Liber AL vel Legis
sub figura CCXX
The Book of the Law as delivered by XCIII = 418
to
DCLXVI
A.'.A.'. Publication in Class A
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3
II,1 : Nu! the hiding of Hadit.
II,2 : Come! all ye, and learn the secret that hath not yet been revealed. I, Hadit, am the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not extended, and Khabs is the name of my House.
II,3 : In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.
II,4 : Yet she shall be known & I never.
II,5 : Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright.
II,6 : I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
II,7 : I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go.
II,8 : Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath have worshipped me; ill, for I am the worshipper.
II,9 : Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.
II,10 : O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this writing.
II,11 : I see thee hate the hand & the pen; but I am stronger.
II,12 : Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not.
II,13 : for why? Because thou wast the knower, and me.
II,14 : Now let there be a veiling of this shrine: now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness!
II,15 : For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret.
II,16 : I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven.
II,17 : Hear me, ye people of sighing!
The sorrows of pain and regret
Are left to the dead and the dying,
The folk that not know me as yet.
II,18 : These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk.
II,19 : Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us.
II,20 : Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us.
II,21 : We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world. Think not, o king, upon that lie: That Thou Must Die: verily thou shalt not die, but live. Now let it be understood: If the body of the King dissolve, he shall remain in pure ecstasy for ever. Nuit! Hadit! Ra-Hoor-Khuit! The Sun, Strength & Sight, Light; these are for the servants of the Star & the Snake.
II,22 : I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.
II,23 : I am alone: there is no God where I am.
II,24 : Behold! these be grave mysteries; for there are also of my friends who be hermits. Now think not to find them in the forest or on the mountain; but in beds of purple, caressed by magnificent beasts of women with large limbs, and fire and light in their eyes, and masses of flaming hair about them; there shall ye find them. Ye shall see them at rule, at victorious armies, at all the joy; and there shall be in them a joy a million times greater than this. Beware lest any force another, King against King! Love one another with burning hearts; on the low men trample in the fierce lust of your pride, in the day of your wrath.
II,25 : Ye are against the people, O my chosen!
II,26 : I am the secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one.
II,27 : There is great danger in me; for who doth not understand these runes shall make a great miss. He shall fall down into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs of Reason.
II,28 : Now a curse upon Because and his kin!
II,29 : May Because be accursèd for ever!
II,30 : If Will stops and cries Why, invoking Because, then Will stops & does nought.
II,31 : If Power asks why, then is Power weakness.
II,32 : Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite & unknown; & all their words are skew-wise.
II,33 : Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog!
II,34 : But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!
II,35 : Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty!
II,36 : There are rituals of the elements and feasts of the times.
II,37 : A feast for the first night of the Prophet and his Bride!
II,38 : A feast for the three days of the writing of the Book of the Law.
II,39 : A feast for Tahuti and the child of the Prophet—secret, O Prophet!
II,40 : A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and a feast for the Equinox of the Gods.
II,41 : A feast for fire and a feast for water; a feast for life and a greater feast for death!
II,42 : A feast every day in your hearts in the joy of my rapture!
II,43 : A feast every night unto Nu, and the pleasure of uttermost delight!
II,44 : Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.
II,45 : There is death for the dogs.
II,46 : Dost thou fail? Art thou sorry? Is fear in thine heart?
II,47 : Where I am these are not.
II,48 : Pity not the fallen! I never knew them. I am not for them. I console not: I hate the consoled & the consoler.
II,49 : I am unique & conqueror. I am not of the slaves that perish. Be they damned & dead! Amen. (This is of the 4: there is a fifth who is invisible, & therein am I as a babe in an egg.)
II,50 : Blue am I and gold in the light of my bride: but the red gleam is in my eyes; & my spangles are purple & green.
II,51 : Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher than eyesight.
II,52 : There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter.
II,53 : Fear not, o prophet, when these words are said, thou shalt not be sorry. Thou art emphatically my chosen; and blessed are the eyes that thou shalt look upon with gladness. But I will hide thee in a mask of sorrow: they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen: but I lift thee up.
II,54 : Nor shall they who cry aloud their folly that thou meanest nought avail; thou shall reveal it: thou availest: they are the slaves of because: They are not of me. The stops as thou wilt; the letters? change them not in style or value!
II,55 : Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto.
II,56 : Begone! ye mockers; even though ye laugh in my honour ye shall laugh not long: then when ye are sad know that I have forsaken you.
II,57 : He that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is filthy shall be filthy still.
II,58 : Yea! deem not of change: ye shall be as ye are, & not other. Therefore the kings of the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve. There is none that shall be cast down or lifted up: all is ever as it was. Yet there are masked ones my servants: it may be that yonder beggar is a King. A King may choose his garment as he will: there is no certain test: but a beggar cannot hide his poverty.
II,59 : Beware therefore! Love all, lest perchance is a King concealed! Say you so? Fool! If he be a King, thou canst not hurt him.
II,60 : Therefore strike hard & low, and to hell with them, master!
II,61 : There is a light before thine eyes, o prophet, a light undesired, most desirable.
II,62 : I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
II,63 : Thou art exhaust in the voluptuous fullness of the inspiration; the expiration is sweeter than death, more rapid and laughterful than a caress of Hell's own worm.
II,64 : Oh! thou art overcome: we are upon thee; our delight is all over thee: hail! hail: prophet of Nu! prophet of Had! prophet of Ra-Hoor-Khu! Now rejoice! now come in our splendour & rapture! Come in our passionate peace, & write sweet words for the Kings!
II,65 : I am the Master: thou art the Holy Chosen One.
II,66 : Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be our bed in working! Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be glad. Thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our agelong love. Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one; we are none.
II,67 : Hold! Hold! Bear up in thy rapture; fall not in swoon of the excellent kisses!
II,68 : Harder! Hold up thyself! Lift thine head! breathe not so deep—die!
II,69 : Ah! Ah! What do I feel? Is the word exhausted?
II,70 : There is help & hope in other spells. Wisdom says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture! If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety rules of art: if thou love, exceed by delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let there be subtlety therein!
II,71 : But exceed! exceed!
II,72 : Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine—and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous!—death is the crown of all.
II,73 : Ah! Ah! Death! Death! thou shalt long for death. Death is forbidden, o man, unto thee.
II,74 : The length of thy longing shall be the strength of its glory. He that lives long & desires death much is ever the King among the Kings.
II,75 : Aye! listen to the numbers & the words:
II,76 : 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L. What meaneth this, o prophet? Thou knowest not; nor shalt thou know ever. There cometh one to follow thee: he shall expound it. But remember, o chosen one, to be me; to follow the love of Nu in the star-lit heaven; to look forth upon men, to tell them this glad word.
II,77 : O be thou proud and mighty among men!
II,78 : Lift up thyself! for there is none like unto thee among men or among Gods! Lift up thyself, o my prophet, thy stature shall surpass the stars. They shall worship thy name, foursquare, mystic, wonderful, the number of the man; and the name of thy house 418.
II,79 : The end of the hiding of Hadit; and blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely Star!