Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...

, the founder of the religion of Thelema

Thelema

Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...

, designated his works as belonging to one of several classes. Not all of his work was placed in a class by him.

Class A consists of works that are not to be changed, even to the letter. The Holy Books fall in this category.

Class B consists of works of scholarship and enlightenment.

Class C consists of material that suggests things other than the obvious.

Class D consists of official rituals and instructions.

Class E consists of manifestos, broadsides, epistles and other public statements.

The Books

Liber AL vel Legis, also known as The Book of the Law

The Book of the Law

Liber AL vel Legis is the central sacred text of Thelema, written by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt in the year 1904. Its full title is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI, and it is commonly referred to as The Book of the Law.Liber AL vel Legis contains three...

, is the foundational text for Thelema. It is the only Holy Book that Aleister Crowley claimed to have had no part in the authorship of. Its primacy is indicated in chapter III, verse 47: This book shall be translated into all tongues: but always with the original in the writing of the Beast; for in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another: in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine.

The remaining texts were written between the years 1907 and 1911. According to Crowley, they were not so much written by him as through him, and are therefore referred to as inspired works.

Publication history

Some of these works were originally published by Crowley in 1909 under the title "ΘΕΛΗΜΑ." In 1983 these original texts, together with a number of additional texts, were published under the new title The Holy Books of Thelema by Ordo Templi Orientis

Ordo Templi Orientis

Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century...

 under the direction of Hymenaeus Alpha.

Original Contents of ΘΕΛΗΜΑ

• Volume I
  • Liber LXI vel Causæ—Explains the actual history and origin of the present movement. This text, being in Class D
    Class D
    The term Class D may refer to:* Class D, a planet classification from the fictional Star Trek universe* Class D, a modern stellar classification* Class D , a defunct class in minor league baseball in North America...
    
    , is not technically a Holy Book, but was included in "ΘΕΛΗΜΑ" as an Introduction, and is thus listed here.
  • Liber LXV: Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente—An account of the relations of the aspirant and his Holy Guardian Angel
    Holy Guardian Angel
    The term Holy Guardian Angel was possibly coined either by Abraham of Würzburg, a French Cabalist who wrote a book on ceremonial magick during the 15th century or Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, the founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who later translated this manuscript and...
    
    .
• Volume II
  • Liber VII: Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli—These are the Birth Words of a Master of the Temple. Its 7 Chapters are referred to the 7 Planets in the following order: Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Sol, Mercury, Luna, Venus.
• Volume III
  • Liber XXVII: Liber Trigrammaton sub Figura XXVII—Being a book of Trigram
    Trigram
    Trigrams are a special case of the N-gram, where N is 3. They are often used in natural language processing for doing statistical analysis of texts.-Frequency:The 16 most common trigrams in English are:-Examples:...
    
    s of the Mutations of the Tao
    Tao
    Dao or Tao is a Chinese word meaning 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes more loosely, 'doctrine' or 'principle'...
    
     with the Yin and yang
    Yin and yang
    In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...
    
    . An account of the Cosmic process.
  • Liber CCXX: Liber AL vel Legis sub Figura CCXX: The Book of the Law—Among the Holy Books of Thelema, the chief is The Book of the Law. Every Thelemite is expected to interpret the book, "each for himself."
  • Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita—An account of the Hexagram and the method of reducing it to the Unity and Beyond. This book describes in magical language a very secret process of Initiation
    Initiation
    Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
    
    .

Additional Texts included in The Holy Books of Thelema

• Liber I: Liber B vel Magi—An account of the Grade of Magus, the highest grade which it is even possible to manifest in any way whatsoever upon this plane.
• Liber X: Liber Porta Lucis—An account of the sending forth of the Master Therion by the A∴A∴ and an explanation of his mission.
• Liber LXVI: Liber Stellae Rubeae—Sexual Magick
  Sex magic
  Sex magic is a term for various types of sexual activity used in magical, ritualistic or otherwise religious and spiritual pursuits. One practice of sex magic is using the energy of sexual arousal or orgasm with visualization of a desired result...
  
   veiled in symbolism.
• Liber XC: Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus—An account of Initiation, and an indication as to those who are suitable for the same.
• Liber CLVI: Liber Cheth vel Vallum Abiegni—Sexual Magick veiled in symbolism.
• Liber CCXXXI: Liber Arcanorum—An account of the cosmic process so far as it is indicated by the Tarot Trumps
  Major Arcana
  The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
  
  . The sequence of the 22 Trumps is explained as a formula of Initiation.
• Liber CCCLXX: Liber A'ash vel Capricorni Pneumatici—Analyzes the nature of the creative magical force in man, explains how to awaken it, how to use it and indicates the general as well as the particular objects to be gained thereby. Sexual Magick veiled in symbolism.
• Liber CD: Liber Tau vel Kabbalae Trium Literarum—A graphic interpretation of the Tarot on the plane of Initiation.

Class A

• Liber I: Liber B Vel Magi Sub Figurâ 1
• Liber VII: Liber Liberi Vel Lapidus Lazuli, Adumbratio Kabbalæ Ægyptiorum Sub Figurâ VII
• Liber X: Liber Porta Lucis Sub Figureâ X
• Liber XXVII: Liber Trigrammaton Sub Figurâ XXVII
• Liber LXV: Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente Sub Figurâ LXV
• Liber LXVI: Liber Stellæ Rubeæ Sub Figurâ LXVI
• Liber XC: Liber Tzaddi Vel Hamus Hermeticus Sub Figurâ XC
• Liber CLVI: Liber Cheth Vel Vallum Abiegni Sub Figurâ CLVI
• Liber CCXX: Liber Al Vel Legis Sub Figurâ CCXX
• Liber XXXI: Liber Al(Liber Legis), The Book of the Law
• Liber CCXXXI: Liber Arcanorum ιων ATU ν TAHUTI Quas Vidit Asar in Amenti Sub Figurâ CCXXXI Liber Carcerorum ιων Qliphoth cum suis Geniis
• Liber CCCLXX: Liber A'ash Vel Capricoroni Pneumatici Sub Figuræ CCCLXX
• Liber CD: Libe Tau Vel Kabbalæ Trium Literarum Sub Figuræ CD
• Liber DCCCXII: Vel Ararita Sub Figuræ DLXX

Class B

• Liber CCCCXVIII: Liber XXX Ærum Vel Saeculi, Being of the Angels of the Thirty Aethyrs the Vision and the Voice.
• Liber CDXV: Opes Lutetianum