Customer Reviews

Book of the Law

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In Crowley's AHA he states that it was essential for him to surrender to god at one point in his initiatory progress. It is sad to see that some who follow Crowley today (one reviewer below, for example) think he is a devil worshipper and only idolizes himself! He is nothing of the kind! He is no more of a devil worshipper than those who worship Lord Shiva! Unfortunately, too many of us in the West condemn that which varies from safe and sane fundamentalist dogma. Admittedly Crowley seemed to have an axe to grind with hypocritical Christians, and probably didn't like the tyranny of "one God" either, but to see a reviewer applaud Liber Al vel Legis "if you hate God" appalls me.

That having been said, when one reads this revalatory, short, poetic text, one realizes he or she is not in Kansas anymore. Three gods are presented in Liber Al: Nuit, a sky (as opposed to earth!) mother, Had or Hadit, the stern male, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit, an exceedingly wrathful male. The text of Ra-Hoor-Khuit is particulary disturbing, so much so that Crowley tried to forget and lose the book for years, before coming to accept it. The story of Crowley's initial rejection and ultimate acceptance is fascinating. This story can be found in Book Four (ed. Hymanaeus Beta)together with a reproduction of the original soiled manuscript of the text.

This book is a koan wrapped inside a riddle wrapped in side a puzzle. Have fun with it!

The Book of the Law is without a doubt the most important revealed text to be released to the public in the 20th Century. Crowley was a fascinating individual, and the Book of the Law was the pinnacle of his magical written work. If you want to see what a real revealed text looks like, definetely check this one out, you can't go wrong.
I recently read another revealed text, 'Memetic Magic' by Kirk Packwood, which I have to admit compared in quality to the Book of the Law. It may well turn out to be the 21st Century equivalent of the magical revealed text. Check this one out too.

I love this book and read it again and again. Should you buy this book though? Well the entire text is available online all over the place. If you use a decent search engine like Google.com you will have no trouble finding it. So the reason for buying this book is if you wanted a nice bound copy of the text (In which case you have probably already read it a few times and know that's what you want and do not even need to bother reading this review).

If you aren't familiar with this book and you are curious I recommend first taking a look at it online and then purchasing "The Law Is for All : The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber Al Vel Legis, the Book of the Law". The book of the law was kind of hard for me to read the first few times. "The Law is for All" is the Book of the Law with a Commentary by Aleister Crowleys. Parts of the commentary can really help out in studying the book of the law. Also I recommend visiting some of the thelemic websites out there (search "thelema"). Terms like Thelema, Nuit, Hadit, Khabs, Khu, Ankh-af-na-Khonsu, and Hoor Paar Kraat don't make much sense and are a little intimidating without a little outside commentary. There is also a very short paper called "Duty" by Aleister Crowley available on the internet which I think explains the major concepts of Thelema quite well. Highly recommended.

I highly recommend this work to any Magick and/or Crowley enthusiast. Many of Crowley's slogans have found their origin in this peculiar little book (such as "Do what thou wilt..."). The bulk consists of three chapters dictated over a period of three days by a 'higher intelligence'(Aiwass)through automatic writing. Though on-line versions are available, this is a nice little gem to hold on to. This hard-cover edition also includes a rare copy of the original manuscript.

I also recommend the reader approach this book with a serious mind and draw their own conclusion. And PLEASE disregard the bigots, for ye shall deny yourself a wealth of information!

Aiwass sounds rather like the bad poet Crowley was. Also, the "Do what thou wilt" was done better by Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel. Nothing really original here, but it never hurts to take strange drugs and drink wines that foam, and all of the other stuff Crowley did without having to become logos of the aeon. Crowley was a massive failure in three dimensions, so he cooked up some "credentials" for the credulous in the fourth dimension with the Book of the Law. Strange that this Sumerian demon just happens to speak English, with some Latin thrown in, and does it in the purple prose of the demon poet Crowley.
Every man and woman is a star? Ever been to a shopping mall, Aleister?
If you want the real deal in magick, get thee to Franz Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics, and P.E.I. Bonewitz's Real Magic.

... Well not really :) Liber Al vel Legis can be viewed as an essay on the relationship of Man and "god". This book, "received" by Aleister Crowley on his honeymoon in 1904 is a powerfull work that can break through people's preconceptions (misconceptions?) of reality, religion and Man's place in the cosmos.

I have read this book more times than I can count, and always come away with new insights... not so much insights into the text, but insights into my own self. Reading this book is an agent of change, one cannot help being changed by reading this...be it for the better or the worse.

(Such is the reason for Crowley's famous Comment appended to the end of the text, and the joke in the title of this review.)

A previous reviewer blasts this book and paradigm for "borrowing" from other religions and beliefs, but to me this is the sublime beauty of it. Crowley or Aiwass (whomever you choose to think the author is), did steal and borrow from all religions, finding the common threads, and weaving a wonderfull web out of the best, and disposing of the rest.

Overall, even if one is not interested in Thelema, magick, or anything out of the "ordinary", I would recommend this short book just to challenge what you believe and what you hold to be true

THE PRESSURE IS MOUNTING AND IT WILL SOON BLOW. THIS BOOK IS THE FLAME FOR THE BOILER.

This is not a mere book that was writen by a man. NO! It is direct instructions for our evolution from The Higher Power. It instigates Magick! It instigates CHANGE! It instigates a change in our thinking, a change in our consciousness,a change in how we live. A change to help us unify ur efforts with nature and the universe at present. This law is not about witchcraft and magic of past. This law is concerned with correcting our seperation from the past and taking us forward into the future.

One must remember that this book is very hard to understand ... Even Aleister Crowley had no idea what some verses meant and some verses have and still do remain secret. One must read the commentary on this book which is found in "The Law is for All" and "The Equinox Number 1 volume 7"

Read this book and it will change your life. Even a partial reading will release forces into your life that will help you change along with evolution.

Various belief systems are meshed together in the Book of the law. Around 400 or so years ago we find francois rabalais
envisioned an abby of thelema as noted below with Do as thou wilt as a part of it's philosophy. Was Aleister Crowley impressed with the concept to the point of borrowing it.
Or was the book really written by aiswass.

Well my opinion is that IF crowley's story is as he represents it that the book probably came from his unconscious mind. Chapter 3 disappointingly sounds alot like the old testament which wouyld probably appeal to Crowley's at times delusional / grandiose personality. Overall interesting but i'm far from envisioning this as a divine text and question if aiswass was anything more then a concept personified.

The Abbey of Theleme

As excerpted from The Portable Rabelais: The Uninhibited Adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel, (Viking Press, 1960), in the lively modern version by Samuel Putnam and with his revealing introductory essay:

How Gargantua Had the Abbey of Theleme Built for the Monk

There remained the monk to provide for. Gargantua wanted to make him Abbot of Seuilly, but the friar refused. He wanted to give him the Abbey of Bourgueil or that of Saint-Florent, whichever might suit him best, or both, if he had a fancy for them. But the monk gave a peremptory reply to the effect that he would not take upon himself any office involving the government of others.

⤽For how,⤠he demanded, ⤽could I govern others, who cannot even govern myself? If you are of the opinion that I have done you, or may be able to do you in the future, any worthy service, give me leave to found an abbey according to my own plan."

This request pleased Gargantua, and the latter offered his whole providence of Theleme, lying along the River Loire, at a distance of two leagues from the great Forest of Port-Huault. The monk then asked that he be permitted to found a convent that should be exactly the opposite of all other institutions of the sort.

⤽In the first place, then,⤠said Gargantua, ⤽you don't want to build any walls around it; for all the other abbeys have plenty of those.â¤

⤽Right you are,⤠said the monk, ⤽for where there is a wall in front and behind there is bound to be a lot of murmuring, jealousy and plotting on the inside.â¤

Moreover, in view of the fact that in certain convents in this world there is a custom, if any woman (by which, I mean any modest or respectable one) enters the place, to clean up thoroughly after her wherever she has been â¤" in view of this fact, a regulation was drawn up to the effect that if any monk or nun should happen to enter this new convent, all the places they had set foot in were to be thoroughly scoured and scrubbed. And since, in other convents, everything is run, ruled, and fixed by hours, it was decreed that in this one there should not be any clock or dial of any sort, but that whatever work there was should be done whenever occasion offered. For, as Gargantua remarked, the greatest loss of time he knew was to watch the hands of the clock.

What good came of it? It was the greatest foolishness in the world to regulate one⤙s conduct by the tinkling of a timepiece, instead of by intelligence and good common sense.

Another feature: Since in those days women were not put into convents unless they were blind in one eye, lame, hunchbacked, ugly, misshapen, crazy, silly, deformed, and generally of no account, and since men did not enter a monastery unless they were snotty-nosed, underbred, dunces, and trouble-makers at home â¤"

⤽Speaking of that,⤠said the monk, ⤽of what use is a woman who is neither good nor good to look at?â¤

⤽Put her in a convent,⤠said Gargantua.

⤽Yes,⤠said the monk, ⤽and set her to making shirts.â¤

And so, it was decided that in this convent they would receive only the pretty ones, the ones with good figures and sunny dispositions, and only the handsome, well set-up, good-natured men.

Item: Since in the convents of women, men never entered, except underhandedly and by stealth, it was provided that, in this one, there should be no women unless there were men also, and no men unless there were also women.

Item: Inasmuch as many men, as well as women, once received into a convent were forced and compelled, after a year of probation, to remain there all the rest of their natural lives -- in view of this, it was provided that, here, both men and women should be absolutely free to pick up and leave whenever they happened to feel like it.

Item: Whereas, ordinarily, the religious take three vows, namely, those of chastity, poverty and obedience, it was provided, that, in this abbey, one might honorably marry, that each one should be rich, and that all should live in utter freedom.

THIS is the book.

Is "Aiwaz" talking about a Crowley, a coming prophet, prophets, or describing the universe itself? OR BOTH? That my friend is up to you to decide. This book is for most part a synthesis of the most important aspects of the spiritual systems and religions of the world... regardless of what else it is. This will keep you busy for a while.

Holy book or puzzle book/cipher text? Either way, this is a fantastic work; something everyone should own. I'm not into Crowley or Thelema, but there is no doubt that Aiwass is brilliant!

This edition of "Liber aL" is beautiful, and the best to be published to date (the exception being private prints.) Amazingly, and something that has been long overdue: Rose gets credit!
Of course, Liber 220 (typeset version of LaL) is included, and so is a wonderful reproduction of the original manuscript (extremely nice to have for further analysis of the book; though LaL purists may be dismayed with the version used.) This edition also includes the 'Stele of Revealing' with translation.

You can't go wrong with this edition of "Liber aL." Too bad the cover of "Liber L. vel Legis" wasn't included in the reproduction of the original ms.