0.  

O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!

1.  

Let me extol Thy perfections before men.

2.  

In the Image of a Sixfold Star that flameth across the Vault inane, let me re-veil Thy perfections.

3.  

Thou hast appeared unto me as an agèd God, a venerable God, the Lord of Time, bearing a sharp sickle.

4.  

Thou hast appeared unto me as a jocund and ruddy God, full of Majesty, a King, a Father in his prime. Thou didst bear the sceptre of the Universe, crowned with the Wheel of the Spirit.

5.  

Thou hast appeared unto me with sword and spear, a warrior God in flaming armour among Thine horsemen.

6.  

Thou hast appeared unto me as a young and brilliant God, a god of music and beauty, even as a young god in his strength, playing upon the lyre.

7.  

Thou hast appeared unto me as the white foam of Ocean gathered into limbs whiter than the foam, the limbs of a miracle of women, as a goddess of extreme love, bearing the girdle of gold.

8.  

Thou hast appeared to me as a young boy mischievous and lovely, with Thy winged globe and its serpents set upon a staff.

9.  

Thou hast appeared to me as an huntress among Thy dogs, as a goddess virginal chaste, as a moon among the faded oaks of the wood of years.

10.  

But I was deceived by none of these. All these I cast aside, crying: Begone! So that all these faded from my vision.

11.  

Also I welded together the Flaming Star and the Sixfold Star in the forge of my soul, and behold! a new star 418 that is above all these.

12.  

Yet even so was I not deceived; for the crown hath twelve rays.

13.  

And these twelve rays are one.

0.  

Now then I saw these things averse and evil; and they were not, even as Thou art Not.

1.  

I saw the twin heads that ever battle against one another, so that all their thought is a confusion. I saw Thee in these.

2.  

I saw the darkeners of wisdom, like black apes chattering vile nonsense. I saw Thee in these.

3.  

I saw the devouring mothers of Hell, that eat up their children— O ye that are without understanding! I saw Thee in these.

4.  

I saw the merciless and the unmajestic like harpies tearing their foul food. I saw Thee in these.

5.  

I saw the burning ones, giants like volcanoes belching out the black vomit of fire and smoke in their fury. I saw Thee in these.

6.  

I saw the petty, the quarrelsome, the selfish,— they were like men, O Lord, they were even like unto men. I saw Thee in these.

7.  

I saw the ravens of death, that flew with hoarse cries upon the carrion earth. I saw Thee in these.

8.  

I saw the lying spirits like frogs upon the earth, and upon the water, and upon the treacherous metal that corrodeth all things and abideth not. I saw Thee in these.

9.  

I saw the obscene ones, bull-men linked in the abyss of putrefaction, that gnawed each other’s tongues for pain. I saw Thee in these.

10.  

I saw the Woman. O my God, I beheld the image thereof, even as a lovely shape that concealeth a black monkey, even as a figure that draweth with her hands small images of men down into hell. I saw her from the head to the navel a woman, from the navel to the feet of her a man. I saw Thee even in her.

11.  

For mine was the keyword to the Closed Palace 418 and mine the reins of the Chariot of the Sphinxes, black and white.

But I was not deceived by anything of all these things.

12.  

For I expanded it by my subtlety into Twelve Rays of the Crown.

13.  

And these twelve rays were One.

0.  

Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal, or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face.

1.  

Even for five hundred and eleven times nightly for one and forty days did I cry aloud unto the Lord the affirmation of His Unity.

2.  

Also did I glorify His wisdom, whereby He made the worlds.

3.  

Yea, I praised Him for His intelligible essence, whereby the universe became light.

4.  

I did thank Him for His manifold mercy; I did worship His magnificence and majesty.

5.  

I trembled before His might.

6.  

I delighted in the Harmony and Beauty of His Essence.

7.  

In His Victory I pursued His enemies; yea I drave them down the steep; I thundered after them into the utmost abyss; yea, therein I partook of the glory of my Lord.

8.  

His Splendour shone upon me; I adored His adorable splendour.

9.  

I rested myself, admiring the Stability of Him, how the shaking of His Universe, the dissolution of all things, should move Him not.

10.  

Yea, verily, I the Lord Viceregent of His Kingdom, I, Adonai, who speak unto my servant V.V.V.V.V. did rule and govern in His place.

11.  

Yet also did I formulate the word of double power in the Voice of the Master, even the word 418.

12.  

And all these things deceived me not, for I expanded them by my subtlety into the Twelve Rays of the Crown.

13.  

And these twelve rays were One.

0.  

Also the little child, the lover of Adonai, even V.V.V.V.V., reflecting the glory of Adonai, lifted up his voice and said:

1.  

Glory to God, and Thanksgiving to God! There is One God alone, and God is exceeding great. He is about us, and there is no strength save in Him the exalted, the great.

2.  

Thus did V.V.V.V.V. become mad, and wend about naked.

3.  

And all these things fled away, for he understood them all, that they were but as old rags upon the Divine Perfection.

4.  

Also he pitied them all, that they were but reflections distorted.

5.  

Also he smote them, lest they should bear rule over the just.

6.  

Also he harmonized them into one picture, beautiful to behold.

7.  

And having thus conquered them, there was a certain glamour of holiness even in the hollow sphere of outward brilliance.

8.  

So that all became splendid.

9.  

And having firmly stablished them in order and disposition,

10.  

He proclaimed the perfection, the bride, the delight of God in His creation.

11.  

But though thus he worked, he tried ever his work by the Star 418.

12.  

And it deceived him not; for by his subtlety he expanded it all into the Twelve Rays of the Crown.

13.  

And these twelve rays were One.

0.  

In the place of the cross the indivisible point which hath no points nor parts nor magnitude. Nor indeed hath it position, being beyond space. Nor hath it existence in time, for it is beyond Time. Nor hath it cause or effect, seeing that its Universe is infinite every way, and partaketh not of these our conceptions.

1.  

So wrote οὔ μή the Exempt Adept, and the laughter of the Masters of the Temple abashed him not.

2.  

Nor was he ashamed, hearing the laughter of the little dogs of hell.

3.  

For he abode in his place, and his falsehood was truth in his place.

4.  

The little dogs cannot correct him, for they can do naught but bark.

5.  

The masters cannot correct him, for they say: Come and see.

6.  

And I came and saw, even I, Perdurabo, the Philosophus of the Outer College.

7.  

Yea, even I the man beheld this wonder.

8.  

And I could not deliver it unto myself.

9.  

That which established me is invisible and unknowable in its essence.

10.  

Only they who know IT may be known.

11.  

For they have the genius of the mighty sword 418.

12.  

And they are not deceived by any of these things; for by their subtlety do they expand them all into the Twelve Rays of the Crown.

13.  

And these twelve rays are One.

0.  

Deeper and deeper into the mire of things!

Farther and farther into the never-ending Expansion of the Abyss.

1.  

The great goddess that bendeth over the Universe is my mistress; I am the winged globe at her heart.

2.  

I contract ever as she ever expandeth;

3.  

At the end it is all one.

4.  

Our loves have brought to birth the Father and Creator of all things.

5.  

He hath established the elements; the æther, the air, the water, the earth, and the fire.

6.  

He hath established the wandering stars in their courses.

7.  

He hath ploughed with the seven stars of his Plough, that the Seven might move indeed, yet ever point to the unchanging One.

8.  

He hath established the Eight Belts, wherewith he hath girdled the globes.

9.  

He hath established the Trinity of Triads in all things, forcing fire into fire, and ordering all things in the Stable Abode of the Kings of Ægypt.

10.  

He hath established His rule in His kingdom.

11.  

Yet the Father also boweth unto the Power of the Star 418 and thereby

12.  

In his subtlety He expandeth it all into twelve rays of the Crown.

13.  

And these twelve rays are One.

0.  

Then in the might of the Lion did I formulate unto myself that holy and formless fire, קדש, which darteth and flasheth through the depths of the Universe.

1.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the earth melted into a liquor clear as water.

2.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the water smoked into a lucid air.

3.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the air ignited, and became Fire.

4.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O Lord, the Fire dissipated into Space.

5.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh, O Lord, the Space resolved itself into a Profundity of Mind.

6.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the Mind of the Father was broken up into the brilliance of our Lord the Sun.

7.  

At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the Brilliance of our Lord was absorbed in the Naught of our Lady of the Body of the Milk of the Stars.

8.  

Then only was the Fire Qadosh extinguished, when the Enterer was driven back from the threshold,

9.  

And the Lord of Silence was established upon the Lotus flower.

10.  

Then was accomplished all that which was to be accomplished.

11.  

And All and One and Naught were slain in the slaying of the Warrior 418,

12.  

In the slaying of the subtlety that expanded all these things into the Twelve Rays of the Crown,

13.  

That returned unto One, and beyond One, even unto the vision of the Fool in his folly that chanted the word Ararita, and beyond the Word and the Fool; yea, beyond the Word and the Fool.