perfection! I will dwell therein with my Lord for ever.
61. And the Lord Adonai delighteth in me, and I bear the Cup of His gladness unto the weary ones of the old grey land.
62. They that drink thereof are smitten of disease; the abomination hath hold upon them, and their torment is like the thick black smoke of the evil abode.
63. But the chosen ones drank thereof, and became even as my Lord, my beautiful, my desirable one. There is no wine like unto this wine.
64. They are gathered together into a glowing heart, as Ra that gathereth his clouds about Him at eventide into a molten sea of Joy; and the snake that is the crown of Ra bindeth them about with the golden girdle of the death-kisses.
65. So also is the end of the book, and the Lord Adonai is about it on all sides like a Thunderbolt, and a Pylon, and a Snake, and a Phallus, and in the midst thereof he is like the Woman that jetteth out the milk of the stars from her paps; yea, the milk of the stars from her paps.
Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita
Sub Figurâ DLXX
I.
א
0. O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!
1. Let me extol Thy perfections before men.
2. In the Image of a Sixfold Star that flameth across the Vault inane, let me re-veil Thy perfections.
3. Thou hast appeared unto me as an aged God, a venerable God, the Lord of Time, bearing a sharp sickle.
4. Thou hast appeared unto me as a jocund and ruddy God,full of Majesty, a King, a Father in his prime. Thou didst bear the sceptre of the Universe, crowned with the Wheel of the Spirit.
5. Thou hast appeared unto me with sword and spear, a warrior God in flaming armour among Thine horsemen.
6. Thou hast appeared unto me as a young and brilliant God, a god of music and beauty, even as a young god in his strength, playing upon the lyre.
7. Thou hast appeared unto me as the white foam of Ocean gathered into limbs whiter than the foam, the limbs of a miracle of women, as a goddess of extreme love, bearing the girdle of gold.
8. Thou hast appeared to me as a young boy mischievous and lovely, with Thy winged globe and its serpents set upon a staff.
9. Thou hast appeared to me as an huntress among Thy dogs, as a goddess virginal chaste, as a moon among the faded oaks of the wood of years.
10. But I was deceived by none of these. All these I cast aside, crying: Begone! So that all these faded from my vision.
11. Also I welded together the Flaming Star and the Sixfold Star in the forge of my soul, and behold! a new star 418 that is above all these.
12. Yet even so was I not deceived; for the crown hath twelve rays.
13. And these twelve rays are one.
II.
ר
0. Now then I saw these things averse and evil; and they were not, even as Thou art Not.
1. I saw the twin heads that ever battle against one another, so that all their thought is a confusion. I saw Thee in these.
2. I saw the darkeners of wisdom, like black apes chattering vile nonsense. I saw Thee in these.
3. I saw the devouring mothers of Hell, that eat up their children - O ye that are without understanding! I saw Thee in these.
4. I saw the merciless and the unmajestic like harpies tearing their foul food. I saw Thee in these.
5. I saw the burning ones, giants like volcanoes belching out the black vomit of fire and smoke in their fury. I saw Thee in these.
6. I saw the petty, the quarrelsome, the selfish, - they were like men, O Lord, they were even like unto men. I saw Thee in these.
7. I saw the ravens of death, that flew with hoarse cries upon the carrion earth. I saw Thee in these.
8. I saw the lying spirits like frogs upon the earth, and upon the water, and upon the treacherous metal that corrodeth all things and abideth not. I saw Thee in these.
9. I saw the obscene ones, bull-men linked in the abyss of putrefaction, that gnawed each other's tongues for pain. I saw Thee in these.
10. I saw the Woman. O my God, I beheld the image thereof, even as a lovely shape that concealeth a black monkey, even as a figure that draweth with her hands small images of men down into hell. I saw her from the head to the navel a woman, from the navel to the feet of her a man. I saw Thee even in her.
11. For mine was the keyword to the Closed Palace 418 and mine the reins of the Chariot of the Sphinxes, black and white.
But I was not deceived by anything of all these things.
12. For I expanded it by my subtlety into Twelve Rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays were One.
III.
א
0. Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal, or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face.
1.
