ΘΕλΗΜΑ

The Holy Books of Thelema is the name recently given to the collection of those works that Aleister Crowley penned, but that he claimed were written through him--not by him. They therefore are to be considered 'inspired' works. The chief of these books, Liber AL vel Legis, is the only one that involved a voice dictating the text to him. Of all the others, Crowley writes in Confessions: "The spirit came upon me and I wrote a number of books in a way which I hardly know how to describe. They were not taken from dictation like The Book of the Law nor were they my own composition. I cannot even call them automatic writing. I can only say that I was not wholly conscious at the time of what I was writing...I cannot doubt that these books are the work of an intelligence independent of my own." Contents of ΘΕΛΗΜΑ Volume I Liber LXI vel Causæ--Explains the actual history and origin of the present movement. This text, being in Class D, is not technically a Holy Book, but was included in "ΘΕΛΗΜΑ" as an Introduction, and is thus listed here. Liber LXV: Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente--An account of the relations of the aspirant and his Holy Guardian Angel. Volume II Liber VII: Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli--These are the Birth Words of a Master of the Temple. Its 7 Chapters are referred to the 7 Planets in the following order: Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Sol, Mercury, Luna, Venus. Volume III Liber XXVII: Liber Trigrammaton sub Figura XXVII--Being a book of Trigrams of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin and yang. An account of the Cosmic process. Liber CCXX: Liber AL vel Legis sub Figura CCXX: The Book of the Law--Among the Holy Books of Thelema, the chief is The Book of the Law. Every Thelemite is expected to interpret the book, "each for himself". Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita--An account of the Hexagram and the method of reducing it to the Unity and Beyond. This book describes in magical language a very secret process of Initiation.