, that fire which darts and flashes throughout the depths of the universe — hear thou the voice of the fire!" And this is the utterance of Hadit, the deepest expression of one's inmost point of view.

[31] See 8th Aethyr.

[32] This I performed in a sort of cave upon the ridge of a great mountain in the Desert near Bou-Sâada at 12-3 p.m. on Dec. 2.

[33] This blue and silver of Luna, the Queen of Heaven (in King and Queen scales) are said to be derived from the justice in her true nature. This justice refers to her point on the Tree; the troth with Adonai.

[34] The Arrow = Sagittarius = blue. Its Ruler = Jupiter = blue (Queen scale) = Righteousness. The plumes of Maat, attributed to Jupiter, are also blue.

[35] Here we are asked to note a certain correspondence of ascending vibration. ס = Sagittarius, ל = Libra, ג = Moon. ΛΓΣ (in Greek) are the consonants of Logos. We shall see later an important doctrine drawn from this special association of these three letters. The Holy Guardian Angel appears as ג because of its position on the Tree.

[36] ג means camel. The ten days are the 7 x 10 years of normal life. Man can go through that desert, nourished by the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

[37] 73 = גמל, a camel. Triple, for ג = 3. The cord of silver; the Lunar path descending from Kether.

[38] Wisdom = Chokmah, חכמה = 73. Mazloth, the sphere of the Stars, pertains to Chokmah.

[39] The Eye — ע‎ = 70. 3 + 70 = 73. 73 is is here explained as the Eye in the Triangle. So Aiwass is the Eye in the Star of Hermes, the messenger, whose formula is 418 = ח.

[40] TARO has 78 symbols and 78 = Mezla (מזלא), the influence that descends from the Most Holy Ancient One, Kether, and therefore referred to the Path of ג. The equation 78 = Aiwass; at this time, the Seer thought that Aiwass was spelled איואס = 78. Whereas, as he found later, עיוז = 93 and Αιϝασσ = 418. But 78 is actually the number of Aiwass in another way.

[41] Electrum magicum is an alloy of the seven sacred metals, each being added at a moment chosen for its astrological advantages.

[2] See Note 1.

[3] This reference is to Pasiphae and the Minotaur. All mythologies contain this mystery of the woman and the beast as the heart of the cult. Notably certain tribes on the Terai at this day send their women annually into the jungle and any half-monkeys that result are worshipped in their temples. Atu XI — Lust — exhibits this mystery, and it is the subject of constant reference in the higher Aethyrs.

[4] This is the Jehovah-god of the Aeon of Osiris, on whose existence (as an offended and vengeful deity) the whole theory of Atonement depends.

[5] For 10 is the stable number of the established system, which regards 11 the number of Magick (by the equation 0 = 2 = 11, 11 being the active form of 2) as evil. Hence the Beast took 11 as his formula and thereby destroyed the 10.

[6] See Atu XVI — the Tower (Capricorn). The figures cast out of the Tower are in the form of the letter ע; they walk upon their hands. They pertain to Capricorn — Set or Had; i.e. the Holy Place is to be built from within, from the core of every star, not from above, as in the shattered tower of Theism.

[7] Capricorn is the goat. The eye of Hoor turned to the zenith refers to a mystery of magick, practical and puissant, which the student must be left to solve for himself. (The student should also refer to Liber A'ash vel Capricorni, which bears the number 370, in which also occurs the symbolism of the Eye in the Triangle. It was reprinted in Magick in Theory and Practice, and in Gems from the Equinox.)

[8] See Liber AL vel Legis II, v. 21.

[9] See Liber VII, Cap. III, v. 20. He has manifested the insanity of the Ruach; that is his throne; i.e. the basis of his philosophical position.

[10] See Liber VII, Cap. III, v. 21.

[11] See Liber VII, Cap. III, vv. 22-23.

[12] Adaptions of the Qu'ran are to be found in this passage.

[13] "I suffer constraint."

[14] See Liber AL vel Legis, II, v. 79.

[15] "Circle" — a blind for "the Mark of the Beast" — which at that time it was necessary to keep secret.

[16] This is a vision of the Angel of the Beast himself, as identified with the Stele of Revealing. This book in the hand of Aiwass is The Book of the Law.

[17] The recognition of the authorship of Liber AL vel Legis as praeter-human, with ecstatic joy, etc. is the key to the portal of the New Aeon.

[18] This is Babalon, the true mistress of the Beast; of Her all mistresses on lower planes are but avatars.

[19] This phrase need not be analyzed; it is the promise to give herself to the Beast.

[20] The Seer was even at this time still struggling in himself with the complexes due to his heredity and early training.

[21] Therion, the Logos of the Aeon.

[22] This means that the Seer will soon be "Isis Rejoicing"; i.e. a Master of the Temple.

[23] See the Neophyte Ritual of the Golden Dawn, Equinox Vol. I, No. 2 and Liber AL vel Legis, III, v. 34.

[24] "Remember: I follow"

[2] This is a form of Babalon. There is a reference to the story of Salome in the lesser mysteries of the dagger and disk in the cult of "the God, John". "John" is "ON" — Oannes, Nu, Noah, Jonah, etc. — the Sun entering the watery sign of Cancer (the sign of the whale, ark, etc.) at the summer solstice.

[3] The colour of Venus, love. This is the basis of the act of worship.

[4] Sacred to the sphere of the stars, and to Malkuth, the sphere of Earth, respectively.

[5] The body of Nuit, the star-strewn Blue.

[6] The universal Mercury, instrument of the constant change and flux which constitutes life.

[7] That is, in the lowest grade of the Second Order of the R.R. et A.C., 5° = 6^□, "God" is worshipped under the form of a man (Tiphareth). In 6° = 5^□, he seems as a goat (Mendes Kahn). In 7° = 4^□, a ram (Amoun). In 8° = 3^□, a crab (connected with the star sponge vision). In 9° = 2^□, an ibis (Thoth). In 10° = 1^□ a golden hawk (Ra Hoor Khuit). Above this (Kether), He is the Negative only.

[8] This table is:

[9] The Seven are the inferiors, unless the reference be to Babalon, as in the table of 49 squares. Twelve refers to HUA = הוא‎ = 12 referred to Kether and in one of the invocations (as "The Angel who is set over these Mysteries") of the Golden Dawn and, of course, to the Zodiac The interweaving of multiplication is to the juxtaposition of addition as is chemical combination to mechanical mixture.

[10] See Kaballah Unveiled by McGregor Mathers, for 13 rivers of Holy Oil that flow down the Beard of Macroprosopus. (These are the first 13 letters.)

[11] See 22nd Aethyr for a fuller indication of this mystery, and infra.

[12] 5° = 6^□

[13] This Adept guards Tiphareth and tests the heart (which pertains thereto) for its purity. (χαθαροσ = pure) six times; 6 being the number of Tiphareth.

[14] 6° = 5^□.

[15] Similarly the right arm (of Geburah) five times. Fortis means strong.

[16] 7° = 4^□.

[17] Similarly the left arm (of Chesed) four times, for the virtue of Chesed — Mercy. (See 17th Aethyr).

[18] 8° = 3^□.

[19] The neck is of Daath (which is not a Sephirah, per se, and so has no number or corresponding symbol.)

[20] This part of the brain is of Binah (3). Samajh means understanding. That is, he admitted the right of the seer to the grade of Magister Templi, attributed to Binah, which means understanding.

[21] The seer was not worthy of the grade of Magus yet. Note that each adept uses a different language.

[22] All these practical mysteries must be worked out by the student himself. Any formula given by the annotator would probably be dead in the hands of another man.

[23] See Note 22.

[24] The easiest explanation of this is to suppose that the letters are not attributed as usual (i.e. I to Sagittarius, L to Cancer), but taken for their English shape (I the Middle Pillar, L the Square) — but this is far from satisfactory.

[25] Note that the corner letters in this table are all B = Leo. (These were the seven tablets or talismans used by Dee and Kelley in conjunction with the shew-stone.)

[26] This means there are different systems of physical motion for certain groups.

[27] Meaning Thoth. The attribution of the fixed stars to the Enochian alphabet has not been worked out. It pertains to the grade of Magus, and would have no interest or meaning for those of lower grades.

[28] Since the examination in the amphitheatre I have been a naked spirit without garments or anything; by garments he means the body.

[29] ABRAHADABRA spelt backwards, to reverse its formula, that of uniting the five with the six. See next paragraph.

[30] Because of saying ABRAHADABRA = 418, backwards. (For a more lengthy discussion of this word see the Qabalistic essay on Gematria in Equinox V, and in Sepher Sephiroth, Equinox VIII.

[2] The Bull was probably seen in mistake for a Stag. Then U = ע = the goat. T = Caput Draconis = the Dragon. I = Sagittarius, the Stag.

[3] This is Saturn. He is conceived as a dragon, Theli. He is referred to Binah.

[4] The Sphinx is one of the four elements referred to the path of Tau = Saturn. The Python is the great snake that surrounds and devours the Universe. This is his victory; glory is a function of the manifested existence of the Sphinx. (See Liber LXV for further reference to the snake.)

[5] On the Middle Pillar: Kether, Daath, Tiphareth, Yesod. Thus the spine of existence itself is destroyed in this initiation.

[6] An injunction of Zoroaster. It is useless to seek the soul of things beneath their surface; for their surface is their soul!

[7] To accomplish the Great Work in Tiphareth, one must be an initiate of Binah, its mother.

[8] He is about to destroy. (See the grade signs comprising LVX of the 5° = 6^□ grade.)

[9] There was also an instruction to build a Temple of stone with altar and circle. There was a public sacrifice offered to the God Pan by the Rite of XI° O.T.O. See Equinox X, pp. 114-115. (The XI° was one of Crowley's additions to the traditional German O.T.O. rites, and pertains to the practice of homosexuality which, in spite of himself (see The Law Is For All, his commentary on Liber Legis), he constantly sought to glorify and excuse at the same time. Nonetheless, it must be reiterated that Crowley's concept of the fully attained adept was that he was epicene.)

[10] This is the absolute negation of light, which is Binah, for she absorbs it perfectly.

[11] Akasa, the Tatva (element) of Spirit is a black egg, symbolically. It is the darkness in which all things are conceived.

[12] The fifty gates of Binah have been variously explained. They do not appear to be of any great importance; it is only their number which is significant. The reference is to נ‎ = 50 = Scorpio = Atu XIII — Death.

[13] Reference to previous ceremonies of initiation.

[14] N.O.X. (נעץ‎) represented by the symbol — ⊗ = 210.

[15] It is also a Phallus, which dies itself to communicate life to others.

[16] I suppose that only a Magus could have heard this word. (It seems to be "Inertia" or some equivalent. It is the reverse of the three Binah qualities to balance them — speech, and motion, and light.)

[17] 70 / 333 = .210. The process of reducing the dyad to zero, which at once becomes again the dyad, is recurrent; the cycle of existence and non-existence.

[18] Different Masters of the Temple may be cast out into different spheres.

[19] The Sankharas — the constituent elements — of the man that has become a Master of the Temple, are reconstituted below the Abyss, so that they can function as an Exempt Adept. But their permanent function is in that grade to which their "centre of gravity" (so to speak) tends.

[20] 50 = Scorpio = נ.

[21] Spelled in full, the letter Nun becomes the word נון‎ = 106.

[22] These seasons (in the case of the Seer) to be proved lunar months.

[2] This pure pale gold is the symbol of the dawning life, arisen after passing through the night of the 14th Aethyr.

[3] This is a parable of the illusion of matter, whose vast horror is destroyed by the moving of the wings of initiation.

[4] Rather like the Alhambra.

[5] There is here a memory picture of the Alhambra; or something like it.

[6] The Great Sea of Binah — darkness.

[7] N (נ) = Nun, the fish (dolphin); E (ה) = Aries, the ram; M (מ) = Atu XII — the Hanged Man; O = ע, the goat, Capricornus. These are the letters comprising NEMO.

[8] 910 = Rasheeth (רשית) = Beginning. These attributions explain the nature of NEMO, the Master of the Temple.

[9] Every Magister Templi has a Work to do for the world.

[10] All this is to instruct the Magister Templi in his duties.

[11] The South Seas.

[12] Kashmir.

[13] The Sahara.

[14] The Highlands of Scotland.

[15] A certain secret house of the Great White Brotherhood. Yews, and certain other trees, as Persian Nuts, are used to indicate to passing initiates that they have there a resting place.

[16] Now follow further instructions to the Master of the Temple, how he is to do his work.

[17] Otherwise: "Art for art's sake".

[18] See Liber AL vel Legis I, v. 40. These are the three true grades of the Great Order.

[19] This certainly happened.

[20] The seer enquires into the objectivity of the vision. These doubts arose in his mind because of the memory pictures in the earlier paragraphs.

[21] D.D.S. was the magical name of George Cecil Jones who first introduced Crowley to the Order and remained a close friend and colleague for many important years. (He is not to be confused with Charles Stanfield Jones, Frater Achad, who came on the scene many years afterwards.)

[22] Conferred December 1906 e.v., after the Burma-China walk. (See The Eye in the Triangle for a fairly full description of this significant episode.)

[23] O.M. (one of the many magical names adopted by Crowley for the grade of 7° = 4^□) refused for three years to take the grade of 8° = 3^□ after it was offered him. He thought it almost presumptuous, taking it now.

[24] Giving suck to babe held in left arm.

[2] The true Sangreal, of which the Christian legend is a perversion.

[3] See Liber AL vel Legis, Cap. III, 23 - 25. The recipe for the oil is given in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. (In another of his writings Crowley gave the formula for Oil of Abramelin as follows: Oil of Cinnamon — 8 parts; Oil of Myrrh — 4 parts; Oil of Galangal — 2 parts; Oil of Olive — 7 parts.

[4] As in Atu XI — Lust.

[5] See Tao Teh King. Also The Book of Lies, Cap. 4.

[6] See Liber VII, Cap. VII, v. 41.

[7] See Liber VII, Cap. VII, vv 43 - 44.

[8] It is given in 'The Urn' (which appears to have been lost). See also the Sixth Aethyr, wherein the seer, becoming a Magus, is himself identified with the Beast, 666.

[9] All these mysteries are taught in the O.T.O.

[10] Here is the first account of the Black Brothers of the Left Hand Path. Each Exempt Adept must choose between the Crossing of the Abyss to become a Master of the Temple, and the building of a false tower of egoism therein.

[11] Note that the death or love of the saints is really increased life. The formula of 156 is constant copulation or Samadhi on everything.

[12] I think the trouble with these people was, that they wanted to substitute the blood of someone else for their own blood, because they wanted to keep their personalities.

[13] Abrahadabra.

[14] Bab = gate. Al = God. On = ON. O = 70. N = 50. ON = 120. Note that Her Name does not appear properly spelt until the 10th Aethyr is done. The Seer had no idea how to spell the name till he was told by the Angel.

[2] A Kamea is a "magic square" containing the letters corresponding to the numbers (in this case from 1 to 81); so arranged that each line, vertical or horizontal, shall add to the same total. (See Vol. 4 of The Golden Dawn for the Kameas attributed to each of the planets.)

[3] Shu is in Yesod, as the supporter of the Tree of Life, and he is Zeus, the Lord of Air. But also Zeus is the orderer of all things.

[4] Yesod = 9.

[5] Silver for the moon of Yesod.

[6] Yesod is Air.

[7] Both Air and Moon are in Yesod, Stability.

[8] 9 x 7 = 63. 6 plus 3 = 9. 9 x 127 = 1143. 1 plus 1 plus 4 plus 3 = 9.

[9] "For they cross with the currents reflected." This is a description of the Tree of Life; see diagram. See also the essay on the Tree of Life entitled Hodos Chameleonis in Vol. 1, Golden Dawn, where the above phrase is first used.

[10] Malkuth.

[11] The 72 pearls are the quinaries (divisions of 5° in each Sign) of the Zodiac. They appear in the Atu XXI — the Universe. See Liber CCXXXI (Equinox I, vii), v. 21.

[12] Full title of Yesod is Tzedeq Yesod Olahm, "The Righteous is the Foundation of the World."

[13] I.S.V.D. = Yesod = 80, the number of Peh, the letter of Mars.

[14] This is the danger which threatens all aspirants to the Grade of Magister Templi. Woe to those who accept it lightly, or without the fullest preparation. If any trace of egoism persists, the whole attainment is negated and succeeded by corruption.

[15] "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

[1] Choronzon is described by Sir Edward Kelly as "that mighty devil", as the first and deadliest of all the powers of evil. Rightly so, for although he is not a person, he is the metaphysical contrary of the whole Process of Magick.

[2] The three Governors of this Aethyr — Lexarp, Comanan, and Tabiton — are drawn from the "little black table of spirit," which united the four watchtowers of the elements. (See Equinox I, No. VII, Plate III; facing p. 234). The one extra letter, L, is the eighth of the reversed letters beneath the bars of the Calvary Crosses in the watch-towers to form trilateral names which designate malignant forces. These letters are thus impurities introduced into the perfection of the Elementary Schema. (That they should be attributed to the element of spirit, which harmonizes and sanctifies the four, is a sublime mystery. The arcanum is declared — as far as may be — in this Book 418 itself). The other 7 letters form the name PARAOAN, which is the central governor of the 22nd Aethyr; but here is a correspondence with I, the center letter of LIN; this Aethyr discloses the glory of the table 7 x 7, which is pure spirit — the rose which is the heart of Babalon.

[3] ZAX = Caput Draconis, Taurus, Spirit. Z is the Sun in His southern declination, i.e. at his weakest effect on an hemisphere. Follows the Bull, the type of the dying gods, and the element of Earth. This letter X occurs only in this, the 15th and 30th Aethyrs. In the 15th, Water is the prima materia which is treated by being placed between the pillars of judgement. In the 30th, it represents the reduction to mere matter of the false structure of the Aeon of the false formula. Here X is the basis, without constructive possibilities, of the universe; thus the whole formula represents the weakening of the energy of the Sun, and the falling into incoherent elements of all that is organized.

[4] For this arrangement see the Goetia of Lemegeton of Solomon the King.

[5] Concerning the bloody sacrifice, see Magick in Theory and Practice, part III, cap. 12. For the pigeons see the text.

[6] The greatest precautions were taken at the time, and have since been yet further fortified, to keep silence concerning the rite of evocation. The Major Adept is warned most seriously against attempting to emulate this operation, which is (in any case) improper for him to perform. To call forth Choronzon, unless one be wholly above the Abyss, is to ensure the most appalling and immediate catastrophe.

[7] These are given in the Equinox Vol. I, No. 2.

[8] Given in the French translation by Eliphaz Levi: and in the English by Aleister Crowley in "The Winged Beetle." ("The Magician" is the title of that poem, see p. 228.)

[9] See Book 4, part II, Cap. 4 and 8.

[10] It is very difficult to give a good metaphysical interpretation of this statement. But to one who is given this perception, the words will appear to be the natural and inevitable expression of the facts.

[11] These words are from some vision of old time: by them Adam was said to have opened the gates of Hell. These are the traditional words which open the Abyss.

[12] This (and many following assertions) must not be taken as true. Choronzon is in no sense the master of anything. It is the personification of a moral idea in a much more far-fetched way than that in which we say 'Venus is the Lady of Love.' One can imagine Venus as a living individual being, while Choronzon is essentially not any sort of person.

[13] Various elements had been bound up into a bundle by the energy of the Call, and thus constituted a momentary unity capable of sensation and of expression. The obsessing idea of any such being, conscious that it is not a true organism, and threatened with immediate dissolution — which in its rudimentary psychology it is bound to dread — is of necessity, fear; and fear breeds pain, malice, and envy. Above all there is an insane hatred for the supposed creator because the supposed blessing of creation has been withheld from the bundle.

[14] That of modesty, none less.

[15] Here the assumed character of this courtesan who was a marvelous mistress of irony as of fascination, intrudes upon that of the demon proper.

[16] He actually assumed these forms at the time.

[17] In this Aethyr are certain silences maintained.

[18] Choronzon = חורונזון‎ = 333 = 3 x 111. 111 = אלף‎ = א‎ = 1. 333 also is ακρασια, impotence, lack of control; and ακολασια, dispersion. The seer had no idea of these correspondences at the time — nor had Dr. Dee and Sir Edward Kelly, from whom we have the name.

[19] Daath. The doctrine of the Fall and the Stooping Dragon must be studied carefully. Equinox Vol. I, Nos. 2 and 3, have much information, with diagrams, in the Temple of Solomon the King. See also Liber 777. This question of the Abyss must be thoroughly understood. The entire system of initiation of the A∴A∴ depend on these theorems. (See "One Star in Sight" in Magick in Theory and Practice and also republished in Gems from the Equinox).

[20] Originally, for "understanding" was written "power". Choronzon was always using some word that did not represent his thought, because there is no proper link between his thought and speech. Note that he never seems able to distinguish between the frater and the scribe, and addresses first one, then the other, in the same sentence.

[21] This actually happened. On returning to Bou-Sâada on another journey this spot had begun to show signs of vegetation.

[2] Babalon = 156 = 12 x 13, which is the formula of the four watchtowers of the universe. These watchtowers are composed of truncated pyramids, each one concealing a sphinx. They contain the symbols of the energies of the four elements. We may thus say that as each watchtower contains 12 x 13 pyramids, Babalon is indicated as Shakti. For the elements are the manifested powers of the All-Father. Again we may consider the watchtowers as the "City of the Pyramids" though in a sense less exalted than that usually implied in these visions. (See the Enochian section in Vol IV of The Golden Dawn for an elaboration of the truncated pyramids to the squares of the Elemental Tablets and the significance of the Sphinx. Unfortunately, the Enochian Sections in the Equinox do not go into quite as much detail in order to render this note intelligible.)

[3] See the 15th Aethyr. Note this triangle for 2. It seems very important to note that 1 + 2 = 3, and so on.

[4] This sort of chamber is to be found in many of the Secret Houses of the Brotherhood. Here are arranged the destinies of this Planet.

[5] This map may not be given to uninitiates.

[6] The chapter is this: Qol: Hua Allahu achad; Allahu assamad; lam yalid wa lam yulad; wa lam yakin lahu kufwan achad. Between each recitation, the Seer halted and bowed. This practice was performed during the day's march, the 1001 recitals being divided into 13 sections with short rests in between. This is a further affirmation of the unity, for 13 = אחד‎, in Hebrew, which means One.

[2] איואס then did 'kindle' in order to bring us to the N.O.X. of Pan.

[3] These and other Enochian Tables are to be found on Plate 1 of Liber Chokmah in Equinox VII. Also reprinted in Gems from the Equinox.

[4] There is therefore no commentary to this passage.

[5] This prophecy is still obscure. An. XXI, Sun in Leo.

[6] In The Book of the Law.

[7] Note that the Holy Guardian Angel of the Seer claims to be Aiwass, the author of The Book of the Law.

[8] This conceals a mystery. I have been fooled myself with my Aiwass = איואס‎ = 78. N (Enochian) or 8 + 70 = ח and ע. And ח is 418, the formula of the New Aeon; and ע or Capricorn is Set or Hadit, the Eye; and He is that Hadit who is manifested as 418. (I do not understand this attribution of the Enochian N to the number 8. Usually it is attributed to Scorpio, as in Hebrew, with 50 as the Gematria.)

[9] i.e. In Daleth.

[10] i.e. In Gimel.

[11] The paths ג‎, ז and ה bridge the Abyss. Nothing is said of the path ו‎, which also does this. The omission is probably inadvertent.

[12] See a later note. So the Master Therion is of the root Aleister Crowley, instead of being a Magus de novo.

[13] All interpretation is, in essence, false, as transplanting one thing from one plane to another.

[14] It is not fitting to comment on the fulfillment of this prophecy.

[15] This is being done through the established ways of the Great White Brotherhood.

[16] This has always been done.

[2] TARO. It conceals all the mysteries of Tetragrammaton through the Tarot Cards which declare him.

[3] This may be Babalon, for Malkuth concealeth Binah. Also 156 = 2 x 78.

[4] These words are probably BABALON, ChAOS, TARO. (Crowley's later commentary: This word is N.O.X. = ⊗. BABALON conceals this word because she is the lady of the City of the Pyramids beneath the night of Pan.)

[5] The two letters O.O. equal the letter Ayin (ע) which when spelled in full (עין) means the Eye.

[6] Refers to ATU XVII, "The Star", which shows this figure.

[7] Juno = יוןע‎ = 136.

[8] The fourth of the mystic numbers of Jupiter is 136.

[9] Again the Black Brothers.

[10] Eden = אדן‎ = 124.

[11] These visions seem defects of concentration; or rather, necessary rest for the over-strained Seer.

[12] All sacred to Her, in virtue of certain of Her qualities.

[13] Daleth, ד‎, is spelt דלת.

[14] See Liber AL vel Legis, Cap. I, v. 30.

[2] See Dr. John Dee and Sir Edward Kelly.

[3] Sulphur is the active Fiery Nature, and the Pentagram is the Microcosm of the Elements. But Atu IV — The Emperor — refers to ה‎ (5) for the Pentagram, and he forms the symbol of Sulphur by the position of his arms and legs. The Swastika harmonizes these, being the fiery thunderbolt, the electric whirling and also the balance of the elements (with its four arms) in a Microcosm.

[4] >A = א‎ = Aleph, the Swastika; V = ו‎ = Atu V — the Hierophant — the Pentagram; E = ה‎ = Aries and Atu IV — the Emperor, Sulphur.

[5] Aquarius = the Man, the Pentagram; A = the Swastika; Leo = the House of Sulphur. This is another elaboration of the meaning of the letters of the name of the Aethyr, MAZ.

[6] Masloth = the sphere of Chokmah = Mercury. ו and ה lead from Chesed and Tiphareth to Chokmah.

[7] Atu XVII — the Star — has the letter ה in the new Thelemic attribution. The Star is Mercury (Chokmah), for He is the light of Binah, the naked woman of the Atu. (Her arms make the Swastika, also the sign of the Mourning of Isis, one of the gestures in forming the LVX signs of the Adeptus Minor grade.) א is the Path through which the light of Kether comes to Chokmah. ח is said in the Zohar to interpret H, and Cheth is the Path which conveys the Cup of Binah to the Inferiors. Mercury unites ה and ו‎, for alchemically they are Sulphur and Salt. (ו‎ = the Kerub of Earth, Taurus.)

[8] Tahuti is sometimes so shewn.

[9] The Swastika has 17 squares, as already indicated. 17 = IAO, the triune Kether.

[10] In Atu I = the Magus.

[11] 3. ג‎, 3, is Luna, Isis.

[12] 4. This doctrine of the Three Schools is of extreme interest. Roughly, it may be said that the White is the pure mystic, whose attitude to God is one of reverence. The Yellow school conceals the mysteries indeed, but examines them as it goes. The Black school is that of pure skepticism. (There are some long letters in Magick Without Tears which at great length expound this doctrine. Ostensibly the letters quote from an essay by Gerard Aumont but there is no shadow of doubt that the essay was written by Crowley, who for reasons of his own permitted authorship to Aumont, an Algerian journalist.)

[13] Of Horus, or of projection of energy.

[14] See Liber B vel Magi, given in the appendix to Magick in Theory and Practice, as well as quoted in Gems from the Equinox.

[15] That is, he is also Solar. For the identification of Sol with Mercury (in some aspects) see "The Paris Working."

[16] The crucifixion of a toad in AN XII (1916).

[17] See Liber B vel Magi.

[18] See "The King of the Wood", a story by Aleister Crowley of a Priest of Nemi, published first in the International, a magazine which Crowley edited during his stay in the U.S. between 1914-1919. (It was later collected with other similar stories, such as "The Lake of Nemi" mentioned in Note 19, yet to be published in a book called Golden Twigs, based on themes selected from Frazer's masterpiece, The Golden Bough, which Crowley admired tremendously.)

[19] "The Lake of Nemi". See Note 18.

[20] This name is cunningly slipped in by the art of the God, for Jesus is but the figure-head used by the priests for their great sorcery.

[21] See again Liber B vel Magi for this disheartening doctrine.

[22] See the Tree of Life.

[23] It has been curiously true, that the Seer since this time has usually been concealed in a great magical retirement for about half of every year. This doctrine of the eating of the pomegranate refers to the fact that he refused to adopt one of the routine methods of success in Magick. He, being the Beast, 666, felt that he must keep his hold on Tiphereth by maintaining the formula of the Rosy Cross.

[24] This is like the Temple of Vesta at Rome in some way.

[25] This perhaps is also the karma of the new Magus. Somewhere it says that a white ash is prepared from the dust of NEMO by Hermes, the Invisible. For Urn see Azbogah = Mercury = Chad (כד) a pot, 24. But it may be 86, the number of Cohs (כוס) meaning a cup. Look up Sepher Sephiroth.

[26] The Master of the Temple who is chosen to proceed to the Grade of Magus has his little Pyramid of Dust consumed to ashes, and these are preserved in this Urn. (This is all highly symbolic language relative to the destruction of the ego through the passing of the Abyss and the preservation of the Skandhas in the vehicle used by the Master of the Temple. Many of the notes on preceding pages elaborate this issue.)

[27] Vesta = Virgo.

[28] Sir Edward Kelly. The reference is to the famous passage which Dee maintained to be given by demons. It taught that there was no sin, etc.

[29] Martin Luther.

[30] Martin Luther's magical act of cohabitation with a nun was the key to this doctrine.

[31] ⊗ = ΝΟΧ = N.O.X.

[32] All this required a Magus to see properly.

[33] This again means that the Magus 9° = 2^□ must burn up all his karma.

[34] This fact is now maintained openly. As to Atheists see Liber LXV, V. 34 - 40. Also 5th Aethyr; the Magister Templi is already being subtly prepared to attain to be a Magus.

[2] Compare certain mysteries in Liber AL vel Legis with the above.

[3] Baphomet, in which three vowels are equilibrated with five consonants. He is also Babalon after a certain mystery, and Zeus Arrhenoteleus. Hence the allusion at the end of this sentence.

[4] The Star of the A∴A∴.

[5] Possibly the meaning is: In the Shrine seek not for God. For He is everywhere. But in such a place as this all possible meanings are equally true.

[6] This reception among the atheists is a necessary prelude to the vision of the Aethyr itself.

[7] Moon, Sagittarius and Caput Draconis (Caput Draconis, in the name of the Aethyr.)

[8] ל‎ = Justice.

[9] א‎ = the Pentagram.

[10] Query: refers to Sir Edward Kelly, the true Adeptus Major, who founded this whole work of the Watchtowers and the Aethyrs.

[11] This seems to refer partly to the Seer himself, but partly to Cagliostro, who was one of the incarnations of him who is now the Seer.

[12] See the Zohar. Yesod is the Phallus of the Most High.

[13] Yod = Virgo.

[14] See Liber AL vel Legis Cap. II, v. 6 etc. The whole passage is a mystery of the path of Sagittarius.

[15] He is spoken of in the earlier part as if he were himself the Angel of the Aethyr; this is the error of the Seer.

[16] That is, he is a God.

[17] The Mother Goddess behind even such lofty ideas as Isis and Nephthys.

[18] This is then the Child of Atu VI, pertaining to Gemini. Gemini is opposite to Sagittarius in the Zodiac; their symbols are therefore complementary.

[19] These are the words of a certain grade of A∴A∴.

[20] See 11th Aethyr.

[21] An essential mystery of Thelema. Let it be studied well!

[22] See Liber LXV.

[23] See Liber LXV.

[24] This is the most important of all the doctrines that concern the Supernals, for the student of the Mysteries. It explains the necessity of his arming himself with a new kind of logic.

[25] His Kether is dissolved in Ain Soph.

[26] The arrow persists for it is the direction of Energy, the Will that createth all Becoming.

[2] This is common Alchemical symbolism. It occurs also in Tibetan mythology. The meaning is always the same; that here stated.

[3] This all refers to "Love under will," the Law by which the universe proceeds.

[4] He is 666, the Angel of Tiphereth, the Middle Kingdom of the Sephiroth, Mankind.

[5] Again the logic of the Supernals.

[6] It is "love under will" which unites them.

[7] Chaos is the great father in one particular aspect.

[8] See Liber CCCLXX and elsewhere. (See Gems from the Equinox for this Liber A'ash.)

[9] Refers to Atu 0 — the Fool.

[10] This path joins the Sephiroth 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10. It adds to 687 = 3 x 229. 229 is a possible spelling of Aiwass (in Hebrew) in full.

[11] This mystery of the Daughter awakening the eld of the all-Father and thus perpetuating Tetragrammaton is of great importance.

[12] Refers to Ixion, who embraced Juno in the form of a cloud.

[13] Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici (I have conquered the universe by the force of truth), the motto of the Seer as Magister Templi.

[3] See the doctrine of the Snake Ananta. (See Liber LXV in The Holy Books.)

[4] The letters of Judgment, those that have a final form, כ מ נ פ צ‎, all add to 280.

[5] ר‎, ל and נ (Sol, Libra and Scorpio) = the Sun, the Balance or plumes of Maat, and the Snake. Added they make 280.

[6] Note this. If the Seer had seen this vision truly, he should have become a Magus right then. The vision following was really a Guard to the Aethyr.

[7] ב‎, an house.

[8] The letter א.

[9] The path of Mercury (ב) which joins and separates Kether and Binah.

[10] Atu I — the Magus.

[11] See the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.

[12] 666's later annotation to this: "My own silly note."

[13] She seeks to resist Change, which is Life, she refuses the Formula, "love under will." Yet ΜΑΡΙΕ (Greek) = 156.

[14] She is Binah, ruled by the path of ב.

[15] Meaning, to construct a true Tree, of which Daath should be the summit. This is in fact the great error of the rationalists — both in science, like Büchner, and in religion, like Buddha. Knowledge is not, and cannot be, the crown of Consciousness, if only because the logic beyond the Abyss convicts it of essential self contradiction. Daath, as seen by the Magister Templi, is so far from being the opposite of ignorance that it is actually a demonstration that the Intellect is incapable of truth.

[16] The evil and averse counterparts of the three highest faculties of the soul are: א‎, incapacity to apprehend — the absence of any steady truth. (א‎ = Air, the volatile); ב‎, the assertion of false relations, even in the illusion of the dyad. (ב‎ = Mercury); ג‎, the clouding of aspiration by the marsh miasma of desire (ג‎ = Luna). The three highest faculties of the Soul are: א‎, the inspiration of the soul in ecstasy; ב‎, the virtue of Truthfulness without care of other issues; and ג‎, the direct link of the human with the divine Consciousness.

[17] The Seer was being warned all the time that he was seeing only a Guard.

[18] Atu I — the Magus. This is Mayan, the great magician, he who has created the dyad (ב‎ = 2) and thus made possible the conception of opposition, and hence of evil. He is to be distinguished from Chokma, the creative Mercury who transmits the essence of Kether as a logos, that Kether may become intelligible to Himself through Binah. This lower Mercury asserts the dyad as reality, and denies alike Kether and the Ain. Hence its issue is in materialism.

[19] That is, that the circle should be profaned. The evil circle is of three concentric rings. The circle demands the square or cross to fulfill it.

[20] Curiously, for his retirement in New Hampshire (An XII) the Seer bought an axe, knife, and a saw for his magical weapons. He had completely forgotten this passage.
P.S. (Sun in Leo, Moon in Cancer, An XII) I have just realized (after some days woodcarving) that the use of a knife is just to fashion shapeless things into beauty. This is then the task of a Magus which, in my then Grade, I could not see. Now, O Lord, let me behold the true vision of the Magus as he is.

[21] 42 = 2 x 21. 21 = אהיה‎, God-name of Kether; thus 42 asserts the Dyad as against the Monad, and denies Love. 42 = אמא, the mother unfertilized (as opposed to Aimah, אימה, the fertilized mother), the virgin-on-principle — the feminine equivalent of the Black Brothers.

[22] Lilith (לילית‎) = 480. 480 also equals עית‎ = Malkuth, of the 42-fold name in Yetzirah. Also it is Daath (דעות‎) in the Plural. Lilith is etymologically "the woman of night"; but is diversely described by different authorities. To one she is, "from the head to the navel, a woman — from the navel to the feet of her, a man". To another, "lovely shape that concealeth a black monkey, even as a figure that draweth with her hands small images of men down into hell" (Liber Ararita II, 10). She is also the "first wife of Adam" i.e. the succubus who visits in their sleep those boys and men who have not previously purified themselves by right coitus. The whole world of demons was in fact created (according to Rabbinical tradition) by the nocturnal pollutions of Adam. This is a true parable. For every sexual act produces its natural effect on all planes. All forms of spiritual experience may be obtained in this manner, according to the magical knowledge and skill of the operator. And there is always a child begotten on some plane or other, as the conditions of the experiment decide. (Note. — A.C. added the following here in his copy of Eqx. I, No. 5. "Doris Gomez who came just before Jeanne Foster. It's a perfect description of her normal nature. Add Laura Brown for the sake of completeness. What about Alostrael?")

[23] The Seer was physically overwhelmed by the horror of this experience. It may seem surprising that such phenomena should occur above the Abyss. But this Lilith is a positive form created by the Magus; whereas, Choronzon is the breaking up of all coherence. Here also is a mystery of mysteries. Lilith is truly Babalon, as imagined by this energy of Mayan.

[24] LIL.

[25] For the Christian, obsessed by Mayan, sees Love in this obscene form. It is all a matter of the point-of-view.

[26] This is the Sigil of Binah in one of Her forms. It instantly destroys the illusion of Lilith, who now appears in her true shape as an avatar; a corporeal imagine of Babalon, recalling the maiden of the 9th Aethyr. (Note. — in A.C.'s Eqx. here to the para. beginning "I have seen some picture" he notes in the margin "Hilarion, Jeanne Robert Foster". — To the para. beginning "then the disk of the sun", he notes "Alice Ethel Coomaraswamy. She has Libra rising and Sol in Scorpio and she is mad about green." — To the para. beginning "There is another girl", he notes "Helen Westley? — or Myriam Deroxe.")

[27] It would be improper in this place to comment upon these prophecies. The student may seek enlightenment in "The Urn", a diary of the late American period (now unfortunately lost, or so I have learned. I.R.).

[28] Atu XII — the Hanged Man. Now I understand. It is the fashioning I missed. All my life I have been cutting to destroy. Now I will cut to create.

[29] All this passage is typical of the supernal Logic.

[30] The path of ב.

[31] The mystery of Chaos is beyond the comprehension of any but Masters of the Temple. One can only hint that this is at once the Formula of the feminine Trinity and of the all-Father.

[32] The student is advised to study these matters in the original documents.

[33] Chaos = כעוס‎ = 156.