The Book of the Law
Chapter I Chapter II Chapter
III The Comment
- Had! The manifestation of Nuit.
- The unveiling of the company of heaven.
- Every man and every woman is a star.
- Every number is infinite; there is no difference.
- Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling
before the Children of men!
- Be thou Hadit, my secret centre,
my heart & my
tongue!
- Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister
of Hoor-paar-kraat.
- The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs.
- Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed
over you!
- Let my servants be few & secret: they shall
rule the many & the known.
- These are fools that men adore;
both their Gods & their
men are fools.
- Come forth, o children, under
the stars, & take
your fill of love!
- I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in
yours. My joy is to see your joy.
- Above, the gemmed azure is
The naked splendour of Nuit;
She bends in ecstasy to kiss
The secret ardours of Hadit.
The wingèd globe, the starry blue,
Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
- Now ye shall know that the
chosen priest & apostle
of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in
his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given.
They shall gather my children into their fold: they
shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts
of men.
- For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to
him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.
- But ye are not so chosen.
- Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent!
- O azure-lidded woman, bend upon them!
- The key of the rituals is in the secret word
which I have given unto him.
- With the God & the Adorer
I am nothing: they do not see me. They are as upon
the earth; I am Heaven, and there is no other God
than me, and my lord Hadit.
- Now, therefore, I am known
to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name
which I will give him when at last he knoweth me.
Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars
thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there
be no difference made among you between any one thing & any
other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.
- But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief
of all!
- I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.
- Divide, add, multiply, and understand.
- Then saith the prophet and
slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall
be the sign? So she answered him, bending down, a
lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant,
her lovely hands upon the black earth, & her
lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not
hurting the little flowers: Thou knowest! And the
sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the
continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
- Then the priest answered & said
unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows,
and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in
a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous
one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak
not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak
not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!
- None, breathed the light,
faint & faery,
of the stars, and two.
- For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance
of union.
- This is the creation of the world, that the
pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
- For these fools of men and their woes care not
thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but
ye are my chosen ones.
- Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my
knowledge! seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from
all pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred
heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all.
- Then the priest fell into
a deep trance or swoon, & said
unto the Queen of Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write
unto us the rituals; write unto us the law!
- But she said: the ordeals I write not: the rituals
shall be half known and half concealed: the Law is for all.
- This that thou writest is the threefold book
of Law.
- My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the
princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be
folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
- Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the
wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall
learn and teach.
- He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals.
- The word of the Law is Θελημα .
- Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if
he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades,
the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt
shall be the whole of the Law.
- The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse
not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is
no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed!
Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.
- Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing.
So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will.
- Do that, and no other shall say nay.
- For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered
from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
- The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect
and not two; nay, are none!
- Nothing is a secret key of
this law. Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight,
eighty, four hundred & eighteen.
- But they have the half: unite by thine art so
that all disappear.
- My prophet is a fool with his one, one, one;
are not they the Ox, and none by the Book?
- Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words
and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox
of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But they are
not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer; Hoor in his secret
name and splendour is the Lord initiating.
- There is a word to say about
the Hierophantic task. Behold! there are three ordeals
in one, and it may be given in three ways. The gross
must pass through fire; let the fine be tried in
intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest.
Thus ye have star & star, system & system;
let not one know well the other!
- There are four gates to one
palace; the floor of that palace is of silver and
gold; lapis lazuli & jasper are
there; and all rare scents; jasmine & rose, and the emblems
of death. Let him enter in turn or at once the four gates;
let him stand on the floor of the palace. Will he not sink?
Amn. Ho! warrior, if thy servant sink? But there are means
and means. Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel;
eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam!
Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where
and with whom ye will! But always unto me.
- If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks,
saying: They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not
ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit!
- This shall regenerate the
world, the little world my sister, my heart & my
tongue, unto whom I send this kiss. Also, o scribe
and prophet, though thou be of the princes, it shall
not assuage thee nor absolve thee. But ecstasy be
thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!
- Change not as much as the style of a letter;
for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden
therein.
- The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them.
- 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 thou
hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark.
- 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.
- I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty,
not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy;
nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
- My incense is of resinous
woods & gums;
and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees
of Eternity.
- My number is 11, as 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 asecret glory for them
that love me.
- 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 to give 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 spendour & 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!
- At all my meetings with you
shall the priestess sayand her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and
rejoicing in my secret templeTo me! To me! calling
forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant.
- 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!
- I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am
the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.
- To me! To me!
- The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.
- Nu! the hiding of Hadit.
- 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.
- In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as
she, the circumference, is nowhere found.
- Yet she shall be known & I never.
- 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.
- 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 theknowledge of me the knowledge of death.
- 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.
- Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath have worshipped
me; ill, for I am the worshipper.
- 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.
- O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this
writing.
- I see thee hate the hand & the
pen; but I am stronger.
- Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not.
- for why? Because thou wast the knower, and
me.
- Now let there be a veiling of this shrine:
now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness!
- 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.
- I am The Empress & the Hierophant.
Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven.
- 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.
- These are dead, these fellows; they feel not.
We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk.
- 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.
- Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious
languor, force and fire, are of us.
- We have nothing with the outcast and
the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not.
Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the
law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world. Think
not, o king, upon that lie: That Thou Must Die: verily thou shalt not
die, but live. Now let it be understood: If the body of the King dissolve,
he shall remain in pure ecstasy for ever. Nuit! Hadit! Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
The Sun, Strength & Sight, Light; these are for the servants of
the Star & the Snake.
- I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight
and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship
me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be
drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie,
this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a
lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense
and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for
this.
- I am alone: there is no God where I am.
- Behold! these be grave mysteries; for there
are also of my friends who be hermits. Now think not to find them in
the forest or on the mountain; but in beds of purple, caressed by magnificent
beasts of women with large limbs, and fire and light in their eyes,
and masses of flaming hair about them; there shall ye find them. Ye
shall see them at rule, at victorious armies, at all the joy; and there
shall be in them a joy a million times greater than this. Beware lest
any force another, King against King! Love one another with burning
hearts; on the low men trample in the fierce lust of your pride, in
the day of your wrath.
- Ye are against the people, O my chosen!
- I am the secret Serpent coiled about to spring:
in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are
one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture
of the earth, and I and the earth are one.
- There is great danger in me; for who doth not
understand these runes shall make a great miss. He shall fall down
into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs
of Reason.
- Now a curse upon Because and his kin!
- May Because be accursed for ever!
- If Will stops and cries Why, invoking
Because, then Will stops & does nought.
- If Power asks why, then is Power weakness.
- Also reason is a lie; for there is
a factor infinite & unknown; & all their words are
skew-wise.
- Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog!
- But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!
- Let the rituals be rightly performed
with joy & beauty!
- There are rituals of the elements and feasts
of the times.
- A feast for the first night of the Prophet
and his Bride!
- A feast for the three days of the writing of
the Book of the Law.
- A feast for Tahuti and the child of
the Prophet—secret, O Prophet!
- A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and a feast
for the Equinox of the Gods.
- A feast for fire and a feast for water; a feast
for life and a greater feast for death!
- A feast every day in your hearts in the joy
of my rapture!
- A feast every night unto Nu, and the pleasure
of uttermost delight!
- Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread hereafter.
There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.
- There is death for the dogs.
- Dost thou fail? Art thou sorry? Is fear in
thine heart?
- Where I am these are not.
- Pity not the fallen! I never knew them.
I am not for them. I console not: I hate the consoled & the
consoler.
- I am unique & conqueror. I am not
of the slaves that perish. Be they damned & dead! Amen.
(This is of the 4: there is a fifth who is invisible, & therein
am I as a babe in an egg.)
- Blue am I and gold in the light of
my bride: but the red gleam is in my eyes; & my spangles are purple & green.
- Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher
than eyesight.
- There is a veil: that veil is black.
It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall
of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries:
veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service;
ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter.
- Fear not, o prophet, when these words are said,
thou shalt not be sorry. Thou art emphatically my chosen; and blessed
are the eyes that thou shalt look upon with gladness. But I will hide
thee in a mask of sorrow: they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen:
but I lift thee up.
- Nor shall they who cry aloud their folly that
thou meanest nought avail; thou shall reveal it: thou availest: they
are the slaves of because: They are not of me. The stops as thou wilt;
the letters? change them not in style or value!
- Thou shalt obtain the order & value
of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute
them unto.
- Begone! ye mockers; even though ye laugh in
my honour ye shall laugh not long: then when ye are sad know that I
have forsaken you.
- He that is righteous shall be righteous still;
he that is filthy shall be filthy still.
- Yea! deem not of change: ye shall be
as ye are, & not other. Therefore the kings of the earth
shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve. There is none
that shall be cast down or lifted up: all is ever as it was.
Yet there are masked ones my servants: it may be that yonder
beggar is a King. A King may choose his garment as he will:
there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty.
- Beware therefore! Love all, lest perchance
is a King concealed! Say you so? Fool! If he be a King, thou canst
not hurt him.
- Therefore strike hard & low, and
to hell with them, master!
- There is a light before thine eyes, o prophet,
a light undesired, most desirable.
- I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses
of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
- Thou art exhaust in the voluptuous fullness
of the inspiration; the expiration is sweeter than death, more rapid
and laughterful than a caress of Hell's own worm.
- Oh! thou art overcome: we are upon
thee; our delight is all over thee: hail! hail: prophet of
Nu! prophet of Had! prophet of Ra-Hoor-Khu! Now rejoice! now
come in our splendour & rapture!
Come in our passionate peace, & write sweet words for
the Kings.
- I am the Master: thou art the Holy Chosen One.
- Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be
our bed in working! Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy
death shall be lovely: whososeeth it shall be glad. Thy death shall
be the seal of the promise of our agelong love. Come! lift up thine
heart & rejoice! We are one; we are none.
- Hold! Hold! Bear up in thy rapture; fall not
in swoon of the excellent kisses!
- Harder! Hold up thyself! Lift thine head! breathe
not so deep—die!
- Ah! Ah! What do I feel? Is the word exhausted?
- There is help & hope in other spells.
Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be
not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the
eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy;
and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein!
- But exceed! exceed!
- Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly
mine—and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous!—death is the
crown of all.
- Ah! Ah! Death! Death! thou shalt long for death.
Death is forbidden, o man, unto thee.
- The length of thy longing shall be
the strength of its glory. He that lives long & desires
death much is ever the King among the Kings.
- Aye! listen to the numbers & the
words:
- 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R
P S T O V A L. What meaneth this, o prophet? Thou knowest not; nor
shalt thou know ever. There cometh one to follow thee: he shall expound
it. But remember, o chose none, to be me; to follow the love of Nu
in the star-lit heaven; to look forth upon men, to tell them this glad
word.
- O be thou proud and mighty among men!
- Lift up thyself! for there is none like unto
thee among men or among Gods! Lift up thyself, o my prophet, thy stature
shall surpass the stars. They shall worship thy name, foursquare, mystic,
wonderful, the number of the man; and the name of thy house 418.
- The end of the hiding of Hadit; and
blessing & worship
to the prophet of the lovely Star!
- Abrahadabra; the reward of Ra Hoor
Khut.
- There is division hither homeward;
there is a word not known. Spelling is defunct; all is not
aught. Beware! Hold! Raise the spell of Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
- Now let it be first understood that
I am a god of War and of Vengeance. I shall deal hardly with
them.
- Choose ye an island!
- Fortify it!
- Dung it about with enginery of war!
- I will give you a war-engine.
- With it ye shall smite the peoples;
and none shall stand before you.
- Lurk! Withdraw! Upon them! this is
the Law of the Battle of Conquest: thus shall my worship be
about my secret house.
- Get the stele of revealing itself;
set it in thy secret temple—and that temple is already aright
disposed—& it shall be your Kiblah for ever. It shall
not fade, but miraculous colour shall come back to it day after
day. Close it in locked glass for a proof to the world.
- This shall be your only proof. I forbid
argument. Conquer! That is enough. I will make easy to you
the abstruction from the ill-ordered house in the Victorious
City. Thou shalt thyself convey it with worship, o prophet,
though thou likest it not. Thou shalt have danger & trouble.
Ra-Hoor-Khu is with thee. Worship me with fire & blood;
worship me with swords & with spears. Let the woman
be girt with a sword before me: let blood flow to my name.
Trample down the Heathen; be upon them, o warrior, I will
give you of their flesh to eat!
- Sacrifice cattle, little and big:
after a child.
- But not now.
- Ye shall see that hour, o blessed
Beast, and thou the Scarlet Concubine of his desire!
- Ye shall be sad thereof.
- Deem not too eagerly to catch the
promises; fear not to undergo the curses. Ye, even ye, know
not this meaning all.
- Fear not at all; fear neither men
nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter
of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the
earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light;
and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms.
- Mercy let be off: damn them who pity!
Kill and torture; spare not; be upon them!
- That stele they shall call the Abomination
of Desolation; count well its name, & it shall be to
you as 718.
- Why? Because of the fall of Because,
that he is not there again.
- Set up my image in the East: thou
shalt buy thee an image which I will show thee, especial, not
unlike the one thou knowest. And it shall be suddenly easy
for thee to do this.
- The other images group around me to
support me: let all be worshipped, for they shall cluster to
exalt me. I am the visible object of worship; the others are
secret; for the Beast & his
Bride are they: and for the winners of the Ordeal x. What
is this? Thou shalt know.
- For perfume mix meal & honey & thick
leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil,
and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood.
- The best blood is of the moon, monthly:
then the fresh blood of a child, or dropping from the host
of heaven: then of enemies; then of the priest or of the worshippers:
last of some beast, no matter what.
- This burn: of this make cakes & eat
unto me. This hath also another use; let it be laid before
me, and kept thick with perfumes of your orison: it shall become
full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto
me.
- These slay, naming your enemies; & they
shall fall before you.
- Also these shall breed lust & power
of lust in you at the eating thereof.
- Also ye shall be strong in war.
- Moreover, be they long kept, it is
better; for they swell with my force. All before me.
- My altar is of open brass work: burn
thereon in silver or gold!
- There cometh a rich man from the West
who shall pour his gold upon thee.
- From gold forge steel!
- Be ready to fly or to smite!
- But your holy place shall be untouched
throughout the centuries: though with fire and sword it be
burnt down & shattered,
yet an invisible house there standeth, and shall stand
until the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise
and the double-wanded one assume my throne and place. Another
prophet shall arise, and bring fresh fever from the skies;
another woman shall awakethe lust & worship
of the Snake; another soul of God and beast shall mingle
in the globed priest; another sacrifice shall stain the
tomb; another king shall reign; and blessing no longer
be poured To the Hawk-headed mystical Lord!
- The half of the word of Heru-ra-ha,
called Hoor-pa-kraat and Ra-Hoor-Khut.
- Then said the prophet unto the God:
- I adore thee in the song—
I am the Lord of Thebes, and I
The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;
For me unveils the veiled sky,
The self-slain Ankh-af-na-khonsu
Whose words are truth. I invoke, I greet
Thy presence, O Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
Unity uttermost showed!
I adore the might of Thy breath,
Supreme and terrible God,
Who makest the gods and death
To tremble before Thee:—
I, I adore thee!
Appear on the throne of Ra!
Open the ways of the Khu!
Lighten the ways of the Ka!
The ways of the Khabs run through
To stir me or still me!
Aum! let it fill me!
So that thy light
is in me; & its
red flame is as a sword in my hand to push thy order. There
is a secret door that I shall make to establish thy way
in all the quarters, (these are the adorations, as thou
hast written), as it is said:
The light is mine; its rays consume
Me: I have made a secret door
Into the House of Ra and Tum,
Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.
I am thy Theban, O Mentu,
The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit!
Bid me within thine House to dwell,
O winged snake of light, Hadit!
Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
-
All this and a book
to say how thou didst come hither and a reproduction of
this ink and paper for ever—for in it is the word secret & not
only in the English—and thy comment upon this the Book
of the Law shall be printed beautifully in red ink and
black upon beautiful paper made by hand; and to each man
and woman that thou meetest, were it but to dine or to drink
at them, it is the Law to give. Then they shall chance to
abide in this bliss or no; it is no odds. Do this quickly!
-
But the work of the comment? That
is easy; and Hadit burning in thy heart shall make swift and
secure thy pen.
-
Establish at thy Kaaba a clerk-house:
all must be done well and with business way.
-
The ordeals thou shalt
oversee thyself, save only the blind ones. Refuse none,
but thou shalt know & destroy
the traitors. I am Ra-Hoor-Khuit; and I am powerful to protect
my servant. Success is thy proof: argue not; convert not; talk
not over much! Them that seek to entrap thee, to overthrow
thee, them attack without pity or quarter; & destroy
them utterly. Swift as a trodden serpent turn and strike!
Be thou yet deadlier than he! Drag down their souls to
awful torment: laugh at their fear: spit upon them!
-
Let the Scarlet Woman beware! If pity
and compassion and tenderness visit her heart; if she leave
my work to toy with old sweetnesses; then shall my vengeance
be known. I will slay me her child: I will alienate her heart:
I will cast her out from men: as a shrinking and despised harlot
shall she crawl through dusk wet streets, and die cold and
an-hungered.
-
But let her raise herself in pride!
Let her follow me in my way! Let her work the work of wickedness!
Let her kill her heart! Let her be loud and adulterous! Let
her be covered with jewels, and rich garments, and let her
be shameless before all men!
-
Then will I lift her
to pinnacles of power: then will I breed from her a child
mightier than all the kings of the earth. I will fill her
with joy: with my force shall she see & strike at the
worship of Nu: she shall achieve Hadit.
-
I am the warrior Lord
of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring
you to victory & joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye
shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your
armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn
not back for any!
-
This book shall be
translated into all tongues: but always with the original
in the writing of the Beast; for in the chance shape of
the letters and their position to one another: in these are
mysteries that no Beast shall divine. Let him not seek to
try: but one cometh after him, whence I say not, who shall
discover the Key of it all. Then this line drawn is a key:
then this circle squared in its failure is a key also. And
Abrahadabra. It shall be his child & that strangely.
Let him not seek after this; for thereby alone can he fall
from it.
-
Now this mystery of the letters is
done, and I want to go on to the holier place.
-
I am in a secret fourfold word, the
blasphemy against all gods of men.
-
Curse them! Curse them! Curse them!
-
With my Hawk's head I peck at the
eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross.
-
I flap my wings in
the face of Mohammed & blind
him.
-
With my claws I tear out the flesh
of the Indian and the Buddhist, Mongol and Din.
-
Bahlasti! Ompehda! I spit on your
crapulous creeds.
-
Let Mary inviolate be torn upon wheels:
for her sake let all chaste women be utterly despised among
you!
-
Also for beauty's sake and love's!
-
Despise also all cowards; professional
soldiers who dare not fight, but play; all fools despise!
-
But the keen and the proud, the royal
and the lofty; ye are brothers!
-
-
There is no law beyond Do what thou
wilt.
-
There is an end of the word of the
God enthroned in Ra's seat, lightening the girders of the soul.
-
To Me do ye reverence! to me come
ye through tribulation of ordeal, which is bliss.
-
The fool readeth this
Book of the Law, and its comment; & he understandeth
it not.
-
Let him come through
the first ordeal, & it
will be to him as silver.
-
Through the second, gold.
-
Through the third, stones of precious
water.
-
Through the fourth, ultimate sparks
of the intimate fire.
-
Yet to all it shall seem beautiful.
Its enemies who say not so, are mere liars.
-
-
I am the Hawk-Headed
Lord of Silence & of
Strength; my nemyss shrouds the night-blue sky.
-
Hail! ye twin warriors about the pillars
of the world! for your time is nigh at hand.
-
I am the Lord of the
Double Wand of Power; the wand of the Force of Coph Nia—but
my left hand is empty, for I have crushed an Universe; & nought
remains.
-
Paste the sheets from right to left
and from top to bottom: then behold!
-
There is a splendour in my name hidden
and glorious, as the sun of midnight is ever the son.
-
The ending of the words is the Word
Abrahadabra.
The Book of the Law is Written
and Concealed.
Aum. Ha.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
The study of this Book is forbidden.
It is wise
to destroy this copy after the first reading.
Whosoever disregards this does so at his own
risk and peril.
These are most dire.
Those who discuss the contents of this Book are to be
shunned by all, as centres of pestilence.
All questions of the Law are to be decided only by
appeal to my writings, each for himself.
There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.
Love is the law, love under will.
The priest of the princes,
Ankh-f-n-khonsu
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