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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Thursday, 1 November 1923
Hail unto Keph-Ra!
12.20 a.m. OPUS V[1].
Mode XI Mohammed be Brahim
Op[eratio]n Excellent. E1: D[itt]o absorbed; but one drop on tongue of 666 as PROPHET. Object: To make direct conscious connection with my Colleagues of A∴A∴ that I may receive indubitable instructions for my immediate Work in carrying out the Commands of AL, and my general Policy.
Immediately on concluding the Opus I started to put on a scarlet abbai which I had discarded during the work. I could not find the sleeves and therefore rose from the bed (The room was entirely dark). My attention was immediately attracted by what I first took to be the end of a lighted cigarette, and I supposed, with a kind of surprise almost startling, if not altogether alarming, that Alostrael [Leah Hirsig] had gone over for some purpose of her own. I called her; she had not moved from her bed. I moved my head about to see whether its position made any difference. The light sometimes disappeared and reappeared but it was not due to my position. I thought it must have come through a hole in the door Gamma, or be the reflection of some light without the room in the corner of the mirror. It was, however, well to the left of the mirror; there is no hole in the door which would explain the facts, the light was moreover quite definite in shape, circular, though not clear-cut at the circumference—and so brilliantly rosy red as to constitute it unique in my experience. Alostrael failed to see it, and Mohammed did not understand what I was saying. I insisted on Alostrael coming over to me, thinking it might not be visible from her part of the room. During this time it went and came several times, going out suddenly and coming again as a rather ill-defined triangle of glowing faint yellowish-white light which next suddenly assumed the circular scarlet form. On two occasions the circle became twice and three times the original size, and was of a flaming crimson which I can only compare to the extreme brilliance of such things as the thunderstorm-sunset crimson that we saw at Kairouan or fresh blood on a bull's shoulder in bright sunlight. The first shock of surprise passed quickly and left me extremely calm, observant and critical. There was no question as to the character of the phenomenon, there was no suggestion of anything astral about it. It was real precisely as the ordinary material objects of sense. (I remember thinking to myself: "If this is not there in the ordinary physical sense, I am, for the first time in my life, subject to a genuine hallucination,—in this way, that it is impossible for me to doubt its actuality.)
The room was so dark that Alostrael had much trouble in reaching me, and I had to light a match in order to show here where to look, though I tried taking her hand and pointing her finger to the spot. I threw away the match and we watched carefully for a little while. At one moment in the same spot as before there became manifest a faint misty light fairly large in area and without very definite shape. The character of the glow was not unlike that of the Milky Way. Alostrael saw this as well as myself. We agree entirely in describing the appearance. This light soon faded, and, after waiting a few minutes, we lit the candle, dismissed Mohammed, and wrote up this Record. I am left in doubt as to whether this was an Elemental created by the Operation or a deliberate token of the presence of one of the Chiefs. I had no feeling that the latter was the case. By the way, shortly after the actual Opus began, Alostrael thought that I was standing by her bed in the place where A actually is, which of course would be physically impossible, besides which she could hear perfectly well that I was on the Triangle with M[ohammed] b[en] B[rahim].
1.35 a.m. Finished this entry. Bab's nerves gave out completely. I ought not to have asked her to write for me: but I am fabulously tired, and she seemed in excellent form. She was twice very sick, and shows great irritation about nothing.
10 p.m. A quite day. Bab very much better all around. 9.30 p.m.
OPUS VI[1]
1—Crowley performs a magical sexual operation.
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—— 666.
[Mohammed ben Brahim]—666. Operation: Good, though brief. 666 practically
unaware of the physical side of the Work. Wholly and quite
simply concentrated without effort or opposition. W1:
Absorbed. Object: To give 31-666-31 [