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Introduction
AL I,54: Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not beholdall these mysteries hidden therein. AL I,55: The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them. AL I,56: Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house comeththat child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little;solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. But thou hast all in the clear light,and some, though not all, in the dark. AL I,57: Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistakelove; 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: myprophet shall reveal it to the wise.
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LiberALvelLegissubfiguraCCXX
LiberAlVelLegis,morecommonlyknownastheBookoftheLawwas“received”byAleisterCrowleyinCairoEgyptonApril8-10,1904.TheBookwasCrowleywastold,tobetheannunciationoftheNewAeon,thenextspiritualAgeinthecyclesoftime.TheconceptofAeonswas,atthetime,thesubjectofsomedebate;thediscoveryofevolutionhadtakenrootandwasnowappliedtoalmosteverything,thesubjectofreligionsandtheirdevelopmentyieldedmanyinterestingargumentsthatthereligiousthoughtofmankindcould,indeed,mustbeviewedasaprocessofevolutionaryunfolding,puttingthelietotheclaimsofrevealedreligionandsimilardoctrine.Inconjunctionwiththe(lesscontroversial)ideathatmuchofancientpaganreligionwasinfactastronomicalinnature–particularlyEgypt–theideasstruckachordwiththeVictorianagesmoreoutréthinkers,Mme.BlavatskyperhapsthemostwellrememberedbutGeraldMasseyiscertainlynolessimportant.TheconceptoftheAeonwasintrinsictotheBookoftheLaw,itwassotosaythereasonitwas“revealed”.Thebeingwhodeliveredthebook,Aiwass,wasaccordingtoCrowley
an objectively separate being from himself, possessing far more knowledge than he or any otherhuman could possibly have. As Crowley writes in his Confessions: "I was bound to admit that Aiwass had shown a knowledge of the Cabbala immeasurably superior to my own" [4] and "We areforced to conclude that the author of The Book of the Law is an intelligence both alien and superiorto myself, yet acquainted with my inmost secrets; and, most important point of all, that thisintelligence is discarnate." [5] Finally, this excerpt (also from Confessions, ch.49):"The existence of true religion presupposes that of some discarnate intelligence, whether we callhim God or anything else. And this is exactly what no religion had ever proved scientifically. Andthis is what The Book of the Law does prove by internal evidence, altogether independent of anystatement of mine. This proof is evidently the most important step in science that could possibly bemade: for it opens up an entirely new avenue to knowledge. The immense superiority of thisparticular intelligence, AIWASS, to any other with which mankind has yet been in consciouscommunication is shown not merely by the character of the book itself, but by the fact of hiscomprehending perfectly the nature of the proof necessary to demonstrate the fact of his ownexistence and the conditions of that existence. And, further, having provided the proof required."[6]
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