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95-529: Liber AL vel Legis ( Classical Latin : [ˈlɪbɛr aː.ɛɫ wɛl‿ˈleːgɪs] ), commonly known as The Book of the Law , is the central sacred text of Thelema . The book is often referred to simply as Liber AL , Liber Legis or just AL , though technically the latter two refer only to the manuscript . Aleister Crowley said that the book was dictated to him by a beyond-human being, Aiwass , who he later referred to as his own Holy Guardian Angel . Through

190-446: A body composed of "fine matter", which had a gauze-like transparency. Further, he "seemed to be a tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw. The dress was not Arab; it suggested Assyria or Persia, but very vaguely. Despite initially writing that it was an "excellent example of automatic writing ", Crowley later insisted that it

285-478: A certain sense, therefore, Latin was studied as a dead language, while it was still a living." Also problematic in Teuffel's scheme is its appropriateness to the concept of classical Latin. Cruttwell addresses the issue by altering the concept of the classical. The "best" Latin is defined as "golden" Latin, the second of the three periods. The other two periods (considered "classical") are left hanging. By assigning

380-438: A critical perspective on The Book of the Law . Sutin argues that the text reflects Crowley's subconscious mind rather than a divine revelation, pointing out the possibility that Crowley's extensive knowledge of esoteric traditions and his personal aspirations heavily influenced the content of the book. Sutin provides a balanced view, acknowledging the text's impact while questioning its purported supernatural origins. The Book of

475-433: A detailed analysis of style, whereas Teuffel was more concerned with history. Like Teuffel, Cruttwell encountered issues while attempting to condense the voluminous details of time periods in an effort to capture the meaning of phases found in their various writing styles. Like Teuffel, he has trouble finding a name for the first of the three periods (the current Old Latin phase), calling it "from Livius to Sulla ." He says

570-438: A diagonal line and a circled cross. The Book of the Law states that the book should only be printed with Crowley's hand-written version included, suggesting that there are mysteries in the "chance shape of the letters and their position to one another" of Crowley's handwriting. Whichever top-left to bottom-right diagonal is read the magickal order of the letters is obtained. Israel Regardie , former secretary to Crowley, offers

665-414: A few copies for evaluation by close friends, the manuscript was misplaced and forgotten about. It would be several years before it was found, and the first official publication occurred in 1909. The Book of the Law annoyed me; I was still obsessed by the idea that secrecy was necessary to a magical document, that publication would destroy its importance. I determined, in a mood which I can only describe as

760-498: A fit of ill temper, to publish The Book of the Law , and then get rid of it for ever. A facsimile of the original handwritten manuscript was published in The Equinox , Volume I, Number VII, in 1912. In 1921, Crowley gave the manuscript its own title, "AL (Liber Legis), The Book of the Law, sub figura XXXI", to distinguish it from the typeset version. It is now sometimes referred to as simply "Liber XXXI". The original manuscript

855-471: A form of Greek that was considered model. Before then, the term classis , in addition to being a naval fleet, was a social class in one of the diachronic divisions of Roman society in accordance with property ownership under the Roman constitution. The word is a transliteration of Greek κλῆσις (clēsis, or "calling") used to rank army draftees by property from first to fifth class. Classicus refers to those in

950-633: A former warehouse, following the foundation of the new Antiquities Department under the direction of Auguste Mariette . The building lay on the bank of the Nile River, and in 1878 it suffered significant damage in a flood. In 1892, the collections were moved to a former royal palace, in the Giza district of Cairo. They remained there until 1902 when they were moved, for the last time, to the current museum in Tahrir Square . The Museum's former location

1045-431: A matter for the individual reader. Crowley devoted much of his life to writing about Liber AL , seeking to decipher its mysteries and provide insights into its meanings. Crowley emphasized that one of the main precepts of the book is the emancipation of mankind from all limitations. He viewed The Book of the Law as not just introducing a new religion, but also a new cosmology, philosophy, and ethics. According to Crowley,

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1140-407: A phase of styles. The ancient authors themselves first defined style by recognizing different kinds of sermo , or "speech". By valuing Classical Latin as "first class", it was better to write with Latinitas selected by authors who were attuned to literary and upper-class languages of the city as a standardized style. All sermo that differed from it was a different style. Thus, in rhetoric, Cicero

1235-642: A psychological interpretation of The Book of the Law in The Eye in the Triangle . Regardie suggests that the book can be understood as an expression of Crowley's complex psychological landscape, including his struggles with identity and spirituality. He explores the symbolic and archetypal dimensions of the text, providing insights into its deeper meanings and its significance in Crowley's magical philosophy. Regardie suggests that current psychological theory supports

1330-402: A radical individualism and a break from traditional religious and moral systems. Pasi places The Book of the Law within the broader context of early 20th-century intellectual and cultural movements. Richard Kaczynski , a biographer and historian of Aleister Crowley, provides an in-depth analysis of The Book of the Law in his work, Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley . Kaczynski explores

1425-534: A slight alteration in approach, making it clear that his terms applied to Latin and not just to the period. He also changed his dating scheme from AUC to modern BC/AD. Though he introduces das silberne Zeitalter der römischen Literatur , (The Silver Age of Roman Literature) from the death of Augustus to the death of Trajan (14–117 AD), he also mentions parts of a work by Seneca the Elder , a wenig Einfluss der silbernen Latinität (a slight influence of silver Latin). It

1520-729: Is Cruttwell's Augustan Epoch (42 BC – 14 AD). The literary histories list includes all authors from Canonical to the Ciceronian Age—even those whose works are fragmented or missing altogether. With the exception of a few major writers, such as Cicero, Caesar, Virgil and Catullus, ancient accounts of Republican literature praise jurists and orators whose writings, and analyses of various styles of language cannot be verified because there are no surviving records. The reputations of Aquilius Gallus, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus , Lucius Licinius Lucullus , and many others who gained notoriety without readable works, are presumed by their association within

1615-494: Is a way of saying that the book was delivered by Aiwass (whose number is both 93 and 418 ) to Crowley, who is The Beast 666. The facsimile manuscript of the Book is not, however, numbered 220, but XXXI (31) as the first chapter's verses are unnumbered in the original manuscript: that is, no verse numbers were dictated to Crowley for chapter one. Both editions were titled by Crowley AL, pronounced "El", value 31, so therefore Liber 31

1710-514: Is also Matter in its deepest metaphysical sense, who is the infinite in whom all we live and move and have our being." The second chapter is spoken by Hadit, who refers to himself as the "complement of Nu, my bride." As such, he is the infinitely condensed point, the center of her infinite circumference. Crowley says of him, "He is eternal energy, the Infinite Motion of Things, the central core of all being. The manifested Universe comes from

1805-443: Is clear that his mindset had shifted from Golden and Silver Ages to Golden and Silver Latin, also to include Latinitas , which at this point must be interpreted as Classical Latin. He may have been influenced in that regard by one of his sources E. Opitz, who in 1852 had published specimen lexilogiae argenteae latinitatis , which includes Silver Latinity. Though Teuffel's First Period was equivalent to Old Latin and his Second Period

1900-769: Is indicated by the continued existence of a 'Maspero Street', named after the second head of the Antiquities Department. The Royal Carriages Museum was established in Boulaq during the reign of Khedive Ismail. It was originally known as the Department of the Khedive Carriages. Following the building of the Nile Corniche, with a road running along the river front, the Bulaq area ceased to be

1995-607: Is known as "classical" Latin literature . The term refers to the canonical relevance of literary works written in Latin in the late Roman Republic , and early to middle Roman Empire . "[T]hat is to say, that of belonging to an exclusive group of authors (or works) that were considered to be emblematic of a certain genre." The term classicus (masculine plural classici ) was devised by the Romans to translate Greek ἐγκριθέντες (encrithentes), and "select" which refers to authors who wrote in

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2090-838: Is nonsense. The Comment must be an interpretation of the Book intelligible to the simplest minds, and as practical as the Ten Commandments." Moreover, this Comment should be arrived at "inspirationally", as the Book itself had been. Years later in 1925 while in Tunis , Tunisia, Crowley received his inspiration. He published his second commentary, often called simply "The Comment", in the Tunis edition of AL , of which only 11 copies were printed, and signed it as Ankh-f-n-khonsu (lit. "He Lives in Khonsu "—a historical priest who lived in Thebes in

2185-473: Is not that of the golden age... Evidently, Teuffel received ideas about golden and silver Latin from an existing tradition and embedded them in a new system, transforming them as he thought best. In Cruttwell's introduction, the Golden Age is dated 80 BC – AD 14 (from Cicero to Ovid ), which corresponds to Teuffel's findings. Of the "Second Period", Cruttwell paraphrases Teuffel by saying it "represents

2280-519: Is perfect in its kind. I, daring to snatch credit for these [...] dared nowise to lay claim to have touched The Book of the Law, not with my littlest finger-tip. He also admits to the possibility that Aiwass may be identified with his own subconscious, although he thought this was unlikely: Of course I wrote them, ink on paper, in the material sense; but they are not My words, unless Aiwaz be taken to be no more than my subconscious self, or some part of it: in that case, my conscious self being ignorant of

2375-601: Is that period in which the climax was reached in the perfection of form, and in most respects also in the methodical treatment of the subject-matters. It may be subdivided between the generations, in the first of which (the Ciceronian Age) prose culminated, while poetry was principally developed in the Augustan Age. The Ciceronian Age was dated 671–711 AUC (83–43 BC), ending just after the death of Marcus Tullius Cicero. The Augustan 711–67 AUC (43 BC – 14 AD) ends with

2470-587: Is the first known reference (possibly innovated during this time) to Classical Latin applied by authors, evidenced in the authentic language of their works. Imitating Greek grammarians, Romans such as Quintilian drew up lists termed indices or ordines modeled after the ones created by the Greeks, which were called pinakes . The Greek lists were considered classical, or recepti scriptores ("select writers"). Aulus Gellius includes authors like Plautus , who are considered writers of Old Latin and not strictly in

2565-567: Is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire . It formed parallel to Vulgar Latin around 75 BC out of Old Latin , and developed by the 3rd century AD into Late Latin . In some later periods, the former was regarded as good or proper Latin; the latter as debased, degenerate, or corrupted. The word Latin is now understood by default to mean "Classical Latin"; for example, modern Latin textbooks almost exclusively teach Classical Latin. Cicero and his contemporaries of

2660-519: Is the manuscript of The Book of the Law called AL (not be confused with Liber 31 by C. S. Jones (Frater Achad), which is an exegesis of some of the qabalistic symbolism of the Book ), whereas Liber 220 is the edited (strictly according to the editing instructions dictated as part of the text of the Book itself), printed form of the text. The original title of the book was Liber L vel Legis . Crowley retitled it Liber AL vel Legis in 1921, when he also gave

2755-530: Is to be distinguished by: until 75 BC Old Latin 75 BC – 200 AD Classical Latin 200–700 Late Latin 700–1500 Medieval Latin 1300–1500 Renaissance Latin 1300– present Neo-Latin 1900– present Contemporary Latin Bulaq The westward shift of the Nile, especially between 1050 and 1350, made land available on its eastern side. There the development of Bulaq began in

2850-479: The 26th dynasty , associated with the Stele of Revealing). Crowley later tasked his friend and fellow O.T.O. member Louis Wilkinson with preparing an edited version of Crowley's commentaries which was published some time after Crowley's death as The Law is for All . Thanks in large part to " The Comment ", the interpretation of the often cryptic text of Liber AL vel Legis is generally considered by Thelemites to be

2945-619: The Antonines ), and the 3rd through 6th centuries. Of the Silver Age proper, Teuffel points out that anything like freedom of speech had vanished with Tiberius : ...the continual apprehension in which men lived caused a restless versatility... Simple or natural composition was considered insipid; the aim of language was to be brilliant... Hence it was dressed up with abundant tinsel of epigrams, rhetorical figures and poetical terms... Mannerism supplanted style, and bombastic pathos took

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3040-527: The Egyptian Museum of Cairo, number A 9422). The stela would subsequently be known to Thelemites (adherents of Thelema) as the "Stele of Revealing". On 20 March, Crowley invoked Horus, "with great success". Between 23 March and 8 April, Crowley had the hieroglyphs on the stele translated. Also, Rose revealed that her "informant" was not Horus himself, but his messenger, Aiwass. Finally, on 7 April, Rose gave Crowley his instructions—for three days he

3135-483: The classici scriptores declined in the medieval period as the best form of the language yielded to medieval Latin , inferior to classical standards. The Renaissance saw a revival in Roman culture, and with it, the return of Classic ("the best") Latin. Thomas Sébillet 's Art Poétique (1548), "les bons et classiques poètes françois", refers to Jean de Meun and Alain Chartier , who the first modern application of

3230-466: The prima classis ("first class"), such as the authors of polished works of Latinitas , or sermo urbanus . It contains nuances of the certified and the authentic, or testis classicus ("reliable witness"). It was under this construct that Marcus Cornelius Fronto (an African - Roman lawyer and language teacher) used scriptores classici ("first-class" or "reliable authors") in the second century AD. Their works were viewed as models of good Latin. This

3325-400: The 15th century. In this century, under sultan Barsbay Bulaq became the main port of Cairo. Bulaq is a dense indigenous district filled with small-scale workshops of industries such as the old printing press , metalworking and machine shops, which supported the early stages of building Cairo. It is populated with a mixed working class from all parts of Egypt, who migrated to the city during

3420-460: The 18th, after he invoked Thoth (the god of knowledge), she mentioned Horus by name as the one waiting for him. Crowley, still skeptical, asked her numerous questions about Horus, which she answered accurately supposedly without having any prior study of the subject. Crowley also gives a different chronology, in which an invocation of Horus preceded the questioning. Lawrence Sutin says this ritual described Horus in detail, and could have given Rose

3515-472: The 19th century to work on Muhammad ‘Ali's projects. To the north of the district is located the bulk of the city's newer industrial plants. The history of Bulaq goes back to the Mamluk rule of the fourteenth century when the site was the main port of Cairo filled with several wikalas , mosques and houses for merchants near the port. The new Egyptian Museum of Antiquities was established at Bulaq in 1858 in

3610-424: The Book itself, which refers to itself as "the Book of the Law" and "the threefold Book of Law" (chapters 1:35, 3:75). CCXX is 220 in Roman figures, representing The Tree of Life (10 numbers times 22 paths), and is the number of verses of the Book in typescript. XCIII is 93, the enumeration of both "The word of the law" Thelema and Aiwass. DCLXVI is 666, the number of Crowley as Great Beast both as Adept and Magus. This

3705-564: The Book of the Law . According to Jake Stratton-Kent, "the English Qaballa is a qabalah and not a system of numerology. A qabalah is specifically related to three factors: one, a language; two, a 'holy' text or texts; three, mathematical laws at work in these two." The "order & value" discovered by James Lees lays the letters out on the grid superimposed on the page of manuscript of Liber AL on which this verse (III:47) appears (sheet 16 of Chapter III). Also appearing on this page are

3800-664: The Classical Latin period formed the model for the language taught and used in later periods across Europe and beyond. While the Latin used in different periods deviated from "Classical" Latin, efforts were periodically made to relearn and reapply the models of the Classical period, for instance by Alcuin during the reign of Charlemagne , and later during the Renaissance , producing the highly classicising form of Latin now known as Neo-Latin . "Good Latin" in philology

3895-456: The Crowned and Conquering Child. Crowley sums up the speakers of the three chapters thus, "we have Nuit, Space, Hadit, the point of view; these experience congress, and so produce Heru-Ra-Ha , who combines the ideas of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-paar-kraat." The book also introduces: Crowley said he wrote The Book of the Law on 8, 9 and 10 April 1904, between the hours of noon and 1:00 pm, in

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3990-463: The English translation of A History of Roman Literature gained immediate success. In 1877, Charles Thomas Cruttwell produced a similar work in English. In his preface, Cruttwell notes "Teuffel's admirable history, without which many chapters in the present work could not have attained completeness." He also credits Wagner. Cruttwell adopts the time periods found in Teuffel's work, but he presents

4085-421: The Golden Age. A list of canonical authors of the period whose works survived in whole or in part is shown here: The Golden Age is divided by the assassination of Julius Caesar . In the wars that followed, a generation of Republican literary figures was lost. Cicero and his contemporaries were replaced by a new generation who spent their formative years under the old constructs, and forced to make their mark under

4180-602: The Imperial Period, and is divided into die Zeit der julischen Dynastie ( 14–68); die Zeit der flavischen Dynastie (69–96), and die Zeit des Nerva und Trajan (96–117). Subsequently, Teuffel goes over to a century scheme: 2nd, 3rd, etc., through 6th. His later editions (which came about towards the end of the 19th century) divide the Imperial Age into parts: 1st century (Silver Age), 2nd century (the Hadrian and

4275-674: The Law is considered the cornerstone of Thelemic practice, influencing subsequent Thelemic texts and rituals. Its precepts form the basis for Thelemic ethical and spiritual guidance. Wouter J. Hanegraaff , in Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed , discusses how the book has impacted modern esoteric movements, noting that it has inspired various interpretations and adaptations in occult literature and practices, highlighting its lasting influence on contemporary spirituality. Classical Latin language Classical Latin

4370-492: The Roman Empire . Once again, Cruttwell evidences some unease with his stock pronouncements: "The Natural History of Pliny shows how much remained to be done in fields of great interest." The idea of Pliny as a model is not consistent with any sort of decline. Moreover, Pliny did his best work under emperors who were as tolerant as Augustus had been. To include some of the best writings of the Silver Age, Cruttwell extended

4465-474: The Second Period in his major work, das goldene Zeitalter der römischen Literatur ( Golden Age of Roman Literature ), dated 671–767 AUC (83 BC – AD 14), according to his own recollection. The timeframe is marked by the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix and the death of the emperor Augustus . Wagner's translation of Teuffel's writing is as follows: The golden age of the Roman literature

4560-566: The Truth in the Book and hostile to most of the ethics and philosophy of the Book, Aiwaz is a severely suppressed part of me. Crowley himself was initially opposed to the book and its message: The fact of the matter was that I resented The Book of the Law with my whole soul. For one thing, it knocked my Buddhism completely on the head. ... I was bitterly opposed to the principles of the Book on almost every point of morality. The third chapter seemed to me gratuitously atrocious. Shortly after making

4655-430: The advance would be perceptible by us." In time, some of Cruttwell's ideas become established in Latin philology. While praising the application of rules to classical Latin (most intensely in the Golden Age, he says "In gaining accuracy, however, classical Latin suffered a grievous loss. It became cultivated as distinct from a natural language... Spontaneity, therefore, became impossible and soon invention also ceased... In

4750-399: The ancient definition, and some of the very best writing of any period in world history was deemed stilted, degenerate, unnatural language. The Silver Age furnishes the only two extant Latin novels: Apuleius's The Golden Ass and Petronius's Satyricon . Writers of the Silver Age include: Of the additional century granted by Cruttwell to Silver Latin, Teuffel says: "The second century

4845-479: The answers to her husband's questions. As part of his 'test' for Rose, Crowley wrote that they visited the Bulaq Museum where Crowley asked her to point out an image of Horus. Much to Crowley's initial amusement, she passed by several common images of the god, and went upstairs. From across the room Rose identified Horus on the stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu , then housed under inventory number 666 (since moved to

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4940-429: The charter of the O.T.O. and an envelope containing the manuscript of The Book of the Law . Whitmore donated the papers to the O.T.O. The final version of Liber Legis includes text that did not appear in the original writing, including many small changes to spelling. In several cases, stanzas from the Stele of Revealing were inserted within the text. Based on several passages, including: "My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu,

5035-474: The death of Augustus. The Ciceronian Age is further divided by the consulship of Cicero in 691 AUC (63 BC) into a first and second half. Authors are assigned to these periods by years of principal achievements. The Golden Age had already made an appearance in German philology, but in a less systematic way. In a translation of Bielfeld's Elements of universal erudition (1770): The Second Age of Latin began about

5130-443: The extinction of freedom... Hence arose a declamatory tone, which strove by frigid and almost hysterical exaggeration to make up for the healthy stimulus afforded by daily contact with affairs. The vein of artificial rhetoric, antithesis and epigram... owes its origin to this forced contentment with an uncongenial sphere. With the decay of freedom, taste sank... In Cruttwell's view (which had not been expressed by Teuffel), Silver Latin

5225-617: The flat where he and his new wife were staying for their honeymoon, which he described as being near the Boulak Museum in a fashionable European quarter of Cairo, let by the firm Congdon & Co. The apartment was on the ground floor, and the "temple" was the drawing room. Crowley described the encounter in detail in The Equinox of the Gods , saying that as he sat at his desk in Cairo, the voice of Aiwass came from over his left shoulder in

5320-422: The fundamental characteristics of a language. The latter provides unity, allowing it to be referred to by a single name. Thus Old Latin, Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin , etc., are not considered different languages, but are all referred to by the term, Latin . This is an ancient practice continued by moderns rather than a philological innovation of recent times. That Latin had case endings is a fundamental feature of

5415-421: The furthest corner of the room. This voice is described as passionate and hurried, and was "of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, fierce or aught else as suited the moods of the message. Not bass—perhaps a rich tenor or baritone." Further, the voice was devoid of "native or foreign accent". Crowley also got a "strong impression" of the speaker's general appearance. Aiwass had

5510-618: The good families"), sermo urbanus ("speech of the city"), and in rare cases sermo nobilis ("noble speech"). Besides the noun Latinitas , it was referred to with the adverb latine ("in (good) Latin", literally "Latinly") or its comparative latinius ("in better Latin", literally "more Latinly"). Latinitas was spoken and written. It was the language taught in schools. Prescriptive rules therefore applied to it, and when special subjects like poetry or rhetoric were taken into consideration, additional rules applied. Since spoken Latinitas has become extinct (in favor of subsequent registers),

5605-719: The handwritten manuscript its own title. According to Crowley, the story began on 16 March 1904, when he tried to "shew the Sylphs " by use of the Bornless Ritual to his wife, Rose Edith Kelly , while spending the night in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza . Although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, "They're waiting for you!" Since Rose had no interest in magic or mysticism, she took little interest. However, on

5700-579: The highest excellence in prose and poetry." The Ciceronian Age (known today as the "Republican Period") is dated 80–42 BC, marked by the Battle of Philippi . Cruttwell omits the first half of Teuffel's Ciceronian, and starts the Golden Age at Cicero's consulship in 63 BC—an error perpetuated in Cruttwell's second edition. He likely meant 80 BC, as he includes Varro in Golden Latin. Teuffel's Augustan Age

5795-451: The historical and psychological contexts in which the book was received, discussing how Crowley's environment, personal experiences, and extensive knowledge of esoteric traditions influenced the content and structure of the book. His analysis includes a detailed examination of the book's themes, symbols, and its role in Crowley's overall magical system. Lawrence Sutin , in his biography Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley , presents

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5890-577: The idea that individuals possess various forms of knowledge and power of which they are unaware, aligning with both Freudian and Jungian theories. Marco Pasi, in Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics , delves into the philosophical underpinnings of The Book of the Law . Pasi highlights the connections between the text and Nietzschean thought, particularly the concept of the Übermensch . He discusses how Crowley's work reflects

5985-457: The language "is marked by immaturity of art and language, by a vigorous but ill-disciplined imitation of Greek poetical models, and in prose by a dry sententiousness of style, gradually giving way to a clear and fluent strength..." These abstracts have little meaning to those not well-versed in Latin literature. In fact, Cruttwell admits "The ancients, indeed, saw a difference between Ennius , Pacuvius , and Accius , but it may be questioned whether

6080-511: The language. Whether a given form of speech prefers to use prepositions such as ad , ex , de, for "to", "from" and "of" rather than simple case endings is a matter of style. Latin has a large number of styles. Each and every author has a style, which typically allows his prose or poetry to be identified by experienced Latinists. Problems in comparative literature have risen out of group styles finding similarity by period, in which case one may speak of Old Latin, Silver Latin, Late Latin as styles or

6175-416: The late republic referred to the Latin language, in contrast to other languages such as Greek, as lingua latina or sermo latinus . They distinguished the common vernacular , however, as Vulgar Latin ( sermo vulgaris and sermo vulgi ), in contrast to the higher register that they called latinitas , sometimes translated as "Latinity". Latinitas was also called sermo familiaris ("speech of

6270-420: The marriage of Nuit and Hadit; without this could no thing be. This eternal, this perpetual marriage-feast is then the nature of things themselves; and therefore, everything that exists is a "crystallisation of divine ecstasy", and "He sees the expansion and the development of the soul through joy." The third chapter is spoken by Ra-Hoor-Khuit, "a god of War and of Vengeance", also identified as Hoor-paar-kraat ,

6365-555: The other A∴A∴ Books in Class A, though I wrote them inspired beyond all I know to be I. Yet in these Books did Aleister Crowley, the master of English both in prose and in verse, partake insofar as he was That. Compare those Books with The Book of the Law! The style [of the former] is simple and sublime; the imagery is gorgeous and faultless; the rhythm is subtle and intoxicating; the theme is interpreted in faultless symphony. There are no errors of grammar, no infelicities of phrase. Each Book

6460-448: The other, would savour of artificial restriction rather than that of a natural classification." The contradiction remains—Terence is, and is not a classical author, depending on the context. Teuffel's definition of the "First Period" of Latin was based on inscriptions, fragments, and the literary works of the earliest known authors. Though he does use the term "Old Roman" at one point, most of these findings remain unnamed. Teuffel presents

6555-562: The period of classical Latin. The classical Romans distinguished Old Latin as prisca Latinitas and not sermo vulgaris . Each author's work in the Roman lists was considered equivalent to one in the Greek. In example, Ennius was the Latin Homer , Aeneid was the equivalent of Iliad , etc. The lists of classical authors were as far as the Roman grammarians went in developing a philology . The topic remained at that point while interest in

6650-410: The period through the death of Marcus Aurelius (180 AD). The philosophic prose of a good emperor was in no way compatible with either Teuffel's view of unnatural language, or Cruttwell's depiction of a decline. Having created these constructs, the two philologists found they could not entirely justify them. Apparently, in the worst implication of their views, there was no such thing as Classical Latin by

6745-583: The philological notion of classical Latin through a typology similar to the Ages of Man , setting out the Golden and Silver Ages of classical Latin. Wilhem Wagner, who published Teuffel's work in German, also produced an English translation which he published in 1873. Teuffel's classification, still in use today (with modifications), groups classical Latin authors into periods defined by political events rather than by style. Teuffel went on to publish other editions, but

6840-419: The place of quiet power. The content of new literary works was continually proscribed by the emperor, who exiled or executed existing authors and played the role of literary man, himself (typically badly). Artists therefore went into a repertory of new and dazzling mannerisms, which Teuffel calls "utter unreality." Cruttwell picks up this theme: The foremost of these [characteristics] is unreality, arising from

6935-411: The priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit" (AL I:36), Crowley felt compelled to interpret AL in writing. He wrote two large sets of commentaries where he attempted to decipher each line. In 1912, he prepared AL and his current comments on it for publication in The Equinox, I(7) . However, he

7030-493: The reception of the Book , Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity, to be known as the " Æon of Horus ". The primary precept of this new aeon is the charge, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." The book contains three chapters, each of which Crowley said had been dictated and written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on 8 April, 9 April, and 10 April in Cairo , Egypt , in

7125-415: The rules of politus (polished) texts may give the appearance of an artificial language. However, Latinitas was a form of sermo (spoken language), and as such, retains spontaneity. No texts by Classical Latin authors are noted for the type of rigidity evidenced by stylized art, with the exception of repetitious abbreviations and stock phrases found on inscriptions. The standards, authors and manuals from

7220-437: The term "pre-classical" to Old Latin and implicating it to post-classical (or post-Augustan) and silver Latin, Cruttwell realized that his construct was not accordance with ancient usage and assertions: "[T]he epithet classical is by many restricted to the authors who wrote in it [golden Latin]. It is best, however, not to narrow unnecessarily the sphere of classicity; to exclude Terence on the one hand or Tacitus and Pliny on

7315-497: The text contains numerous instances of double entendre, paronomasia in one language or another, numerical-literal puzzles, and even connections of letters across various lines. Crowley detailed these interpretations in the Qabalistic section of his Commentary. In Magick Without Tears , Crowley elaborated on his insights, stating that the "Author of the Book" (Aiwass) demonstrated profound knowledge of Qabalah. Initially, Crowley

7410-496: The text had unfolded like a flower and solved various enigmatic passages. English Qaballa (EQ) is an English-based Hermetic Qabalah supported by a system of arithmancy that interprets the letters of the English alphabet via an assigned set of values, discovered by James Lees in 1976. It is the result of an intent to understand, interpret, and elaborate on the mysteries of Aleister Crowley 's received text, Liber AL vel Legis,

7505-470: The text; no forger could have prepared so complex a set of numerical and literal puzzles[...]" Biographer Lawrence Sutin quotes private diaries that fit this story and writes that "If ever Crowley uttered the truth of his relation to the Book ," his public account accurately describes what he remembered on this point. The technical title of the book is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI , although this title never occurs in

7600-421: The time of Caesar [his ages are different from Teuffel's], and ended with Tiberius. This is what is called the Augustan Age, which was perhaps of all others the most brilliant, a period at which it should seem as if the greatest men, and the immortal authors, had met together upon the earth, in order to write the Latin language in its utmost purity and perfection... and of Tacitus, his conceits and sententious style

7695-556: The watchful eye of a new emperor. The demand for great orators had ceased, shifting to an emphasis on poetry. Other than the historian Livy , the most remarkable writers of the period were the poets Virgil , Horace , and Ovid . Although Augustus evidenced some toleration to republican sympathizers, he exiled Ovid, and imperial tolerance ended with the continuance of the Julio-Claudian dynasty . Augustan writers include: In his second volume, Imperial Period , Teuffel initiated

7790-471: The word Thelema , as uttered by Aiwass , signified a complete departure from the formula of the Dying God, proposing instead a system that integrates the discoveries of science, from physics to psychology, into a coherent and consistent framework. Crowley employed Hermetic Qabalah , particularly its numerological method of gematria , to interpret the obscurities of Liber AL vel Legis . He explained that

7885-489: The words. According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary , the term classical (from classicus) entered modern English in 1599, some 50 years after its re-introduction to the continent. In Governor William Bradford 's Dialogue (1648), he referred to synods of a separatist church as "classical meetings", defined by meetings between "young men" from New England and "ancient men" from Holland and England. In 1715, Laurence Echard 's Classical Geographical Dictionary

7980-435: The year 1904. The three chapters of the book are attributed to the deities Nuit , Hadit , and Ra-Hoor-Khuit . Rose Edith Kelly , Crowley's wife, corrected two phrases in the manuscript. Crowley later wrote that "Certain very serious questions have arisen with regard to the method by which this Book was obtained. I do not refer to those doubts—real or pretended—which hostility engenders, for all such are dispelled by study of

8075-576: Was Charles Stansfeld Jones claiming the grade of Magister Templi , which Crowley interpreted as the birth of his 'Magical Son'. Crowley believed that Jones' subsequent discovery of the critical value of 31 was foretold in the book (II:76, III:47) and provided him with further insight into his qabalistic understanding and interpretation of the text. Upon receiving notification of this discovery, Crowley expressed his realization that Jones' key had unlocked deeper meanings within Liber AL vel Legis , noting that

8170-442: Was a "rank, weed-grown garden," a "decline." Cruttwell had already decried what he saw as a loss of spontaneity in Golden Latin. Teuffel regarded the Silver Age as a loss of natural language, and therefore of spontaneity, implying that it was last seen in the Golden Age. Instead, Tiberius brought about a "sudden collapse of letters." The idea of a decline had been dominant in English society since Edward Gibbon 's Decline and Fall of

8265-484: Was a happy period for the Roman State, the happiest indeed during the whole Empire... But in the world of letters the lassitude and enervation, which told of Rome's decline, became unmistakeable... its forte is in imitation." Teuffel, however, excepts the jurists; others find other "exceptions", recasting Teuffels's view. Style of language refers to repeatable features of speech that are somewhat less general than

8360-459: Was able to define sublime, intermediate, and low styles within Classical Latin. St. Augustine recommended low style for sermons. Style was to be defined by deviation in speech from a standard. Teuffel termed this standard "Golden Latin". John Edwin Sandys , who was an authority in Latin style for several decades, summarizes the differences between Golden and Silver Latin as follows: Silver Latin

8455-611: Was assured that Aiwass knew at least as much Qabalah as he did. Over time, further study convinced him that Aiwass possessed a much higher level of Qabalistic knowledge, leading Crowley to regard Aiwass as the supreme Qabalist of all time. Crowley later considered the events of his life and the apparent fulfillment of certain 'predictions' in Liber AL vel Legis as further proof of its divine origin. He noted that Aiwass had foreseen and provided solutions to difficulties that Crowley only discovered years later, and sometimes even events that he had no part in bringing about. One significant event

8550-400: Was equal to the Golden Age, his Third Period die römische Kaiserheit encompasses both the Silver Age and the centuries now termed Late Latin , in which the forms seemed to break loose from their foundation and float freely. That is, men of literature were confounded about the meaning of "good Latin." The last iteration of Classical Latin is known as Silver Latin. The Silver Age is the first of

8645-446: Was not just automatic writing (though the writing included aspects of this, since when Crowley tried to stop writing he was compelled to continue. The writing also recorded Crowley's own thoughts). Rather he said that the experience was exactly like an actual voice speaking to him. This resulted in a few transcription errors, about which the scribe had to later inquire. Note, moreover, with what greedy vanity I claim authorship even of all

8740-401: Was not satisfied with this initial attempt. He recalls in his confessions ( Crowley 1989 , p. 674) that he thought the existing commentary was "shamefully meagre and incomplete." He later explains, "I had stupidly supposed this Comment to be a scholarly exposition of the Book, an elucidation of its obscurities and a demonstration of its praeterhuman origin. I understand at last that this idea

8835-737: Was published. In 1736, Robert Ainsworth 's Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendarius turned English words and expressions into "proper and classical Latin." In 1768, David Ruhnken 's Critical History of the Greek Orators recast the molded view of the classical by applying the word "canon" to the pinakes of orators after the Biblical canon , or list of authentic books of the Bible. In doing so, Ruhnken had secular catechism in mind. In 1870, Wilhelm Sigismund Teuffel 's Geschichte der Römischen Literatur ( A History of Roman Literature ) defined

8930-570: Was sent on Crowley's death to Karl Germer, the executor of his will and head of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). On Germer's death no trace of it could be found in his papers. There matters rested until 1984, when Tom Whitmore, the new owner of a house in Berkeley, California, began searching through the junk left in the basement by the previous owner. Among the used mattresses, lumber, and outdated high school textbooks were two boxes of assorted papers and newspaper clippings dealing with Germer's affairs,

9025-575: Was to enter the "temple" and write down what he heard between noon and 1:00 P.M. Although the messenger of Liber AL was Aiwass, each chapter is presented as an expression of one of three god-forms: Nuit , Hadit , and Ra-Hoor-Khuit . The first chapter is spoken by Nuit, the Egyptian goddess of the night sky, called the Queen of Space. Crowley calls her the "Lady of the Starry Heaven, who

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