Liber AL vel Legis

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Liber AL vel Legis

The Liber AL vel Legis or Book of the Law ("Book of the Law"; originally Liber L vel Legis or Liber Legis ) is a book of revelation published in London in 1909 by the British occultist Aleister Crowley . It represented the first volume of Crowley's book series The Equinox and is the basis of the new religious movement Thelema .

The Liber Al vel Legis is considered the most influential occult writing of the 20th century, a central text of the new religious movement Thelema and is also recognized as an important text in other esoteric currents.

Central statements of the book are:

  • Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law (AL I: 40, 'Do what you want shall be the entirety of the law.')
  • Love is the law, love under will. (AL I: 57, 'Love is the law, love under the will.')
  • Every man and every woman is a star (AL I: 3, 'Every man and every woman is a star.')
  • Death is forbidden, o man, unto thee. (AL II: 73, 'Death, O man, is forbidden to you.')

Text creation

According to Crowley, the text was dictated to him in 1904 by a spirit named Aiwaz . This is said to have happened from April 8th to 10th from 12pm to 1pm in a Cairo hotel near the Egyptian Museum . According to his confessions , his wife Rose Kelly led him there to the stele of the Ankh-af-na-Khonsu , which is later referred to in the Liber AL vel Legis as the “ Stele of Revelation ” (AL III: 10). There he made an invocation of Horus .

Deities (principles)

The Liber Al vel Legis consists of three parts, which are assigned to three deities. The three deities are often not understood as conventional gods , but as principles .

  • Nut is an ancient Egyptian goddess. She introduces herself as I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof , "I am the infinite space and the infinite stars in it" (AL I: 22). She is depicted as a sky goddess who touches the ground with her feet and hands. Her chapter emphasizes the principle of love ( agape ).
  • Hadit, is another name for Behedeti . He is a Neo-Eonic or Thelemic god and the consort of Nuit. In Liber AL vel Legis he also introduces himself as the one who knows .
  • Ra-Hoor-Khuit (also Re-Harachte or English Ra-Horakhty), is the god of the new aeon (AL III: 1,2). He corresponds to the ancient Egyptian Horus , the son of Isis and Osiris , who asks for action. Ra-Hoor is designated with three different final syllables in Liber Al vel Legis ( Ra Hoor Khu , Ra Hoor Khut , and Ra Hoor Khuit ).

According to Crowley's Kabbalistic knowledge, Ra means “the sun”, Hoor “the warrior”, and Khu “the worldview ”. Khu is said to be an intermediate stage between man and God. According to Crowley, the added iodine of the new name Khuit symbolizes the transformation into a deity. Ra Hoor Khuit is symbolically represented by a red descending triangle. The chapter Ra-Hoor-Khuit also contains hymns (AL III: 37 and 38), prophecies (e.g. AL III: 34 or 46) as well as instructions for magical (AL III: 21-30) and religious practice ( such as argue not; convert not (“do not argue; do not convert ”) (Al III: 42)). There are also prophecies in this part of the book.

In addition to the three chapters, the book also contains a comment, which is signed “The priest of the princes Ankh-fn-Khonsu”. This comment was subsequently inserted into the Liber AL vel Legis by Crowley and considered the most important comment on the book.

New aeon

For Crowley, the writing of the Liber AL vel Legis began a new era, the Horusäon , which is why he used a new era from 1904 AD as year one. He marked the Christian calendar with "ev", which stands for era vulgaris . 2008 AD would be written by Thelemites either as Anno 105 of the New Aeon, or 2008 ev. This type of time calculation was adopted by many of his followers.

Issues and edition history

The first edition appeared in 1909 as part of a private print from Crowley under the title ΘΕΛΗΜΑ along with several other writings. The next edition was also an elusive private print that appeared in Tunis in 1925 or 1926. Only 11 copies are said to have been printed. The version contains the so-called Tunis Comment with serious warnings against reading the text. The first publication of the text with a noteworthy edition took place in 1938 by the OTO in London, now under the full title The Book of the Law (technically called Liber AL vel legis sub figura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI).

Further editions were published mainly by Samuel Weiser:

  • Samuel Weiser, New York 1976, ISBN 0-87728-334-6 .
  • Mandrake, Oxford 1992, ISBN 1-869928-93-8 (paperback).
  • Samuel Weiser, York Beach, ME 1997, ISBN 0-87728-334-6 .
  • 100th Anniversary edition: The book of the law, Liber al vel legis, with a facsimile of the manuscript as received by Aleister and Rose Edith Crowley on April 8,9,10, 1904 ev Red Wheel / Weiser & Ordo Templi Orientis, York Beach , ME & New York 2004, ISBN 1-57863-308-7 .
  • Thelema Media, 2004, ISBN 1-932599-03-7 (leather-bound edition limited to 418 copies).

In addition, the Book of the Law appeared together with the writings of the 1909 publication and other texts in the The Equinox series under the title The Holy Books of Thelema (Vol. III, No. 9. Corrected edition: Samuel Weiser, New York 1989, ISBN 0-919690-20-3 ).

The original manuscript had been lost for a long time. After Crowley's death, it and his other papers had come into the possession of Karl Germers, Crowley's administrator and then head of the OTO . After Gamer's death, it disappeared until, in 1984, Tom Whitmore, the new owner of Germer's Berkeley house , found two boxes of papers in the basement amid various junk and in an envelope the manuscript of The Book of the Law . Whitmore turned the papers over to the OTO. How they got into the Berkeley basement remains unclear.

Translation and interpretation

Translation and interpretation of the ambiguous, symbolic and paradoxical text are difficult. So one finds z. B. Spelling errors that are apparently intentional and must not be changed: “My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book” (AL I: 36, “Mein Schreiber Ankh -af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, should not change a letter in this book ”'); “The stops as thou wilt; the letters? change them not in style or value! "(AL II: 54," The punctuation marks as you like; the letters? Do not change them in style or value! "). Translations should always keep the "script of the beast".

Front page of Liber AL vel Legis

Nevertheless, a number of German translations have now appeared:

  • The book of the law. Sub figura CCXX as it was given from XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI = Liber AL vel legis. Translated by Philip. 4th edition Sphinx, Basel 1993, ISBN 3-85914-140-6 .
  • Liber Al vel legis = The book of the law. Ed. by Michael D. Eschner . 3rd edition, completely revised. Stein der Weisen / Bohmeier, Bergen ad Dumme 1987, ISBN 3-89094-084-6 .
  • Eo ipso - the way! The new language of Liber al vel legis. Translation of Fra. Lavaxa. Bohmeier, Soltendieck approx. 1994, ISBN 3-89094-293-8 .
  • The book of the law. Liber AL vel Legis. Translated by Ralf Löffler and Gitta Peyn. 2nd, unchanged edition. Phenomenon-Verlag Gitta Peyn, Lüchow 2001, ISBN 3-933321-00-X .
  • Liber AL vel legis. Translated by Claas Hoffmann. Phenomenon-Verlag, Hamburg 2012 (?), ISBN 978-3-933321-48-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Liber AL vel Legis appears nowadays mostly under the full title Liber AL vel Legis sub Figura CCXX, given by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI . The numbers have the following meanings : CCXX stands for the 220 verses of the book, XCIII and 418 symbolizes Aiwass, and DCLXVI (666) represents Crowley.
  2. ↑ Marco Frenschkowski: Holy Scriptures of the World Religions and Religious Movements. Wiesbaden 2007. p. 253.
  3. ↑ a b Crowley commentary on AL III: 1
  4. ^ Michael D. Eschner : Liber Al vel Legis , with comments. Published by Kersken-Canbaz 1992
  5. ↑ The print is usually bibliographed under the title Thelema .
  6. ↑ John Michael Greer: Encyclopedia of Secret Doctrines . Ansata, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7787-7270-8 , p. 125.