Ceremonial Magick
There is a direct reference to Ceremonial Magick with “The key of the rituals is in the secret word which I have given unto him.” The word rituals of course implies Ceremonial Magick. Crowley at one time felt this word was “Abrahadabra.”
In “Notes ...” Crowley says that 418 is the number of the Great Work.
Abra-Melin and the Holy Guardian Angel
“For perfume mix meal (flour) & honey & thick leavings of red wine (beeswing of port) : then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood The best blood is of the moon, monthly (menstrual blood) : then the fresh blood of a child (elixir of life), or dropping from the host of heaven (Baphomet only) : then of enemies; then of the priest or of the worshipers : last of some beast, no matter what. This burn: of this make cakes & eat unto me. This hath also another use; let it be laid before me and kept thick with perfumes of your orison : it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me. These slay, naming your enemies & they shall fall before you. Also these shall breed lust & power of lust in you at the eating thereof. Also ye shall be strong in war. Moreover, be they long kept, it is better; for they swell with my force. All before me.” [invoke to explain these passages ... also incense of Abra-Melin in The Vision and the Voice] Also, the Abra-Melin working was designed to achieve Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel; in "The Temple of Solomon the King" Crowley writes that it's his Great Work to teach humanity to seek K and C of the HGA.
The Traditional Four (Five) Elements
In our modern world of the Periodic Table, the four traditional elements of the ancients seems quaint indeed: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. And if you read a little bit further, you come across references to the fifth: Spirit!
Hadit says: “This is of the 4 : there is a fifth who is invisible & therein am I as a babe in an egg.” The terminology if of the four/five classical elements, but Hadit’s choice of words equates him both to the fifth element. Spirit, and to the god, Harpocrates.
Reincarnation
This line seems to hint of reincarnation: “For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world that the pain of division is as nothing and the joy of dissolution all.” Between incarnations we are in what we can call heaven, but we can more accurately describe this as the love of Nuit, but the soul naturally chooses to incarnate. It is drawn to once again experience the world of the senses. Of course, during incarnation we are divided from Nuit, and in-between incarnations we are nestled in her love.
Qabala and Tarot
The Qabala is refenced many times: “I am Nuit and my word is six and fifty. Divide, add, multiply and understand.” Crowley writes:
“Nu נו 56
= 6+50
“Dividing 6/50=0.12
0 the circumference of Nuit.
. the center, Hadit.
1 the Unity proceeding, Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
2 = the Coptic H, whose shape closely resembles the Arabic figure 2, the Breath of Life, inspired and expired. Human Consciousness. Thoth.
“Adding 50+6=56, Nu, and concentrating 5+6=11, Abrahadabra, etc.
“Multiplying 50x6=300, ש and Ruach Elohim, the holy spirit.”
Our next Qabalistic reference runs, “The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none! Nothing is a secret key of this law. Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred & eighteen. But they have the half : unite by thine art so that all disappear.” There is much about the magical side of Thelema that can be expressed by the formula 2=1=0. In meditation, there is an exercise where the aspirant unites with that with which he is meditating, thus two becomes one, but when that one is Nuit, who is symbolized by the entire universe, all of infinity and all of eternity — then the aspirant is uniting with something beyond number. We could write the symbol for infinity but that is almost like still putting a limit on something that is just not infinity, but also all of eternity too. Thus Nuit, whose name can also be pronounced nought or naught, or even not, can quite aptly be expressed as a common 0.
The super-infinite Ain of the Hebrew Qabala is spelled אין which equals 61.
Eight is ח, but it is also the gematria of אבה to will and דד love. These words, if you’ve read this book from the front, are incredible important to the Thelemic philosophy.
Union in Hebrew is ועד which has a gematria 80, but I can’t help but wonder if a more complete meaning can’t be found.
418 is Abrahadabra, the word of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, but it also had a special meaning as far as a residence that Crowley would one day have. But how this further identifies Nuit I am not, as of this moment, sure.
We have more gematria with “My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us.”
Plus we have this quote that contains references to both the Qabalistic Tree of Life and the Tarot: “My prophet is a fool with his one one one : are not they the Ox and none by the Book.” The path of Aleph (א) on the Qabalistic Tree of Life is represented by The Fool in the Tarot deck, which is the last path going upwards on the Tree, connecting Chokmah to Kether, and representing progress from the grade of Magus to that of Ipsissimus. If Nuit saw Crowley as occupying this position, then she saw far more in him than some of his contemporaries. Aleph spelled in full is 111, and the letter means ox, whom it is said it resembles.
I used to think that “My prophet is a fool with his one one one” meant that Crowley let his ego get in the way, and in some ways that is true too. It is only later in life that his writings take on the tone of one who was supposed to have attained all that Crowley claimed to have accomplished.
There is another Tarot reference with “All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ is not the Star. This also is secret : my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.” [see The Book of Thoth]
Tarot references continue with Hadit saying: “my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight : Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret. I am the Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven.” Nine is the Hermit card. Hadit is not the lofty ascetic thinking great thoughts in some lofty tower. Eight is Justice, and Crowley, in the Book of Thoth, seems to equate this more to action, than to thought. Crowley wrote that the phrase “one in eight” related to the path of א and I have seen nothing to make me disagree with him; in fact, it relates because א connects to the Fool card and Justice is the Harlequin, the female counterpart to the Fool.
The Empress is in both of the above equations. To me the Empress is the Nuit of the region of the Supernal Triad (above the Abyss). The description of the card is all-woman. Crowley also refers to this card as “The Gate of Heaven.”
The King (Emperor) is not of Hadit because it is earthly authority, a sort of weaker counterpart to the Empress. But the Hierophant is spiritual where the Emperor is material. He represents uniting the Microcosm with the Macrocosm.
He is eleven because he does represent the uniting of “the Microcosm with the Macrocosm” (the wedding with Nuit).
Om = Aumgn
“Aum.” [explain]
The High Holy Art
There is a field of metaphysical studies that I will only allude to here, because it is too easy for the unknowing masses to treat it as a dirty joke. It is not a joke. It is one of the most demanding disciplines of magick.:
“the others [Images of other gods] are secret; for the Beast & his Bride are they : and for the winners of the Ordeal x. What is this? Thou shalt know.”
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