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Oskar Hopfer's
Notes on His Drawings for the
Revised 777, for the Inner
Circle
Thoughts while working on 777:
As Master Therion in 1925 came from
Egypt to Germany (staying in Hohenleuben and Weida) and I
became acquainted with him, he gave me the contract to
produce drawings for the book 777. I then made the drawings
to his personal specifications, creating exact templates and
with his permission produced the drawings again for myself,
which turned out to be very important later, because I was
then able to produce it, the most perfect book in the world,
as Therion called it, in this current form. The book was to
be printed in Germany, but the plan fell apart due to the
man who was to have realized it. The resident of the
so-called 'Torheit' in Hohenleuben, private scholar and
occultist
Heinrich Tränker who called himself Recnartus or Henkel
Kreuzmann and published Pansophia. He came to a Judas-like
end, as foretold to him by Therion.
While working on this book
there was often the urge to add more excerpts from
works by the Master Therion, such as "The
Wake World," "Temple of King Solomon," "Liber Aleph,"
etc. But the book would have then been probably a
meter thick.
To understand this book well, a
preliminary study of other works by the Master is
essential, not to mention the fact that one must
have an understanding of the basis of occult and
scientific processes.
Hopefully, the books and
manuscripts which I have owned will remain with this
book 777 for posterity, because the knowledge and
wisdom of the Master Therion borders on the
unfathomable. Whoever spent a long time with him, as
I personally did,—and I am by nature a very
critically inclined person—will be awestruck for
life by the greatness of his knowledge.
The arrangement of the tables
and explanations was left to me, as indeed the whole
genesis of the book in this form. The size of the
drawings was necessary for possible printing. This
book has its origins rooted in the assumption that
the individual drawings that I did for Master
Therion (both times in English and not complete)
which were sent to America and to England, have been
lost and Therion repeatedly said that this work
should, in any case, remain in Germany. All panels—also
the color—have been completed by me. For the sake of
consistency I had used opaque colors (Tempera
colors). It must be, for example, that the King
Scale be thought of in transparent colors, while the
Queen Scale would be reflective colors. I have
chosen to use simple block letters for the book,
because these are probably the least subject to
fashion and thus the study of the text is not made
unnecessarily difficult.
I would like to mention that
without the kindness and understanding of my dear
wife, this book would not have happened; and that
Master Therion only gave me the contract after he
had met my wife.
The explanations for the panels
have been written by Master Therion following the
tables of the small first edition of 777 because the
drawings were still in progress at the time. That
required some changes, as often multiple values were
drawn in individual panels. I have complete the book
with some panels, for which I had no direct
requirements, but which of necessity belong there.
These are: Perfumes, Magical Weapons, Precious
Stones, Mystic Numbers and Numbers of the Fall and
Magic Squares, the title page, and a few drawings in
color; the control panel for the color drawings and
the indication of the Triangle of the Universe. All
the rest were according to the system of the book.
It can be assumed that the
Student is unclear about the "Four Worlds," which
are mentioned in the book. Therefore, I have
included a diagram and a section of Equinox V—Temple
of Solomon—which was added by the Master Therion.
Print 777 in two parts!
Part I—The Explanations with
the Commentary
Part II—The Symbols
Bindings of both should be
scarlet to purple.
Let us not forget that this
holy book, is the best book in the world in that it
holds the secret knowledge of several millennia that
is to be salvaged from the sinking of the cultures
of Old Aeon and brought into the New Aeon. Only in
four to five hundred years, in the words of Aleister
Crowley, will it be again understood.
777 was printed in 1909 in 800
copies in England and that with the tables
(diagrams) in pocket format. Since the explanations
which are available to me of the most important
drawings, were made according to the tables of the
previous book 777 (i.e. before the drawings were
made by me) I had to group them together. As far as
it was permitted, I have made the symbols in color.
But I refrained from doing nothing, or did too much,
that does not correspond to the will of the Master.
The colors encourage Meditation and broaden the
Vision.
The first delivery of drawings
was complete except for three pieces, and was sent
to America in 73 sheets. The second delivery to
England were probably 42 panels with over 80
drawings. (1929) Years later (in between there were
the major political upheavals and the second hideous
war, as Therion had predicted to me in 1925), I then
made the drawings again as they exist today. Because
the drawings were all intended for printing, the
book took on this colossal size in the end.
Church representatives will
perhaps see this book as heresy, academics as humbug
and the ridiculous representatives of the State as
politically dangerous, but time will pass over them
until this holy book of wisdom is once again
understood by mankind. Two thousand years and more
has this knowledge of the secret laws of the world
been kept secret. Now is the first time that the
command has been issued to publish the final
insights of humanity in order to save them from the
sinking of the cultures and bring them into the New
Aeon.
Oskar Hopfer,
Color Chart, 777
[424]
Master Therion (Aleister
Crowley) came from Egypt in 1925 and stayed in
Hohenleuben in Thüringia at the so-called Torheir,
the home of occultist und scholar
Heinrich Tränker, who called himself Henkelkreuzmann und
published Pansophia. At his home I met the Master
Therion. He said he wanted to set down his most
important Knowledge in symbols for humanity and
asked me whether I would be prepared to produce the
drawings. It would be the most perfect book in the
world, but would only be understood once more by
humanity after four or five hundred years.
I then created (outside my
daily occupation) over 85 drawings in English on
single pages. In order to save time I had
lithographs made of the repeating templates (Tree of
Life, Pentagram, Hexagram and Palaces). All of the
drawings were created to the personal specifications
and under the direction of the Master Therion. I
then made exact traces of all the drawings, which
turned out to be very important. At the same time,
Master Therion allowed me to make copies of all the
drawings for myself. As Tränker refused to have 777
printed, even though he had the means of doing so,
Therion took the drawings with him to Egypt, to seek
out a publisher in America from there.
In July 1929 Master Therion
returned to Germany. He asked me to provide my
drawings to him as the others had not yet been
returned from America. A publisher had been formed
in London, "Mandrake Press," which would print 777.
But here again nothing was printed.
[424]
Oskar Hopfer
February
1966
In order that this work is not lost to
posterity, over the course of time I have produced the
drawings [for Crowley's planned revision of
777] for a third time, indeed in
English and German, as well as the accompanying explanations
and commentary. I have inserted a few drawings which were
previously missing: "Precious Stones," "Magickal Weapons,"
"Fragrances," "The Fall," and "Magickal Squares," as well as
the "Four Worlds" with an explanation from "The Temple pf
Solomon the King," Equinox V. On the Tree of Life the Three
Negative are imagined thus: "Ain" as an Ellipse which had
its focal points in Kether and Malkuth, "Ain suph" as
Parabola, and "Ain suph Aur" as Hyperbola. According to the
Master Therion, in keeping with
צ
but with the Path of and
צ
but with the Path of
ה,
the Law, Aries isn't associated with the Path of
ה
Aquarius is associated not with the Path of This alteration,
which was previously secret, can therefore be seen on the
Tree of Life. For the sake of durability I have painted all
the colored drawings in tempera (opaque). Thus I must
mention that all the colors of the King Scale are to be
imagined as transparent and all the colors of the Queen
Scale as reflective. In the event that some of the colors
could fade with the years, I have inserted a Key Table, by
which all the important colors can be controlled. It was the
expressed wish of Master Therion that this Book 777, the
Magickal Alphabet, should remain in Germany. As the diagrams
are intended to be printed, I had to manufacture them in
this size. Finally I must mention, that without my dear
wife's immense understanding and preparedness to sacrifice,
this work would have never taken shape.
May Harpokrates, Guardian of the New
Aeon, lay his protective Hand over this Work, so that it may
one day serve the Benefit of Mankind!
Amoun!
Triebes in Thüringen in February 1966
after the new calendar.
Oskar Hopfer (in this life a painter)
Love is the law, love under will!
[424] |
