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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry [undated] Sunday 11 December and Saturday, 31 December 1898
Notes of Astral Travel
No. 14. Circle by L.B.R. [Lesser Banishing Ritual] All wrong i.e. omitting “Before [. . .].”
Up. Notice Light of West End and darkness of E. I am in a dirty street. Child sitting in doorway. Dirty house.
He shows me up old rotten wood stairs.
I enter a student's room.
Little old man. Furniture as shown.
Blinds down I think.
Ask my business.
I ask for formulae.
He shows me in a book this sigil.
Explains how to make it. It summons things of earth.
He uses it an innumerable rats etc come out on to floor.
We go upstairs. Attic [. . .] rafters.
Naked woman on her back at West end. I challenge Adept, who gives me 0=0 and 1=10 signs. He will not give me 2=9. I ask what? “She is in a trance.” “She is dead.” “She has been dead long.”
Flesh falls off her.
I ask explanation.
She recovers, rises, falls on her face heavily, then writhes to A. and embraces him to climb up him.
“Get to your stye.”
I am rather sorry for her.
She is lust. Fresh-faced and lovely, but rotten. She would clog the power of a man.
I thank A.
He shows me a distant star through a hole in the roof and tells me to go there.
I go.
I stream up like a comet. I have a flashing scimitar and long white robes.
I get there. through suns and things very hot and glowing. Very middling star.
Lake—man in boat—who art thou?
I explain. I enter. He rows. Blackness of darkness. “Thou shalt soon see my master.”
He glares. I am great and have a star on my forehead and stand in the boat.
We reach the shore. A cave.
In front of it a man-like figure. Verdigris brazen scales. Horned. Horrible. A club. (?) Greenish face rather than black.
I ask his name: “Jokam.”
His sign? About this period he challenges me about the Ritual. I repeat the omitted part. He is cowed.
His sigil is
His name is spelt יכם
I leave him, bidding him sink.
At the end of the cave a man runs into my arms.
He is pursued by Jokam. Who comes up.
I interpose, telling him to make the Q X. He cannot.
“What God do you worship.”
“Alas I had no God.”
I allow Jokam to take him. they enter cavern and sink. Yells from man most painful.
An Albatross (?) rises from lake.
Star falls away.
Bird takes back to the garret.
I am duly grateful.
Adept takes my hand and tells me to go on. Great strength &c imparted. I ask about Abramelin. “Go on.”
“Shall I succeed?” “No man can tell another that” with a smile.
“Is anything [. . .] to the [. . .]?” “No.”
I ask my leave.
I witness a fight–knife drawn.
Get back.
[The following narrative is the version of this Astral Vision that was printed in "The Temple of Solomon the King (Book III)" in The Equinox vol. I No. 2.]
No. 14. “I draw the circle and recite the ‘ Lesser Banishing Ritual’;[1] but performed it badly, omitting an important section.
“At first there appeared to me a brightness in the West, and a darkening of the East; and whilst perplexed by this matter, I find I have entered a dirty street, and see near me a young child sitting on the doorstep of a very squalid house.
“I approached the house, and seeing me, the child scrambled to his feet and beckoned me to follow him. Pushing open the rickety door, he pointed out to me a rotten wooden staircase. This I mounted, and entered a room which apparently belonged to a student.
“In the room I found a little old man, but could not see him distinctly, as the blinds were down.
“He asked me my business.
“And I answered I had Come to seek of him certain formulae.
“Thereupon he opened a book which was lying on the table before him, and showed me a sigil. After I had looked at it carefully, he explained to me how I should make it, and finished by telling me that it was used to summon ‘things of earth.’
Sigil in Book.
“As I looked incredulously at him, he took hold of the sigil, and no sooner had he done so than Sign than from out of every crack and seam in the floor there wriggled forth a multitude of rats and other vermin.
“After this, he led me upstairs to another floor, and into a room which in the dim light appeared to be an attic.
Plan of the Adept's room and the attic above.
“At the west end of this room, lying upon her back, I saw a naked woman. Turning, I challenged the Adept, who at once gave me the 0°=0° and 1°=10° signs; but he would not give me 2°=9°.[2]
“The Adept then turned from me and said: ‘She is in a trance; she is dead; she has been dead long.’ And immediately her flesh becoming rotten, fell from her bones.
“Hurriedly I asked for an explanation, but scarcely had my words left my lips than I saw that she was recovering, and that her bones were becoming once again clothed with flesh. Slowly she rose up, and then suddenly rolled round and fell heavily upon her face. For a moment she remained still, and then her glistening skin writhed about her bones as she wriggled over the filthy boards towards the Adept. Having reached him, she embraced his feet and then lewdly climbed and writhed up him.
“ ‘ Get to your stye,’ he said in a low, commanding voice. At which I felt intensely sorry for her.
“The Adept, noticing my sympathy, turned to me and said:
“ ‘She is lust, fresh—fleshed and lovely, but rotten. She would clog the power of a man.’
“I thereupon thanked the Adept. But he, taking no notice of my thanks, pointed out to me a distant star through a hole in the roof, and then said, ‘Journey there.’
“This I did, streaming up towards it like a comet, dressed in long white robes, with a flashing scimitar in my hand.
“After much peril, on account of suns and things very hot and glowing, through which I sped, I arrived there safely, on the shore of a lake, upon which was floating a boat in which stood a man.
“On seeing me, he cried out: ‘Who art thou?’
“And having explained to him, he brought his boat close enough to the shore to enable me to spring into it. This I did, whereupon he seized the oars and rowed speedily into the darkness beyond.
“ ‘Shall I soon see thy master?’ I said to him. At which he glared round at me, so that his eyes looked like beads of glowing amber in the night; then he answered.
“ ‘I who stand in the boat am great; I have a star upon my forehead.’
“I did not reply, not understanding what he meant, and soon we reached the shore and entered a cave, in the mouth of which stood a man-like figure covered with brazen scales, horned and horrible. His colour was of verdigris; but his face was of a blackish tint. In his hand he held a club.
“ ‘What is your name?’ I cried, advancing towards him.
“ ‘Jokam,’ he answered sullenly.
“‘Your sign?’ (I here repeated the omitted part of the ritual). He winced, and I could see that he was a coward; nevertheless, though it displeased him, he gave me his sigil.
“His name is spelt: יכם. Having no further question to ask him, I left him, bidding him sink.
“At the further end of the cave a man whom I had not seen as yet came rushing into my arms ; at once I saw that he was being pursued by Jokam. I thereupon interposed, ordering him to make the sign of the Qabalistic Cross, which, however, he could not do.
“ ‘What God do you worship?’ I asked.
“ ‘Alas ! I have no God,’ he answered. Thereupon I allowed Jokam to seize him, and re—entering the cave they sank, uttering most heart—rending yells of agony.
“As I once again approached the lake, a great albatross rose from the water, and as she did so, the star fell away from me, and a multitude of birds surrounded me and took me back to the garret which I first visited.
“For this I was very grateful, and on seeing that I had returned, the Adept came forward and took my hand, Saying: ‘Go on,’ at which words I felt that a great strength had been imparted to me.
“I then asked him about ‘Abramelin,’ of whose Operation I at this time contemplated the performance; but all he answered was: ‘ Go on!’
“ ‘Shall I succeed?’ I asked.
“ ‘No man can tell another that ! ' he answered with a smile.
“ ‘Is anything wanting in that book that is necessary to success?’ I asked.
“ ‘Nol’ he answered.
“Then I took my leave of him, and after witnessing a strange fight, returned.”
1—See Liber O. 2—These signs are given in Liber O.
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