6 July 1921 - Crowley Diary

Aleister Crowley Diary Entry

Wednesday, 6 July 1921

12.30 A.M. Notes for Yi.

Gen[era]l symbol Mary [Mary Butts] in herself. [I Ching Hexagram] Zhui XLV. Collecting, etc.

Line to take? [I Ching Hexagram] LXI (See Silver Book).

Ditto Maitland [Cecil Maitland] in himself [I Ching Hexagram] Zin XXXV. Advance.

Line to take with him? [I Ching Hexagram] IX HSIAO Khu. Small restraint.

Gen[era]l symbol for their stay? [I Ching Hexagram] XXXVI Ming I K[teis] of Sol.

Ditto Bennett's [Frank Bennett]. [I Ching Hexagram] Tui Water of Water.

Line to take to bring about LXI? [I Ching Hexagram] Water of Fire XVII Sui. Chase it!

I don't go to the Yi for these cynical repartees!

Meaning of XXXV (above). He is dependent on women, almost for his existence. (Sol of 0) i.e. he is like a Child. He is lucky to be with 666. (Thwan).

(line 1.) Mars con. Herschel.

(line 2.) Wants to advance, yet hates the idea; it makes him depressed. He must be firm and correct; then 666 can help him.

(line 3.) He is to be helped by the Abbey believing in him.

(line 4.) He must be careful not to be stealthy, abiding shyness and timidity.

(line 5.) He must work without lust of result.

(line 6.) He must advance openly and actively, but only in the right way of self-mastery. He will not secure a complete and bloodless victory at once.

Meaning of IX (above). Make him clearly conscious of his will (Air of P[hallus]). Make him overcome his reluctance to achieve his will in action (Thwan).

(line 1.) Make him do Thisarb.

(line 2.) Make him formulate his Oath.

(line 3.) Make him practice swift decisive action.

(line 4.) Teach him to ignore annoying details in work.

(line 5.) Get him to adopt plans of concerted action with sympathetic people.

(line 6.) Let him beware of over-confidence and rashness begotten of his newly attained powers.

Relations of M.[Mary Butts] & M.[Cecil Maitland] in future? [I Ching Hexagram] Tui. Pleasant but fluidic: danger from putting pleasure first. Break-up through both turning to outside attractions.

Symbol for my present position as to [ . . .]. [I Ching Hexagram] Fire of P[hallus] 34 Ta Kwang. The Ram. Going ahead too rashly and blindly: danger of "drowning"—injuring my Will.

Line to take? [I Ching Hexagram] 20! ! Exact reverse! ! Fire of 0 Kwan. Steady observation (Sol in Scorpio). Keep one's true object in clear view. Be sincere and dignified, treating the affair as an Ordeal (Thwan).

(line 1.) Do not allow boyish desires to take control.

(line 2.) Face the facts modestly and firmly keeping one's self protected.

(line 3.) Act according to the circumstances of actual life as they occur.

(line 4.) Invoke the protection of Aiwaz.

(line 5.) Contemplate the matter in its relations with one's career as a whole.

(line 6.) Make sure that one is verily master of the situation.

Summary: Be fearless, cautious, alert, determined.

Meaning of XLV (above). She is in a "wish-fulfilment" situation—her hashish dream come true! (666). She is at work with 666, firmly and correctly. She is ready to sacrifice "great victims", i.e. to do important Magick (Thwan).

(line 1.) She lacks power to do her Will; this upsets her. 666 can help her, on her appealing to him.

(line 2.) 666 is guiding her, and her slightest efforts are successful.

(line 3.) She is distressed because success does not wholly satisfy her.

(line 4.) She may get into trouble—blamelessly, although perhaps she is blamed.

(line 5.) She is ready to organize her powers properly.

(line 6.) She feels a certain distress knowing instinctively that the Path has terrible passages; but she makes no error.

Meaning of LXI (above). She should aspire to the Knowledge and Conversation of her Holy Guardian Angel. (666) She must "put out to sea", refusing to be bound in any way by the past (Thwan).

(line 1.) She must be absolutely self-reliant and self-possessed.

(line 2.) She must ally herself closely with the Great Order.

(line 3.) She must steel herself against all the emotions and passions connected with human relations.

(line 4.) She must shine forth in heaven, alone, not yoked with any companion.

(line 5.) She must draw humanity to her by virtue of her perfect purity of purpose, its sincerity and sublimity.

(line 6.) She must be careful not to overplay her hand, and let her success upset her, avoiding a swelled head, and a hypertrophied ambition.

General symbol for my relations with Mary, past, present, and future. [I Ching Hexagram] I ! ! ! ! ! ! P[hallus] of P[hallus]. Khien.

Ditto with Maitland: [I Ching Hexagram] 34. The Ram again!

Ditto for 31-156-31's [Leah Hirsig] relation to the complex. [I Ching Hexagram] Air of Earth 53 Kien. Marriage and good luck! The "wild geese" attaining the highest happiness by gradual advance; no obstacles but temporary delays.

Symbol for Earp's [Tommy Earp] proposed visit: [I Ching Hexagram] 34. That Ram! !

d[itt]o Antony's d[itt]o d[itt]o? [I Ching Hexagram] Air of Luna LIX Hwan—dispersion—an upset of existing conditions necessary to proper reconstruction.

2.30 P.M. The Mark of the Beast (Cont'd)

The "Qabalistic Cross" must be that of the Grand Hierophant, but crowned by Nuith. Nuit (above head) Make a Circle.

Kether—R.[a] H.[oor] K.[huit]—touch Brahmarandra.

2 & 3 & Death — 93.

Aiwaz

(touch Ajna 2 & 3 & Visuddhi, Daath)

1, 4 & 5 R.H.K. complete Second Triad.

666

6, 7, 7, 8 a cross for 666 and 156 conjoined.

Babalon

Hadit.

Part 1. The Elevenfold Seal. Knock 1-3-3-3-1

Phrase I. Face Boleskine.

(a) circle above head: Nuith!

(b) Phallus: Hadith!

(d) Mouth—La-ShT—Al!

All: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Phrase II.

(a) Ajna & Visuddhi: Aiwaz!

(b) Tiphereth, Yesod, Netzach, Hod, Therion, Babalon!

All: The Word of the Law is Thelema!

Phrase III. Clasp the Hands, five crossing five upon the Wand, making Eleven: Agape!

All: Love is the law, love under will.

Phrase IV. Knock 3-5-3: Abrahadabra!

All: Abrahadabra!

Part II. The Mark of the Beast. (The actual Mark is to be made astrally by drawing the invoked forces to the true Wand of the Magus.)

(a) Face North, after widdershins 1 1/4, in Enterer on passing the North for the first time. Make the Averse Invoking Pentagram of Water: Nuith! Give the sign of Puella.

(b) Go widdershins 1 1/4 circles to South, in Sign of Enterer on passing the South 1st time. Make A.I.P. of Air: Hadith! Give the sign of Puer.

(c) Go widdershins 1 1/4 circles to East, in Enterer on passing the East 1st time. Make A.I.P. of Fire: Therion. Give the sign of Vir.

(d) Go widdershins 1 1/4 circles to West, in Enterer on passing the West 1st time. Make A.I.P. of Earth: Babalon: Give the sign of Mulier. (11 half-circles, or 5 1/2 circles to unite 5 & 6. Puella exciting Puer makes him Vir; Vir makes Puella Mulier.)

(e) Retire to Centre, facing Boleskine. Raise Wand (Prometheus-tube) and make the Mark of the Beast: Aiwaz! Give the Sign of the Rosy Cross. Lower Wand, and make the Mark: Thelema! Give the Sign of Mater Triumphans.

(f) Perform the Spiral Dance, moving deosil and whirling widdershins. Each. . . [as in Magick in Theory and Practice pp 334-338, with the following reservations] (c) (after the anthem) No doubt all this is implied in the Ritual which I started to write, but it is hardly suitable as part of the patter! Damn the man that isolated Cocaine!

5.35 P.M. The word LaShTAL includes all this surely . . . that the scars of syphilis are sacred and worthy of honour as much as the wounds of the martyrs of Mary.

We affirm on our altars our faith in ourselves and our wills, our love of all aspects of the Absolute All. And we make the Spirit Shin combine with the Flesh Teth into a single letter, whose value is 31 even as LA, the Naught, and AL the All, to complete their Not-Being and Being with its Becoming, to mediate between identical extremes as their mean—the secret that sunders and seals them. It declares that all somethings are equally shadows of Nothing, and justifies Nothing in its futile folly of pretending that something is stable by making us aware of a method of Magick by the practice of which we may partake in the pleasure of the process. ShT is moreover a necessary resolution of the apparent opposition of LA and AL; for one could hardly pass to the other without the catalytic action of a third identical expression whose function should be to transmute them. Such a term must be in itself a mode of Naught, and its nature cannot encroach on the perfections of Not-Being, LA, or of Being, AL. It must be purely Nothing-Motion as they are purely Nothing-Matter, so as to create a Matter-in-Motion which is a function of "Something". Thus ShT is Motion in its double phase, an inertia composed of 2 opposite currents, and each current is also thus polarized. Sh is Heaven and Earth. . . They are verbs, not nouns.

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