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Correspondence from Charles Stansfeld Jones to Gerald Yorke and Albert H. Handel
4 May 1948
To my Two Witnesses Yorke and Handel.
In further reference to special letters of April 22nd and April 26th on the religio-scientific problem of the Beast. It is important that all aspects of this matter should be clearly understood. I will do my best to make a further point plain.
In the letter of April 22nd a single reference was made to the word ALALIA—meaning "not talking". This was referred to as being derived from the Greek.
In a letter of April 27th Mr. Yorke points our: "There is actually no such word in classical Greek as ALALIA . . . Are you justified in saying that ALALIA means 'not talking' in Greek, when in fact there is no such word in Greek?"
I replied yesterday: "I was not justified in saying that ALALIA means 'not talking' in Greek. Thanks! I was justified in using that word which appears in the 12-Volume Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, my error lay in not giving etymology (NL., Gr. as if αλαλία; αλαλος not talking: see Alalus).
This is a Latinised term used in Pathology. The whole incident, however, much strengthens the explanation of a passage in Liber Legis which was in mind when I mentioned this word, but not dealt with in my letter of April 22nd. This point will now be cleared up.
Liber Legis ,Chili v.49 says: "I am in a secret fourfold word, the blasphemy against all gods of men."
Therion, in his New Commentary on Liber Legis, remarks:
The evident interpretation of this is to take the word to be "Do what thou wilt", which is a secret word, because its meaning for every man is his own inmost secret. And it is the most profound blasphemy possible against all 'gods of men', because it makes every man his own God.
I was not content to accept this interpretation. The injunction "Do what thou wilt" does not seem to me to be a "secret fourfold word" in that sense of the verse mentioned.
On the other hand the word ALALIA (a-la-li-a) which is shown in the Century Dictionary to mean "Not talking", fulfils the conditions exactly. In this Latinised form it was truly secret; for the classical Greek scholar is likely to miss it entirely. It is truly fourfold; not threefold as in Alalus, used by Haeckel. For a God to be in this word is truly the blasphemy against all gods of men; for to suggest (in the sense shown in my letters of April 22nd and 26th) that the Logos was in a position where he was unable to UTTER A WORD, viz: express His One Special Nature, might well be considered the supreme blasphemy—were it not that the verse says "gods of men" and Nuit says, I, 11: "These are fools that men adore; both their Gods and their men are fools."
In addition we have the following Qabalistic notes to offer. The word Alalia adds to 73. In the Initiation of Magus, each Chokeman Day was equal to 73 days, and each of the Days represented one of the Animals. ALALIA (73) falls short of being ALALLA (93)—a glyph of AL-AL-LA—by 20, which is Yod spelt in full; just as the shape of the letters is but a "jot" different—the difference between "I" and "L". (This tittle of difference has occurred in several other instances, for example between "TO MAN" and "MAN IO" where the slight difference is between the letters "T" and "I"). It might also be noted that Liber Legis, III.49 says: "in a secret" and that the plural of Alalus (Haeckel's Ape Man) is ALALI which adds to 72 (only) but which corresponds to BSOD (Heb.) which means 'In the secret'.
I trust that this will convince my correspondents that, should I refer (once) to a word without having at that time fully explained my reference, it does not necessarily mean that the reference was meaningless, or an attempt to "invent a word because it adds up right".
I trust it will also be plain that the above is an attempt to explain a word referred to only if Liber Legis III, 49, and that this is not the Word of 1926—or the Key of the Rituals—or one especially for the Aeon of Ma, etc. I mean just what I say, no more, no less.
Yours in Love and Unity,
Achad.
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