Why page 16 of Chapter III is the most important page in the Book of the Law!

Page 16 of the Third Chapter of Liber AL vel Legis, otherwise page 60 of the manuscript of the Book of the law, is unique. Verse 47 was dictated by Aiwass and written down by Crowley on Sunday, April 10, 1904, in Cairo, Egypt, between 12:45 and 12:48pm, approximately. Considering exact aspects only, Jupiter was in trine to the Ascendant in Aries and Leo respectively. Saturn was also trine Pluto in Aquarius and Gemini respectively. These powerfully beneficent aspects connote success, grandiosity, creativity, concentrated will power, and Magick. Leo and Aquarius are, of course, the signs of the New Age.

Cabalistcally, 16 is 4 x 4, signifying the crystallization of the Law. 60, the letter Samekh, also refers to the manifestation of the Light, which is also the letter Samekh, Sagittarius, spiritual art. 47 refers to Yogic ecstasy, which Crowley glosses as “the spirit of work.” It adds up to 11.

This page is unique in the Book of the Law in that it is marked by a diagonal straight line or slash, drawn from left to right across the first seven lines of the manuscript, about seven inches in length, beginning with the words “chance shape” and ending with the words “a key,” followed by a sun cross in the eighth line. The slash points at the words “its failure” in the eighth line. (The reference grid was clearly added afterwards.)

The sun cross, solar cross, or wheel cross is an ancient symbol especially associated with prehistoric European civilization. It is also found amongst indigenous peoples. In modern astronomical usage it represents the earth. It signifies the Sun as the wheel of the chariot of the sun god. It is also associated with the swastika. Contextually, Aiwass clearly identifies the sun cross with the squaring of the circle (see manuscript), a problem posed by ancient geometers. It refers to the problem of constructing a square with the same area as a circle. This was proved to be impossible in 1882. It is therefore a metaphor for trying to do the impossible. It was first mentioned by Aristophanes in 414 BCE. Dante takes it as a metaphor for the incomprehensible nature of Paradise and thus the finitude of human reason.

As the geometer his mind applies

To square the circle, nor for all his wit

Finds the right formula, however he tries

What is really remarkable about this, however, is the mark itself, apparently rapidly drawn at random across the page. It touches exactly 11 letters in its course, viz., s(h) t B e t I s a y f a. When one adds these letters up according to Hebrew Cabala, one discovers that they equal ShT (SET), the two in one letter signifying 31 and the “secret name” of Horus, and[1] 2 + 5 + 9 + 10 + 300 + 1 + 10 + 80 + 1 = 418, the “great Magick Word, the Word of the Aeon,” ABRAHADABRA, the “Word of Double Power,” signifying the Completion of the Great Work, itself represented by the Hebrew letter Cheth, the Chariot! Remarkably, this sequence adds up to 31, ignoring zeroes (2 + 5 + 9 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 8 +1) (this is the gematria method called mispar katan)! Moreover, if one removes the duplicate letters from the whole sequence, one ends up with seven letters: s t B e I a f = 60 + 9 + 2 + 5 + 10 +1 + 6 = 93! Thus, Aiwass’ mark is his own signature, 93 = 418, the same as Aiwass (Αιϝασσ) = Aiwaz (עיוז). SET is Aiwaz. This is a remarkable and convincing proof of Aiwass’ existence independent of the mind of Aleister Crowley, and his capacity to direct his scribe unconsciously and despite himself with a degree of precision entirely inexplicable by any other hypothesis. Moreover, the same verse alludes directly to the runic significance of the letters of the Book of the Law: “in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another: in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine,” including an explicit reference to ABRAHADABRA, the Word of the Aeon itself, just to make it completely unequivocal.

The slash and the cross are further implied in the following passage from Liber Stellae Rubeae sub Figura LXVI, verse 16: “Then thou shalt excite the wheels with the two and the third in the midst; even Saturn and Jupiter, Sun and Moon, Mars and Venus, and Mercury.” The slash and cross appear on page 16 of the third chapter of the Book of the Law.These planets trace a path on the Tree of Life from 3 to 4, 6 to 9, and 7 to 8, where Mars is also the path of Pe, implying a descent of Saturn into the quaternary and an oscillation on the horizontal plane that both stabilizes and negates its own centre.

The only possible objection to the foregoing is Dion Fortune’s assertion that gematria is like measuring with an elastic ruler.[2] Several letters in this sequence have alternate possible values, viz., s, which could equal 60 or 300; t, which could equal 9 or 400; ShT, which could equal 31 or 309; and f, which could equal 6 or 80. However, I invite the skeptic to draw a diagonal straight line randomly across seven lines of a page of text, and see how many random tries it takes to arrive at a significant gematria, let alone THE central equation of the Book of the Law, viz., 93 = 418. This will give you an approximation of the actual statistical probability of this coincidence occurring by chance. I submit that even allowing for multiple numerical values of several letters the odds are astronomical. Thus, the independence of the mind of Aiwass appears to be incontrovertible. Strangely, Aleister Crowley’s own commentary on this verse of the Book of the Law indicates none of this, in fulfillment of the prediction that “in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine.”

THE OLD COMMENT 47. These mysteries are inscrutable to me, as stated in the text. I note that the letters of the Book are the letters of the Book of Enoch; and are stars, or totems of stars. (See 15th Aire in Liber 418). So that he that shall divine it shall be a Magus, 9° = 2□. THE NEW COMMENT I am now (An XIV) a Magus 9° = 2□; and I agree [?] with the former comment. He need only be a Magister Templi 8° = 3□, whose world is Understanding. “one cometh after him:” ‘one,’ i.e. Achad. See Appendix for this and other points of this most ‘evidential’ verse. “the Key of it all:” all, i.e. AL 31 the Key! See MS for allusion to the “line drawn” and the “circle squared in its failure.” The attribution (in the Old Comment) of the letters to those of the Book of Enoch is unsupported.

If we look at the “condensed” version of the “word,” s t B e I a f, it may be glossed as Set, the daemonic double of Horus, who destroys the formula of Osiris, the Dying God; Opening, as of an Abyss, etc. (BH; cf. “Beast”); IAO, the Cry of the Gnostic Mysteries, associated with Jupiter, a form of the Tetragrammaton. The longer form might be glossed: SET, the Gnosis of cosmic consciousness, is illumination. The Hermit’s regenerative illumination is the spirit of the mind’s spiritual annihilation, noting the strong emphasis on the psychic letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Air, Fire, Sun, Mercury, Mars).

Notes

[1] Note the capital B, indicating the beginning of a new sequence.

[2] “This is a pretty elastic method, as can readily be seen, and to rely upon it for the mensuration of the universe, even in its subtle aspect, is like trying to draw a straight line of a given length with an India-rubber ruler.”

* For example, one could approximate the scenario by writing a computer program to generate a random sequence of eleven letters of the English alphabet, weighted according to their standard English frequencies, each of which can have the following values: A, 1; B, 2; C, 20; D, 4; E, 5; F, 6, 80; G, 3; H, 5; I, 10; J, 10; K, 20; L, 30; M, 40; N, 50; O, 6, 70; P, 80; Q, 100; R, 200; S, 60, 300; T, 9, 400; U, 6; V, 6; W, 6; X, 90; Y, 10; Z; 7. ST would be treated as a special case, as above, with possible alternative values of 0, 31, 69, 309, 460, or 700. In addition, the program must also extract the unique letters without duplicates from this sequence, and then calculate all possible numerical sums for each of the two sets of results, both including and excluding ST. The program will score a hit when the sets add up to 93 and 418 respectively in either order. Otherwise, it will reset the “page” by randomly selecting another sequence of eleven letters. The program will count the iterations and run till a hit occurs. A button will allow the user to repeat the process as many times as desired. To date, no one has offered to write this program.