In fact the various printed versions of the Book of the Law have consistently omitted key elements of the
handwritten manuscript that could not be typeset. Two of these elements - the configuration of the coded
passage #II-76 and the grid/number matrix behind part of #III-47 - proved crucial to their decipherment in
the Book of Coming Forth by Night.
55. The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them.
Crowley interpreted this verse in a magical, rather than in a genealogical sense. At first he felt the “child” to
be Charles S. Jones (Frater Achad), but then abandoned this opinion when Jones developed theories not in
accordance with Crowley’s own beliefs concerning the Æon. The matter was unresolved at the time of
Crowley’s death, nor were his various disciples or organizational splinter-groups able to reach consensus upon
it. The question was resolved by the Book of Coming Forth by Night precisely a century after Crowley’s own
birth.
56. Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that
child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a
little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. But that hast all in
the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark.
The “child” would be neither of the “Eastern” (oriental/Theosophical) nor of the
“Western” (Cabalistic/Masonic) magical schools, but would come rather from a school distinct from and
unrecognized by both - the Church of Satan, an initiatory magical Order that itself rejected the doctrines both
of the aforementioned systems and of Crowley’s organizations.
The “child”, as Magus of the Æon of Set, necessarily had to reject the premises of the Æon of Horus as
obsolete and/or incomplete, but this same perspective and initiatory comprehension enabled him to
explain key mysteries of the Æon of Horus that had been unresolved even by Crowley himself. By
definition only a Magus may completely comprehend a previous Magus - because the successor possesses
the extra-æonic perspective required.
Crowley’s curiosity concerning the identity of the “child” is also dismissed as futile - a word of advice
which he, to his continuing frustration, refused to heed.
The Words of the several Magi are valid under the circumstances of their Utterance, but each Magus
will Understand only those magical and philosophical principles encompassed by his Word [and previous
Words to the extent that it elaborates upon them].
Each Word represents a new equation between the experience of the past and the problems of the future.
A Magus may use the power of his Word to better understand the past and to address the present, but he
should not presume that his Word will be the final solution to the indefinite future.
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The intellect alone will enable man to confront problems purely in the realm of the OU, but the
uninitiated intellect is inadequate where the entire OU/SU totality - including metaphysical realities - is
concerned. This is the realm of the Magi.
57. Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love;
for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He,
my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House
of God. All these old letters of my Book are aright; but Tzaddi is not the Star. This also is
secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.
Nuit is to be invoked during the hours of darkness.
“Love is the law, love under will” became one of Crowley’s key aphorisms [generally used to close any
document opened with the “Do what thou wilt” quote from #I-40]. He understood it to mean a profound
empathy with all entities of creation, guided not by fear [which he considered the Christian motive for love] but
by deliberation.
There is further a caution concerning superficial types of love. There is “pure” love for its own sake -
the dove; and there is love for ulterior motives - the serpent. [Crowley interpreted the serpent as a symbol
of Kundalini, a sex-magic force supposedly coiled at the base of the spine. I find the concept quaint, if
hardly to be taken seriously.]
Crowley himself chose the love of the serpent, always subordinating human love and affection to his
magical workings. As a result his love-life consisted of an endless string of disasters, his opinion of women
remained immature, and his experiments with sex-magic [as highlighted, for example, in The King on the
Royal Art, one of his sex-magic diaries] were pathetic and fruitless.
The “great mystery”, which Crowley declined to explain in his comments on the grounds that it was
of the art - explained only at the highest degrees of the O.T.O.
Crowley understood “Book” as the Tarot, and the Hebrew letter Tzaddi as the Emperor trump in that
deck. In his commentary he proceeded to explain why this passage identified this trump as complementary
to the Star trump XVII - which I simply do not see implied by the above passage of the Book of the Law.
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58. I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainly, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace
unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
The promise of Nuit to mankind upon its reintegration with the OU: there would be nothing left to sacrifice,
nor any perception of a distinct “deity”.
59. My incense is of resinous wood & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair
the trees of Eternity.
The composition of incense for Nuit and the reason for it - the tree as a symbol of timeless existence
because of its apparent lack of change, slow growth..
60. My number is 11, as are all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle
in the Middle, & the circle is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are
seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.
See #I-24; 5+6=11. See also the comment concerning #I-20. The five-pointed star is the Pentagram of
Set, and a red circle is the Egyptian symbol for the Sun. To non-initiates the esoteric nature of the Book of
the Law might seem “black” (i.e. nihilistic), but in fact it is “blue & gold” (a OU-neteru- oriented initiatory
system of magical philosophy).
For the “secret glory” see again #I-30.
61. But to love me is better than all things: if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently
burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame
therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing
togive all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather
goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations
of the earth in splendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy.
I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress.
I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and
purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse
the coiled splendour within you:
come unto me!
62. At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say - and her eyes shall burn with desire as
she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple - To me! To me! calling forth the flame
of the hearts of all in her love-chant.
63. Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to
me, for I love you! I love you!
64. I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-
sky.
65. To me! To me!
66. The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.
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The Second Chapter
1.
Nu! the hiding of Hadit.
Within Islam, the term hadith identifies a “divinely- inspired utterance”. The term has no meaning in
Egyptian hieroglyphic. The “Hadit”-figure on the Stele of Revealing is identified in the inscription as Behdety,
a form of HarWer, the Great Horus. This Second Chapter is intelligible if it is understood as an utterance of
Aleister Crowley inspired by HarWer. [By contrast, the Third Chapter is in the form of a direct address by
this neter.]
In this first verse Nuit is said to conceal or obscure the magician’s awareness of HarWer. If Nuit is
recognized as the inertial neter of the OU, and if HarWer - per the Book of Coming Forth by Night - is
seen as a concentration of intelligence directly opposite to Nuit, the antipodal tension between them may
be understood.
2.
Come! all ye, and learn the secret that hath not yet been revealed. I, Hadit, am the
complement of Nu, my bride. I am not extended, and Khabs is the name of my house.
Crowley considered Hadit to be symbolic of “infinite contraction” - a geometric point - and Nuit
“infinite expansion” into the three geometric dimensions. The concepts have no meaning save in pure
mathematics, because the former state would mean nonexistence save as a locus, and the latter a state of
existence embracing everything - in which case “Hadit” could not think or talk, while there would be no one
“else” for Nuit to talk with!
“Khabs” may be translated variously [see #I-8]. Here it characterizes HarWer as a neter of “pure
spirit” [see #II-1].
3.
In the sphere I am everywhere, the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.
Crowley compared this to “an old mystical definition of God - He whose centre is everywhere and
whose circumference nowhere”. In terms of Euclidian geometry, of course, both the center and the shell of a
given sphere can be determined. Technically the shell can be “found”; it is the physical displacement of a
sphere in space. But the center has no three-dimensional existence; it has location only. #II-3 is thus
contradictory to fact. This statement would place HarWer completely outside of the OU [where such laws
apply].
4.
Yet she shall be known and I never.
The OU may be comprehended through the logical and empirical procedures of science. The pure
intellect, since it possesses the capacity to behave illogically, may not be defined through logic alone. Nœtic
intuition is also required. Consider here the Dialogues of Plato relative to the actual identification and
definition of a Form/ neter.
5.
Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good
ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright.
Crowley understood the “old time” as a reference to the Æon of Osiris, characterized by the
predominance of death- worship religions, now to be superseded by the Æon of Horus.
He understood the ritual reference to mean that he must purge the texts of the Golden Dawn (G.'.D.'.)
to ensure their compliance with the principles of the new æon.
6.
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and
the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
The phenomenon of isolate self-consciousness (the Gift of Set of the Book of Coming Forth by Night or
“Black Flame” of the Diabolicon) distinguishes man from beast. This same capacity enables man to perceive
his existence as distinct from that of the Nuit-cosmos, hence the finity of that distinct existence - eventual
death of the self.
7.
I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle.
“Come unto me” is a foolish word; for it is I that go.
HarWer is the creator of a new æon and the destroyer of the old one. His being is the origin - or axle - of
the new æon, and elaborations of the Word of that æon extend outwards from this core principle.
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Cubical altars within magic circles were used for certain types of magical ceremonies, but the relationship
was expanded to three dimensions in the “Cry of the 30th Æthyr” in Liber 418 ( The Vision and The Voice):
“This cube is surrounded by a sphere” - implying the spiritual above and beyond the purely material.
8.
Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath have worshipped me; ill, for I am the worshipper.
Harpokrates, the infant Horus the Younger of the Osirian mythos, is in fact a corruption of HarWer, the
Great Horus. Here HarWer exposes the corruption and points to a further fallacy: An intellect cannot
worship itself as an “object”.
9.
Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they
pass & are done; but there is that which remains.
This reaffirms the opposition of HarWer to Nuit, who considers nonexistence [of anything else] the
supreme joy [see #I-32]. Finite intellects are subject to death. The non-conscious whole of matter/energy
(Nuit) will, however, continue to displace space indefinitely.
10. O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this writing.
11. I see thee hate the hand & the pen; but I am stronger.
12. Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not.
13. for why? Because thou wast the knower, and me.
Crowley recounts that, at this point, he resented the direction of the Book of the Law but was unable
to cease transcribing it. At the time he was an avowed Buddhist [which, since Buddhists seek obliteration of the
self in nirvana, is not inconsistent with his attraction to Nuit]. The Second Chapter of the Book of the Law
attacks this position with an affirmation of the independent existence of the intellect. And even the very
attempt to “deny” the intellect affirms its existence: Cogito Ergo Sum.
14. Now let there be a veiling of this shrine; now let the light devour men and eat them up with
blindness!
Despite the glaring truth of #II-10/13, those who “don’t want to hear it” will simply ignore it in favor
of cherished fantasies. Crowley himself missed its significance altogether. Hence he also failed to
understand that it was the HarWer aspect of his own mind that was the actual source of this Second
Chapter.
15. For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am
eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are
not of me; for there is a further secret.
In the Old Comment, which appeared in the Equinox in 1912, Crowley wrote: “I am perfect, being Not
(31 LA or 61 AIN) … Which is vital, for I a
m None indeed. LA.” This is rather at odds with Charles Stansfeld
Jones (Frater Achad) first revealing the AL/LA “key” to Crowley in 1919.
9 is the number of the Tarot trump “The Hermit”, symbolizing [according to the Book of Thoth] the
Secret Fire Khu [see #I-8 and #I-13]. Within the scope of the Æon of Horus, however, only an
Ipsissimus (10)=[1] - a “fool” - could perceive this.
To others an intellectual evaluation of HarWer would yield 8 = “Adjustment”. Among other things this
trump signifies the displacement of an obsolete æon by a new one.
Trump #1 - “The Magus” - refers to Crowley’s role “in 8” - i.e. in the new æon as the instrument of
Adjustment. This is “vital” insofar as the HarWer neter cannot manifest itself in the OU save through the
mind of a material/intellectual medium.
“The Empress” (trump #3) and “The Emperor” (trump
#4) add to trump #7 (“The Chariot”), signifying the North Solstice and the mystery of the Grail. This is
indeed a “further secret”, as it is not of HarWer and would be revealed only in the Hall of the Dead
( Walhalla) at Wewelsburg Castle, Westphalia, in XVII/1982 CE.
16. I am the Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven as my bride is eleven.
“The Empress” (trump #3) and “The Hierophant” (trump #5) again equal “Adjustment” (trump #8). The
Æon of Horus is characterized by the eleven-letter formula “Abrahadabra” [see #I-20].
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17. Hear me, ye people of sighing!
The sorrows of pain and regret
Are left to the dead and the dying,
The folk that not know me as yet.
18. They are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the
earth are our kinsfolk.
19. Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us.
They shall rejoice, our chosen, who sorroweth is not of us.
20. Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, for and fire, are of us.
The Law of Thelema is for those with the wit and the will to comprehend and apply it. Others are fated to
slow, inevitable regression to beasthood. [Cf. H.G. Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau.] As for intellectuals and
magicians of the obsolete æon:
“Such a being is gradually disintegrated from lack of nourishment and the slow but certain attraction