220A1-1.ASC 1. The theogony of our Law is entirely scientific, Nuit is Matter, Hadit is Motion, in their full physical sense.* They are the Tao and Teh of Chinese Philosophy; or, to put it very simply, the Noun and Verb in grammar. Our central Truth -- beyond other philosophies -- is that these two infinities cannot exist apart. This extensive subject must be studied in our other writings, notably Berashith, my own Magical Diaries, especially those of 1919, 1920 and 1921, and The Book of Wisdom or Folly. See also `The Soldier and the Hunchback'. Further information concerning Nuit and Hadit is given in the course of this Book; but I must here mention that the Brother mentioned in connexion with the `Wizard Amalantrah' etc. (Samuel bar Aiwaz) identifies them with ANU and ADAD the supreme Mother and Father deities of the Sumerians. Taken in connexion with the AIWAZ identification, this is very striking indeed. It is also to be considered that Nu is connected with North, while Had is Sad, Set, Satan, Sat (equals `Being' in Sanskrit), South. He is then the Sun, one point concentring Space, as also is any other star. The word ABRAHADABRA is from Abrasax, Father Sun, which adds to 365. For the North-South antithesis see Fabre d'Olivet's Hermeneutic Interpretation of the Origin of the Social State in Man. Note `Sax' also as a Rock, or Stone, whence the symbol of the Cubical Stone, the Mountain Abiegnus, and so forth. Nu is also reflected in Naus, Ship, etc., and that whole symbolism of Hollow Space which is familiar to all. There is also a question of identifying Nu with On, Noah, Oannes, Jonah, John, Dianus, Diana, and so on. But these identifications are all partial only, different facets of the Diamond Truth. We may neglect all these questions, and remain in the simplicity of this Her own Book. 2. This explains the general theme of this revelation: gives the Dramatis Personae, so to speak. It is cosmographically, the conception of the two Ultimate Ideas; Space, and That which occupies Space. It will however appear later that these two ideas may be resolved into one, that of Matter; with Space, its `Condition' or `form', included therein. This leaves the idea of `Motion' for Hadit, whose interplay with Nuit makes the Universe. Time should perhaps be considered as a particular kind or dimension of Space.* Further, this verse is to be taken with the next. The `company of heaven' is the assertion of the independent godhead of every man and every woman! Further, as Khabs (see verse 8) is `Star', there is a further meaning; this Book is to reveal the Secret Self of a man, i.e. to initiate him. 3. This thesis is fully treated in The Book of Wisdom or Folly. Its main statement is that each human being is an Element of the Cosmos, self-determined and supreme, co-equal with all other Gods. From this the Law `Do what thou wilt' follows logically. One star influences another by attraction, of course; but these are incidents of self-predestined orbits. There is however a mystery of the planets, revolving about a star of whom they are parts; but I shall not discuss it fully in this place. Man is the Middle Kingdom The Great Kingdom is Heaven, with each star as an unit; the Little Kingdom is the Molecule, with each Electron as an unit. (The Ratio of these three is regularly geometrical, each being 10^2 times greater in size than its neighbour.) See `The Book of the Great Auk' for the demonstration that each `star' is the Centre of the Universe to itself, and that a `star' simple, original, absolute, can add to its omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence without ceasing to be itself; that its one way to do this is to gain experience, and that therefore it enters into combinations in which its true Nature is for awhile disguised, even from itself. Analogously, an atom of carbon may pass through myriad Proteus-phases, appearing in Chalk, Chloroform, Sugar, Sap, Brain and Blood, not recognizable as `itself' the black amorphous solid, but recoverable as such, unchanged by its adventures. This theory is the only one which explains why the Absolute limited itself, and why It does not recognize Itself during its cycle of incarnations. It disposes of `Evil' and the Origin of Evil; without denying Reality to `Evil', or insulting our daily observation and our common sense. I here quote (with one or two elucidatory insertions) the original note originally made by Me on this subject. May 14, 1919, 6.30 p.m. All elements must at one time have been separate -- that would be the case with great heat. Now when atoms get to the sun, when we get to the sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and all the elements are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of each element possesses the memory of all his adventures in combination. By the way, that atom, fortified with that memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therefore, by the lapse of time and by virtue of memory, a thing (although originally an Infinite Perfection) could become something more than itself; and thus a real development is possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations (God, that was a magnificent conception!) because so, and only so, can he go; and he suffers the lapse of memory of His own Reality of Perfection which he has during these incarnations, because he knows he will come through unchanged. Therefore you have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestructible. This is also the only explanation of how a being could create a world in which war, evil, etc. exist. Evil is only an appearance because, like `good', it cannot affect the substance itself, but only multiply its combinations. This is something the same as mystic monism, but the objection to that theory is that God has to create things which are all parts of himself, so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements, their interplay is natural. It is no objection to this theory to ask who made the elements -- the elements are at least there; and God, when you look for him, is not there. Theism is obscurum per obscurus. A male star is built from the circumference inwards. This is what is meant when we say that woman has no soul. It explains fully the difference between the sexes. 4. This is a great and holy mystery. Although each star has its own number, each number is equal and supreme. Every man and every woman is not only a part of God, but the Ultimate God. `The Centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere'. The old definition of God takes new meaning for us. Each one of us is the One God. This can only be understood by the initiate; one must acquire certain high states of consciousness to appreciate it. I have tried to put it simply in the note to the last verse. I may add that in the Trance called by me the `Star-Sponge' -- see note to v. 59 -- this apprehension of the Universe is seen as an astral Vision. It began as `Nothingness with Sparkles' in 1916 E.V. by Lake Pasquaney in New Hampshire, U.S.A. and developed into fullness on various subsequent occasions. Each `Star' is connected directly with every other star, and the Space being Without Limit (Ain Soph) the Body of Nuith, and one star is as much the Centre as any other. Each man instinctively feels that he is the Centre of the Cosmos, and philosophers have jeered at his presumption. But it was he that was precisely right. The yokel is no more `petty' than the King, nor the earth than the Sun. Each simple elemental Self is supreme, Very God of Very God. Ay, in this Book is Truth almost insufferably splendid, for Man has veiled himself too long from his own glory: he fears the abyss, the ageless Absolute. But Truth shall make him free! 5. Here Nuit appeals, simply and directly, recognizing the separate function of each Star of her Body. Though all is One, each part of that One has its own special work, each Star its particular Orbit. In addressing me as warrior lork of Thebes, it appears as if She perceived a certain continuity or identity of myself with Ankh-f-n-khonsu, Stele is the Link with Antiquity of this Revelation. See the equinox I(7), pp. 363-400a, for the account of this event. The unveiling is the Proclamation of the Truth previously explained, that the Body of Nuith occupies Infinite Space, so that every Star thereof is Whole in itself, an independent and absolute Unit. They differ as Carbon and Calcium differ, but each is a simple `immortal' Substance, or at least a form of some simpler Substance. Each soul is thus absolute, and `good' or `evil' are merely terms descriptive of relations between destructible combinations. Thus Quinine is `good' for a malarial patient, but `evil' for the germ of the disease. Heat is `bad' for ice-cream and `good' for coffee. The indivisible essence of things, their `souls', are indifferent to all conditions soever, for none can in any way affect them. 7. Aiwass is the name given by Ouarda the Seer as that of the Intelligence Communicating. See note to Title. Hoor-paar-Kraat or Harpocrates, the `Babe in the Egg of Blue', is not merely the God of Silence in a conventional sense. He represents the Higher Self, the Holy Guardian Angel. The connexion is with the symbolism of the Dwarf in Mythology. He contains everything in Himself, but is unmanifested. See II:8. He is the First Letter of the Alphabet, Aleph, whose number is One, and his card in the Tarot is The Fool, numbered Zero. Aleph is attributed to the `Element' (in the old classification of things) of Air. Now as `One or Aleph he represents the Male Principle, the First Cause, and the free breath of Life, the sound of the vowel A being made with the open throat and mouth. As Zero he represents the femal Principle, the fertile Mother. (An old name for the card is Mat, from the Italian `Matto', fool, but earlier also from Maut, the Egyptian Vulture- Mother-Goddess). Fertile, for the `Egg of Blue' is the Uterus, and in the Macrocosm the Body of Nuith, and it contains the Unborn Babe, helpless yet protected and nourished against the crocodiles and tigers shown on the card, just as the womb is sealed during gestation. He sits on a lotus, the yoni, which floats on the `Nile', the amniotic fluid. In his absolute innocence and ignorance he is `The Fool'; he is the `Saviour', being the Son who shall trample on the crocodiles and tigers, and avenge his father Osiris. Thus we see him as the `Great Fool' of Celtic legend, the `Pure Fool' of Act I of Parsifal, and, generally speaking, the insane person whose words have always been taken for oracles. But to be `Saviour' he must be born and grow to manhood; thus Parsifal acquires the Sacred Lance, emblem of virility. He usually wears the `Coat of many colours' like Joseph the `dreamer'; so he is also now the Green Man of spring festivals. But his `folly' is now not innocence but inspiration of wine; he drinks from the Graal, offered to him by the Priestess. So we see him fully armed as Bacchus Diphues, male and female in one, bearing the Thyrsus-rod, and a cluster of grapes or a wineskin, while a tiger leaps up by his side. This form is suggested in the Taro card, where `The fool' is shown with a long wand and carrying a sack; his coat is motley. Tigers and Crocodiles follow him, thus linking this image with that of Harpocrates. Almost identical symbols are those of the secret God of the Templars, the bi-sexual Baphomet, and of Zeus Arrhenothelus, equally bi-sexual, the Father-Mother of All in One Person. (He is shown in this full form in the Tarot Trump XV, `the Devil'.) Now Zeus being lord of Air, we are reminded that Aleph is the letter of Air. As Air we find the `Wandering Fool' pure wanton Breath, yet creative. Wind was supposed of old to impregnate the Vulture, which therefore was chosen to symbolize the Mother-Goddess. He is the Wandering Knight or Prince of Fairy Tales who marries the King's Daughter. This legend is derived from certain customs among exogamic tribes, for which see The Golden Bough. Thus one Europa, Semele and others claimed that Zeus -- Air* -- had enjoyed them in the form of a beast, bird, or what not; while later Mary attributed her condition to the agency of a Spirit -- Spiritus, breath, or air -- in the shape of a dove. But the `Small Person' of Hindu mysticism, the Dwarf insane yet crafty of many legends in many lands, is also this same `Holy Ghost', or Silent Self of a man, or his Holy Guardian Angel. He is almost the `Unconscious' of Freud, unknown, unaccountable, the silent Spirit, blowing `whither it listeth, but thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth'. It commands with absolute authority when it appears at all, despite conscious reason and judgment. Aiwass is then, as this verse 7 states, the `minister' of this Hoor-paar-Kraat, that is of the Saviour of the World in the larger sense, and of mine own `Silent Self' in the lesser. A `minister' is one who performs a service, in this case evidently that of revealing; He was the intelligible medium between the Babe God -- the New Aeon about to be born -- and myself. This Book of the Law is the Voice of his Mother, His Father, and Himself. But on His appearing, He assumes the active form twin to Harpocrates, that of Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The Concealed Child becomes the Conquering Child, the armed Horus avenging his father Osiris. So also our own Silent Self, helpless and witless, hidden within us, will spring forth, if we have craft to loose him to the Light, spring lustily forward with his cry of Battle, the Word of our True Wills. This is the Task of the Adept, to have the Knowledge and Conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel, to become aware of his nature and his purpose, fulfilling them. Why is Aiwass thus spelt, when Aiwaz is the natural transliteration of [...]? Perhaps because he was not content with identifying Himself with Thelema, Agape, etc. by the number 93, but wished to express his nature by six letters (Six being the number of the Sun, the God-Man, etc.) whose value in Greek should be A=1, I=10, F=6, A=1, S=200, S=200: total 418, the number of Abrahadabra, the Magical Formula of the new Aeon! Note that I and V are the letters of the Father and the Son, also of the Virgin and the Bull, (See Liber 418) protected on either side by the letter of AIR, and followed by the letter of Fire twice over. 8. We are not to regard ourselves as base beings, without whose sphere is Light or `God'. Our minds and bodies are veils of the Light within. The uninitiate is a `Dark Star', and the Great Work for him is to make his veils transparent by `purifying' them. This `purification' is really `simplification'; it is not that the veil is dirty, but that the complexity of its folds makes it opaque. The Great Work therefore consists principally in the solution of complexes. Everything in itself is perfect, but when things are muddled, they become `evil'. (This will be understood better in the Light of `The Hermit of Esopus Island', q.v.) The Doctrine is evidently of supreme importance, from its position as the first `revelation' of Aiwass. This `star' or `Inmost Light' is the original, individual, eternal essence. The Khu is the magical garment which it weaves for itself, a `form' for its Being Beyond Form, by use of which it can gain experience through self-consciousness, as explained in the note to verses 2 and 3. This Khu is the first veil, far subtler than mind or body, and truer; for its symbolic shape depends on the nature of its Star. Why are we told that the Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs? Did we then suppose the converse? I think that we are warned against the idea of a Pleroma, a flame of which we are Sparks, and to which we return when we `attain'. That would indeed be to make the whole curse of separate existence ridiculous, a senseless and inexcusable folly. It would throw us back on the dilemma of Manichaeism. The idea of incarnations `perfecting' a thing originally perfect by definition is imbecile. The only sane solution is as given previously, to suppose that the Perfect enjoys experience of (apparent) Imperfection. (There are deeper resolutions of this problem appropriate to the highest grades of initiation; but the above should suffice the average intelligence.) 9. We are to pay attention to this Inmost Light; then comes the answering Light of Infinite Space. Note that the Light of Space is what men call Darkness; its nature is utterly incomprehensible to our uninitiated minds. It is the `veils' mentioned previously in this comment that obstruct the relation between Nuit and Hadit. We are not to worship the Khu, to fall in love with our Magical Image. To do this -- we have all done it -- is to forget our Truth. If we adore Form, it becomes opaque to Being, and may soon prove false to itself. The Khu in each of us includes the Cosmos as he knows it. To me, even another Khabs is only part of my Khu. Our own Khabs is our one sole Truth. 10. The nature of magical power is quite incomprehensible to the vulgar. The prophet Ezekiel besieging a tile in order to destroy Jerusalem, and the adventure of Hosea with Gomer, seem as absurd to the `practical' man as do the researches of any other scientific man until the Sunday Newspapers have furnished him with a plausible explanation which explains nothing. (Book 4, Part III, must be read in this connexion.) `My servants'; not those of the Lord of the Aeon. `The Law is for all'; there can be no secrecy about that. The verse refers to specially chosen `servants'; perhaps those who, worshipping the Khabs, have beheld Her light shed over them. Such persons indeed consummate the marriage of Nuit and Hadit in themselves; in that case they are aware of certain Ways to Power. There is also a mystical sense in this verse. We are to organize our minds thoroughly, appointing few and secret chiefs, serving Nuit, to discipline the varied departments of the conscious thought.