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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Rex de Arte Regia Tuesday, 22 December 1914
Opus[1] XVI
9.7 p.m. Weather fine and cold. Light. None in room, slight light through glass doors.
Έρμης mente figuratus. Manibus: sedens.[2]
Object: As XIV.
The rite was done in a partly consecrated temple of Hermes. I had invoked by the ‘Majesty of Godhead’[3] and the Hexagram, and then sat asking for a manifestation. The impulse sprang up eagerly to perform this rite, ‘De Nuptiis Secretis Deorum cum Homnibus’.[4]
I imagined the God very forcibly and called aloud his name throughout; and the purpose of the Operation formulated itself in me as ‘to fix the volatile’ without my willing this thought.
The Operation was at first highly orgiastic, almost to loss of control, suddenly—well, I am not sure. It seemed to tail off, and the Lion was scanty and watery. (Examination confirms this view.) But somehow I feel I have done everything right.
Result: I have the feeling that this corrected the error of [opus] XV and this is confirmed by the events of 23 Dec.
1—[Crowley performs a magical sexual operation.] 2—[‘Hermes figured in the mind. With the hands, sitting.’ The image of Hermes was concentrated in his mind. An act of masturbation while sitting.] 3—[The opening words of Crowley’s invocation of the god Mercury (Hermes) which is contained in Liber Israfel, published in The Equinox, no. 7. Israfel, the angel who awakes the dead.] 4—[‘Concerning the marriages of the gods with men’, the title of the instructions given to members of the VIII° O.T.O. The VIII° involves the solitary sex act.]
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