LIGHT, LIFE, LOVE AND LIBERTY

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

THE GREAT BEAST

666
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THE GREAT BEAST 666

I. THE MAsTER THERION, A BIOGRAPHICAl NOTE II. TO MAN III. LIBER B VEl MAGI IV. THE MEssAGE OF THE MAsTER THERION V. lIBER OZ

AT AT Publication in Class A, E Imprimatur V.V. 6=5 Imperator

The Kaaba Series: a group of booklets intended to be shared freely and accompanied by regular readings & discussions in the work of promulgating and establishing the Law of Thelema Booklet 1: Booklet 2: Booklet 3: Booklet 4: The Great Beast 666 The Law of Liberty The Word of the Law is Thelema Soldiers of Liberty

Sir Saint

Aleister Crowley (1875-1947 ev) TO MEGA THERION 666

Creator of Sir Winston Churchills V Sign LOGOS AIONOS THELEMA

That shall end never that began. All things endure because they are. Do what thou wilt, for every man And every woman is a star. Pan is not dead; he liveth, Pan! Break down the bar!

To man I come, the number of A man my number, Lion of Light; I am The Beast whose Law is Love. Love under will, his royal right Behold within, and not above, One star in sight!
-Excerpted from One Star In Sight by Aleister Crowley

The Master Therion, A Biographical Note

OME SIX MONTHS after the death of Eliphas Levi Zahed, in the Year1 of the foundation of the Theosophical Society, was born a male child. The sign Leo being in the ascendant at his nativity, he is here called by that name.

The family of Leo was both distinguished and prosperous; he received the best education available in the land of his birth. In the beginning of the third year2 of his studies at the University, he underwent what may be called the Trance of Sorrow. That is, he perceived the vanity of all earthly ambition. This conviction so took hold of him that he renounced, then and there, his career, despite the brilliant promise which it would otherwise have afforded, and resolved firmly to devote himself without reserve to the Great Work. By this he meant, to find a medium in which effort might secure success immune to the assaults of Time and other conditions of human existence. For his mind was yet young and untaught. His first reading of the literature of Alchemy and kindred subjects, to which he now resorted, convinced him of the existence of a Secret Body of Initiates competent to aid him in his research. He sent forth instinctively an intense current of Will, calling upon the Masters in such a Sanctuary to come to his assistance.

The call was immediately heard. Indeed, at the moment of its utterance3 he was in the closest possible association with one of them, albeit this man so concealed his true nature that Leo did not discover the truth until three years later, when his need evoked the aid of this Master. In the summer of 1898 ev, Leo travelling in the mountains of Europe, fell in with a man who proved to be an eager student of Alchemy. He pursued this acquaintance, and exacted from him a promise to introduce him to a more advanced adept. The latter introduced him into that organization, so that he obtained his first initiation on November 18, 1898 ev. In this Society Leo made rapid progress and attained early in 1899 ev the highest grade which its Chief was permitted to give. Within one or two months of that event that Chief, who was but the visible representative of Secret Chiefs, committed so grave a blunder, as a culmination of a series of blunders, that he lost Their confidence. The Outer Order which depended on him dissolved at once in confusion. Unfamiliar with the Inner workings of the Order, and realizing his own inability to judge a matter beyond his knowledge, Leo remained openly loyal to the fallen Head; but as he felt instinctively that he could not learn any more from this source,
1. 1875 ev 2. 1897 ev 3. Easter 1898 ev

he undertook a journey of three years to the remotest parts of the earth, searching incessantly for further enlightenment. The Masters, who were watching him, sent out messengers from time to time, in order to teach him in many secret paths of enlightenment. In all these he attained the greatest success; it can be said that at his return to the country of his birth in 1903 ev he was the most advanced adept (as distinguished from a Master) in the world. And yet he was so far from accepting his progress with satisfaction, that he formally and finally gave up the Great Work as insignificant. And this too was the Plan of the Masters. Having surrendered his True Will so far that he had married4 and settled down to the life of an ordinary man, having built up a fortress of resentment against all spiritual assault, Leo had become a fit instrument to carry out the inscrutable designs of the Masters. At the end of a sporting expedition in Asia he stayed in Cairo for the Season with his young wife, a woman of neither instinct for, nor interest in, any but the most frivolous of worldly amusements. Now the Masters, the Secret Chiefs of the Order to which he owed his first initiation, are the directors of the spiritual destinies of this planet. These men chose this woman (of all women) to carry Their Will to the Aspirant who had renounced his aspiration. Leo received their message with quiet mockery: he agreed to carry out the instructions conveyed by his wife in a spirit of irony, resolved to demonstrate to her the absurdity of her claim to be in communication with a praeter-human Intelligence. The principal of these instructions was to shut himself up in a certain room of his house for one hour daily for three days5 that he might write what should then be given to him. He was astonished beyond measure when, on the stroke of the appointed hour, he heard the accents of a human voice, speaking in English (a language he understood sufficiently for the purpose) and continuing until the sixty minutes had exactly passed. This occurred on the two succeeding days: the result is the Manuscript known as Liber AL vel Legis; or The Book of the Law. Other communications were made at about this period by the Secret Chiefs. They proved beyond all possibility of doubt to Leo, a firm sceptic accustomed to mathematical and scientific methods of criticism, their own existence, and their possession of power and knowledge far exceeding anything hereto conceived as human. This proof, at least the major part of it, a portion ample to establish the above thesis, is extant; it is contained implicitly in the MS. of Liber AL itself, and is accessible at any time to any Aspirant to the Secret Wisdom.
4. August 1903 ev 5. April 8-10, 1904 ev

It is in this book, also, that the Secret Chiefs conferred upon Leo the title of , with its corresponding number DCLXVI; as the Master Therion, therefore, let him henceforth be denoted.6 They instructed him definitely to take over the rule and governance of the Order, assuming the place vacant by the fall of the original Chief; and to publish openly the whole of the secret knowledge in his possession in such a form that it might survive the general catastrophe to the whole of civilization, which They saw was imminent.7 The effect of this upon Therion was to bring out two contradictory elements in his character. On the one hand: he was absolutely convinced of the truth of the claims of the Secret Chiefs, of their praeter-human attainments, and of Their right and power to direct the course of events upon this planet. Moreover he was bound to Them by his original oath at his first initiation. On the other hand: he was wholly at variance with great bulk of philosophy and ethics set forth in Liber AL. He was filled, in short, with two conflicting currents of enthusiasm and resentment. In the upshot, after a mostly contemptuous attempt to carry out formally Their first instructions, acting, in such a way as to defeat his own apparent efforts,8 he revolted openly. The experience had forced him to abandon his attitude of deliberate worldliness, but he did his utmost to follow his own career upon a Path not Theirs. The next few years saw him engaged in this desperate struggle against Them. Little by little they broke his false will. Many were the tortures by which They compelled him to renew his allegiance: many were the signs by which They manifested Their vigilance and Their virtue. He fought every yard of ground with desperate tenacity; it was no sudden surrender of his, but the steady compulsion of Their might, that brought him back to the True Path. Now the Secret Chiefs had chosen him as Their representative on earth, as the vehicle of the Utterance. And because he was not yet fitted by full initiation to carry out Their designs, it was imperative that They should prevent him, even when he consented to execute Their commands, from making a premature appearance. This was not altogether easy to secure for, despite his own determination to abandon his worldly career, he had obtained eminence in two widely distinct paths of human activity; so that whatever he might choose to set forth would be certain to receive due attention from the world at large.

6. It was not for many years that he became fit to assume this office in its full scope; he did so on October 1915 ev 7. [World War I] is to be regarded as the preliminary skirmish of this vast world-conflict. 8. as if to say, let them bring their own work to fruition, if they can and will

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As wary as he was courageous, as skilful and subtle as he was full of resource, he gave Them no shadow of cause to reproach him; yet They destroyed his love, his hope, and his peace of mind. They alienated him from every single friend and supporter; he was betrayed again and again even by those who sought to be most loyal to him, and would have died a thousand deaths to serve him. They masked him so grotesquely, hideously, obscenely, that it became scarce possible for any man to penetrate the secret of his true personality. Yet also during this whole time, They led him in divers ways through ordeals more and more exalted, until They had fixed him at the summit of the Order, in that degree of enlightenment which (or so it is said) is attained by any man in the body not oftener than once in Two Thousand years. The climax of their dealings with him came in the weeks immediately preceding and following the Spring Equinox of 1924 ev. At this time he lay sick unto death. He was entirely alone; for They would not even permit the presence of those few whom They had themselves appointed to aid him in this final initiation. In this last ordeal the earthly part of him was dissolved in water; the water was vaporized into air; the air was rarified utterly, until he was free to make the last effort, and to pass into the vast caverns of the Threshold which guards the Realm of Fire. Now naught human may come through those immensities. So in that Fire he was consumed wholly, and as pure Spirit alone did he return, little by little, during the months that followed, into the body and mind that had perished in that great ordeal of which he can say no more than: I died. But these six months being accomplished, a certain Virgin came forth at the bidding of the Secret Chiefs, at whose touch he resumed contact with his human life. Her he conveyed swiftly to the Desert of the Sahara, that in silent communion with her Soul he might become aware of the intimate nature of his Work for the Masters; for she was verily a symbol of the Virgin Bride, whose redemption is the mystery of the Perpetuation of the Godhead. Now when they had taken ship and sailed even to the midst of the Mediterranean Sea, there came to him once again an impulse from the Secret Chiefs: to write down in the most succinct form possible a statement of his nature and purpose. And this he did do in the manifesto following:

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II

TO MAN
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. My Term of Office upon the Earth being come in the year of the foundation of the Theosophical Society, I took upon myself, in my turn, the sin of the whole World, that the Prophecies might be fulfilled, so that Mankind may take the Next Step from the Magical Formula of Osiris to that of Horus. And mine Hour being now upon me, I proclaim my Law. The word of the Law is . Given in the midst of the Mediterranean Sea An XX, Sol in 3 Libra die Jovis by me DCLXVI Whoso understandeth may seek.

Now of this which is here written; I took upon myself, in my turn, the sin of the whole World that the Prophecies might be fulfilled, it is to be understood that not only the definite spiritual experiences which determine the fact, but also the whole of his life, his joys, his sufferings, his travels in so many lands, his achievements in so many paths, his mingling with so many types of men and women of so many climes and climates, is, in sum, an universal experience which has enabled him to fulfil to the uttermost the great Oath taken by him on his initiation to the grade of Master of the Temple; as here follows: I. I, O.M., etc., a member of the Body of God, hereby bind myself on behalf of the Whole Universe, even as we are now physically bound unto the cross of suffering: II. that I will lead a pure life, as a devoted servant of the Order: III. that I will understand all things: IV. that I will love all things: V. that I will perform all things and endure all things: VI. that I will continue in the Knowledge and Conversation of my Holy Guardian Angel: VII. that I will work without attachment: VIII. that I will work in truth: IX. that I will rely only upon myself: X. that I will interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God with my Soul.

And if I fail herein, may my pyramid be profaned, and the Eye closed to me. Now therefore this proclamation of this word is the fulfillment of his Oath on his initiation to the grade of Magus.9 For the function of the Magus is to proclaim a new Law by virtue of one Word in which resides a Formula of Wisdom. Here followeth the book called the Book of the Magus, and declareth unto him that shall understand it, the conditions of that office.
9. Even as Gautama Buddha uttered the Word ANATTA, Laotze the Word TAO, Dionysus the Word IAO, Mohammed the Word ALLAH, and so for the rest, at the due interval each in his place.

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The Master Therion: an idealized self-portrait

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III

Liber B vel Magi

00. One is the Magus: twain His forces: four His weapons. These are the seven Spirits of Unrighteousness; seven vultures of evil. Thus is the art and craft of the Magus but glamour. How shall He destroy Himself? 0. Yet the Magus hath power upon the Mother both directly and through Love. And the Magus is Love, and bindeth together That and This in His Conjuration. 1. In the beginning doth the Magus speak Truth, and send forth Illusion and Falsehood to enslave the soul. Yet therein is the Mystery of Redemption. 2. By his Wisdom made He the Worlds: the Word that is God is none other than He. 3. How then shall He end His Speech with Silence? For He is Speech. 4. He is the First and the Last. How shall He cease to number Himself? 5. By a Magus is this writing made known through the mind of a Magister. The one uttereth clearly, and the other understandeth; yet the Word is falsehood, and the Understanding darkness. And this saying is Of All Truth. 6. Nevertheless it is written; for there be times of darkness, and this as a lamp therein. 7. With the Wand createth He. 8. With the Cup preserveth He. 9. With the Dagger destroyeth He.

10. With the Coin redeemeth He. 11. His weapons fulfil the wheel; and on What Axle that turneth is not known unto Him. 12. From all these actions must He cease before the curse of His Grade is uplifted from Him. Before He attain to that which existeth without Form. 13. And if at this time He be manifested upon earth as a Man, and therefore is this present writing, let this be His method, that the curse of His grade, and the burden of His attainment, be uplifted from Him.

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 14. Let Him beware of abstinence from action. For the curse of His grade is that he must speak Truth, that the Falsehood thereof may enslave the souls of men. Let Him then utter that without Fear, that the Law may be fulfilled. And according to His Original Nature will that law be shapen, so that one may declare gentleness and quietness, being an Hindu; and another fierceness and servility, being a Jew; and yet another ardour and manliness, being an Arab. Yet this matter toucheth the mystery of Incarnation, and is not here to be declared. 15. Now the grade of a Magister teacheth the Mystery of Sorrow, and the grade of a Magus the Mystery of Change, and the grade of Ipsissimus the Mystery of Selflessness, which is called also the Mystery of Pan. 16. Let the Magus then contemplate each in turn, raising it to the ultimate power of Infinity. Wherein Sorrow is Joy, and Change is Stability, and Selflessness is Self. For the interplay of the parts hath no action upon the whole. And this contemplation shall be performed not by simple meditationhow much less then by reason?but by the method which shall have been given unto Him in His initiation to the Grade. 17. Following which method, it shall be easy for Him to combine that trinity from its elements, and further to combine Sat-Chit-Ananda, and Light, Love, Life, three by three into nine that are one, in which meditation success shall be That which was first adumbrated to Him in the grade of Practicus (which reflecteth Mercury into the lowest world) in Liber XXVII, Here is Nothing under its three Forms. 18. And this is the Opening of the Grade of Ipsissimus, and by the Buddhists it is called the trance Nerodha-Samapatti. 19. And woe, woe, woe, yea woe, and again woe, woe, woe, unto seven times be His that preacheth not His law to men! 20. And woe also be unto Him that refuseth the curse of the grade of a Magus, and the burden of the Attainment thereof. 21. And in the word CHAOS let the book be sealed, yea, let the Book be sealed.

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IV

The Message of the Master Therion

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt. The word of the Law is . Thelemameans Will. The Key to this Message is this wordWill. The first obvious meaning of this Law is confirmed by antithesis; The word of Sin is Restriction. Again: 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. Take this carefully; it seems to imply a theory that if every man and every woman did his and her willthe true willthere would be no clashing. Every man and every woman is a star, and each star moves in an appointed path without interference. There is plenty of room for all; it is only disorder that creates confusion. From these considerations it should be clear that Do what thou wilt does not mean Do what you like. It is the apotheosis of Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond. Do what thou wiltthen do nothing else. Let nothing deflect thee from that austere and holy task. Liberty is absolute to do thy will; but seek to do any other thing whatever, and instantly obstacles must arise. Every act that is not in definite course of that one orbit is erratic, an hindrance. Will must not be two, but one. Note further that this will is not only to be pure, that is, single, as explained above, but also unassuaged of purpose. This strange phrase must give us pause. It may mean that any purpose in the will would damp it; clearly the lust of result is a thing from which it must be delivered. But the phrase may also be interpreted as if it read with purpose unassuagedi.e., with tireless energy. The conception is, therefore, of an eternal motion, infinite and unalterable. It is Nirvana, only dynamic instead of staticand this comes to the same thing in the end. The obvious practical task of the magician is then to discover what his will really is, so that he may do it in this manner, and he can best accomplish this by the practices of Liber Thisarb (see Equinox I(7), p. 105) or such others as may from one time to another be appointed. 16

Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with (a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace. Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movement of Things, thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two different selves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be Gods will, Thou art That. There is but one other word to explain. Elsewhere it is written surely for our great comfortLove is the law, love under will. This is to be taken as meaning that while Will is the Law, the nature of that Will is Love. But this Love is as it were a byproduct of that Will; it does not contradict or supersede that Will; and if apparent contradiction should arise in any crisis, it is the Will that will guide us aright. Lo, while in The Book of the Law is much of Love, there is no word of Sentimentality. Hate itself is almost like Love! As brothers fight ye! All the manly races of the world understand this. The Love of Liber Legis is always bold, virile, even orgiastic. There is delicacy, but it is the delicacy of strength. Mighty and terrible and glorious as it is, however, it is but the pennon upon the sacred lance of Will, the damascened inscription upon the swords of the Knight-monks of Thelema. Love is the law, love under will.

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Z:

Liber LXXVII

the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world. AL II:21 Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. AL I:40 thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay. AL I:42-3 Every man and every woman is a star. AL I:3 There is no god but man. 1. Man has the right to live by his own law to live in the way that he wills to do: to work as he will: to play as he will: to rest as he will: to die when and how he will. 2. Man has the right to eat what he will: to drink what he will: to dwell where he will: to move as he will on the face of the earth. 3. Man has the right to think what he will: to speak what he will: to write what he will: to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will: to dress as he will. 4. Man has the right to love as he will: take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will. AL I:51 5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights. the slaves shall serve. AL II:58 Love is the law, love under will. AL I:57

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Sekhet-Maat Lodge
O r d o Te m p l i O r i e n t i s Open discussion of these topics: Second Tuesdays at 7:30pm 1409 SE Stark St., Portland, Oregon More info: info@sekhetmaat.com www.sekhetmaat.com

AL II:21 The Sun, Strength & Sight, Light; these are for the servants of the Star & the Snake.

... blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely Star! AL II:79