Aleister and Gerald
Jan. 13th, 2005 12:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootYesterday was a good day and a better evening with excellent friends; but I am too weary to write about it. Tonight was a delightful time with other friends and I am too tired to write about that too. There is a rather nasty little story in my head, and I am way too tired to even start it.
So instead I will talk about the magician Aleister Crowley the man given the title 'Beast 666' and 'The Wickedest man in the world,' whose idea of dealing with negative publicity was to revel in it, take lots of drugs, wear mystic hats and shag as many people as he could between here and the Giza plateau.
It seems only fair, with all the religious furore around us, to mention the Book of The Law, his idea of the dawning of the new age, which couldn't be further from the ideals of the 60s and the crystal commerce of the 90's. This was supposedly channelled from an extra-planar being calling itself 'Aiwaz.' The idea was one of a new kind of law, the law of Thelema, which can be summed up in three principles:
Every man and every woman is a star.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Love is the law, love under will.
Suddenly I know why I am writing this now. It must be a year, maybe two, since Gerald Suster, an old friend of mine, respected author and devotee of Aleister, died. His wife Michaela died not long after. Gerald used to call me 'Alice,'(as in Wonderland) and laughingly warned me not to be like Alice's grandfather, who never tried anything in case he liked it. This Christmas I dreamt of dancing with Gerald. I never really did anything to mark his passing - indeed, this is a strange time to remember it, for I swear he died in the autumn of the year - but talking withcyanidemigraine and evilwillow about friendship last night reminded me of how irrelevent time is where anything important is concerned.
Because I think Gerald would like it, I will quote some juicy bits from the first part of the book of the law. The first part is all about Nuit (sometimes spelled 'Nut') the Egyptian Goddess of the night and stars, who in Crowley's law of Thelema was both the divine woman and the cosmos waiting for each of us to rush up and meet it in ecstasy. In order to enjoy the following you must enjoy your prose a lush shade of purple, and be comparatively laid back about stuff making sense.
12.
Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!
13.
I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.
22.
Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.
26.
Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bending down, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, & her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
27.
Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!
41.
The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.
57.
Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God. All these old letters of my Book are aright; but [Tzaddi] is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.
58.
I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
61.
But to love me is better than all things: if under the night stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in spendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!
62.
At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say — and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple — To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant.
63.
Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you!
64.
I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.
65.
To me! To me!
Ah! My need for purple-bangondom is sated. And of course, some of this stuff is a little impenetrable. For people who find it confusing, Crowley has a little helpful advice:
8.
The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs.
9.
Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!
But of course. Thank you Aleister.
For those who would prefer to read the book of the law without my loppings, here's the link:
http://www.thelema.org/aa/documents/the_book_of_the_law/chapter_1.html
Good night and thanks for everything, Gerald my dear.
So instead I will talk about the magician Aleister Crowley the man given the title 'Beast 666' and 'The Wickedest man in the world,' whose idea of dealing with negative publicity was to revel in it, take lots of drugs, wear mystic hats and shag as many people as he could between here and the Giza plateau.
It seems only fair, with all the religious furore around us, to mention the Book of The Law, his idea of the dawning of the new age, which couldn't be further from the ideals of the 60s and the crystal commerce of the 90's. This was supposedly channelled from an extra-planar being calling itself 'Aiwaz.' The idea was one of a new kind of law, the law of Thelema, which can be summed up in three principles:
Every man and every woman is a star.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Love is the law, love under will.
Suddenly I know why I am writing this now. It must be a year, maybe two, since Gerald Suster, an old friend of mine, respected author and devotee of Aleister, died. His wife Michaela died not long after. Gerald used to call me 'Alice,'(as in Wonderland) and laughingly warned me not to be like Alice's grandfather, who never tried anything in case he liked it. This Christmas I dreamt of dancing with Gerald. I never really did anything to mark his passing - indeed, this is a strange time to remember it, for I swear he died in the autumn of the year - but talking with
cyanidemigraine and evilwillow about friendship last night reminded me of how irrelevent time is where anything important is concerned. Because I think Gerald would like it, I will quote some juicy bits from the first part of the book of the law. The first part is all about Nuit (sometimes spelled 'Nut') the Egyptian Goddess of the night and stars, who in Crowley's law of Thelema was both the divine woman and the cosmos waiting for each of us to rush up and meet it in ecstasy. In order to enjoy the following you must enjoy your prose a lush shade of purple, and be comparatively laid back about stuff making sense.
12.
Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!
13.
I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.
22.
Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.
26.
Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign? So she answered him, bending down, a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, & her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
27.
Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!
41.
The word of Sin is Restriction. O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.
57.
Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God. All these old letters of my Book are aright; but [Tzaddi] is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.
58.
I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.
61.
But to love me is better than all things: if under the night stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in spendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me!
62.
At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say — and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple — To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant.
63.
Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you!
64.
I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.
65.
To me! To me!
Ah! My need for purple-bangondom is sated. And of course, some of this stuff is a little impenetrable. For people who find it confusing, Crowley has a little helpful advice:
8.
The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs.
9.
Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!
But of course. Thank you Aleister.
For those who would prefer to read the book of the law without my loppings, here's the link:
http://www.thelema.org/aa/documents/the_book_of_the_law/chapter_1.html
Good night and thanks for everything, Gerald my dear.
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