O.T.O.
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94930
USA

(415) 454-5176 ---- messages only.

LIMITED LICENSE Except for notations added to the historyof modification, the
text on this diskette down to the next row of asterisksmust accompany all
copies made of this file. In particular, this paragraphand the copyright
notice are not to be deleted or changed on any copiesor print-outs of this
file. With these provisos, anyone may copy this filefor personal use or
research. Copies may be made for others at reasonablecost of copying and
mailing only, no additional charges may be added.

L-n-L-n-L-n-L-n-L

This Epistle first appeared in The Equinox III(1) (Detroit:Universal,
1919). The quotations are from Liber Legis--The Bookof the Law.--H.B.
 
 

Preface
 

THE LAW
 

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
 

IN RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HEART come hither, and listen: forit is I, TO
MEGA VHRION, who gave this Law unto everyone that holdethhimself
holy. It is I, not another, that willeth your whole Freedom,and the
arising within you of full Knowledge and Power.

Behold! the Kingdom of God is within you, even as theSun standeth
eternal in the heavens, equal at midnight and at noon.He riseth not:
he setteth not: it is but the shadow of the earth whichconcealeth
him, or the clouds upon her face.

Let me then declare unto you this Mystery of the Law,as it hath been
made known unto me in divers places, upon the mountainsand in the
deserts, but also in great cities, which thing I speakfor your
comfort and good courage. And so be it unto all of you.

Know first, that from the Law spring four Rays or Emanations:so that
if the Law be the centre of your own being, they mustneeds fill you
with their secret goodness. And these four are Light,Life, Love, and
Liberty.

By Light shall ye look upon yourselves, and behold AllThings that are
in Truth One Thing only, whose name hath been calledNo Thing for a
cause which later shall be declared unto you. But thesubstance of
Light is Life, since without Existence and Energy itwere naught. By
Life therefore are you made yourselves, eternal and incorruptible,
flaming forth as suns, self-created and self-supported,each the sole
centre of the Universe.

Now by the Light ye beheld, by Love ye feel. There isan ecstacy of
pure Knowledge, and another of pure Love. And this Loveis the force
that uniteth things diverse, for the contemplation inLight of their
Oneness. Know that the Universe is not at rest, but inextreme motion
whose sum is Rest. And this understanding that Stabilityis Change,
and Change Stability, that Being is Becoming, and BecomingBeing, is
the Key to the Golden Palace of this Law.

Lastly, by Liberty is the power to direct your courseaccording to
your Will. For the extent of the Universe is withoutbounds, and ye
are free to make your pleasure as ye will, seeing thatthe diversity
of being is infinite also. For this also is the Joy ofthe Law, that
no two stars are alike, and ye must understand also thatthis
Multiplicity is itself Unity, and without it Unity couldnot be. And
this is an hard saying against Reason: ye shall comprehend,when,
rising above Reason, which is but a manipulation of theMind, ye come
to pure Knowledge by direct perception of the Truth.

Know also that these four Emanations of the Law flameforth upon all
paths: ye shall use them not only in these Highways ofthe Universe
whereof I have written, but in every By-path of yourdaily life.

Love is the law, love under will.
 

I
 

OF LIBERTY
 

IT IS OF LIBERTY that I would first write unto you, forexcept ye be
free to act, ye cannot act. Yet all four gifts of theLaw must in some
degree be exercised, seeing that these four are one.But for the
Aspirant that cometh unto the Master, the first needis freedom.

The great bond of all bonds is ignorance. How shall aman be free to
act if he know not his own purpose? You must thereforefirst of all
discover which star of all the stars you are, your relationto the
other stars about you, and your relation to, and identitywith, the
Whole.

In our Holy Books are given sundry means of making thisdiscovery, and
each must make it for himself, attaining absolute convictionby direct
experience, not merely reasoning and calculating whatis probable. And
to each will come the knowledge of his finite will, wherebyone is a
poet, one prophet, one worker in steel, another in jade.But also to
each be the knowledge of his infinite Will, his destinyto perform the
Great Work, the realization of his True Self. Of thisWill let me
therefore speak clearly unto all, since it pertainethunto all.

Understand now that in yourselves is a certain discontent.Analyse
well its nature: at the end is in every case one conclusion.The ill
springs from the belief in two things, the Self and theNot-Self, and
the conflict between them. This also is a restrictionof the Will. He
who is sick is in conflict with his own body: he whois poor is at
odds with society: and so for the rest. Ultimately, therefore,the
problem is how to destroy this perception of duality,to attain to the
apprehension of unity.

Now then let us suppose that you have come to the Master,and that He
has declared to you the Way of this attainment. Whathindereth you?
Alas! there is yet much Freedom afar off.

Understand clearly this: that if you are sure of yourWill, and sure
of your means, then any thoughts or actions which arecontrary to
those means are contrary also to that Will.

If therefore the Master should enjoin upon you a Vow ofHoly
Obedience, compliance is not a surrender of the Will,but a fulfilment
thereof.

For see, what hindereth you? It is either from withoutor from within,
or both. It may be easy for the strong-minded seekerto put his heel
upon public opinion, or to tear from his heart the objectswhich he
loves, in a sense: but there will always remain in himselfmany
discordant affections, as also the bond of habit, andthese also must
he conquer.

In our holiest Book it is written: ``Thou hast no rightbut to do thy
will. Do that, and no other shall say nay.'' Write italso in your
heart and in your brain: for this is the key of the wholematter.

Here Nature herself be your preacher: for in every phenomenonof force
and motion doth she proclaim aloud this truth. Even inso small a
matter as driving a nail into a plank, hear this samesermon. Your
nail must be hard, smooth, fine-pointed, or it will notmove swiftly
in the direction willed. Imagine then a nail of tinder-woodwith
twenty points--it is verily no longer a nail. Yet nighall mankind are
like unto this. They wish a dozen different careers;and the force
which might have been sufficient to attain eminence inone is wasted
on the others: they are null.

Here then let me make open confession, and say thus: thoughI pledged
myself almost in boyhood to the Great Work, though tomy aid came the
most puissant forces in the whole Universe to hold meto it, though
habit itself now constraineth me in the right direction,yet I have
not fulfilled my Will: I turn aside daily from the appointedtask. I
waver. I falter. I lag.

Let this then be of great comfort to you all, that ifI be so
imperfect--and for very shame I have not emphasized that
imperfection--if I, the chosen one, still fail, thenhow easy for
yourselves to surpass me! Or, should you only equal me,then even so
how great attainment should be yours!

Be of good cheer, therefore, since both my failure andmy success are
arguments of courage for yourselves.

Search yourselves cunningly, I pray you, analysing yourinmost
thoughts. And first you shall discard all those grossobvious
hindrances to your Will: idleness, foolish friendships,waste
employments or enjoyments, I will not enumerate the conspirators
against the welfare of your State.

Next, find the minimum of daily time which is in goodsooth necessary
to your natural life. The rest you shall devote to theTrue Means of
your Attainment. And even these necessary hours you shallconsecrate
to the Great Work, saying consciously always while atthese Tasks that
you perform them only in order to preserve your bodyand mind in
health for the right application to that sublime andsingle Object.

It shall not be very long before you come to understandthat such a
life is the true Liberty. You will feel distractionsfrom your Will as
being what they are. They will no longer appear pleasantand
attractive, but as bonds, as shames. And when you haveattained this
point, know that you have passed the Middle Gate of thisPath. For you
will have unified your Will.

Even thus, were a man sitting in a theatre where the playwearies him,
he would welcome every distraction, and find amusementin any
accident: but if he were intent upon the play, everysuch incident
would annoy him. His attitude to these is then an indicationof his
attitude towards the play itself.

At first the habit of attention is hard to acquire. Persevere,and you
will have spasms of revulsion periodically. Reason itselfwill attack
you, saying: how can so strict a bondage be the Pathof Freedom?

Persevere. You have never yet known Liberty. When thetemptations are
overcome, the voice of Reason silenced, then will yoursoul bound
forward unhampered upon its chosen course, and for thefirst time will
you experience the extreme delight of being Master ofYourself, and
therefore of the Universe.

When this is fully attained, when you sit securely inthe saddle, then
you may enjoy also all those distractions which firstpleased you and
then angered you. Now then will do neither any more:for they are your
slaves and toys.

Until you have reached this point, you are not whollyfree. You must
kill out desire, and kill out fear. The end of all isthe power to
live according to your own nature, without danger thatone part may
develop to the detriment of the whole, or concern lestthat danger
should arise.

The sot drinks, and is drunken: the coward drinks not,and shivers:
the wise man, brave and free, drinks, and gives gloryto the Most High
God.

This then is the Law of Liberty: you possess all Libertyin your own
right, but you must buttress Right with Might: you mustwin Freedom
for yourself in many a war. Woe unto the children whosleep in the
Freedom that their forefathers won for them!

``There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt:'' but it isonly the
greatest of the race who have the strength and courageto obey it.

O man! behold thyself! With what pains wast thou fashioned!What ages
have gone to thy shaping! The history of the planet iswoven into the
very substance of thy brain! Was all this for naught?Is there no
purpose in thee? Wast thou made thus that thou shouldsteat, and
breed, and die? Think it not so! Thou dost incorporateso many
elements, thou art the fruit of so many aeons of labour,thou art
fashioned thus as thou art, and not otherwise, for somecolossal End.

Nerve thyself, then, to seek it and to do it. Naught cansatisfy thee
but the fulfilment of thy transcendent Will, that ishidden within
thee. For this, then, up to arms! Win thine own Freedomfor thyself!
Strike hard!
 
 

II
 

OF LOVE
 

IT IS WRITTEN that ``Love is the law, love under will.''Herein is an
Arcanum concealed, for in the Greek Language Agaph, Love,is of the
same numerical value as Velhma, Will. By this we understandthat the
Universal Will is of the nature of Love.

Now Love is the enkindling in ecstacy of Two that willto become One.
It is thus an Universal formula of High Magick. For seenow how all
things, being in sorrow caused by dividuality, must ofnecessity will
Oneness as their medicine.

Here also is Nature monitor to them that seek Wisdom ather breast:
for in the uniting of elements of opposite polaritiesis there a glory
of heat, of light, and of electricity. Thus also in mankinddo we
behold the spiritual fruit of poetry and all genius,arising from the
seed of what is but an animal gesture, in the estimationof such as
are schooled in Philosophy. And it is to be noted stronglythat the
most violent and divine passions are those between peopleof utterly
unharmonious natures.

But now I would have you to know that in the mind areno such
limitations in respect of species as prevent a man fallingin love
with an inanimate object, or an idea. For to him thatis in any wise
advanced upon the Way of Meditation it appears that allobjects save
the One Object are distasteful, even as appeared formerlyin respect
of his chance wishes to the Will. So therefore all objectsmust be
grasped by the mind, and heated in the sevenfold furnaceof Love,
until with explosion of ecstacy they unite, and disappear,for they,
being imperfect, are destroyed utterly in the creationof the
Perfection of Union, even as the persons of the Loverand the Beloved
are fused into the spiritual gold of Love, which knowethno person,
but comprehendeth all.

Yet since each star is but one star, and the coming togetherof any
two is but one partial rapture, so must the aspirantto our holy
Science and Art increase constantly by this method ofassimilating
ideas, that in the end, become capable of apprehendingthe Universe in
one thought, he may leap forth upon It with the massedviolence of his
Self, and destroying both these, become that Unity whosename is No
Thing. Seek ye all therefore constantly to unite yourselvesin rapture
with each and every thing that is, and that by utmostpassion and lust
of Union. To this end take chiefly all such things asare naturally
repulsive. For what is pleasant is assimilated easilyand without
ecstacy: it is in the transfiguration of the loathsomeand abhorred
into The Beloved that the Self is shaken to the rootin Love.

Thus in human love also we see that mediocrities amongmen mate with
null women: but History teacheth us that the suprememasters of the
world seek ever the vilest and most horrible creaturesfor their
concubines, overstepping even the limiting laws of sexand species in
their necessity to transcend normality. It is not enoughin such
natures to excite lust or passion: the imagination itselfmust be
enflamed by every means.

For us, then, emancipated from all base law, what shallwe do to
satisfy our Will to Unity? No less a mistress than theUniverse: no
lupanar more cramped than Infinite Space: no night ofrape that is not
co-eval with Eternity!

Consider that as Love is mighty to bring forth all Ecstacy,so absence
of Love is the greatest craving. Whoso is balked in Lovesuffereth
indeed, but he that hath not actively that passion inhis heart
towards some object is weary with the ache of craving.And this state
is called mystically ``Dryness.'' For this there is,as I believe, no
cure but patient persistence in a Rule of life.

But this Dryness hath its virtue, in that thereby thesoul is purged
of those things that impeach the Will: for when the drouthis
altogether perfect, then is it certain that by no meanscan the Soul
be satisfied, save by the Accomplishment of the GreatWork. And this
is in strong souls a stimulus to the Will. It is theFurnace of Thirst
that burneth up all dross within us.

But to each act of Will is a particular Dryness corresponding:and as
Love increaseth within you, so doth the torment of Hisabsence. Be
this also unto you for a consolation in the ordeal! Moreover,the more
fierce the plague of impotence, the more swiftly andsuddenly is it
wont to abate.

Here is the method of Love in Meditation. Let the Aspirantfirst
practice and then discipline himself in the Art of fixingthe
attention upon any thing whatsoever at will, withoutpermitting the
least imaginable distraction.

Let him also practice the art of the Analysis of Ideas,and that of
refusing to allow the mind its natural reaction to them,pleasant or
unpleasant, thus fixing himself in Simplicity and Indifference.These
things being achieved in their ripe season, be it knownto you that
all ideas will have become equal to your apprehension,since each is
simple and each indifferent: any one of them remainingin the mind at
Will without stirring or striving, or tending to passon to any other.
But each idea will possess one special quality commonto all: this,
that no one of any of them is The Self, inasmuch as itis perceived by
The Self as Something Opposite.

When this is thorough and profound in the impact of itsrealization,
then is the moment for the aspirant to direct his Willto Love upon
it, so that his whole consciousness findeth focus uponthat One Idea.
And at the first it may be fixed and dead, or lightlyheld. This may
then pass into dryness, or into repulsion. Then at lastby pure
persistence in that Act of Will to Love, shall Love himselfarise, as
a bird, as a flame, as a song, and the whole Soul shallwing a fiery
path of music unto the Ultimate Heaven of Possession.

Now in this method there are many roads and ways, somesimple and
direct, some hidden and mysterious, even as it is withhuman love
whereof no man hath made so much as the first sketchesfor a Map: for
Love is infinite in diversity even as are the Stars.For this cause do
I leave Love himself master in the heart of every oneof you: for he
shall teach you rightly if you but serve him with diligenceand
devotion even to abandonment.

Nor shall you take umbrage or surprise at the strangepranks that he
shall play: for He is a wayward boy and wanton, wisein the Wiles of
Aphrodite Our Lady His sweet Mother: and all His jestsand cruelties
are spices in a confection cunning as no art may match.

Rejoice therefore in all His play, not remitting in anywise your own
ardour, but glowing with the sting of His whips, andmaking of
Laughter itself a sacrament adjuvant to Love, even asin the Wine of
Rheims is sparkle and bite, like as they were ministersto the High
Priest of its Intoxication.

It is also fit that I write to you of the importance ofPurity in
Love. Now this matter concerneth not in any wise theobject or the
method of the practice: the one thing essential is thatno alien
element should intrude. And this is of most particularpertinence to
the aspirant in that primary and mundane aspect of hiswork wherein he
establisheth himself in the method through his naturalaffections.

For know, that all things are masks or symbols of theOne Truth, and
nature serveth alway to point out the higher perfectionunder the veil
of the lower perfection. So then all the Art and Craftof human love
shall serve you as an hieroglyphic: for it is writtenthat That which
is above is like that which is below: and That whichis below is like
that which is above.

Therefore also doth it behoove you to take well heed lestin any
manner you fail in this business of purity. For thougheach act is to
be complete on its own plane, and no influence of anyother plane is
to be brought in for interference or admixture, for thatsuch is all
impurity, yet each act should in itself be so completeand perfect
that it is a mirror of the perfection of every otherplane, and
thereby becometh partaker of the pure Light of the highest.Also,
since all acts are to be acts of Will in Freedom on everyplane, all
planes are in reality but one: and thus the lowest expressionof any
function of that Will is to be at the same time an expressionof the
highest Will, or only true Will, which is that alreadyimplied in the
acceptance of the Law.

Be it also well understood of you that it is not necessaryor right to
shut off natural activity of any kind, as certain falsefolk, eunuchs
of the spirit, most foully teach, to the destructionof many. For in
every thing soever inhereth its own perfection properto it, and to
neglect the full operation and function of any one partbringeth
distortion and degeneration to the whole. Act thereforein all ways,
but transforming the effect of all these ways to theOne Way of the
Will. And this is possible, because all ways are in actualTruth One
Way, the Universe being itself One and One Only, andits appearance as
Multiplicity that cardinal illusion which it is the veryobject of
Love to dissipate.

In the achievement of Love are two principles, that ofmastering and
that of yielding. But the nature of these is hard toexplain, for they
are subtle, and are best taught by Love Himself in thecourse of the
Operations. But it is to be said generally that the choiceof one
formula or the other is automatic, being the work ofthat inmost Will
which is alive within you. Seek not then to determineconsciously this
decision, for herein true instinct is not liable to err.

But now I end, without further words: for in our HolyBooks are
written many details of the actual practices of Love.And those are
the best and truest which are most subtly written insymbol and image,
especially in Tragedy and Comedy, for the whole natureof these things
is in this kind, Life itself being but the fruit of theflower of
Love.

It is then of Life that I must needs now write to you,seeing that by
every act of Will in Love you are creating it, a quintessencemore
mysterious and joyous than you deem, for this which mencall life is
but a shadow of that true Life, your birthright, andthe gift of the
Law of Thelema.
 
 

III
 

OF LIFE
 

SYSTOLE AND DIASTOLE: these are the phases of all componentthings. Of
such also is the life of man. Its curve arises from thelatency of the
fertilized ovum, say you, to a zenith whence it declinesto the
nullity of death? Rightly considered, this is not whollytruth. The
life of man is but one segment of a serpentine curvewhich reaches out
to infinity, and its zeros but mark the changes fromthe plus to
minus, and minus to plus, coefficients of its equation.It is for this
cause, among many others, that wise men in old time chosethe Serpent
as the Hieroglyph of Life.

Life then is indestructible as all else is. All destructionand
construction are changes in the nature of Love, as Ihave written to
you in the former chapter proximate. Yet even as theblood in one
pulse-throb of the wrist is not the same blood as thatin the next, so
individuality is in part destroyed as each life passeth;nay, even
with each thought.

What then maketh man, if he dieth and is reborn a changelingwith each
breath? This: the consciousness of continuity given bymemory, the
conception of his Self as something whose existence,far from being
threatened by these changes, is in verity assured bythem. Let then
the aspirant to the sacred Wisdom consider his Self nomore as one
segment of the Serpent, but as the whole. Let him extendhis
consciousness to regard both birth and death as incidentstrivial as
systole and diastole of the heart itself, and necessaryas they to its
function.

To fix the mind in this apprehension of Life, two modesare preferred,
as preliminary to the greater realizations to be discussedin their
proper order, experiences which transcend even thoseattainments of
Liberty and Love of which I have hitherto written, andthis of Life
which I now inscribe in this my little book which I ammaking for you
so that you may come unto the Great Fulfilment.

The first mode is the acquisition of the Magical Memoryso-called, and
the means is described with accuracy and clearness incertain of our
Holy Books. But for nearly all men this is found to bea practice of
exceeding difficulty. Let then the aspirant follow theimpulse of his
own Will in the decision to choose this or no.

The second mode is easy, agreeable, not tedious, and inthe end as
certain as the other. But as the way of error in theformer lieth in
Discouragement, so in the latter are you to be ware ofFalse Paths. I
may say indeed generally of all Works, that there aretwo dangers, the
obstacle of Failure, and the snare of Success.

Now this second mode is to dissociate the beings whichmake up your
life. Firstly, because it is easiest, you should segregatethat Form
which is called the Body of Light (and also by many othernames) and
set yourself to travel in this Form, making systematicexploration of
those worlds which are to other material things whatyour own Body of
Light is to your own material form.

Now it will occur to you in these travels that you cometo many Gates
which you are not able to pass. This is because yourBody of Light is
itself as yet not strong enough, or subtle enough, orpure enough: and
you must then learn to dissociate the elements of thatBody by a
process similar to the first, your consciousness remainingin the
higher and leaving the lower. In this practice do youcontinue,
bending your Will like a great Bow to drive the Arrowof your
consciousness through heavens ever higher and holier.But the
continuance in this Way is itself of vital value: forit shall be that
presently habit herself shall persuade you that the bodywhich is born
and dieth within so little a space as one cycle of Neptunein the
Zodiac is no essential of your Self, that the Life ofwhich you are
become partaker, while itself subject to the Law of actionand
reaction, ebb and flow, systole and diastole, is yetinsensible to the
afflictions of that life which you formerly held to beyour sole bond
with Existence.

And here must you resolve your Self to make the mightiestendeavours:
for so flowered are the meadows of this Eden, and sosweet the fruit
of its orchards, that you will love to linger among them,and to take
delight in sloth and dalliance therein. Therefore I writeto you with
energy that you should not do thus to the hindrance ofyour true
progress, because all these enjoyments are dependentupon duality, so
that their true name is Sorrow of Illusion, like thatof the normal
life of man, which you have set out to transcend.

Be it according to your Will, but learn this, that (asit is written)
they only are happy who have desired the unattainable.It is then
best, ultimately, if it be your Will to find alway yourchiefest
pleasure in Love, that is, in Conquest, and in Death,that is, in
Surrender, as I have written to you already. Thus thenyou shall
delight in these delights aforesaid, but only as toys,holding your
manhood firm and keen to pierce to deeper and holierecstacies without
arrest of Will.

Furthermore, I would have you to know that in this practice,pursued
with ardour unquenchable, is this especial grace, thatyou will come
as it were by fortune into states which transcend thepractice itself,
being of the nature of those Works of Pure Light of whichI will to
write to you in the chapter following after this. Forthere be certain
Gates which no being who is still conscious of dividuality,that is,
of the Self and not-Self as opposites, may pass through:and in the
storming of those Gates by fiery assault of lust celestial,your flame
will burn vehemently against your gross Self, thoughit be already
divine beyond your present imagining, and devour it ina mystical
death, so that in the Passing of the Gate all is dissolvedin formless
Light of Unity.

Now then, returning from these states of being, and inthe return also
there is a Mystery of Joy, you will be weaned from theMilk of
Darkness of the Moon, and made partaker of the Sacramentof Wine that
is the blood of the Sun. Yet at the first there may beshock and
conflict, for the old thought persists by force of itshabit: it is
for you to create by repeated act the true right habitof this
consciousness of the Life which abideth in Light. Andthis is easy, if
your will be strong: for the true Life is so much morevivid and
quintessential than the false that (as I rudely estimate)one hour of
the former makes an impression on the memory equal toone year of the
latter. One single experience, in duration it may bebut a few seconds
of terrestrial time, is sufficient to destroy the beliefin the
reality of our vain life on earth: but this wears graduallyaway if
the consciousness, through shock or fear, adhere notto it, and the
Will strive not continually to repetition of that bliss,more
beautiful and terrible than death, which it hath wonby virtue of
Love.

There be moreover many other modes of attaining the apprehensionof
true Life, and these two following are of much valuein breaking up
the ice of your mortal error in the vision of your being.And of these
the first is the constant contemplation of the Identityof Love and
Death, and the understanding of the dissolution of thebody as an Act
of Love done upon the Body of the Universe, as also itis written at
length in our Holy Books. And with this goeth, as itwere sister with
twin brother, the practice of mortal love as a sacramentsymbolical of
that great Death: as it is written ``Kill thyself'':and again ``Die
daily.''

And the second of these lesser modes is the practice ofthe mental
apprehension and analysis of ideas, mainly as I havealready taught
you, but with especial emphasis in choice of things naturally
repulsive, in particular, death itself, and its phenomenaancillary.
Thus the Buddha bade his disciples to meditate upon TenImpurities,
that is, upon ten cases of death of decomposition, sothat the
Aspirant, identifying himself with his own corpse inall these
imagined forms, might lose the natural horror, loathing,fear or
disgust which he might have had for them. Know this,that every idea
of every sort becomes unreal, phantastic, and most manifestillusion,
if it be subjected to persistent investigation, withconcentration.
And this is particularly easy to attain in the case ofall bodily
impressions, because all material things, and especiallythose of
which we are first conscious, namely, our own bodies,are the grossest
and most unnatural of all falsities. For there is inus all, latent,
that Light wherein no error may endure, and It alreadyteaches our
instinct to reject first of all those veils which aremost closely
wrapt about It. Thus also in meditation it is (for manymen) most
profitable to concentrate the Will to Love upon the sacredcentres of
nervous force: for they, like all things, are apt imagesor true
reflexions of their semblables in finer spheres: so that,their gross
natures being dissipated by the dissolving acid of theMeditation,
their finer souls appear (so to speak) naked, and displaytheir force
and glory in the consciousness of the aspirant.

Yea, verily, let your Will to Love burn eagerly towardthis creation
in yourselves of the true Life that rolls its waves acrossthe
shoreless sea of Time! Live not your petty lives in fearof the hours!
The Moon and Sun and Stars by which ye measure Time arethemselves but
servants of that Life which pulses in you, joyous drum-beatas you
march triumphant through the Avenue of the Ages. Then,when each birth
and death of yours are recognized in this perceptionas mere
milestones on your ever-living Road, what of the foolishincidents of
your mean lives? Are they not grains of sand blown bythe desert wind,
or pebbles that you spurn with your winged feet, or grassyhollows
were you press the yielding and elastic turf and mosswith lyrical
dances? To him who lives in Life naught matters: hisis eternal
motion, energy, delight of never-failing Change: unwearied,you pass
on from aeon to aeon, from star to star, the Universeyour playground,
its infinite variety of sport ever old and ever new.All those ideas
which bred sorrow and fear are known in their truth,and thus become
the seed of joy: for you are certain beyond all proofthat you can
never die; that, though you change, change is part ofyour own nature:
the Great Enemy is become the Great Ally.

And now, rooted in this perfection, your Self become thevery Tree of
Life, you have a fulcrum for your lever: you are readyto understand
that this pulsation of Unity is itself Duality, and therefore,in the
highest and most sacred sense, still Sorrow and Illusion;which having
comprehended, aspire yet again, even unto the Fourthof the Gifts of
the Law, unto the End of the Path, even unto Light.
 
 

IV
 

OF LIGHT
 

I PRAY YOU, be patient with me in that which I shall writeconcerning
Light: for here is a difficulty, ever increasing, inthe use of words.
Moreover, I am myself carried away constantly and overwhelmedby the
sublimity of this matter, so that plain speech may whirlinto lyric,
when I would plod peaceably with didactic, expression.My best hope is
that you may understand by virtue of the sympathy ofyour intuition,
even as two lovers may converse in language as unintelligibleto
others as it seemeth silly, wanton, and dull, or as inthat other
intoxication given by Ether the partakers commune withinfinite wit,
or wisdom, as the mood taketh them, by means of a wordor a gesture,
being initiated to apprehension by the subtlety of thedrug. So may I
that am inflamed with love of this Light, and drunkenon the wine
Ethereal of this Light, communicate not so much withyour reason and
intelligence, but with that principle hidden in yourselfwhich is
ready to partake with me. Even so may man and woman becomemad with
love, no word being spoken between them, because of theinduction (as
it were) of their souls. And your understanding willdepend upon your
ripeness for perception of my Truth. Moreover, if sobe that Light in
you be ready to break forth, then Light will interpretto you these
dark words in the language of Light, even as a stringinanimate, duly
adjusted, will vibrate to its peculiar tone, struck onanother cord.
Read, therefore, not only with the eye and brain, butwith the rhythm
of the Life which you have attained by your Will to Lovequickened to
dancing measure by these words, which are the movementsof the wand of
my Will to Love, and so to enkindle your Life to Light.

In this mood did I interrupt myself in the writing ofthis my little
book, and for two days and nights sleeplessly have Imade
consideration, wrestling vehemently with my spirit, lestby haste or
carelessness I might fail toward you.

In exercise of Will and of Love are implied motion andchange, but in
Life is gained an Unity which moveth and changeth onlyin pulse or in
phase, and is even as music. Yet in the attainment ofthis Life you
will already have experienced that the Quintessence thereofis pure
Light, an ecstacy formless, and without bound or mark.In this Light
naught exists, for It is homogeneous: and therefore havemen called it
Silence, and Darkness, and Nothing. But in this, as inall other
effort to name it, is the root of every falsity and misapprehension,
since all words imply some duality. Therefore, thoughI call it Light,
it is not Light, nor absence of Light. Many also havesought to
describe it by contradictions, since through transcendentnegation of
all speech it may by some natures be attained. Also byimages and
symbols have men striven to express it: but always invain. Yet those
that were ready to apprehend the nature of this Lighthave understood
by sympathy: and so shall it be with you who read thislittle book,
loving it. However, be it known unto you that the bestof all
instruction on this matter, and the Word best suitedto the Aeon of
Horus, is written in The Book of the Law. Yet also theBook Ararita is
right worthy in the Work of the Light, as Trigrammatonin that of
Will, Cordis Cincti Serpente in the Way of Love, andLiberi in that of
Life. All these Books also concern all these Four Gifts,for in the
end you will see that every one is inseparable from everyother.

I wish to write to you with regard to the number 93, thenumber of
Velhma. For it is not only the number of its interpretationAgaph, but
also that of a Word unknown to you unless you be Neophyteof our Holy
Order of the A...A... which word representeth in itselfthe arising of
the Speech from the Silence, and the return thereuntoin the End. Now
this number 93 is thrice 31, which is in Hebrew LA, thatis to say
NOT, and so it denieth extension in the three dimensionsof Space.
Also I would have you to meditate most closely upon thename NU that
is 56, which we are told to divide, add, multiply, andunderstand. By
division cometh forth 0.12, as if it were written Nuith!Hadith! Ra-
Hoor-Khuith! before the Dyad. By addition ariseth Eleven,the number
of True Magick: and by multiplication Three Hundred,the Number of the
Holy Spirit or Fire, the letter Shin, wherein all thingsare consumed
utterly. With these considerations, and a full understandingof the
mysteries of the Numbers 666 and 418, you will be armedmightily in
this Way of far flight. But you should also considerall numbers in
their scales. For there is no means of resolution betterthan this of
pure mathematics, since already therein are gross ideasmade fine, and
all is ordered and ready for the Alchemy of the GreatWork.

I have already written to you of how, in the Will of Love,Light
ariseth as the secret part of Life. And in the first,the little,
Loves, the attained Life is still personal: later, itbecometh
impersonal and universal. Now then is Will arrived, mayI say so, at
its magnetic pole, whence the lines of force point alikeevery way and
no way: and Love also is no more a work, but a state.These qualities
are become part of the Universal Life, which proceedethinfinitely
with the enjoyment of the Will, and of Love as inherenttherein. These
things therefore, in their perfection, have lost theirnames, and
their natures. Yet these were the Substance of Life,its Father and
Mother: and without their operation and impact Life itselfwill
gradually cease its pulsations. But since the infiniteenergy of the
whole Universe is therein, what then is possible butthat it return to
its own First Intention, dissolving itself little bylittle into that
Light which is its most secret and most subtle Nature?

For this Universe is in Truth Zero, being an equationwhereof Zero is
the sum. Whereof this is the proof, that if not, it wouldbe
unbalanced, and something would have come from Nothing,which is
absurd. This Light or Nothing is then the Resultant orTotality
thereof in pure Perfection; and all other states, positiveor
negative, are imperfect, since they omit their opposites.

Yet, I would have you consider that this equality or identityof
equation between all things and No thing is most absolute,so that you
will remain no more in the one than you did in the other.And you will
understand this greatest Mystery very easily in the lightof those
other experiences which you will have enjoyed, whereinmotion and
rest, change and stability, and many other subtle opposites,have been
redeemed to identity by the force of your holy meditation.

The greatest gift of the Law, then, cometh forth by themost perfect
practice of the Three Lesser Gifts. And so thoroughlymust you travail
in this Work that you are able to pass from one sideof the equation
to the other at will: nay, to comprehend the whole atonce, and for
ever. This then your time-and-space-bound soul shalltravel according
to its nature in its orbit, revealing the Law to themthat walk in
chains, for that this is your particular function.

Now here is the Mystery of the Origin of Evil. Firstly,by Evil we
mean that which is in opposition to our own wills: itis therefore a
relative, and not an absolute, term. For everything whichis the
greatest evil of some one is the greatest good of someother, just as
the hardness of the wood which wearieth the axeman isthe safety of
him that ventureth himself upon the sea in a ship builtof that wood.
And this is a truth easy to apprehend, being superficial,and
intelligible to the common mind.

All evil is thus relative, or apparent, or illusory: but,returning to
philosophy, I will repeat that its root is always induality.
Therefore the escape from this apparent evil is to seekthe Unity,
which you shall do as I have already shewn you. But Iwill now make
mention of that which is written concerning this in TheBook of the
Law.

The first step being Will, Evil appears as by this definition,``all
that hinders the execution of the Will.'' Therefore isit written:
``The word of Sin is Restriction.'' It should also benoted that in
The Book of the Thirty Aethyrs {Book 418} Evil appearsas Choronzon
whose number is 333, which in Greek importeth Impotenceand Idleness:
and the nature of Choronzon is Dispersion and Incoherence.

Then in the Way of Love Evil appears as ``all that whichtends to
prevent the Union of any two things.'' Thus The Bookof the Law
sayeth, under the figure of the Voice of Nuit: ``takeyour fill and
will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom yewill! But always
unto me.'' For every act of Love must be ``under will,''that is, in
accordance with the True Will, which is not to rest contentwith
things partial and transitory, but to proceed firmlyto the End. So
also, in The Book of the Thirty Aethyrs, the Black Brothersare those
who shut themselves up, unwilling to destroy themselvesby Love.

Thirdly, in the Way of Life Evil appears under a subtlerform as ``all
that which is not impersonal and universal.'' Here TheBook of the
Law, by the Voice of Hadit, informeth us: ``In the sphereI am
everywhere the centre''. And again: ``I am Life and thegiver of
Life'' {....} `` `Come unto me' is a foolish word: forit is I that
go.'' ``For I am perfect, being Not''. For this Lifeis in every place
and time at once, so that in It these limitations nolonger exist. And
you will have seen this for yourself, that in every actof Love time
and space disappear with the creation of the Life byits virtue, as
also doth personality itself. For the third time, then,in even
subtler sense, ``The word of Sin is Restriction.''

Lastly, in the Way of Light this same versicle is thekey to the
conception of Evil. But here Restriction is in the failureto solve
the Great Equation, and, later, to prefer one expressionor phase of
the Universe to the other. Against this we are warnedin The Book of
the Law by the Word of Nuit, saying: ``None'' {....}``and two. For I
am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union'',and therefore,
``If this be not aright: if ye confound the space marks,saying: They
are one: or saying, They are many;'' {....} ``then expectthe direful
judgments'' {....}

Now therefore by the favour of Thoth am I come to theend of this my
book: and do you arm yourselves accordingly with theFour Weapons: the
Wand for Liberty, the Cup for Love, the Sword for Life,the Disk for
Light: and with these work all wonders by the Art ofHigh Magick under
the Law of the New Aeon, whose Word is Velhma.

-o-