To celebrate the creation of our new blog, Hadean Press releases the beta version of EQWarEngine. We find this an invaluable tool for enumeration, communication and divination.

EQ WarEngine is a standalone database for working with the English Qaballa. The program calculates text, allowing users to enter and store results which are searchable by word, phrase or number. You are free to use and distribute the program at will.

Download the EQ WarEngine for Macintosh here. (30.8 MB)

Download the EQ WarEngine for Windows here. (14.8 MB)

Wordcruncher: Enter a word or phrase in the data entry field and hit “calculate”. Any previously entered calculations will appear. To enter your results, hit “enter in file”.

Numbercruncher: Enter a number in the field and hit “seek”. All entries equaling the number entered will appear.

To move between the Wordcruncher and Numbercruncher use “go to”.

Version 1 will contain the full text of Liber Al. At the moment the engine contains only the letters of the English alphabet. If you encounter any glitches, please contact us and we will try to work them out in time for the release of V1.

Hadean Press made another rare appearance at the first annual Occult Conference held in the heart of Glastonbury. Strange sights abounded as the black-clad legions descended upon this otherwise colourful town, bringing with them the scent of sulphur on the air. The event itself was a successful joining of practitioners from paths usually untread in the public eye. Our thanks to Witchcraft Ltd., Scarlet Imprint, Jake Stratton-Kent, Jamie and Jack and everyone else involved for making this an event to remember. We will certainly go again to Glastonbury for more mischief when the conference returns next year.

Hadean’s collection of pamphlets for the discerning reader, including the Spirit Work Series, an introduction to working with spirits, particularly those of the True Grimoire.

Pamphlets, said to have appeared in the late Elizabethan period in a form recognisable to us now, are considered scurrilous little bits of paper filled with subversions and remonstrances. Hadean Press adheres to the second idea of the radix of the word Pamphlet… that it takes its derivations from παν, all, and φιλεω, I love, signifying a thing beloved by all; for a pamphlet being of a small portable bulk, and of no great price, is adapted to every one’s understanding and reading. Our Guides to the Underworld combine the aesthetic of a popular pamphlet with a depth of praxis rarely found in trade publications.

Pamphlets are £3.00 each, plus £1.00 shipping to UK and £2.00 to rest of world, or £10.00 for the set of 4, £3.00 shipping to UK or £5.00 to rest of world.

Goetic Divination by Jake Stratton-Kent.
24 pages. Part of the Spirit Work Series.

Select Destination

UK £4.00 Rest of World £5.00

Goetic divination has had a bad press from the urban literati of the Classical world up to the present day. In Goetic Divination, Jake Stratton-Kent provides an overview of the history of divination, as well as practical instruction on divinatory methods, including the use of astragals, pendulums and hydromancy. The pamphlet also includes an easily removable pendulum board.

Elelogap: The Spirit of the Waters by Jake Stratton-Kent.
28 pages. Part of the Spirit Work Series.

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UK £4.00 Rest of World £5.00

For the assistance of a Mighty Spirit of the Waters: in contacting the Celestial and Terrestrial Gods, the Chiefs of the Underworld and the spirits of the dead. For invoking in conjurations of lesser spirits of the Waters; for assistance in working with herbs, magical baths and washes, visions and cairvoyance; to enhance your emotional nature, to improve your health and your life.

Liber Pyramidos by Aleister Crowley with additional notes by Jake Stratton-Kent.
20 pages.

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UK £4.00 Rest of World £5.00

Jake Stratton-Kent has carefully expanded the abbreviated and skeletonic sections, restored headings and numbered the sub-rituals. It is the author’s understanding that this ritual is not identical with the A.·.A.·. Initiation rite (TROA) referred to in the Dominus Liminus task and elsewhere, but is very closely related to it. He is also aware that certain parties, including the O.T.O. are opposed to information being released concerning that ritual. On this occasion the author is in agreement with the Caliph, accordingly, while certain documents have been consulted to make this the most definitive text possible, no expanded commentary, and no comparisons with the unpublished text of TROA have been included.

The Grimoire of the Sixfold Star by Count Abaka.
20 pages.

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UK £4.00 Rest of World £5.00

This small book describes a method of invoking twenty two Genii of a combined Solar-Mercurial nature. This is a method derived from Thelemic sources and involves an English qaballistic system. This system is presented solely as a viable magical framework, rather than a ’secret key’ to the Book of the Law (a premise described in The Magick of the Ghebers: The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema, VII 9).

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UK £13.00 Rest of World £15.00

by Sir Richard Heygate, co-author of The Book of English Magic, published by John Murray in June, 2009.

Jake Stratton-Kent is one of the few Englishmen who can justifiably claim to be a modern “Sorcerer”. He studied Aleister Crowley’s magical practices and became adept in Thelemic magic, and even published a qabalistic analysis of the Thelemic Holy Book known as the Book of the Law — “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. However he has never been happy working in organisations, and has spent the last 30 years developing his own system of ceremonial magic, based around his deep knowledge of the Qabalah, medieval Grimoires and other methods. Jake lives and works in Somerset, and also in Bristol with his partner, Misha.

I decided that I wanted to be a Magician in 1972, when someone told me that I had the “soul of a warrior”. Somehow I understood this on a ’spiritual’ level, so a Magician it had to be. Getting started was surprisingly easy. In those days, there were few organisations set up to teach Magic, so I borrowed a book called “Mastering Witchcraft”, by Paul Huson and simply used it as a DIY manual, as well as following leads in its excellent bibliography. This was a good way to start and set the pattern for a practical approach to making magic work. I have found that so many people are “Paper Magicians”; they all have the certificates, but are afraid to make the real stuff work. Others are obsessed with status. I once met a High Priestess, who possessed an impressive lineage and titles but needed help with doing the simplest ritual. Such instances are not rare, whereas powerful Western magicians are, despite the numerous pagans and so forth on the UK Census. Although I put a lot of time and energy into a couple of English and American groups, nowadays, I simply work alone or with a few close friends to enhance my own techniques. This has led to me being happier and more focused, accelerating the learning process and leaving more time and energy for magic.

Crowley’s order, the OTO (Ordo Templis Orientis), is now over 2,000 strong, mainly in the US, but I was involved in a smaller, lower profile more focused English group. Far from performing Crowleyan magick by rote this was an experimental group, which was using the English Qaballa and what they called “Magical Astrology”, they were also very much involved in practically oriented magic rather than religious or philosophical matters under an occult heading. They believed in creating everything they needed themselves as far as possible. For example, they made their own paper from specially selected herbs; searched the woods for the right woods, cut at the right time, for wands; even made their own swords. They kept a low profile, but were real magicians and got amazing results. I became involved with this Thelemic magical order in the late 1970’s and did a lot of writing for them, which culminated in publishing a Qabalistic version of the “Book of the Law”. The English version of the Qaballa, on which it is based includes a wonderful basis for creating your own version of ritual magic.

The Qabalah means literally “to receive” and is often exclusively understood to relate to Hebrew traditions, which only influenced Western magic directly from the mid 1400s. In fact a lot of Kabbalistic ideas used by Western magicians came from the Neoplatonists, and even earlier traditions, so provides an unbroken link to the archaic roots of Western magic, in which neither Judaism or Christianity are essential elements. Creating your own rituals on a Qabalistic schema is not a new idea. Cornelius Agrippa, the great Renaissance Magician, to whom we all owe so much for synthesising the best practices of Magic right back into Hellenistic Egypt, shows you how to devise “Sigils” — representational images used in ritual or sympathetic magic as a focus for summoning angels, demons, or spirits — from scratch.

Making a ritual work needs natural ability (don’t believe the current vogue that everyone can be a true magician) and a form with which your nature resonates. Once I know the intent of the Magic, I can use the Qaballa to translate words into numbers, then numbers into the graphical and phonetic components of Sigils, including the incantation to be used. You then need a table of “Correspondences”, which show the focusing external factors — the colours; the astrological influences; the forms of dress (for example, jewellery); and for healing, the parts of the body, and so on. These can then be put together into a ritual to communicate with the spirit I want. This is how I believe that magical Qaballa should work, providing the principle behind the form to be used. Finally, you have to figure out whether you will be communicating with the spirits on the Astral or physical planes, but luckily here I am helped by being partly psychic, so can bring the experience to me.

“Grimoires”, conjuring books, which go back to the Middle Age and earlier are also very important, so long as they don’t become ‘working by rote’. They come in many editions, stretching back centuries, but none are complete. They are very workable systems and very straightforward, although they have a dark reputation, which is not entirely deserved, and provide you with incantations, magical descriptions and lists of spirits. It is commonly assumed that you must go back and find an old book which has survived, and use existing rituals or cobble one together solely from surviving materials. Although valuable initially this approach is stifling if adhered to too long, and ignores the fact that these old rites were based on some kind of symbolic language which could be used creatively. My ‘favourite grimoire’ is the Grimorium Verum, I have spent a long time synthesising the various editions into a single practice with which I am happy, and have acquired all the instruments I need. You obviously have to make some concessions to the modern world, like anyone would do when cooking from Mrs. Beeton. For example, if the Grimoire says, “take the head of a dead man”, you don’t go out and try and find one at Tesco’s. Instead, assuming a skull is unavailable you discover from comparative work that the skull of a small animal like a cat, or a clay representation of a head, properly prepared, will be just as powerful. Once you have got everything in place, it is important to do everything right — such as finding exactly the right points of the lunar cycle to work to and the right time of day. It is possible to get results from quite amateurish efforts, which is why the practice is dangerous and should be avoided by the merely curious. The spirits you are summoning have long memories, some say to the time of creation itself, so may recognise elements of even a badly cooked up ritual. One difficulty is that the spirits you summon may not be those you intend and you could then be in for a nasty shock.

There are about 50 possible spirits available in my Grimoire compilation, and I have worked with about half of them. In each case, you work with an “Intermediary” spirit, which is the most powerful in some respects and will summon the others. It is incredibly important to develop the right relationship, especially with the intermediary. Crowley believed in bullying spirits, which was a big mistake. Bullying may work for a time, but the spirit will avenge itself on you in the end. I believe more in joint participation and mutual interest with those I work with. This creates a pact that is mutually binding and a trust based working relationship. When selecting a spirit, you need to think carefully about the arcane language used in Grimoires and their tendency to ham it up. For example, there is a spirit which it is claimed will give men power over women, but the real translation is that it will help men with all that concerns love. I worked with it to get over a bad relationship, rather than start a new one. As soon as the spirit was summoned, the grief and pain I was feeling went away immediately.

I continue to experiment. Currently I am working with a “God of Healing”, who is very popular in Brazil, Haiti or Africa, where Magicians are much more experienced and have a long continuity of tradition with the past. In my view, one good Haitian or African Magician can see off virtually anyone in this country. Some of the spirits they work with are much more scary, depending on how you are dealing with them, and I am glad that I have 30 years of experience under my belt. Others have a real sense of humour. For example, I was summoning an herb spirit when I was doing a lecture tour of the US, and complained that it had not made me an expert over night. Soon after a huge box of books on herb lore got delivered to me free of charge. The spirit was clearly saying that there was no such thing as a free lunch and I should put the effort in. Others look scary, but are useful. One has enormously broad shoulders — about 5 foot wide — black hair and sallow skin. He could scare the life out of you, but I trust him and he would be the first that I would call if I got into any trouble.

You can get on the wrong side of spirits by being too threatening, using terrifying rituals and waving a sword around. Not many people can use a sword. I have been to fencing classes and also learned medieval combat techniques, so know how to use one, but have never threatened a spirit with it, especially a strong one. You don’t need to, just communicate normally. For example, once I saw one quite clearly. The feeling of power and strength coming off it was quite amazing, but he was standing up against a post, leaning against it very casually and looking so confident, that he did not have to make any display of power. That’s much more impressive than all this Hollywood notion of roaring and shouting. I work with powerful spirits quite intensively. If I am in a position in which I am going to get scared, I take one along, which is useful because if you are getting into any problems, the best treatment is to summon up a scarier ally than the one that is threatening you and let him solve the problem. Much better than sprinkling Holy Water about.

How do I see and communicate with the spirits, you may ask. Well, as I mentioned, I am part psychic, so on occasion can perceive them quite easily. Sometimes you get strange sorts of materialization, for example, one kept on bumping and pushing everyone in the room. Sometimes, you get group perception. When I was in America working with a group, I summoned up a spirit, who was all enormous head. Afterwards, everyone came up with exactly the same description. For actual messages, I mostly use a dowsing pendulum, often with a circle of letters. It is best to figure out your questions in advance to save time. You will find that the powerful spirits will be very choosy — even insisting you only use “their” pendulum. I have also had experience with spirits that actually “possess” people. This is a complex area, and need not be restricted to possession of one person at a time, contact with a possessed person, or even an object handled by them can be “contagious”. Although frightening, especially to Western sensibilities, this is not the negative scenario shown in the “Exorcist”. Don’t forget that possession is used effectively by primitive doctors, where the spirit provides the knowledge to carry out the treatment.

Most people, of course, are scared of the spirit world and, if so, my advice is to leave well alone. The church has, of course, classified them all as Demons or Angels, which some of them are, but I work in the middle ground between the two extremes. These spirits have similar wants and needs to us — unlike Angels and Demons — so you can make reciprocal arrangements. Spirits are objective and have long memories. After I am dead, someone else can conjure up the same spirit, using the same ritual so they have to be either a figment of everyone’s imagination or an objective reality: which you believe in is irrelevant, it is the practical experience that matters. Working with spirits is central to many of the older traditions, but became increasingly neglected in Western occultism from the eighteenth century. It has a hard route back to its rightful place at the centre of magical work, for one thing Western culture is frightened of everything concerning them, and for another even folks concerned with magic confuse spirit work with some kind of dogmatic religiosity which they quite understandably wish to avoid.

The intent of your communication is also very important. Be very clear about what you are asking. Again, this is where church dogma focuses on “pacts with the devil”, cursing etc.; all those things that used to get witches burnt. I do ask for practical help sometimes, mainly as my day job is not very well paid — but I am not in the business of using sorcery just to “get paid and laid”. This was another area where Crowley went wrong. I have used curses and still do, but they can backfire. This isn’t a matter of karma, which is a concept foreign to magical practice. In the 1970’s I became increasingly irritated with one of the fashionable Indian “Gurus” who was destroying the lives and dreams of so many young people. I sent him a curse, but he had his own posse of tame magicians and a huge following of adoring worshippers. So his defense was superior to my offense, and I got the curse back with interest. I learned my lesson and have been more strategically minded in use of such approaches ever since. Not that I make a habit of cursing, I restrict it to areas where my ideals are directly involved, so that the ‘combat’ is something I feel strongly about and would pursue by other means if available. Magical power is amoral, but the practitioner should know who they are and what they believe in and care about, using magic in accord with their own nature.

I have had some extraordinary experiences in a long life in magic. Once I was abducted by Jesus freaks and taken to Beacon Hill, where the leader described how he met the Devil coming out of a UFO and had given up magic ever since. I laughed and asked him “why stop when you are getting a result?” In contrast my experiences, even the frightening ones, have been encouraging, but perhaps that is a matter of having found my true vocation. I have helped people with all sorts of problems, even finding a solution for someone who had terminal cancer. Some people ask me to get rid of “bad” influences, which can take a week or two’s work with serious magic if the problem is ingrained. As for myself, I am very rarely frightened but know enough to understand what not to do. Crowley did all sorts of strange and off the wall stuff, like talking dog language, much of which is not for me. Drugs simply confuse the mind and interfere with access to the dream state, which is a disaster from my point of view. Only use them if you have a teacher who comes from a tradition of their use and then be very careful. Sex is also a diversion, both psychologically and politically. I can laugh at the idea that magic based on drugs and sex is great fun, so who cares if it works? However I am more interested in magic that does, and mental confusion and exploitation often attend the hedonistic approach. Also sexually oriented politics can get very hostile — for example in Dianic witchcraft which is practiced mostly by militant lesbians, and is more concerned with hatred of men and an offbeat religiosity than effective magic.

Above everything, let your feelings be your best judge. Being shit scared of the spirit world is disastrous, it puts them off from the word go and you lose control of the situation. Having confidence changes everything. Put me in a haunted house and it is the ghosts that run for cover. There is a good deal of gullibility in the occult world, but also a reality that can be as startling, and surprisingly close to legend. As a hard-headed scholar of history as well as a practicing magician I never cease to be in awe of what some of the well attested ancient magicians could do. The famous philosopher and proto-scientist Empedocles could raise people from the dead. I am not sure if I will ever be that good, but it is worth a try.

Reprinted with kind permission.
©2009 Richard Heygate

by Jake Stratton-Kent

The core of The Book of the Law is the 76th verse of Chapter Two containing the cryptic series of numbers and letters: 4 6 3 8 ABK 2 4 ALGMOR 3 YX 24 89 RPSTOVAL. We have shown how the numerical value of this cipher is the same as the sum of the numbers 1 to 26, representing the letters of the English Alphabet. Two seventy-six, as the cipher is known among English Qaballists, is not only mathematically equivalent to the “Order and Value of the English Alphabet” (A = 1, L = 2, W = 3, etc.) — it is its counterpart or double. It has almost a symbiotic relationship with the alphabet, so that work with English gematria becomes a commentary on II.76. With the aid of astrological attributions, and ritual structures from the text itself, the outlines of a sophisticated cosmology emerges from the triad of AL, II.76 and English Qaballa. The experimental nature of this process makes it a dangerous path which tests one’s integrity to the limit — but at the same time, an awareness is there from the beginning that the work is not one of devising, but of delineating a pre-existent but unexplored structure.

There have been many aspects of traditional occultism which have laid dormant throughout the supposed occult revival. Periodically, serious students come up against a brick wall of information deprivation. The Golden Dawn synthesis and most schools which have followed in their wake, even those of oriental origins, remain virtually silent on the magical application of the following: the 28 Lunar Mansions, the North and South Nodes of the Moon (Dragon’s Head and Tail), the Part of Fortune etc., to say nothing of the question of astrological timing in general — a situation which has been to an extent remedied by the appearance of this Journal. A recent survey of “Chaos Magicians” showed 90% were now using some species of astrological timing. It must be borne in mind that this is less significant than it sounds, as addressing “Necronomicon” spells to Yuggoth leaves a little to be desired in terms of comprehension and discrimination!

The Lunar Mansions are traditionally 28 in number, and form as it were a larger zodiac, seemingly commencing with Aries as does the Tropical Zodiac, but with many links to the true constellations, in common with so called Sidereal Astrology. Since the Mansions combine Lunar energies, readily accessible to the magician on a day-to-day level, with Stellar energies, generally considered unsuitable terrain for all but the highest initiates (9 = 2 in conventional language, referring to Chokmah — the Sphere of the Fixed Stars — and Yesod, the Sphere of the Moon; as does the grade of 2 = 9 in another manner), it is evident that a great and potent system could be buried behind the dust and debris of the medieval sources. Other considerations pile up before we get started on a solution. 28 days is the average length of the menstrual cycle. The so called Lunar phases map this time in simplistic form, so might not the Lunar Mansions reveal rather more about the unwritten truth: There is no Goddess but Woman? The secrets of female initiation are among the largest deficiencies in the occult revival; might this not be one of the very keys to that sanctum?

That is about as far as I got in turning this problem over and over for a decade and a half. I knew in the back of my mind that this was something big, I knew too that there were 28 numbers and letters in II.76. For some reason I never compared the two; I assumed that would be too obvious, that nothing would result except a confused mass of data. However, as so often in this system, other minds were working on the same lines. It came to pass, as they say, that I heard from the Past Grand Master of the Order I currently represent. A chance reference to AL.II.76 and the Lunar Mansions passed his lips, and I was onto the question again like a devil unleashed. I did what I wish I had done several years ago: wrote out the cipher alongside the titles of the Mansions. As I did so, a feeling of awe and reverence stole over me like the shadow of an enormous winged creature overhead. This was clearly the work of a god! The positioning of the constellations and their subdivisions form a fantastic commentary on the magical system obtained from E}Q}, including a great deal which the Editors past and present and their various colleagues have always considered too sacred for publication.

It was already apparent, of course, that the supposed powers or virtues of the Mansions according to the ancients were full of blinds and outmoded considerations, such as the retrieval of runaway slaves. What no-one could have anticipated was that the curious structure of II.76 as interpreted by the Order’s Qaballists — i.e., as a structure consisting of an unmanifest or perfect Tree of 10 spheres, a “middle 8″ having the value of 93, associated with Scorpio, and a final manifest Tree of 10 spheres — would be mirrored and amplified by the Mansions and their correspondences. Which is precisely what the reader wants to see right now, I imagine, so without further ado:

4. 0° Aries (Horns of Aries)
6. 13° Aries (Belly of Aries)
3. 26° Aries (Pleiades)
8. 9° Taurus (Eye or Head of Taurus)
A. 21° Taurus (Orion’s Head, Algol is 26°)
B. 4° Gemini (Little Star of Great Light, 3 stars in Orion’s shoulder)
K. 17° Gemini (Arm of Gemini)
2. 0° Cancer (Misty or Cloudy)
4. 13° Cancer (Eye of the Lion. Contains Sirius at 13° 57′)
A. 26° Cancer (Neck or Forehead of the Lion)

L. 9° Leo (Mane, Contains the Aselli 8° 35′)
G. 21° Leo (Tail, Contains Regulus 29° 41′)
M. 4° Virgo (Wings of Virgo or Dog Stars)
O. 17° Virgo (Spike of Virgo or Flying Spike)
R. 0° Libra (Covered or Covered Flying)
3. 13° Libra (Horns of Scorpio. Contains Spica 23° & Arcturus 24°)
Y. 26° Libra (Crown of Scorpio)
X. 9° Scorpio (Heart of Scorpio)

24. 21° Scorpio (Tail of Scorpio, Serpentis is at 19°)
89. 4° Sagittarius (A Beam)
R. 17° Sagittarius (A Desert)
P. 0° Capricorn (Head of Capricorn — a Pastor)
S. 13° Capricorn (Swallowing, Contains Deneb 19° & Vega 15°)
T. 26° Capricorn (Star of Fortune)
O. 9° Aquarius (A butterfly or Spreading Forth)
V. 21° Aquarius (1st Drawing)
A. 4° Pisces (2nd Drawing)
L. 17° Pisces (Pisces)

There is too much material contained in this table to comment upon adequately, but of particular interest is the 93 section, commencing within a degree with the Aselli or Asses, sacred to Typhon and to Jesus simultaneously! The Lion symbolism implicit in the Word of the Aeon (i.e. LEO = 34 = ABRA) is subsumed here, and we are reminded also of a Virgin pulling a Lion’s tail in earlier periods of aeonic succession. VIRGIN, of course, has the value of 93. But most important of all, we find that The Burning Way — 15° Libra to 15° Scorpio — is here placed before the appearance of the manifest Universe. Creation in fact originates within the 93 section, and the Tree emerges from X, the deepest part of the Scorpion, and emerges under the auspices of Scorpio still, and the star Serpentis of ominous repute. In effect, this means that the manifest universe is the result of the menstruation of the Goddess. This resonates exactly with the deepest insights of all previous work, and clearly authenticates the “Two Trees” model derived from II.76., (first published in TNE:BJM Vol.6. No.1). An interesting sidelight on this is to be found in the legend of Gautama Buddha, whose enlightenment not only occurs under a Tree but on the 49th day (see the Fifty Gates) of his meditation: “during the night of a full moon in May”, i.e. Moon in Scorpio — since May is the month of Sun in Taurus, the full moon accordingly falls in Scorpio — also compare the Christian Easter.

The trouble is that to many people the technical side of this work seems awesomely complex, or even ludicrous. This is by no means due entirely to the relative novelty of applying qaballistic techniques to The Book of the Law; what is novel to many is the process itself. Where can one turn for analogies to this process? The answer is not difficult to find, but some justification will be necessary. Many readers will be acquainted with some version of the Enochian system. Various examples exist, such as the Golden Dawn system, the closely related Crowley variant, and the Schueler and Hyatt derivations of these on the one hand, with “purist” versions returning to the Dee and Kelley materials to extrapolate anew, such as Robert Turner and some Caliphate aficionados of the system. One should not forget either the work of Pat Zalewski, demonstrating a strong investigative bent in unearthing rare Golden Dawn Enochiana. One can divide these into two heaps: the potted system heap and the open-ended exploratory heap. It is the latter which more accurately reflects the work of Dee and Kelley themselves, who, suddenly landed as it were with the outlines of a vast and original system from praeter-human intelligences, had to explore it tentatively and with great daring, whilst manipulating abstract mathematico- linguistic structures (or ciphers if you prefer) with great care and precision, although accidents certainly occurred in their “holy laboratory”. If one examines some of the records from which the modern versions are derived, an unfamiliar territory opens up.

The derivation of names and sigils of subsections of the system from the apparently meaningless jumble of letters and numbers on the rim of the Sigillum Aemeth bears a curious resemblance to the work of English Qaballists with II.76 and the numerical superstructure of the text of AL itself. The rim of the Sigillum Aemeth bears more than a superficial resemblance to II.76. These processes are seemingly haphazard or are at least based upon an unknown logic. But from them arise majestic and coherent structures which — taken by themselves — are so neat and well formed as to bear no relation to the crazed hand-written text of A True and Faithful Relation of what paffed for many Yeers Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits, or indeed the equations and formulae which have appeared in the pages of this Journal!

This analogy, between the experimental and exploratory nature of Dee’s work and that of English Qaballa, is apt on other levels also, of which perhaps some readers may have an inkling. It suffices for our purpose that we feel no justification is necessary for the manner of presentation employed in our Journals! To prove this assertion of indifference to incredulity and incomprehension, I append still another curiously derived table to accompany those which have gone before, and those which will doubtless appear in future.

GOD-NAMES OF THE LUNAR MANSIONS.

4 + FIVE (number of Mars, ruler of Aries) = 80 = ANUBIS
6 + FIVE = 82 = PAN-PAN
3 + FIVE = 79 = ABRAHADABRA (This Mansion ends in Taurus, and 79 = SEVEN = Venus, Ruler of Taurus.)
8 + SEVEN = 87 = FALUTLI
A + SEVEN = 80 = ANUBIS
B + EIGHT = 107 = HOOR KHUIT
K + EIGHT = 96 = SELENE
2 + NINE = 78 = APEP or NUIT. (Note that 78 is the value of Cancer.)
4 + NINE = 80 = ANUBIS
A + NINE = 77 = KHUIT or AMMON-RA
L + SIX = 52 = ADONAI or HAT-HOR
G + SIX = 61 = AMEN
M + EIGHT = 108 = HOOR-APEP or ISIS-HATHOR
O + EIGHT = 94 = BALAE
R + SEVEN = 91 = NU-AHATHOOR or IAO MARSYAS
3 + SEVEN = 82 = PAN-PAN
Y + SEVEN = 94 = NEFER
X + FIVE = 98 = QADOSH-ISIS, also ITEP
24 + FIVE = 100 = HRUMACHIS
89 + FOUR = 143 = SOL INVICTUS (Note that 143 = JUPITER, Ruler of Sagittarius, of which this is the first Mansion.)
R + FOUR = 66 = FIAT
P + THREE = 116 = ANKH-F-N-KHONSU
S + THREE = 95 = AORMUZDI
T + THREE = 114 = ADONAI-ABRASAX (Note that 114 = 71 x 2, accordingly IO PAN IO PAN might apply here.)
O + THREE = 97 = RA HOOR KHUT
V + THREE = 100 = HRUMACHIS
A + FOUR = 55 = APIS
L + FOUR = 56 = ISIS

As with the Tables of A.M.E.N., these Names should not be considered to be the Names of the Spirits of the Mansions, so much as mathemagical formulae for controlling and understanding such regions and species. In conjunction with the Tables of A.M.E.N., this table might very well be used as the N or Symbol Column in a ritual of the Mansion, for example:

A.M.E.N. Names for Invocation of the First Mansion, “Horns of Aries”:

A Name = 58 = HERU
M Name = 76 = HERU RA HA
E Name = 81 = KHEPHRA (As this is a Lunar working, TANECH might be preferred.)
N Name = 80 = ANUBIS

A.M.E.N. Names for Invocation of the 23rd Mansion, “Swallowing”:

A Name = AIWASS
M Name = TYPHON
E Name = TAHUTI
N Name = AORMUZDI

Jake Stratton-Kent

I was going to start this essay with a general re-statement of what has previously been written by English Qaballists on the Trees of Eternity. On reflection though such a rewrite would serve little purpose, and a fresh take is well overdue. Where better to start than with AL, where the term originates.

AL. I. 58. I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.

AL. I. 59. My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity.

AL. I. 60. My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.

Much information is given in these three verses, which establishes a context for the term Trees of Eternity.

Vs. 58: Note the promises, including certainty — suggesting a practical magical secret.

Vs. 59: Contrast the incense described with the incense cakes of AL III. Resinous woods and gums are used in Oil of Abramelin of course, but also in planetary magick, particularly rites of Sol, Venus and Jupiter. Qaballistic considerations may be involved in NO BLOOD, which has the same value as LET BLOOD. The double association of “no blood” with the hair of the Goddess, and Her hair with the Trees of Eternity suggests links between the rite and the nature of reality.

Vs. 60: The Five Pointed Star with its Red Circle suggests the Sun-Venus Pentagram and the Red Circle suggests its connections with Via Combusta and the blood of the moon. The black of night is in fact the blue and gold Body of Our Lady of the Stars, whose magical rites bring certainty and other gifts to Her initiates.

We have here a complex idea of several strands: firstly the promises, or magical desires. Secondly a transaction: a sacrifice which is no sacrifice. Involved in each is a physiological and astrological symbolism — and the idea of timing is inherent in both of them.

English Qaballa interprets II.76 as a description of the Trees of Eternity. The first 10 numbers and letters delineate a “Perfect Tree” which has a “Da’ath” but no “Malkuth”, the next 8 numbers and letters connect this Tree to the ‘Manifest Tree’ represented by the final 10 numbers and letters, which is the “Tree of Life”. The ToL would be a static system without periodic “interference” from the “Perfect Tree”. This interference occurs by means of the central section, which is associated with the 93 Current. That — briefly — is the structure of the English Qaballistic world-view or model.

For various reasons the Two Trees have certain numerical associations. These are derived from the relevant numbers and letters of AL.II.76. added to 93. Thus the Perfect Tree (4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A = 58 = HADIT) appears like this:

While the Manifest Tree appears like this:

Note firstly that the Perfect Tree has no Malkuth, since it is not “Manifest”, while the Manifest Tree has no Da’ath. This is doubtless why it is said that Da’ath is not a true Sephirah, since it is not a part of the Tree of Life or Manifest Tree but an intrusion from the Perfect Tree. Note also that several spheres on both Trees have the same numeration, suggesting interconnections between them. For example Malkuth and Geburah of the Manifest Tree are related to Da’ath on the Perfect Tree. Note that the Perfect Tree begins and ends with 97 = NOTHING, while on the Manifest Tree Kether and Tiphereth have the same numeration, suggesting (in Christian symbolism) that God the Father and God the Son are one God. This identity is also relevant to the Rite of Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

It should be noted that Kether, Tiphereth etc. are not the true names of these Spheres (as opposed to Sephiroth), but are used for convenience since these terms are more familiar to many students. The true names of the Sppheres are English Terms from the Class A literature with the values attributed to the Spheres, and may be ascertained by personal research. The best guide in this is to examine the gematrias with thse values and choose the most fundamental ideas among them as one the keywords of the Spheres, then explore this ritually or in meditation.

A list of such titles could easily be compiled here but this approach will be more useful to the individual. English Qaballa is above all an experimental and non-dogmatic system, where collation and comparison of individual results determines what is known about the system. For the present it suffices to say that II.76. is the heart of the Class A; when read Qaballistically AL is a Commentary on the Two Trees.

by Jake Stratton-Kent

from The Equinox: BJoT VII, NO 1.

Readers of The New Equinox: British Journal of Magick (Volume 5 numbers 1 to 5 and Volume 6 Number 1) will remember the exegesis of AL through the English Qaballa. Due to the pause in publication (and the certainty that there are more Thelemites than issues of those magazines, no matter how widespread the distribution), it has been decided that a resumé of the E.Q. should precede any further revelations by means of it.

Firstly, the English Qaballa is a qabalah and not a system of numerology. A qabalah is specifically related to three factors: one a language; two, a “holy” text or texts; three, mathematical laws at work in these two.

A fuller description of “a qabalah” will be published in a future issue of this journal. Suffice it to say for now that the language in question is English and the texts the Class A or Holy Books of Thelema, particularly the Book of the Law.

The appearance of the English Qaballa is specifically predicted in Liber AL, and certain conditions, clues and even frameworks are delineated, none of which had been satisfactorily dealt with until the discovery of E.Q.. It was above all necessary that such a key should make sense of the cipher of Chapter II verse 76 — two enigmatic lines of numbers and words:

4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 ALGMOR 3 Y X 24 89 RPSTOVAL. What meaneth this, o prophet? Thou knowest not; nor shalt thou know ever. There cometh one to follow thee: he shall expound it.

When I first had my attention drawn to the existence of a purported English Qaballa, my first reaction as a qabalist was to use it on this meaningless string of digits and characters. I converted all the letters into their numerical equivalents in the E.Q., and added them to the numbers in the series.

The numbers 129 and 222 have interesting qualities for a qabalist. However, I was not studying a manuscript copy but a printed text, which did not separate the series into two lines; consequently I simply added up the total of both lines at that time and obtained the number 351. This number is the sum of the numbers 1 to 26, and naturally the sum of the letters attributed to the letters in English Qaballa.

Since that time I have frequently studied this cipher in the manuscript version of Liber AL, and have obtained a mental picture of it, consisting of two lines as it appears in the original. There are seventeen numbers and letters in the first line and eleven in the second (both significant numbers) so I made the calculation 17 x 11 = 187, the numerical value of the phrase ENGLISH ALPHABET.

Which brings me to Chapter II verse 55, another key verse of Liber AL in which that phrase occurs:

Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto.

This is a strange verse, containing ambiguity and apparent faults in grammar. What is meant by “them”? English Alphabet is a single whole; the text does not say the letters of the English Alphabet (or does it?). So “them” must refer to “order & value”.

This is interesting as a qaballistic ‘in-joke’, because the phrase “ORDER & VALUE” = 117 = LETTERS; so in fact the sentence can be read Thou shalt obtain the letters of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto.

Jokes like that can unhinge a man after a while. This is not funny, because in the 93 Current there ain’t no Sanity Clause; there is however a prodigal son or bad fairy clause, and the front contender for this role is undoubtedly Austin Osman Spare, the prodigal son of the 93 Current.

AOS, as we shall refer to him, discovered independantly of Crowley that the English language is possessed of all the necessary qualities of a hieratic language, a language used by priests and magicians for their holy books and rituals etc., because it possesses qabalistic and magical virtue. AOS used the English Alphabet in various ways. He found “new symbols” which constituted his Alphabet of Anon; he combined the original characters (A.B.C. a.b.c. etc.) into sigils; and among other things he reversed and jumbled syllables and words to obtain spoken spells. All these things practical qabalists and magicians have done with earlier hieratic languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic and Greek.

AOS, as a result, was one of the first to prove the Book of the Law literally correct in its claims concerning the magical virtue of the English Alphabet. He did not deal with its qabalistic virtues except in terms of the practical qabalah. But then he WAS a prodigal son! Those were in any case the earliest days of our not-so-new-now Aeon. Now we have become a tradition rather than a revolution, and that is a good thing; occultists function better as preservers and developers.

In fact, the 93 Current is so well preserved that in some areas development seems almost heretical; but nevertheless, the E.Q. is a development, acid resistant, water-tight and possessed of enough potency to stop the most determined qabalist in his tracks, exclaiming, EUREKA! — someone’s found it!’

It is impossible in the space available to develop even a fraction of the E.Q. interpretation of the Book of the Law. What we can do is present the techniques and publish a fully enumerated Book of the Law, with the numerical values of words and phrases between the lines. All known qabalistic methods can be applied to the Class A texts with E.Q., particularly Gematria, but also Notariqon, Temurah, and so called “Mystic Numbers” (being the sum of the integers from 1 to a significant number, inclusive, usually in the two digit range; for instance 351 is the mystic number of the English Alphabet/26). Theosophical Addition (the practice of adding the digits of a number together, as 21= 2+1=3, thus interrelating the symbolism of these two numbers, and reducing composite numbers to simple and fundamental numbers), planetary and numerical symbolism can also be used to interpret numbers and words; i.e. 76 can be interpreted as (7) – Venus (6) – Sun, thus indicating a relationship between Sun and Venus; or 165 can be read as (1) the Unity (65) of the Goddess (GODDESS = 65 by E.Q.).

The Pillars: Where a number has a 1 on either side of it, as in 111, 121, 131 etc., this number indicates a power acting in balanced manifestation (e.g. 141 = ELEMENTS, CONTINUOUS).

An additional technique is technically known as counting well, a reference to Liber AL: “Count well its name and it shall be to you as 718″. In this technique, every letter of one word is added to every letter of another word, eg:

(Note that the percentage symbol is used to represent counted well in standard EQ notation).

Once one is possessed of these techniques (and it must be admitted that a computer is a very handy, though by no means indispensible item), the purely theoretical side of the English Qaballa is your oyster. Even so, it must be emphasised that there is enough material available, after even a superficial examination of Liber AL through the Qaballa, to reveal outlines of a practical magical system beyond any known before.

This system interrelates certain dominant trends of Thelemic occultism. It does so on a very sophisticated level, which requires commitment, experience and resourcefulness of its exponents. Ideally, these exponents should work together, contributing their various skills; and some of them at least must possess Qaballistic skills and Astrological skills developed to a fine degree.

ARIES = 66
PLUTO = 76 TAURUS = 76
NEPTUNE = 145 GEMINI = 117
URANUS = 66 CANCER = 78 FIRE = 78
SATURN = 73 LEO = 34
JUPITER = 143 VIRGO = 63
MARS = 39 LIBRA = 58
FORTUNA = 93 SCORPIO = 93
VENUS = 71 SAGITTARIUS = 146
MERCURY = 115 CAPRICORN = 121
MOON = 49 AQUARIUS = 95
PISCES = 97
SUN = 36 AIR = 36
WATER = 65
SPIRIT = 113

The above table should go some way to emphasise the importance of astrological skills; whilst it should be noted that not all of the above words occur in Class A texts, they are English words by adoption and are fundamental to the nature of the texts.

This table is worth thorough examination and committing to memory. Note that the sum of the planetary values is 813, which those with knowledge of the Hebrew Kabbalah will recognise as the value of the word ARARITA; the word of the Holy Hexagram which is used to invoke the planetary forces.

If we subtract 36, the value of “Sun” or Self at the Centre, we have a number describing the system he experiences: 813 – 36 = 777.

777 — Traditionally the number of the Flaming Sword or creative Lightning Flash of the Qabalists which, when overlain on the Tree of Life, touches every Sephirah in turn and certain Paths, with a total of 777.

777 — the Goddess in Triple Form ISIS – BABALON – NUIT.

777 — the ultimate extension of the perfect number (7) itself a symbol of wholeness and completion.

by Smallus Printus

For readers who have just joined us let me first point out that the somewhat original spelling of QABALLA is not a “misprant”. It is in fact a devised spelling rather than an approximate translation of a foreign word. I have heard one supposed magus claim that the different spellings extant: Qabalah, Cabala, Kabbalah et al, all represent entirely different systems. While I am sure that this guy was one sandwich short of a picnic there is a certain attraction to this idea. The spelling “Qabalah” for example is generally indicative of a Golden Dawn influence — and their Qabalah, as everyone surely realises, is in fact the descendant of the grafting of Hebrew Kabbalah onto Hermeticism to produce the Renaissance “Christian Cabala”, wherein there is a deal more Neo-Platonism than Qabalah. Indeed the Doctrine of Correspondences which so typifies this “Qabalah” is not particularly Qabalistic at all, but Neo-Platonist, and if this element were removed from the system as generally understood there would be very little left. Yet this system is definitely the most widely known example of supposed Qabalah. Now Kabbalah, despite being possibly a less correct transliteration from the Hebrew is generally, but not exclusively, associated with the Hebrew system or some remnant of it. In fact it was not until Aryeh Kaplan published a whole rash of Hebrew Kabbalistic manuscripts in readable translation that more than a select few had any inkling what the Hebrew system was like. Yet a great many people have thought they knew what Qabalah is, and still do, when in reality this much discussed subject is still a closed book to the great majority of moderns, be they occultists or social democrats!

“So then,” you might say, “I suppose you do know, eh, Mr. Smarty-pants!” To which I am perfectly entitled to reply — as did Mathers — that whether I know or not, I don’t have to tell you. But then again I’m not Mathers, so I shall instead simply explain what I mean by Qaballa. But first — in order to conform to the genre — a staggering array of inessential historical propositions to introduce the subject.

• Since the Hebrew system in Aeonic terms is no more than a relic, of interest only as an exercise in comparative religion before you go and do the real thing, i.e. MAGICK. (This is true of every system older than say 1875-1904 AD, e.g. paganism was displaced Aeonically etc. etc. about 2000 plus years ago, except in backward parts of the world where female circumcision, purdah and widow burning among other evils clung on despite the best efforts of Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed to carry their believers into the New (then) Aeon).

• Since the Golden Dawn or neo-Christian cabala is also getting decidedly dated in aeonic terms.

• Since in essence a qaballa is a trans-rational relationship with the deity/universe by means of a mathemagical or psycho-linguistic pattern implicit in the Word/Book of that deity. (This effectively eliminates the G.D. since they were not using Qabalah in this way at all, but simply as a set of correspondences, vide supra. The sole exception being technical rather than actual, i.e. the relationship of the Adept to Liber Logaeth — the core of the Enochian system, and a kind of Holy Book in its own right, which the average G.D. enthusiast has likely not heard of, still less examined).

• Since even the claim of the Jews to have originated the Kabbalah, or to have received it first from God, is historically suspect. (The majority of words of power et al in the earliest Kabbalistic or even proto-Kabbalistic texts — the Hekaloth cycle — are derived from Greek; the word “gematria” is Hellenistic Greek; the Gnostics of the Hellenistic world seem to have prefigured many features of the Kabbalah in their systems. A form of ‘Greek Gnostic/Neoplatonist qabalah’ is the likely model for at least some major elements of the ‘Hebrew’ system).

• Since all these propositions — which could all be extended to thesis length — are historically, culturally and Aeonically exact; then Qaballa can only be the “that which remains” when all the preconceptions and delusions are burnt up in the furnace of initiated scepticism.

Then ‘yea verily I say unto thee, there is no cabala/qabalah/kabbalah outside of the museums, there is only Qaballa’.

Now I don’t know for sure quite how it all happened, but Dee, Mathers and Crowley all communicated with some intelligences of — by their accounts — quite awe inspiring presence, power, and occult knowledge. Dee received a complex system of grids and other geometric arrangements of numbers, letters and symbols from which among other things were derived an array of occult systems for examining and operating in various spheres, including the earthly. All centred around a mysterious text called Liber Logoaeth.

Mathers experience with “the Secret Chiefs” led to a similar profusion of arcane lore; revealing the outlines of a formidable initiatory system and a modern synthesis of magic, including a reappearance of Dee’s material with further elaboration and commentary.

Through communication with entities bearing the same name Crowley received a Holy Book revealing a new magical formula, and became the prophet of the New Aeon; receiving further Holy Books and magical instruction.

This much is well known, but the technical details of these transactions are too bizarre and removed from the norm to examine critically, rather than cynically. These three men, with their revelations, seem distinct at first sight — but are they? Is there in fact some continuity behind all this, some pattern or purpose? Look again, Dee didn’t just get a jumble of data, it was in fact a peculiar kind of book — i.e. the great bulk of the communications was centred on Logaeth and how to extract material from it.

So what kind of book was it? The answer is, a kind of mathemagical structure of numbers and letters with a bizarre language concealed within it, i.e. the reverse or negative of, say, the Hebrew Bible which is a fairly straightforward text with a weird mathemagical structure of numbers and letters concealed within it! Mathers was able to interpret much of this material into terms which the layman (or rather the poet, the author and the actress) were able to utilise without having the peculiar frame of reference of the Elizabethan mathematician and scientist. In so doing he caused the Occult Revival so-called, in which Enochian, as Dee’s system is known, plays a central role; although its close relationship with these events is little understood. Then along comes Crowley, gets initiated by Mathers and gets on famously with Enochian, until that is he produces a Holy Book which is said to contain a — you guessed it — complex mathemagical system of numbers and letters. A system which Crowley never managed to discover, still less expound! So my hypothesis is as follows:

a) Dee’s Logaeth was not a negative or reverse of a “Holy Book”, it was rather a blueprint or skeleton of one! It was the underlying structure, or a synthesis thereof, of an organism of the genus “Holy Book”. Which is to say that while it did not resemble a book as such, its mathe-magical structure bore a distinct resemblance to the hidden patterns behind such books as the Torah and Koran, or any other whose language is implicitly qabalistic, with inherent number/letter equivalences.

b) Mathers work fleshed out this skeleton into an operational procedure, and then broadcast on the Enochian/Qaballistic frequency, producing the Occult Revival, or to be more specific the prologue of the New Aeon.

c) Crowley received from the same agencies a Holy Book, which identifies itself as having a qaballistic structure which Crowley was unable to find, nor were Mudd or Achad much more successful. Crowley had the intuition to connect this undiscovered structure with Enochian in his commentaries. Therefore the Golden Dawn’s Enochiana is the transitional phase in a process “beginning” with Dee and culminating in Crowley. All that is required then is a means of entering into a “trans-rational relationship with the deity” via an effective key to the Book of the Law, and this is achieved via Qaballa.

So now I must turn to the Qaballa itself — than which nothing is simpler…..

THE ENGLISH QABALLA

The Book of the Law, as the Holy Book Crowley received is called, was a pivotal factor in his occult career. One may refer to “The Equinox of the Gods” for details, but the salient facts are these: Upon reception of AL (as it is also called) he considered himself rather than Mathers the authentic link with the Secret Chiefs behind the Golden Dawn, and the book itself supports this view with statements like “Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words & signs”, this effectively meaning (look ‘abrogate’ up in the dictionary if you don’t believe me) that the former structure of the Golden Dawn was revoked and a new system in place by divine decree. The book also says that the rites of which it approves are to be “half known and half concealed” and makes other statements relating to the ordeals et al — the viewpoint that abrogating one set of rituals makes all rituals etc. etc. whatsoever obsolete (which conclusion is only possible to a functional illiterate) is thus entirely fallacious. This concealment implicit in the programme implies the existence of a concealed key — indeed AL makes it quite clear that such a key or keys exist. One statement in particular is quite unequivocal: “Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet” i.e. a qaballistic structure underlies the entire text. The curious thing is that “Thou”, it doesn’t seem to mean Crowley, certainly he never successfully accomplished this task — though various efforts were made, including a letter order (without numeration) applied to the verses of another Holy Book, Liber Trigrammaton. That AL probably meant something or someone other than the scribe by “Thou” is implicit in other statements “one to follow thee… who shall discover the key of it all’Ķ let him (Crowley as the Beast) not seek after this…” if the key of it all is this same order and value then ‘thou’ must mean something or someone else. But this is too much of a grey area as yet, so let us turn to the facts.

For readers recently arrived in this dimension it is perhaps news that a solution to the riddle of the Order & Value was obtained some thirty odd years ago by one of the few genuine occult orders working in this country at that time. When I say genuine I mean possessed of knowledge and experience in the two main disciplines of Western Occultism — Qabalah and Astrology which were woefully neglected by the so called “Occult Revival” at that time. This aside though, what was obtained?

At first, simply a system of number and letter equivalence for the English Alphabet, dissimilar from Hebrew etc. in that its series continued unbroken from 1 to 26 rather than through hundreds, tens and units. This at first glance appeared like nothing so much as yet another system of vulgar numerology — save for one thing. Whereas every qabalist since the late 1800s had misunderstood the nature of qabalah, missing the fundamental fact that it was a “means of relating to the deity through their Word or Book” this system was obtained for that purpose and applied in that fashion, and consequently a quantum leap was achieved in Western Occultism. An entire magical order, little different from the usual reasonably competent occult group anywhere in the Western world in the last 150 years, was transmuted into an entirely different animal.

It was not a matter of one excellently trained occultist obtaining a book without a key, but of many occultists applying that key together in a fashion unseen and unsuspected for at least 400 years!

The system of number and letter equivalence was this:

This system was applied as gematria should be, to the text of the Holy Book concerned, in this case The Book of the Law, and to a greater or lesser extent the other “Class A” texts of the Thelemic canon.

The results were as far reaching at least as the work of Dee, Mathers and Crowley in that a vast quantity of material was obtained of a practical occult nature, along with the outlines of a most sophisticated cosmology and “occult philosophy”. But there was little if no impetus within the Order to share this information with the outside world.

It has been speculated that Dee was the original impetus for the Rosicrucian movement in the 16th century, not as the author of the manifestoes and alchemical texts in Germany, but as the source or inspiration for their occult work, combined as it was with science and humanist ethics. Be this as it may Mathers most certainly co-founded, and later led independently such an order, and Crowley founded his as the culmination and successor of that of Mathers. So it is certainly in character as it were for a group in contact with the Secret Chiefs or Angelic Teachers or what not to form elitist conclaves or to remain in them — a necessity in all likelihood given the terrific nature of the forces involved.

I however was not in the same position, I was initially outside of the Order, unknown to them, but working on similar lines — without their spectacular success, but in search of pretty much the same thing, a Qaballa of AL. Accordingly I was reasonably qualified to carry it into the outside world and translate it into terms others could recognise given time and effort. But that’s another story.