I
a
0.
O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!
1. Let me extol Thy perfections before
men.
2. In the Image of a Sixfold Star that
flameth across the Vault inane, let me re-veil Thy perfections.
3. Thou hast appeared unto me as an aged
God, a venerable God, the Lord of Time, bearing a sharp sickle.
4. Thou hast appeared unto me as a jocund
and ruddy God,full of Majesty, a King, a Father in his prime. Thou didst bear
the sceptre of the Universe, crowned with the Wheel of the Spirit.
5. Thou hast appeared unto me with sword
and spear, a warrior God in flaming armour among Thine horsemen.
6. Thou hast appeared unto me as a young
and brilliant God, a god of music and beauty, even as a young god in his
strength, playing upon the lyre.
7. Thou hast appeared unto me as the white
foam of Ocean gathered into limbs whiter than the foam, the limbs of a miracle
of women, as a goddess of extreme love, bearing the girdle of gold.
8. Thou hast appeared to me as a young boy
mischievous and lovely, with Thy winged globe and its serpents set upon a staff.
9. Thou hast appeared to me as an huntress
among Thy dogs, as a goddess virginal chaste, as a moon among the faded oaks of
the wood of years.
10. But I was deceived by none of these.
All these I cast aside, crying: Begone! So that all these faded from my vision.
11. Also I welded together the Flaming
Star and the Sixfold Star in the forge of my soul, and behold! a new star 418
that is above all these.
12. Yet even so was I not deceived; for
the crown hath twelve rays.
13. And these twelve rays are one.
II
r
0.
Now then I saw these things averse and evil; and they were not, even as Thou art
Not.
1. I saw the twin heads that ever battle
against one another, so that all their thought is a confusion. I saw Thee in
these.
2. I saw the darkeners of wisdom, like
black apes chattering vile nonsense. I saw Thee in these.
3. I saw the devouring mothers of Hell,
that eat up their children - O ye that are without understanding! I saw Thee in
these.
4. I saw the merciless and the unmajestic
like harpies tearing their foul food. I saw Thee in these.
5. I saw the burning ones, giants like
volcanoes belching out the black vomit of fire and smoke in their fury. I saw
Thee in these.
6. I saw the petty, the quarrelsome, the
selfish, - they were like men, O Lord, they were even like unto men. I saw Thee
in these.
7. I saw the ravens of death, that flew
with hoarse cries upon the carrion earth. I saw Thee in these.
8. I saw the lying spirits like frogs upon
the earth, and upon the water, and upon the treacherous metal that corrodeth all
things and abideth not. I saw Thee in these.
9. I saw the obscene ones, bull-men linked
in the abyss of putrefaction, that gnawed each other's tongues for pain. I saw
Thee in these.
10. I saw the Woman. O my God, I beheld
the image thereof, even as a lovely shape that concealeth a black monkey, even
as a figure that draweth with her hands small images of men down into hell. I
saw her from the head to the navel a woman, from the navel to the feet of her a
man. I saw Thee even in her.
11. For mine was the keyword to the Closed
Palace 418 and mine the reins of the Chariot of the Sphinxes, black and white.
But I was not deceived by anything of all these things.
12. For I expanded it by my subtlety into
Twelve Rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays were One.
III
a
0.
Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal,
or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face.
1. Even for five hundred and eleven times
nightly for one and forty days did I cry aloud unto the Lord the affirmation of
His Unity.
2. Also did I glorify His wisdom, whereby
He made the worlds.
3. Yea, I praised Him for His intelligible
essence, whereby the universe became light.
4. I did thank Him for His manifold mercy;
I did worship His magnificence and majesty.
5. I trembled before His might.
6. I delighted in the Harmony and Beauty
of His Essence.
7. In His Victory I pursued His enemies;
yea I drave them down the steep; I thundered after them into the utmost abyss;
yea, therein I partook of the glory of my Lord.
8. His Splendour shone upon me; I adored
His adorable splendour.
9. I rested myself, admiring the Stability
of Him, how the shaking of His Universe, the dissolution of all things, should
move Him not.
10. Yea, verily, I the Lord Viceregent of
His Kingdom, I, Adonai, who speak unto my servant V.V.V.V.V. did rule and govern
in His place.
11. Yet also did I formulate the word of
double power in the Voice of the Master, even the word 418.
12. And all these things deceived me not,
for I expanded them by my subtlety into the Twelve Rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays were One.
IV
r
0.
Also the little child, the lover of Adonai, even V.V.V.V.V., reflecting the
glory of Adonai, lifted up his voice and said:
1. Glory to God, and Thanksgiving to God!
There is One God alone, and God is exceeding great. He is about us, and there is
no strength save in Him the exalted, the great.
2. Thus did V.V.V.V.V. become mad, and
wend about naked.
3. And all these things fled away, for he
understood them all, that they were but as old rags upon the Divine Perfection.
4. Also he pitied them all, that they were
but reflections distorted.
5. Also he smote them, lest they should
bear rule over the just.
6. Also he harmonized them into one
picture, beautiful to behold.
7. And having thus conquered them, there
was a certain glamour of holiness even in the hollow sphere of outward
brilliance.
8. So that all became splendid.
9. And having firmly stablished them in
order and disposition,
10. He proclaimed the perfection, the
bride, the delight of God in His creation.
11. But though thus he worked, he tried
ever his work by the Star 418.
12. And it deceived him not; for by his
subtlety he expanded it all into the Twelve Rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays were One.
V
i
0.
In the place of the cross the indivisible point which hath no points nor parts
nor magnitude. Nor indeed hath it position, being beyond space. Nor hath it
existence in time, for it is beyond Time. Nor hath it cause or effect, seeing
that its Universe is infinite every way, and partaketh not of these our
conceptions.
1. So wrote
Ou-mh the
Exempt Adept, and the laughter of the Masters of the Temple abashed him not.
2. Nor was he ashamed, hearing the
laughter of the little dogs of hell.
3. For he abode in his place, and his
falsehood was truth in his place.
4. The little dogs cannot correct him, for
they can do naught but bark.
5. The masters cannot correct him, for
they say: Come and see.
6. And I came and saw, even I, Perdurabo,
the Philosophus of the Outer College.
7. Yea, even I the man beheld this wonder.
8. And I could not deliver it unto myself.
9. That which established me is invisible
and unknowable in its essence.
10. Only they who know IT may be known.
11. For they have the genius of the mighty
sword 418.
12. And they are not deceived by any of
these things; for by their subtlety do they expand them all into the Twelve Rays
of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays are One.
VI
t
0.
Deeper and deeper into the mire of things! Farther and farther into the
never-ending Expansion of the Abyss.
1. The great goddess that bendeth over the
Universe is my mistress; I am the winged globe at her heart.
2. I contract ever as she ever expandeth;
3. At the end it is all one.
4. Our loves have brought to birth the
Father and Creator of all things.
5. He hath established the elements; the
aether, the air, the water, the earth, and the fire.
6. He hath established the wandering stars
in their courses.
7. He hath ploughed with the seven stars
of his Plough, that the Seven might move indeed, yet ever point to the
unchanging One.
8. He hath established the Eight Belts,
wherewith he hath girdled the globes.
9. He hath established the Trinity of
Triads in all things, forcing fire into fire, and ordering all things in the
Stable Abode of the Kings of Æ.
10. He hath established His rule in His
kingdom.
11. Yet the Father also boweth unto the
Power of the Star 418 and thereby
12. In his subtlety He expandeth it all
into twelve rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays are One.
VII
a
0.
Then in the might of the Lion did I formulate unto myself that holy and formless
fire,
wrq,
which darteth and flasheth through the depths of the Universe.
1. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the
earth melted into a liquor clear as water.
2. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the
water smoked into a lucid air.
3. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the air
ignited, and became Fire.
4. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O
Lord, the Fire dissipated into Space.
5. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O
Lord, the Space resolved itself into a Profundity of Mind.
6. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the
Mind of the Father was broken up into the brilliance of our Lord the Sun.
7. At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the
Brilliance of our Lord was absorbed in the Naught of our Lady of the Body of the
Milk of the Stars.
8. Then only was the Fire Qadosh
extinguished, when the Enterer was driven back from the threshold,
9. And the Lord of Silence was established
upon the Lotus flower.
10. Then was accomplished all that which
was to be accomplished.
11. And All and One and Naught were slain
in the slaying of the Warrior 418,
12. In the slaying of the subtlety that
expanded all these things into the Twelve Rays of the Crown,
13. That returned unto One, and beyond
One, even unto the vision of the Fool in his folly that chanted the word ARARITA,
and beyond the Word and the Fool; yea, beyond the Word and the Fool.
Order
of Thelema
Contact
Holy Books