Original key entry by Fr. H.B. in New York
1/23/90 e.v. ASCII conversion
by Bill Heidrick, T.G. of O.T.O.
--- may need further proof reading
Copyright (c) Ordo Templi Orientis

O.T.O.
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I

1. I am the Heart; and the Snake is entwined
About the invisible core of the mind.
Rise, O my snake! It is now is the hour
Of the hooded and holy ineffable flower.
Rise, O my snake, into brilliance of bloom
On the corpse of Osiris afloat in the tomb!
O heart of my mother, my sister, mine own,
Thou art given to Nile, to the terror Typhon!
Ah me! but the glory of ravening storm
Enswathes thee and wraps thee in frenzy of form.
Be still, O my soul! that the spell may dissolve
As the wands are upraised, and the aeons revolve.
Behold! in my beauty how joyous Thou art,
O Snake that caresses the crown of mine heart!
Behold! we are one, and the tempest of years
Goes down to the dusk, and the Beetle appears.
O Beetle! the drone of Thy dolorous note
Be ever the trance of this tremulous throat!
I await the awaking! The summons on high
From the Lord Adonai, from the Lord Adonai!
2. Adonai spake unto V.V.V.V.V., saying: There must everbe division in the word.
3. For the colours are many, but the light is one.
4. Therefore thou writest that which is of mother ofemerald, and of lapis-lazuli, and of turquoise, and of
alexandrite.
5. Another writeth the words of topaz, and of deep amethyst,and of gray sapphire, and of deep sapphire
with a tinge as of blood.
6. Therefore do ye fret yourselves because of this.
7. Be not contented with the image.
8. I who am the Image of an Image say this.
9. Debate not of the image, saying Beyond! Beyond!
One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun,and by the arrow, and by the Foundation,
and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth.
10. Not otherwise may ye reach unto the Smooth Point.
11. Nor is it fitting for the cobbler to prate of theRoyal matter. O cobbler! mend me this shoe, that I may walk. O king! ifI be thy son, let us speak of the Embassy to the King thy Brother.
12. Then was there silence. Speech had done with us awhile.
There is a light so strenuous that it is not perceivedas light.
13. Wolf's bane is not so sharp as steel; yet it pierceththe body more subtly.
14. Even as evil kisses corrupt the blood, so do my wordsdevour the spirit of man.
15. I breathe, and there is infinite dis-ease in thespirit.
16. As an acid eats into steel, as a cancer that utterlycorrupts the body; so am I unto the spirit of man.
17. I shall not rest until I have dissolved it all.
18. So also the light that is absorbed. One absorbs littleand is called white and glistening; one absorbs all and is called black.
19. Therefore, O my darling, art thou black.
20. O my beautiful, I have likened thee to a jet Nubianslave, a boy of melancholy eyes.
21. O the filthy one! the dog! they cry against thee.
Because thou art my beloved.
22. Happy are they that praise thee; for they see theewith Mine eyes.
23. Not aloud shall they praise thee; but in the nightwatch one shall steal close, and grip thee with the secret grip; anothershall privily cast a crown of violets over thee; a third shall greatlydare, and press mad lips to thine.
24. Yea! the night shall cover all, the night shall coverall.
25. Thou wast long seeking Me; thou didst run forwardso fast that I was unable to come up with thee.
O thou darling fool! what bitterness thou didst crownthy days withal.
26. Now I am with thee; I will never leave thy being.
27. For I am the soft sinuous one entwined about thee,heart of gold!
28. My head is jewelled with twelve stars; My body iswhite as milk of the stars; it is bright with the blue of the abyss ofstars invisible.
29. I have found that which could not be found; I havefound a vessel of quicksilver.
30. Thou shalt instruct thy servant in his ways, thoushalt speak often with him.
31. (The scribe looketh upwards and crieth) Amen! Thouhast spoken it, Lord God!
32. Further Adonai spake unto V.V.V.V.V. and said:
33. Let us take our delight in the multitude of men!
Let us shape unto ourselves a boat of mother-of-pearlfrom them, that we may ride upon the river of Amrit!
34. Thou seest yon petal of amaranth, blown by the windfrom the low sweet brows of Hathor?
35. (The Magister saw it and rejoiced in the beauty ofit.) Listen!
36. (From a certain world came an infinite wail.)
That falling petal seemed to the little ones a wave toengulph their continent.
37. So they will reproach thy servant, saying: Who hathset thee to save us?
38. He will be sore distressed.
39. All they understand not that thou and I are fashioninga boat of mother-of-pearl. We will sail down the river of Amrit even tothe yew-groves of Yama, where we may rejoice exceedingly.
40. The joy of men shall be our silver gleam, their woeour blue gleam --- all in the mother-of-pearl.
41. (The scribe was wroth thereat. He spake:
O Adonai and my master, I have borne the inkhorn andthe pen without pay, in order that I might search this river of Amrit,and sail thereon as one of ye. This I demand for my fee, that I partakeof the echo of your kisses.)
42. (And immediately it was granted unto him.)
43. (Nay; but not therewith was he content. By an infiniteabasement unto shame did he strive. Then a
voice:)
44. Thou strivest ever; even in thy yielding thou strivestto yield --- and lo! thou yieldest not.
45. Go thou unto the outermost places and subdue allthings.
46. Subdue thy fear and thy disgust. Then --- yield!
47. There was a maiden that strayed among the corn, andsighed; then grew a new birth, a narcissus, and therein she forgot hersighing and her loneliness.
48. Even instantly rode Hades heavily upon her, and ravishedher away.
49. (Then the scribe knew the narcissus in his heart;but because it came not to his lips, therefore was he shamed and spakeno more.)
50. Adonai spake yet again with V.V.V.V.V. and said:
The earth is ripe for vintage; let us eat of her grapes,and be drunken thereon.
51. And V.V.V.V.V. answered and said: O my lord, my dove,my excellent one, how shall this word seem unto the children of men?
52. And He answered him: Not as thou canst see.
It is certain that every letter of this cipher hath somevalue; but who shall determine the value? For it varieth ever, accordingto the subtlety of Him that made it.
53. And He answered Him: Have I not the key thereof?
I am clothed with the body of flesh; I am one with theEternal and Omnipotent God.
54. Then said Adonai: Thou hast the Head of the Hawk,and thy Phallus is the Phallus of Asar. Thou knowest the white, and thouknowest the black, and thou knowest that these are one. But why seekestthou the knowledge of their equivalence?
55. And he said: That my Work may be right.
56. And Adonai said: The strong brown reaper swept hisswathe and rejoiced. The wise man counted his muscles, and pondered, andunderstood not, and was sad.
Reap thou, and rejoice!
57. Then was the Adept glad, and lifted his arm.
Lo! an earthquake, and plague, and terror on the earth!
A casting down of them that sate in high places; a famineupon the multitude!
58. And the grape fell ripe and rich into his mouth.
59. Stained is the purple of thy mouth, O brilliant one,with the white glory of the lips of Adonai.
60. The foam of the grape is like the storm upon thesea; the ships tremble and shudder; the shipmaster is afraid.
61. That is thy drunkenness, O holy one, and the windswhirl away the soul of the scribe into the happy haven.
62. O Lord God! let the haven be cast down by the furyof the storm! Let the foam of the grape tincture my soul with Thy light!
63. Bacchus grew old, and was Silenus; Pan was ever Panfor ever and ever more throughout the aeons.
64. Intoxicate the inmost, O my lover, not the outermost!
65. So was it --- ever the same! I have aimed at thepeeled wand of my God, and I have hit; yea, I have hit.
 
 
 
 

II

1. I passed into the mountain of lapis-lazuli, even asa green hawk between the pillars of turquoise that is seated upon the throneof the East.
2. So came I to Duant, the starry abode, and I heardvoices crying aloud.
3. O Thou that sittest upon the Earth! (so spake a certainVeiled One to me) thou art not greater than thy mother! Thou speck of dustinfinitesimal!
Thou art the Lord of Glory, and the unclean dog.
4. Stooping down, dipping my wings, I came unto the darkly-splendidabodes. There in that formless abyss was I made a partaker of the MysteriesAverse.
5. I suffered the deadly embrace of the Snake and ofthe Goat; I paid the infernal homage to the shame of Khem.
6. Therein was this virtue, that the One became the all.
7. Moreover I beheld a vision of a river. There was alittle boat thereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, animage of Asi wrought in finest gold. Also the river was of blood, and theboat of shining steel. Then I loved her; and, loosing my girdle, cast myselfinto the stream.
8. I gathered myself into the little boat, and for manydays and nights did I love her, burning beautiful incense before her.
9. Yea! I gave her of the flower of my youth.
10. But she stirred not; only by my kisses I defiledher so that she turned to blackness before me.
11. Yet I worshipped her, and gave her of the flowerof my youth.
12. Also it came to pass, that thereby she sickened,and corrupted before me. Almost I cast myself into the stream.
13. Then at the end appointed her body was whiter thanthe milk of the stars, and her lips red and warm as the sunset, and herlife of a white heat like the heat of the midmost sun.
14. Then rose she up from the abyss of Ages of Sleep,and her body embraced me. Altogether I melted into her beauty and was glad.
15. The river also became the river of Amrit, and thelittle boat was the chariot of the flesh, and the sails thereof the bloodof the heart that beareth me, that beareth me.
16. O serpent woman of the stars! I, even I, have fashionedThee from a pale image of fine gold.
17. Also the Holy One came upon me, and I beheld a whiteswan floating in the blue.
18. Between its wings I sate, and the aeons fled away.
19. Then the swan flew and dived and soared, yet no whitherwe went.
20. A little crazy boy that rode with me spake unto theswan, and said:
21. Who art thou that dost float and fly and dive andsoar in the inane? Behold, these many aeons have passed; whence camestthou? Whither wilt thou go?
22. And laughing I chid him, saying: No whence! No whither!
23. The swan being silent, he answered: Then, if withno goal, why this eternal journey?
24. And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan,and laughed, saying: Is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging?Is there not weariness and impatience for who would attain to some goal?
25. And the swan was ever silent. Ah! but we floatedin the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy! White swan, bear thou ever me up betweenthy wings!
26. O silence! O rapture! O end of things visible andinvisible! This is all mine, who am Not.
27. Radiant God! Let me fashion an image of gems andgold for Thee! that the people may cast it down and trample it to dust!That Thy glory may be seen of them.
28. Nor shall it be spoken in the markets that I am comewho should come; but Thy coming shall be the one word.
29. Thou shalt manifest Thyself in the unmanifest; inthe secret places men shall meet with thee, and Thou shalt overcome them.
30. I saw a pale sad boy that lay upon the marble inthe sunlight, and wept. By his side was the forgotten lute.(mg)Ah! buthe wept.
31. Then came an eagle from the abyss of glory and overshadowedhim. So black was the shadow that he was no more visible.
32. But I heard the lute lively discoursing through theblue still air.
33. Ah! messenger of the beloved One, let Thy shadowbe over me!
34. Thy name is Death, it may be, or Shame, or Love.
So thou bringest me tidings of the Beloved One, I shallnot ask thy name.
35. Where is now the Master? cry the little crazy boys.
He is dead! He is shamed! He is wedded! and their mockeryshall ring round the world.
36. But the Master shall have had his reward.
The laughter of the mockers shall be a ripple in thehair of the Beloved One.
37. Behold! the Abyss of the Great Deep. Therein is amighty dolphin, lashing his sides with the force of the waves.
38. There is also an harper of gold, playing infinitetunes.
39. Then the dolphin delighted therein, and put off hisbody, and became a bird.
40. The harper also laid aside his harp, and played infinitetunes upon the Pan-pipe.
41. Then the bird desired exceedingly this bliss, andlaying down its wings became a faun of the forest.
42. The harper also laid down his Pan-pipe, and withthe human voice sang his infinite tunes.
43. Then the faun was enraptured, and followed far; atlast the harper was silent, and the faun became Pan in the midst of theprimal forest of Eternity.
44. Thou canst not charm the dolphin with silence, Omy prophet!
45. Then the adept was rapt away in bliss, and the beyondof bliss, and exceeded the excess of excess.
46. Also his body shook and staggered with the burdenof that bliss and that excess and that ultimate nameless.
47. They cried He is drunk or He is mad or He is in painor He is about to die; and he heard them not.
48. O my Lord, my beloved! How shall I indite songs,when even the memory of the shadow of thy glory is a thing beyond all musicof speech or of silence?
49. Behold! I am a man. Even a little child might notendure Thee. And lo!
50. I was alone in a great park, and by a certain hillockwas a ring of deep enamelled grass wherein green-clad ones, most beautiful,played.
51. In their play I came even unto the land of FairySleep.
All my thoughts were clad in green; most beautiful werethey.
52. All night they danced and sang; but Thou art themorning, O my darling, my serpent that twinest Thee about this heart.
53. I am the heart, and Thou the serpent. Wind Thy coilscloserabout me, so that no light nor bliss may penetrate.
54. Crush out the blood of me, as a grape upon the tongueof a white Doric girl that languishes with her lover in the moonlight.
55. Then let the End awake. Long hast thou slept, O greatGod Terminus! Long ages hast thou waited at the end of the city and theroads thereof. Awake Thou! wait no more!
56. Nay, Lord! but I am come to Thee. It is I that waitat last.
57. The prophet cried against the mountain; come thouhither, that I may speak with thee!
58. The mountain stirred not. Therefore went the prophetunto the mountain, and spake unto it. But the feet of the prophet wereweary, and the mountain heard not his voice.
59. But I have called unto Thee, and I have journeyedunto Thee, and it availed me not.
60. I waited patiently, and Thou wast with me from thebeginning.
61. This now I know, O my beloved, and we are stretchedat our ease among the vines.
62. But these thy prophets; they must cry aloud and scourgethemselves; they must cross trackless wastes and unfathomed oceans; toawait Thee is the end, not the beginning.
63. Let darkness cover up the writing! Let the scribedepart among his ways.
64. But thou and I are stretched at our ease among thevines; what is he?
65. O Thou beloved One! is there not an end? Nay, butthere is an end. Awake! arise! gird up thy limbs, O thou runner; bear thouthe Word unto the mighty cities, yea, unto the mighty cities.
 
 
 
 

III

1. Verily and Amen! I passed through the deep sea, andby the rivers of running water that abound therein, and I came unto theLand of No Desire.
2. Wherein was a white unicorn with a silver collar,whereon was graven the aphorism Linea viridis gyrat universa.
3. Then the word of Adonai came unto me by the mouthof the Magister mine, saying: O heart that art girt about with the coilsof the old serpent, lift up thyself unto the mountain of initiation!
4. But I remembered. Yea, Than, yea, Theli, yea, Lilith!these three were about me from of old. For they are one.
5. Beautiful wast thou, O Lilith, thou serpent-woman!
6. Thou wast lithe and delicious to the taste, and thyperfume was of musk mingled with ambergris.
7. Close didst thou cling with thy coils unto the heart,and it was as the joy of all the spring.
8. But I beheld in thee a certain taint, even in thatwherein I delighted.
9. I beheld in thee the taint of thy father the ape,of thy grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime.
10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I sawthe horror of the End of thee.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the timeto Come --- had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.
13. Then I said: O my beloved, O Lord Adonai, I praythee to loosen the coils of the serpent!
14. But she was closed fast upon me, so that my Forcewas stayed in its inception.
15. Also I prayed unto the Elephant God, the Lord ofBeginnings, who breaketh down obstruction.
16. These gods came right quickly to mine aid. I beheldthem; I joined myself unto them; I was lost in their vastness.
17. Then I beheld myself compassed about with the InfiniteCircle of Emerald that encloseth the Universe.
18. O Snake of Emerald, Thou hast no time Past, no timeTo Come. Verily Thou art not.
19. Thou art delicious beyond all taste and touch, Thouart not-to-be-beheld for glory, Thy voice is beyond the Speech and theSilence and the Speech therein, and Thy perfume is of pure ambergris, thatis not weighed against the finest gold of the fine gold.
20. Also Thy coils are of infinite range; the Heart thatThou dost encircle is an Universal Heart.
21. I, and Me, and Mine were sitting with lutes in themarket-place of the great city, the city of the violets
and the roses.
22. The night fell, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
23. The tempest arose, and the music of the lutes wasstilled.
24. The hour passed, and the music of the lutes was stilled.
25. But Thou art Eternity and Space; Thou art Matterand Motion; and Thou art the negation of all these things.
26. For there is no Symbol of Thee.
27. If I say Come up upon the mountains! the celestialwaters flow at my word. But thou art the Water beyond the waters.
28. The red three-angled heart hath been set up in Thyshrine; for the priests despised equally the shrine and the god.
29. Yet all the while Thou wast hidden therein, as theLord of Silence is hidden in the buds of the lotus.
30. Thou art Sebek the crocodile against Asar; thou artMati, the Slayer in the Deep. Thou art Typhon, the Wrath of the Elements,O Thou who transcendest the Forces in their Concourse and Cohesion, intheir Death and their Disruption. Thou art Python, the terrible serpentabout the end of all things!
31. I turned me about thrice in every way; and alwaysI came at the last unto Thee.
32. Many things I beheld mediate and immediate; but,beholding them no more, I beheld Thee.
33. Come thou, O beloved One, O Lord God of the Universe,O Vast One, O Minute One! I am Thy beloved.
34. All day I sing of Thy delight; all night I delightin Thy song.
35. There is no other day or night than this.
36. Thou art beyond the day and the night; I am Thyself,O my Maker, my Master, my Mate!
37. I am like the little red dog that sitteth upon theknees of the Unknown.
38. Thou hast brought me into great delight. Thou hastgiven me of Thy flesh to eat and of Thy blood for an offering of intoxication.
39. Thou hast fastened the fangs of Eternity in my soul,and the Poison of the Infinite hath consumed me utterly.
40. I am become like a luscious devil of Italy; a fairstrong woman with worn cheeks, eaten out with hunger for kisses. She hathplayed the harlot in divers palaces; she hath given her body to the beasts.
41. She hath slain her kinsfolk with strong venom oftoads; she hath been scourged with many rods.
42. She hath been broken in pieces upon the Wheel; thehands of the hangman have bound her unto it.
43. The fountains of water have been loosed upon her;she hath struggled with exceeding torment.
44. She hath burst in sunder with the weight of the waters;she hath sunk into the awful Sea.
45. So am I, O Adonai, my lord, and such are the watersof Thine intolerable Essence.
46. So am I, O Adonai, my beloved, and Thou hast burstme utterly in sunder.
47. I am shed out like spilt blood upon the mountains;the Ravens of Dispersion have borne me utterly away.
48. Therefore is the seal unloosed, that guarded theEighth abyss; therefore is the vast sea as a veil; therefore is there arending asunder of all things.
49. Yea, also verily Thou art the cool still water ofthe wizard fount. I have bathed in Thee, and lost me in Thy stillness.
50. That which went in as a brave boy of beautiful limbscometh forth as a maiden, as a little child for perfection.
51. O Thou light and delight, ravish me away into themilky ocean of the stars!
52. O Thou Son of a light-transcending mother, blessedbe Thy name, and the Name of Thy Name, throughout the ages!
53. Behold! I am a butterfly at the Source of Creation;let me die before the hour, falling dead into thine infinite stream!
54. Also the stream of the stars floweth ever majesticalunto the Abode; bear me away upon the Bosom of Nuit!
55. This is the world of the waters of Maim; this isthe bitter water that becometh sweet. Thou art beautiful and bitter, Ogolden one, O my Lord Adonai, O thou Abyss of Sapphire!
56. I follow Thee, and the waters of Death fight strenuouslyagainst me. I pass unto the Waters beyond Death and beyond Life.
57. How shall I answer the foolish man? In no way shallhe come to the Identity of Thee!
58. But I am the Fool that heedeth not the Play of theMagician. Me doth the Woman of the Mysteries instruct in vain; I have burstthe bonds of Love and of Power and of Worship.
59. Therefore is the Eagle made one with the Man, andthe gallows of infamy dance with the fruit of the just.
60. I have descended, O my darling, into the black shiningwaters, and I have plucked Thee forth as a black pearl of infinite preciousness.
61. I have gone down, O my God, into the abyss of theall, and I have found Thee in the midst under the guise of No Thing.
62. But as Thou art the Last, Thou art also the Next,and as the Next do I reveal Thee to the multitude.
63. They that ever desired Thee shall obtain Thee, evenat the End of their Desire.
64. Glorious, glorious, glorious art Thou, O my loversupernal, O Self of myself.
65. For I have found Thee alike in the Me and the Thee;there is no difference, O my beautiful, my desirable One! In the One andthe Many have I found Thee; yea, I have found Thee.
 
 
 
 

IV

1. O crystal heart! I the Serpent clasp Thee; I drivehome mine head into the central core of Thee, O God my beloved.
2. Even as on the resounding wind-swept heights of Mitylenesome god-like woman casts aside the lyre, and with her locks aflame asan aureole, plunges into the wet heart of the creation, so I, O Lord myGod!
3. There is a beauty unspeakable in this heart of corruption,where the flowers are aflame.
4. Ah me! but the thirst of Thy joy parches up this throat,so that I cannot sing.
5. I will make me a little boat of my tongue, and explorethe unknown rivers. It may be that the everlasting salt may turn to sweetness,and that my life may be no longer athirst.
6. O ye that drink of the brine of your desire, ye arenigh to madness! Your torture increaseth as ye drink, yet still ye drink.Come up through the creeks to the fresh water; I shall be waiting for youwith my kisses.
7. As the bezoar-stone that is found in the belly ofthe cow, so is my lover among lovers.
8. O honey boy! Bring me Thy cool limbs hither! Let ussit awhile in the orchard, until the sun go down! Let us feast on the coolgrass! Bring wine, ye slaves, that the cheeks of my boy may flush red.
9. In the garden of immortal kisses, O thou brilliantOne, shine forth! Make Thy mouth an opium-poppy, that one kiss is the keyto the infinite sleep and lucid, the sleep of Shi-loh-am.
10. In my sleep I beheld the Universe like a clear crystalwithout one speck.
11. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand atthe door of the tavern and prate of their feats of wine-bibbing.
12. There are purse-proud penniless ones that stand atthe door of the tavern and revile the guests.
13. The guests dally upon couches of mother-of-pearlin the garden; the noise of the foolish men is hidden from them.
14. Only the inn-keeper feareth lest the favour of theking be withdrawn from him.
15. Thus spake the Magister V.V.V.V.V. unto Adonai hisGod, as they played together in the starlight over against the deep blackpool that is in the Holy Place of the Holy House beneath the Altar of theHoliest One.
16. But Adonai laughed, and played more languidly.
17. Then the scribe took note, and was glad. But Adonaihad no fear of the Magician and his play. For it was Adonai who had taughtall his tricks to the Magician.
18. And the Magister entered into the play of the Magician.When the Magician laughed he laughed; all as a man should do.
19. And Adonai said: Thou art enmeshed in the web ofthe Magician. This He said subtly, to try him.
20. But the Magister gave the sign of the Magistry, andlaughed back on Him: O Lord, O beloved, did these fingers relax on Thycurls, or these eyes turn away from Thine eye?
21. And Adonai delighted in him exceedingly.
22. Yea, O my master, thou art the beloved of the BelovedOne; the Bennu Bird is set up in Philae not in vain.
23. I who was the priestess of Ahathoor rejoice in yourlove.(mg)Arise, O Nile-God, and devour the holy place of the(mg)Cow ofHeaven! Let the milk of the stars be drunk up by Sebek the dweller of Nile!
24. Arise, O serpent Apep, Thou art Adonai the belovedone! Thou art my darling and my lord, and Thy poison is sweeter than thekisses of Isis the mother of the Gods!
25. For Thou art He! Yea, Thou shalt swallow up Asi andAsar, and the children of Ptah. Thou shalt pour forth a flood of poisonto destroy the works of the Magician.(mg)Only the Destroyer shall devourThee; Thou shalt blacken his throat, wherein his spirit abideth. Ah, serpentApep, but I love Thee!
26. My God! Let Thy secret fang pierce to the marrowof the little secret bone that I have kept against the Day of Vengeanceof Hoor-Ra. Let Kheph-Ra sound his sharded drone! let the jackals of Dayand Night howl in the wilderness of Time! let the Towers of the Universetotter, and the guardians hasten away! For my Lord hath revealed Himselfas a mighty serpent, and my heart is the blood of His body.
27. I am like a love-sick courtesan of Corinth. I havetoyed with kings and captains, and made them my slaves. To-day I am theslave of the little asp of death; and who shall loosen our love?
28. Weary, weary! saith the scribe, who shall lead meto the sight of the Rapture of my master?
29. The body is weary and the soul is sore weary andsleep weighs down their eyelids; yet ever abides the sure consciousnessof ecstacy, unknown, yet known in that its being is certain. O Lord, bemy helper, and bring me to the bliss of the Beloved!
30. I came to the house of the Beloved, and the winewas like fire that flieth with green wings through the world of waters.
31. I felt the red lips of nature and the black lipsof perfection. Like sisters they fondled me their little brother; theydecked me out as a bride; they mounted me for Thy bridal chamber.
32. They fled away at Thy coming; I was alone beforeThee.
33. I trembled at Thy coming, O my God, for Thy messengerwas more terrible than the Death-star.
34. On the threshold stood the fulminant figure of Evil,the Horror of emptiness, with his ghastly eyes like poisonous wells. Hestood, and the chamber was corrupt; the air stank. He was an old and gnarledfish more hideous than the shells of Abaddon.
35. He enveloped me with his demon tentacles; yea, theeight fears took hold upon me.
36. But I was anointed with the right sweet oil of theMagister; I slipped from the embrace as a stone from the sling of a boyof the woodlands.
37. I was smooth and hard as ivory; the horror gat nohold.(mg)Then at the noise of the wind of Thy coming he was dissolved away,and the abyss of the great void was unfolded before me.
38. Across the waveless sea of eternity Thou didst ridewith Thy captains and Thy hosts; with Thy chariots and horsemen and spearmendidst Thou travel through the blue.
39. Before I saw Thee Thou wast already with me; I wassmitten through by Thy marvellous spear.
40. I was stricken as a bird by the bolt of the thunderer;I was pierced as the thief by the Lord of the Garden.
41. O my Lord, let us sail upon the sea of blood!
42. There is a deep taint beneath the ineffable bliss;it is the taint of generation.
43. Yea, though the flower wave bright in the sunshine,the root is deep in the darkness of earth.
44. Praise to thee, O beautiful dark earth, thou artthe mother of a million myriads of myriads of flowers.
45. Also I beheld my God, and the countenance of Himwas a thousandfold brighter than the lightning. Yet in his heart I beheldthe slow and dark One, the ancient one, the devourer of His children.
46. In the height and the abyss, O my beautiful, thereis no thing, verily, there is no thing at all, that is not altogether andperfectly fashioned for Thy delight.
47. Light cleaveth unto Light, and filth to filth; withpride one contemneth another. But not Thou, who art all, and beyond it;who art absolved from the Division of the Shadows.
48. O day of Eternity, let Thy wave break in foamlessglory of sapphire upon the laborious coral of our making!
49. We have made us a ring of glistening white sand,strewn wisely in the midst of the Delightful Ocean.
50. Let the palms of brilliance flower upon our island;we shall eat of their fruit, and be glad.
51. But for me the lustral water, the great ablution,the dissolving of the soul in that resounding abyss.
52. I have a little son like a wanton goat; my daughteris like an unfledged eaglet; they shall get them fins, that they may swim.
53. That they may swim, O my beloved, swim far in thewarm honey of Thy being, O blessed one, O boy of beatitude!
54. This heart of mine is girt about with the serpentthat devoureth his own coils.
55. When shall there be an end, O my darling, O whenshall the Universe and the Lord thereof be utterly swallowed up?
56. Nay! who shall devour the Infinite? who shall undothe Wrong of the Beginning?
57. Thou criest like a white cat upon the roof of theUniverse; there is none to answer Thee.
58. Thou art like a lonely pillar in the midst of thesea; there is none to behold Thee, O Thou who
beholdest all!
59. Thou dost faint, thou dost fail, thou scribe; criedthe desolate Voice; but I have filled thee with a wine whose savour thouknowest not.
60. It shall avail to make drunken the people of theold gray sphere that rolls in the infinite Far-off; they shall lap thewine as dogs that lap the blood of a beautiful courtesan pierced throughby the Spear of a swift rider through the city.
61. I too am the Soul of the desert; thou shalt seekme yet again in the wilderness of sand.
62. At thy right hand a great lord and a comely; at thyleft hand a woman clad in gossamer and gold and having the stars in herhair. Ye shall journey far into a land of pestilence and evil; ye shallencamp in the river of a foolish city forgotten; there shall ye meet withMe.
63. There will I make Mine habitation; as for bridalwill I come bedecked and anointed; there shall the Consummation be accomplished.
64. O my darling, I also wait for the brilliance of thehour ineffable, when the universe shall be like a girdle for the midstof the ray of our love, extending beyond the permitted end of the endlessOne.
65. Then, O thou heart, will I the serpent eat thee whollyup; yea, I will eat thee wholly up.
 
 
 
 

V

1. Ah! my Lord Adonai, that dalliest with the Magisterin the Treasure-House of Pearls, let me listen to the echo of your kisses.
2. Is not the starry heaven shaken as a leaf at the tremulousrapture of your love? Am not I the flying spark of light whirled away bythe great wind of your perfection?
3. Yea, cried the Holy One, and from Thy spark will Ithe Lord kindle a great light; I will burn through the great city in theold and desolate land; I will cleanse it from its great impurity.
4. And thou, O prophet, shalt see these things, and thoushalt heed them not.
5. Now is the Pillar established in the Void; now isAsi fulfilled of Asar; now is Hoor let down into the Animal Soul of Thingslike a fiery star that falleth upon the darkness of the earth.
6. Through the midnight thou art dropt, O my child, myconqueror, my sword-girt captain, O Hoor! and they shall find thee as ablack gnarl'd glittering stone, and they shall worship thee.
7. My prophet shall prophesy concerning thee; aroundthee the maidens shall dance, and bright babes be born unto them. Thoushalt inspire the proud ones with infinite pride, and the humble ones withan ecstasy of abasement; all this shall transcend the Known and the Unknownwith somewhat that hath no name. For it is as the abyss of the Arcanumthat is opened in the secret Place of Silence.
8. Thou hast come hither, O my prophet, through gravepaths. Thou hast eaten of the dung of the Abominable Ones; thou hast prostratedthyself before the Goat and the Crocodile; the evil men have made theea plaything; thou hast wandered as a painted harlot, ravishing with sweetscent and Chinese colouring, in the streets; thou hast darkened thine eyepitswith Kohl; thou hast tinted thy lips with vermilion; thou hast plasteredthy cheeks with ivory enamels. Thou hast played the wanton in every gateand by-way of the great city. The men of the city have lusted after theeto abuse thee and to beat thee. They have mouthed the golden spangles offine dust(mg)wherewith thou didst bedeck thine hair; they have scourgedthe painted flesh of thee with their whips; thou hast suffered unspeakablethings.
9. But I have burnt within thee as a pure flame withoutoil. In the midnight I was brighter than the moon; in the daytime I exceededutterly the sun; in the byways of of thy being I inflamed, and dispelledthe illusion.
10. Therefore thou art wholly pure before Me; thereforethou art My virgin unto eternity.
11. Therefore I love thee with surpassing love; thereforethey that despise thee shall adore thee.
12. Thou shalt be lovely and pitiful toward them; thoushalt heal them of the unutterable evil.
13. They shall change in their destruction, even as twodark stars that crash together in the abyss, and blaze up in an infiniteburning.
14. All this while did Adonai pierce my being with hissword that hath four blades; the blade of the thunderbolt, the blade ofthe Pylon, the blade of the serpent, the blade of the Phallus.
15. Also he taught me the holy unutterable word Ararita,so that I melted the sixfold gold into a single invisible point, whereofnaught may be spoken.
16. For the Magistry of this Opus is a secret magistry;and the sign of the master thereof is a certain ring of lapis-lazuli withthe name of my master, who am I, and the Eye in the Midst thereof.
17. Also He spake and said: This is a secret sign, andthou shalt not disclose it unto the profane, nor unto the neophyte, norunto the zelator, nor unto the practicus, nor unto the philosophus, norunto the lesser adept, nor unto the greater adept.
18. But unto the exempt adept thou shalt disclose thyselfif thou have need of him for the lesser operations of thine art.
19. Accept the worship of the foolish people, whom thouhatest. The Fire is not defiled by the altars of the Ghebers, nor is theMoon contaminated by the incense of them that adore the Queen of Night.
20. Thou shalt dwell among the people as a precious diamondamong cloudy diamonds, and crystals, and pieces of glass. Only the eyeof the just merchant shall behold thee, and plunging in his hand shallsingle thee out and glorify thee before men.
21. But thou shalt heed none of this. Thou shalt be everthe heart, and I the serpent will coil close about thee. My coil shallnever relax throughout the aeons. Neither change nor sorrow nor unsubstantialityshall have thee; for thou art passed beyond all these.
22. Even as the diamond shall glow red for the rose,and green for the rose-leaf; so shalt thou abide apart from the Impressions.
23. I am thou, and the Pillar is 'stablished in the void.
24. Also thou art beyond the stabilities of Being andof Consciousness and of Bliss; for I am thou, and the Pillar is 'stablishedin the void.
25. Also thou shalt discourse of these things unto theman that writeth them, and he shall partake of them as a sacrament; forI who am thou am he, and the Pillar is 'stablished in the void.
26. From the Crown to the Abyss, so goeth it single anderect. Also the limitless sphere shall glow with the brilliance thereof.
27. Thou shalt rejoice in the pools of adorable water;thou shalt bedeck thy damsels with pearls of fecundity; thou shalt lightflame like licking tongues of liquor of the Gods between the pools.
28. Also thou shalt convert the all-sweeping air intothe winds of pale water, thou shalt transmute the earth into a blue abyssof wine.
29. Ruddy are the gleams of ruby and gold that sparkletherein; one drop shall intoxicate the Lord of the Gods my servant.
30. Also Adonai spake unto V.V.V.V.V. saying: O my littleone, my tender one, my little amorous one,  my gazelle, my beautiful,my boy, let us fill up the pillar of the Infinite with an infinite kiss!
31. So that the stable was shaken and the unstable becamestill.
32. They that beheld it cried with a formidable affright:The end of things is come upon us.
33. And it was even so.
34. Also I was in the spirit vision and beheld a parricidalpomp of atheists, coupled by two and by two in the supernal ecstasy ofthe stars. They did laugh and rejoice exceedingly, being clad in purplerobes and drunken with purple wine, and their whole soul was one purpleflower-flame of holiness.
35. They beheld not God; they beheld not the Image ofGod; therefore were they arisen to the Palace of the Splendour Ineffable.A sharp sword smote out before them, and the worm Hope writhed in its death-agonyunder their feet.
36. Even as their rapture shore asunder the visible Hope,so also the Fear Invisible fled away and was no more.
37. O ye that are beyond Aormuzdi and Ahrimanes! blessedare ye unto the ages.
38. They shaped Doubt as a sickle, and reaped the flowersof Faith for their garlands.
39. They shaped Ecstasy as a spear, and pierced the ancientdragon that sat upon the stagnant water.
40. Then the fresh springs were unloosed, that the folkathirst might be at ease.
41. And again I was caught up into the presence of myLord Adonai, and the knowledge and Conversation of the Holy One, and Angelthat Guardeth me.
42. O Holy Exalted One, O Self beyond self. O Self-LuminousImage of the Unimaginable Naught, O my darling, my beautiful, come Thouforth and follow me.
43. Adonai, divine Adonai, let Adonai initiate refulgentdalliance! Thus I concealed the name of Her name that inspireth my rapture,the scent of whose body bewildereth the soul, the light of whose soul abaseththis body unto the beasts.
44. I have sucked out the blood with my lips; I havedrained Her beauty of its sustenance; I have abased Her before me, I havemastered Her, I have possessed Her, and Her life is within me. In Her bloodI inscribe the secret riddles of the Sphinx of the Gods, that none shallunderstand, --- save only the pure and
voluptuous, the chaste and obscene, the androgyne andthe gynander that have passed beyond the bars of the prison that the oldSlime of Khem set up in the Gates of Amennti.
45. O my adorable, my delicious one, all night will Ipour out the libation on Thine altars; all night will I burn the sacrificeof blood; all night will I swing the thurible of my delight before Thee,and the fervour of the orisons shall intoxicate Thy nostrils.
46. O Thou who camest from the land of the Elephant,girt about with the tiger's pell, and garlanded with the lotus of the spirit,do Thou inebriate my life with Thy madness, that She leap at my passing.
47. Bid Thy maidens who follow Thee bestrew us a bedof flowers immortal, that we may take our pleasure thereupon. Bid Thy satyrsheap thorns among the flowers, that we may take our pain thereupon. Letthe pleasure and pain be mingled in one supreme offering unto the LordAdonai!
48. Also I heard the voice of Adonai the Lord the desirableone concerning that which is beyond.
49. Let not the dwellers in Thebai and the temples thereofprate ever of the Pillars of Hercules and the Ocean of the West. Is notthe Nile a beautiful water?
50. Let not the priest of Isis uncover the nakednessof Nuit, for every step is a death and a birth. The priest of Isis liftedthe veil of Isis, and was slain by the kisses of her mouth. Then was hethe priest of Nuit, and drank of the milk of the stars.
51. Let not the failure and the pain turn aside the worshippers.The foundations of the pyramid were hewn in the living rock ere sunset;did the king weep at dawn that the crown of the pyramid was yet unquarriedin the distant land?
52. There was also an humming-bird that spake unto thehorned cerastes, and prayed him for poison. And the great snake of Khemthe Holy One, the royal Uraeus serpent, answered him and said:
53. I sailed over the sky of Nu in the car called Millions-of-Years,and I saw not any creature upon Seb that was equal to me. The venom ofmy fang is the inheritance of my father, and of my father's father; andhow shall I give it unto thee? Live thou and thy children as I and my fathershave lived, even unto an
hundred millions of generations, and it may be that themercy of the Mighty Ones may bestow upon thy children a drop of the poisonof eld.
54. Then the humming-bird was afflicted in his spirit,and he flew unto the flowers, and it was as if naught had been spoken betweenthem. Yet in a little while a serpent struck him that he died.
55. But an Ibis that meditated upon the bank of Nilethe beautiful god listened and heard. And he laid aside his Ibis ways,and became as a serpent, saying Peradventure in an hundred millions ofmillions of generations of my children, they shall attain to a drop ofthe poison of the fang of the Exalted One.
56. And behold! ere the moon waxed thrice he became anUraeus serpent, and the poison of the fang was established in him and hisseed even for ever and for ever.
57. O thou Serpent Apep, my Lord Adonai, it is a speckof minutest time, this travelling through eternity, and in Thy sight thelandmarks are of fair white marble untouched by the tool of the graver.Therefore thou art mine, even now and for ever and for everlasting. Amen.
58. Moreover, I heard the voice of Adonai: Seal up thebook of the Heart and the Serpent; in the number five and sixty seal thouthe holy book.
As fine gold that is beaten into a diadem for the fairqueen of Pharaoh, as great stones that are cemented together into the Pyramidof the ceremony of the Death of Asar, so do thou bind together the wordsand the deeds, so that in all is one Thought of Me thy delight Adonai.
59. And I answered and said: It is done even accordingunto Thy word. And it was done. And they that read the book and debatedthereon passed into the desolate land of Barren Words. And they that sealedup the book into their blood were the chosen of Adonai, and the Thoughtof Adonai was a Word and a Deed; and they abode in the Land that the far-offtravellers call Naught.
60. O land beyond honey and spice and all perfection!I will dwell therein with my Lord for ever.
61. And the Lord Adonai delighteth in me, and I bearthe Cup of His gladness unto the weary ones of the old grey land.
62. They that drink thereof are smitten of disease; theabomination hath hold upon them, and their torment is like the thick blacksmoke of the evil abode.
63. But the chosen ones drank thereof, and became evenas my Lord, my beautiful, my desirable one. There is no wine like untothis wine.
64. They are gathered together into a glowing heart,as Ra that gathereth his clouds about Him at eventide into a molten seaof Joy; and the snake that is the crown of Ra bindeth them about with thegolden girdle of the death-kisses.
65. So also is the end of the book, and the Lord Adonaiis about it on all sides like a Thunderbolt, and a Pylon, and a Snake,and a Phallus, and in the midst thereof he is like the Woman that jettethout the milk of the stars from her paps; yea, the milk of the stars fromher paps.