The Mystic Interpretation of Liber AL vel Legis (pt.3)

Note: The Mystic Interpretation is always "All is One." It may be conceived in many forms - "Naught-One-Many-All" - but it always refers to the un-differentiated, non-dual substance that underlies and binds together all phenomena unto a Unity. As it is said in Liber Causae, "Now the Great Work is one, and the Initiation is one, and the Reward is one, however diverse are the symbols wherein the Unutterable is clothed." Also, it is said in Liber Ararita, "O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!"


AL I:26 - Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bendingdown, 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.

Here we have a description of Nuit as 'a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant' - a sort of omnipresent blue flame, which is itself a 'complexio oppositorum;' that is, the calmness of blue complements the energy of the flame. Her 'sign' is the ecstasy that arises from 'the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body' - that is, the realization of infinity in the dissolution of boundaries, dualities, distinctions, etc.

AL I:27 - 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!

Here is an answer of the priest himself in a sort of inspired state. He recognizes that because 'Nuit' is 'continuous' we should speak not of one but as 'None.' It is of note that the glyph of None, the number zero (0), is a continuous circle. In the end we are not to speak at all because 'Unity'/Nothing/None is Ineffable. Crowley writes, "If we in any way shadow forth the Ineffable, it must be by a degradation. Every symbol is a blasphemy agains the Truth that it indicates. A painter to remind us of the sunset has no better material than dull ochre. So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which is Samadhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the God which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and his Holy Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness treanscending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as above, so below."

AL I:28 - None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two.

This line is essentially saying "None... and two." A prime doctrine of the Book of the Law is this understanding of None and Two being 'phases' of Unity/the absolute Naught. "Breath[ing of] the light" signifies 'aleph'/ruach/prana/breath and the creation of motion and energy (light) in the form of duality (two). This is then followed by a description of 2 coming from 0...

AL I:29 - For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union.

"I," the continuous Nuit, is divided into '2' or 'Many' for love's sake, which is understood as 'the chance of union.' This relates back to the 12th line were we are bidden to "Come forth" and take our fill of love. The creation of the world does not bring a degradation - Original Sin or a Fall or Great Suffering or some kind of corruption - but rather it brings about the possibility of rapture through uniting of disparate elements. This relates to a later line "Existence is pure joy," because all existence is made possible through the division of the continuous for union's sake.

AL I:30 - This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.

This process of the continuous dividing for love's sake is an understanding of 'the creation of the world;' that is, the world as we know it through our dualistic consciousness. It is a sort of 'Dialectical Monism' where the "One" is only understood through duality and division. Here the joy of dissolution in union/love is seen to far outweigh the supposed 'pain of division.' Even so, there could be no joy of dissolution without a pain of division, c.f. Tao Teh Ching ch.2

AL I:31 - 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.

The "fools of men" again come up and we are bidden not to worry about them. We are told that they only feel 'weak joys' and we are reassured as 'my chosen ones' (in contrast to the apparent literal reading of the 17th line in this chapter).

AL I:32 - 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.

A common to obey and perform various tasks. The 'ordeals of my knowledge' are the processes by which one attains to perception to the continuity of existence & the omnipresence of Nuit's body, i.e. the apprehension of unity. We are told to seek only Nuit, that continuous unfragmentary reality that lies 'behind' our perception of differences. This injunction is repeated later in the form 'To me!' which Qabalistically is equal to 418, the number of Abrahadabra, the 11-fold word of Union between Microcosm & Macrocosm.

AL I:33 - 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!

The priest assumes a passive role and asks for the ordeals, rituals, and law. Nuit is again referred to as "Queen of Heaven," a well-known epithet of the Egyptian Isis, the Sumerian Inanna, the Akkadian Ishtar, and the Christian Virgin Mary. That is, She is Form itself - making Motion possible.

The Mystic Interpretation of Liber AL vel Legis (pt.2)

Note: The Mystic Interpretation is always "All is One." It may be conceived in many forms - "Naught-One-Many-All" - but it always refers to the un-differentiated, non-dual substance that underlies and binds together all phenomena unto a Unity. As it is said in Liber Causae, "Now the Great Work is one, and the Initiation is one, and the Reward is one, however diverse are the symbols wherein the Unutterable is clothed." Also, it is said in Liber Ararita, "O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!"


AL I:11 - These are fools that men adore; both their Gods & their men are fools.

This can be taken two ways. The most obvious way is that this is an injunction against the ideals man has set up and adored. The less obvious way is that these 'fools' refer to the mystic Fool who has annihilated opposites and goes his Way freely as the Air. In this sense, all things, especially separateness between 'God & their men' are manifestations of this Fool - the non-dual un-differentiated potential from which all springs.

AL I:12 - Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!

An injunction to fulfill our utmost potential. We are addressed as children - we are buds of plants waiting to actualize and fulfill our Wills; also we have destroyed the bonds of ignorance and so the Crowned & Conquering Child spring freely among us 'children' - and we are under the stars... That is, we are within the womb of Nuit, under the canopy of stars that forms our company in heaven.

AL I:13 - I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.

This is the mystic proclamation of identity with the All, with 'divinity.' The common concepts of the divine as 'above' and 'within' are both mentioned here. This conception shows that the 'higher' (the united) enjoys the toils of the 'lower' (the divided), for in reality they are One.

AL I:14 - 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!

A poetic paraphrase of the Stele of Revealing which describes a mystic union between the naked splendour of the night sky and the secret ardours of the winged globe. All these things 'are mine' when we attain to identification with the All.

AL I:15 - 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.

This is often taken as an exoteric account of the title of the Beast given to Aleister Crowley, the scribe of this work, and the Scarlet Woman referring to his various concubines, but it is obvious that these figures conceal more esoteric formulae. The ideal which we unite ourselves to is 'the prince-priest the Beast,' which is coterminous with Hadit and extremely similar to the Hindu concept of Shiva. The Scarlet Woman is extremely similar to the Hindu concept of Shakti (which literally means 'power'). The Beast is the sacred messenger (priest & apostle) of Nuit. Through the Scarlet Woman is the Beast manifested, even as the Sun proliferates its rays to the Earth 'through' the Moon, and Hoor-paar-kraat sends his message through Aiwass. The 'children' are the acts of their Love, the various Changes that we know as Experience which make up our life. Their 'fold' is the boundaries of their love; that is; the contents of the consciousness of the aspirant.

AL I:16 - For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.

The Masculine:Feminine :: Sun:Moon :: Hadit:Nuit symbolic analogy arises here. Crowley writes "That which is beneath is like that which is above. The Beast and the Scarlet Woman are avatars of Tao and Teh, Shiva and Sakti. This Law is then an exact image of the Great Law of the Cosmos; this is an assurance of its Perfection."

AL I:17 - But ye are not so chosen.

This can be taken as a cipher. Ye is Yod + Heh, which is the Father (Hadit/Sun) & the Mother (Nuit/Moon) conjoined in the Child (Horus). "Ye" are "not," the cipher for the Unity and that which is beyond all description (even 'unity' betrays its nature).

AL I:18 - Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent!

This is Hindu symbolism of the Kundalini being invoked and resting in the Ajna chakra between the eyebrows, signaling illumination. The 'burning' is especially significant as it symbolizes force & fire, and the serpent reappears as Hadit in the next chapter. The serpent is a symbol of power (by its venom), wisdom, duality (by its writhing), immortality (by its constant shedding of skin and its undulating movements), and royalty. The Uraeus serpent crowned the Egyptian pharaohs in a similar symbol of physical & spiritual dominance. Crowley writes, "The Serpent is the Uraeus, with the powers of Life and Death, wise, ecstatic, immortal; winged and hooded, that he may go as a god swiftly and silently." This is an invocation of that primordial energy which is the ground behind all things, the Tao/Teh, Kundalini, Buddha-dhatu (whatever metaphor you will), etc.

AL I:19 - O azure-lidded woman, bend upon them!

This line interestingly complements the last line. In the 18th verse we assume a sort of passive role to the burning of the brow, and in this verse we assume an active role as something bends upon us.

AL I:20 - The key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have given unto him.

This word most likely refers to ABRAHADABRA, a symbol of the 5 (Microcosm) & 6 (Macrocosm) conjoined in the 11; a symbol of the Great Work accomplished and the purpose of all rituals as Crowley describes in Magick in Theory & Practice, ch.1. Crowley writes, "ABRAHADABRA is "The key of the rituals" because it expresses the Magical Formulae of uniting various complementary ideas; especially the Five of the Microcosm with the Six of the Macrocosm."

AL I:21 - 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.

This line could have multifaceted levels of meaning. One reading could say: With God & the Adorer, i.e. with two things connected by an ampersand instead of one, I am nothing and they do not see me. Nuit proclaims herself to be Heaven itself, not some entity in heaven, and there is no other God other than her... That is, there is nothing but Heaven, which is God and all is one. Having a God & an Adorer obscures this fact by thinking them separate.

Another reading could be that with God & the Adorer, in the act of Love under Will, "I am nothing." That is, one becomes identified with unity, of which nothing may be said - the Qabalistic zero or Naught. "They do not see me" for there is no "they" or multiplicity and "seeing" is not possible for seer and the thing seen are one.

AL I:22 - 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.

The speaker is self-proclaimed as 'Nuit' and promises a secret name 'when at last he knoweth me;' that is, when one has annihilated their selves to know their Selves. She also proclaims herself as "Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof" (the acronym of these capital letters is, remarkably, I.S.I.S., the Heavenly Mother of the Egyptians); that is, all the matter & energy in the universe.

Since she is Infinite we are told to "Bind nothing!" An injunction that comes up in another form as "The word of Sin is Restriction." We are told that "hurt" comes from making a difference. This injunction is therefore to go beyond all differences and dualities and attain to Unity.

AL I:23 - But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!

Who succeeds in this method of "Bind[ing] nothing" will be the "chief" or master of "all," referring back to the Unity. We must always remember that "Naught-One-All-Many" are all ways of conceiving the universe and they all refer back to the ultimate nameless undifferentiated substance.

AL I:24 - I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.

'She' again proclaims herself as Nuit. Her word, her message or mode of being (logos), is "six and fifty." This means "life" and "death" insofar as it refers to Taurus and Scorpio; interestingly, these two signs are opposites on the zodiac and so Nuit therefore encompasses the entire zodiac. This line also means she is 56, an emblem of the five (microcosm) & six (macrocosm) together; it is of note that "NU" in Hebrew enumerates to 56.

AL I:25 - Divide, add, multiply, and understand.

This line could also have innumerable layers of meaning. "Divide, add, multiply" could correspond to the three words in "six and fifty," giving a sort of interpretation of her '"word." It could also be an injunction to divide these numbers, add these numbers, multiply these numbers and somehow they will reveal Her nature so we may understand better. It is of note that "Understanding" is Binah, that Sephirah beyond the Abyss in Qabalah where one's sense of 'self' or ego is annihilated in the 'Beloved.'

If we divide, we get 0.12, a glyph of the 0 becoming 2 as described in Liber AL I:28-30. If we add, we get 56 which is equivalent to 'Nu';' it is a glyph of the 5 & 6, Microcosm & Macrocosm, united. If we multiply, we get 300, the number of the letter Shin, the Spirit/Fire, which relates to the Stele of Revealing (Aeon card in Thoth Tarot). It refers to the Holy Spirit (Ruach Elohim = 300), and the all-consuming flame of Unity.

The Mystic Interpretation of Liber AL vel Legis

Note: The Mystic Interpretation is always "All is One." It may be conceived in many forms - "Naught-One-Many-All" - but it always refers to the un-differentiated, non-dual substance that underlies and binds together all phenomena unto a Unity. As it is said in Liber Causae, "Now the Great Work is one, and the Initiation is one, and the Reward is one, however diverse are the symbols wherein the Unutterable is clothed." Also, it is said in Liber Ararita, "O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!"

* * * * * *

AL I:1 -  Had! The manifestation of Nuit.

Had! is the first breath. H the beginning, A the breath (Air), and D is creation & love (Venus). By this breath, as the Taoist 'Tao' and the Hindu Purusha and Norse Ymir divided themselves up/were sacrificed, the 'world' is created by the unity being divided into duality. Nuit may only be known through her manifestations.

AL I:2 - The unveiling of the company of heaven.

This unveiling is the 'apocalypse,' the perception of Unity where all beings are seen to be 'the company of heaven.' This pronouncement underlies the message of the Book that will follow.

AL I:3 - Every man and every woman is a star.

In antiquity, heaven was understood to be the skies with the motions of the celestial bodies being perfect. We now know that Earth is in Heaven, and Heaven is understood by the manifestations of Earth. Just as the company of the ancient heaven were the stars, we have unveiled before us this new symbolic perspective: every man and every woman is a star and is therefore part of this company of heaven. This means also, every man and every woman has the potential for attaining to this consciousness of being a star - that is understanding the Self as the Monad... and it is an affirmation that every man and every woman is a manifestation of this Monad, created to know & love & enjoy Itself. (Transitive verbs are misleading; all things are the various modifications of a unified Subject in itself, and therefore as a whole it is never modified. Only when this unified Subject is divided, when 'things' and 'categories' arise and their bounds are felt as reality, do 'modifications' and 'change' seem to be apparent. All 'objects' are part of the unified Subject; the deed, the doer of the deed, and the situation which makes the deed possible are all parts of the unified Subject. The many change and pass, the One remains.)

After contemplating, I add this conception - Every man and every woman is a star, an aggregate or ganglion of force, and are naturally parts, the company, of the Whole of heaven. Again, it may also refer to the part's potential for abolishing its false selfhood in its immersion in the unified Subject.

AL I:4 - Every number is infinite; there is no difference.

Every number is some construing of the infinite. 2 is the number of the 1 expressed as 2, divided into yin & yang, up & down. 3 is the number of the 1 expressed as 3. 4 is 1 expressed in a four-fold manner, etc. etc. "Differences" are contrivances, and the apparent separation between "things" they point out is a fiction (but untruth doesn't rule out utility). Even the number '1' is a silly contrivance which means to our thinking a Unity, but One has the opposing idea of 'Many' and/or 'not-One' therefore some people take solace in 'Naught'/0. All of these are masks of the infinite. 

AL I:5 - Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!

The asking of help is really a command to rise up and awaken to the truth of Unity, to assume an active role in the process. Further, an intermediary is necessary for the expression of Unity to the many; that is, a body which has the means of materially communicating the dialectics of thought through language.

AL I:6 - Be thou Hadit, my secret centre, my heart & my tongue!

We are to assume the role of Hadit, the secret center of the Infinite, and a mode of its expression ('my tongue'). 

AL I:7 - Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat.

We are made to expect a doctrine. Aiwass:Hoor-paar-kraat :: Mercury:Sun :: Tahuti:Ra-hoor. That is, Aiwass is the communicatory, active medium for the propagation of the Message of Hoor, the Silent Self, the Crowned & Conquering Child of Horus, the powerful Unity.

AL I:8 - The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs.

This verse depends on an interpretation of 'is in.' I take the meaning to be 'is inside,' 'is concealed within/beyond,' 'is that which transcends.' This is the common spatial metaphor of the outside as exoteric & false as a sort of crust or mask, and the inside as the esoteric & true essence. 

The Khabs is the Starry Nature concealed within Man - that is, his knowledge of himself as truly the Silent Self, the unified Subject. The Khu is the entire cosmos as it is 'known' to man, i.e. through the representations of his nervous system. This includes all interior (emotions, thoughts, imagination, memory) and exterior (surroundings, the world, the universe) things. This is essentially the Jnana Yoga doctrine of the unreality of impermanent, constituent things - also the Buddhist teaching of anicca and anatta which are intrinsically bound up in one another. The only 'real' thing, is the Unity which is beyond change because it contains all change in Itself.

AL I:9 - Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!

We are then to penetrate beyond the veils of duality and worship (identify with) the Khabs... the inner 'light' of unity. "Light" is a common metaphor that can most likely be found in any religious text, especially when describing an encounter with god or some religious experience. This is the light that is beyond our notions of light & dark, but we ascribe the name light to it for various reasons (e.g. it disperses the darkness of ignorance, it has energy like the heat of light, etc.) It is by the worship of this 'inmost essence,' the 'quintessence' of the four elements, the Unity that transcends the impermanent constituents, that we come to know ourselves as Ourself.

AL I:10 - Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.

A law of nature as well as a command to the ordering of society & the psyche. We are to order our psyche & society according to a few dominant principles, which will influence and guide the many. The psyche is still 'servant' to the Self.