READING
From Liber Legis: Chapter I.
- Had! The manifestation of Nuit.
- The unveiling of the company of heaven.
- Every man and every woman is a star.
- Every number is infinite; there is no difference.
- Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before
the Children of men!
- Be thou Hadit, my secret centre, my heart & my tongue!
- Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat.
- The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs.
- Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!
- Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the
many & the known.
- These are fools that men adore; both their Gods & their
men are fools.
- Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your
fill of love!
- I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy
is to see your joy.
- Above, the gemmed azure is
- The naked splendour of Nuit;
- She bends in ecstasy to kiss
- The secret ardours of Hadit.
- The winged globe, the starry blue,
- Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
- Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of
infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman
called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather
my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the
stars into the hearts of men.
- For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged
secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.
- But ye are not so chosen.
- Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent!
- O azure-lidded woman, bend upon them!
- The key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have
given unto him.
- With the God & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see
me. They are as upon the earth; I am Heaven, and there is no
other God than me, and my lord Hadit.
- Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to
him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth
me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof,
do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made
among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby
there cometh hurt.
- But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!
- I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.
- Divide, add, multiply, and understand.
- Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who
am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bending
down, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her
lovely hands upon the black earth, & her lithe body arched
for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: Thou
knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness
of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
- Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space,
kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his
whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous
one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee
as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since
thou art continuous!
- None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars,
and two.
- For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union.
- This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division
is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
- For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all!
They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are
my chosen ones.
- Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge!
seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all
pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred
heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all.
- Then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon, & said
unto the Queen of Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto
us the rituals; write unto us the law!
- But she said: the ordeals I write not: the rituals shall
be half known and half concealed: the Law is for all.
- This that thou writest is the threefold book of Law.
- My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall
not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly,
he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
- Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the
work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn
and teach.
- He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals.
- The word of the Law is Θελημα.
- Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but
close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the
Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt
shall be the whole of the Law.
- The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife,
if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond
that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed!
Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.
- Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing. So with
thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will.
- Do that, and no other shall say nay.
- For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the
lust of result, is every way perfect.
- The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two;
nay, are none!
- Nothing is a secret key of this law. Sixty-one the Jews call
it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred & eighteen.
- But they have the half: unite by thine art so that all disappear.
- My prophet is a fool with his one, one, one; are not they
the Ox, and none by the Book?
- Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs.
Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox
of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But
they are not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer;
Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the Lord initiating.
- There is a word to say about the Hierophantic task. Behold!
there are three ordeals in one, and it may be given in three
ways. The gross must pass through fire; let the fine be tried
in intellect, and the lofty chosen ones in the highest. Thus
ye have star & star, system & system; let not one know
well the other!
- There are four gates to one palace; the floor of that palace
is of silver and gold; lapis lazuli & jasper are there; and
all rare scents; jasmine & rose, and the emblems of death.
Let him enter in turn or at once the four gates; let him stand
on the floor of the palace. Will he not sink? Amn. Ho! warrior,
if thy servant sink? But there are means and means. Be goodly
therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink
sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will
of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always
unto me.
- If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying:
They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not
ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit!
- This shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister,
my heart & my tongue, unto whom I send this kiss. Also, o
scribe and prophet, though thou be of the princes, it shall not
assuage thee nor absolve thee. But ecstasy be thine and joy of
earth: ever To me! To me!
- Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold!
thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden
therein.
- The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them.
- Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from
no expected house cometh that child. Aum! All words are sacred
and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little;
solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked.
But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all,
in the dark.
- Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will.
Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love.
There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well!
He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress,
and the great mystery of the House of God.
All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ
is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal
it to the wise.
- I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith,
while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy;
nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
- My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is
no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity.
- My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The
Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle
is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold
are seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that
love me.
- But to love me is better than all things: if under the night
stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before
me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein,
thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt
thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle
of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and
store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall
exceed the nations of the earth in spendour & pride; but
always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge
you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered
with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple,
veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness
of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse
the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!
- At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say -- and
her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing
in my secret temple -- To me! To me! calling forth the flame
of the hearts of all in her love-chant.
- Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes!
Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you!
- I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance
of the voluptuous night-sky.
- To me! To me!
- The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.
RESPONSORY
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