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Columbian Exchange
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New World native plants. Clockwise, from top left: 1. Maize (Zea mays) 2. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) 3. Potato (Solanum tuberosum) 4. Vanilla (Vanilla) 5. Pará rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) 6. Cacao (Theobroma cacao) 7. Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica)
Old World native plants. Clockwise, from top left: 1. Citrus (Rutaceae); 2. Apple (Malus domestica); 3. Banana (Musa); 4. Mango (Mangifera); 5. Onion (Allium); 6. Coffee (Coffea); 7. Wheat (Triticum spp.); 8. Rice (Oryza sativa)
The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries, related to European colonization and trade after Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage.[1] Invasive species, including communicable diseases, were a byproduct of the Exchange. The changes in agriculture significantly altered and changed global populations. However, the most significant immediate impact of the Columbian Exchange was the cultural exchanges and the transfer of people between continents. Furthermore, a byproduct of the Columbian Exchange was the Atlantic slave trade, where as many as 12.5 million enslaved African people were forcibly transferred as a labor source to other regions.[2]
The new contact between the global population circulated a wide variety of crops and livestock, which supported increases in population in both hemispheres, although diseases initially caused precipitous declines in the numbers of indigenous peoples of the Americas. Traders returned to Europe with maize, potatoes, and tomatoes, which became very important crops in Europe by the 18th century.
The term was first used in 1972 by American historian Alfred W. Crosby in his environmental history book The Columbian Exchange.[3] It was rapidly adopted by other historians and journalists and has become widely known.
Contents
[hide]
1 Origin of the term
2 Influence
2.1 Crops
2.1.1 Tomatoes
2.2 Livestock
2.3 Disease
2.4 Cultural exchanges
3 Organism examples
4 Later history
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Origin of the term[edit]
In 1972 Alfred W. Crosby, an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin, published The Columbian Exchange.[3] This book covers the environmental impact of Columbus' landing in the new world.[4]
The term has become popular among historians and journalists, such as Charles C. Mann, whose book 1493 expands and updates Crosby's original research.[5]
Influence[edit]
Inca-era terraces on Taquile are used to grow traditional Andean staples such as quinoa and potatoes, alongside wheat, a European introduction.
Crops[edit]
Portuguese trading animals in Japan; detail of Nanban panel (1570–1616)
Four plants native to the Americas have spread around the world: Potato, maize, tomato, and tobacco.[6] Before 1500, potatoes were not grown outside of South America. By the 1840s, Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the proximate cause of the Great Famine was a potato disease.[7] Potatoes eventually became an important staple of the diet in much of Europe. Many European rulers, including Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, encouraged the cultivation of the potato.[8]
Maize and cassava, introduced to the Portuguese from South America in the 16th century,[9] have replaced sorghum and millet as Africa's most important food crops.[10] 16th-century Spanish colonizers introduced new staple crops to Asia from the Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes, and thereby contributed to population growth in Asia.[11]
Tomatoes, which came to Europe from the New World via Spain, were initially prized in Italy mainly for their ornamental value (see below). From the 19th century tomato sauces became typical of Neapolitan cuisine and, ultimately, Italian cuisine in general.[12] Coffee (introduced in the Americas circa 1720) from Africa and the Middle East and sugarcane (introduced from South Asia) from the Spanish West Indies became the main export commodity crops of extensive Latin American plantations. Introduced to India by the Portuguese, chili and potatoes from South America have become an integral part of Indian cuisine.[13]
Before the Columbian Exchange, there were no oranges in Florida, no bananas in Ecuador, no paprika in Hungary, no potatoes in Ireland, no coffee in Colombia, no pineapples in Hawaii, no rubber trees in Africa, no chili peppers in Thailand, no tomatoes in Italy, and no chocolate in Switzerland.
Tomatoes[edit]
It took three centuries after their introduction in Europe for tomatoes to become widely accepted. Of all the New World plants introduced to Italy, only the potato took as long as the tomato to gain acceptance. In large part this was due to 16th-century physicians believing that this native Mexican fruit was poisonous and the generator of "melancholic humours." In 1544, Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a Tuscan physician and botanist, suggested that tomatoes might be edible, but no record exists of anyone consuming them at this time. On October 31, 1548 the tomato was given its first name anywhere in Europe when a house steward of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence, wrote to the De' Medici's private secretary that the basket of pomi d'oro "had arrived safely." At this time, the label pomi d'oro was also used to refer to figs, melons, and citrus fruits in treatises by scientists.[14]
In the early years, tomatoes were mainly grown as ornamentals in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovan Vettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty" and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. Tomatoes were grown in elite town and country gardens in the fifty years or so following their arrival in Europe and were only occasionally depicted in works of art. However, in 1592 the head gardener at the botanical garden of Aranjuez near Madrid, under the patronage of Philip II of Spain wrote, "it is said [tomatoes] are good for sauces." Besides this account, tomatoes remained exotic plants grown for ornamental purposes, but rarely for culinary use. The combination of pasta with tomato sauce was developed only in the late nineteenth century. Today around 32,000 acres (12,950 ha) of tomatoes are cultivated in Italy, although there are still areas where relatively few tomatoes are grown and consumed.[14]
Livestock[edit]
Further information: Plains Indians § The horse
Initially, at least, the Columbian exchange of animals largely went through one route, from Europe to the New World, as the Eurasian regions had domesticated many more animals. Horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, large dogs, cats and bees were rapidly adopted by native peoples for transport, food, and other uses.[15] One of the first European exports to the Americas, the horse, changed the lives of many Native American tribes in the mountains. They shifted to a nomadic lifestyle, as opposed to agriculture, based on hunting bison on horseback and moved down to the Great Plains. The existing Plains tribes expanded their territories with horses, and the animals were considered so valuable that horse herds became a measure of wealth.[16]
Still, the effects of the introduction of European livestock on the environments and peoples of the New World were not always positive. In the Caribbean, the proliferation of European animals had large effects on native fauna and undergrowth and damaged conucos, plots managed by indigenous peoples for subsistence.[17]
Disease[edit]
Further information: Influx of disease in the Caribbean
European exploration of tropical areas was aided by the New World discovery of quinine, the first effective treatment for malaria. Europeans suffered from this disease, but some indigenous populations had developed at least partial resistance to it. In Africa, resistance to malaria has been associated with other genetic changes among sub-Saharan Africans and their descendants, which can cause sickle-cell disease.[1]:164
Before regular communication had been established between the two hemispheres, the varieties of domesticated animals and infectious diseases that jumped to humans, such as smallpox, were substantially more numerous in the Old World than in the New due to more extensive long-distance trade networks. Many had migrated west across Eurasia with animals or people, or were brought by traders from Asia, so diseases of two continents were suffered by all occupants. While Europeans and Asians were affected by the Eurasian diseases, their endemic status in those continents over centuries resulted in many people gaining acquired immunity.
By contrast, "Old World" diseases had a devastating effect when introduced to Native American populations via European carriers, as the people in the Americas had no natural immunity to the new diseases. Measles caused many deaths. The smallpox epidemics are believed to have caused the largest death tolls among Native Americans, surpassing any wars[18] and far exceeding the comparative loss of life in Europe due to the Black Death.[1]:164 It is estimated that upwards of 80–95 percent of the Native American population died in these epidemics within the first 100–150 years following 1492. Many regions in the Americas lost 100%.[1]:165 The beginning of demographic collapse on the North American continent has typically been attributed to the spread of a well-documented smallpox epidemic from Hispaniola in December 1518.[17] At that point in time, approximately only 10,000 indigenous people were still alive in Hispaniola.[17]
Similarly, yellow fever is thought to have been brought to the Americas from Africa via the Atlantic slave trade. Because it was endemic in Africa, many people there had acquired immunity. Europeans suffered higher rates of death than did African-descended persons when exposed to yellow fever in Africa and the Americas, where numerous epidemics swept the colonies beginning in the 17th century and continuing into the late 19th century. The disease caused widespread fatalities in the Caribbean during the heyday of slave-based sugar plantation.[17] The replacement of native forests by sugar plantations and factories facilitated its spread in the tropical area by reducing the number of potential natural predators.[17] Yet, the means of the transmission was unknown until 1881, when Carlos Finlay suggested that the disease was transmitted through mosquitoes, now known to be female mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti.[17]
The history of syphilis has been well-studied, but the exact origin of the disease is unknown and remains a subject of debate.[19] There are two primary hypotheses: one proposes that syphilis was carried to Europe from the Americas by the crew of Christopher Columbus in the early 1490s, while the other proposes that syphilis previously existed in Europe but went unrecognized.[20] These are referred to as the "Columbian" and "pre-Columbian" hypotheses.[20] The first written descriptions of the disease in the Old World came in 1493.[21] The first large outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, among the army of Charles VIII, during their invasion of Naples.[20][22][23][24]
Cultural exchanges[edit]
One of the influences related to the migration of people were cultural exchanges. For example, in the article "The Myth of Early Globalization: The Atlantic Economy, 1500–1800" Pieter Remmer makes the point that "from 1500 onward, a 'clash of cultures' had begun in the Atlantic".[25] This clash of culture transferred European values to indigenous cultures. For example, the emergence of private property in regions where there were little to no rights to lands, the concepts of monogamy and the nuclear family, the role of women and children in the family system, and the "superiority of free labor".[26] An example of this type of cultural exchange occurred during the 1500s in North America. When these early European colonizers first entered North America, they encountered fence-less lands which indicated to them that this land was unimproved. For these Europeans, they were seeking economic opportunities, therefore, land and resources were important for the success of the mission. When these colonizers entered North America they encountered a fully established culture of people called the Powhatan. The Powhatan farmers in Virginia scattered their farm plots within larger cleared areas. These larger cleared areas were a communal place for naturally growing and useful plants. As the Europeans viewed fences as "hallmarks of civilization" they set about transforming "the land into something more suitable for themselves".[27] In implementing their practices, the Europeans enslaved, murdered, and exploited indigenous populations. Furthermore, in cases of enslaved peoples (and in particular, enslaved Africans) the Europeans simultaneously implemented their value system while at the same time justifying enslaving people through a philosophy which reduced the enslaved people to property. Thus, the slave traders and some of the plantation owners used the concept of family to exploit and control the enslaved people. In other subtle ways, which had a large impact the cultural exchanges involved sharing practices and traditions. An example of this can be found in the tobacco industry.
Tobacco was one of the luxury goods which was spread as a direct result of the Columbian Exchange. As is discussed in regard to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the tobacco trade increased demand for free labor and spread tobacco worldwide. In discussing the widespread uses of tobacco, the Spanish physician Nicolas Monardes (1493–1588) noted that "The black people that have gone from these parts to the Indies, have taken up the same manner and use of tobacco that the Indians have".[28] As the European colonizers and enslaved Africans traveled the globe and came into contact with indigenous peoples, they took with them the cultural practices related to tobacco, and spread them to additional regions. Therefore, demand for tobacco grew in the course of the cultural exchanges and increased contacts among peoples.
Organism examples[edit]
See also: New World crops, Agriculture in Mesoamerica, and Muisca agriculture
Post-Columbian transfers of native organisms with close ties to humans
Type of organism
Old World to New World
New World to Old World
Domesticated animals
cat (domestic – wild species already present)
cattle
chicken
donkey
goat (the goats of the Old World, genus Capra, are different from the mountain goat of the New World, genus Oreamnos)
guineafowl
honey bee (European honey bee – other wild and domesticated species already present)
horse
rabbit (domestic)
pig
sheep (domestic)
water buffalo
alpaca
guinea pig
llama
Muscovy duck
turkey
Cultivated plants
almond
apple
apricot
asparagus
banana (including cooking banana)
barley
basil
beetroot
Brassica oleracea-derived vegetables
broccoli
Brussels sprout
cabbage
cauliflower
collard greens
kale
cantaloupe
carrot
celery
chickpea
citrus (orange, lemon, etc.)
coffee
common fig
coriander (also known as cilantro)
cucumber
cumin
eggplant
Elaeis (oil palm)
fennel
flax
garlic
ginger
hemp (including cannabis)
leek
lentil
lettuce
mango
millet
Momordica charantia (bitter melon)
oat
okra
olive
onion
opium
oregano
pea
peach
pear
pistachio
pomegranate
radish
rice
rye
sesame
sorghum
soybean
spinach
sugarcane and sugar beet
turmeric
turnip
watermelon
wheat
yam (sometimes misnamed "sweet potato")
Acca sellowiana (feijoa, pineapple guava, Brazilian guava, guavasteen)
Annona reticulata (custard apple)
agave
allspice
amaranth (as grain)
annatto
arrowroot or Maranta arundinacea
avocado
bell pepper
Calathea allouia (leren)
Canna indica (achira)
cashew
cassava (manioc, tapioca, yuca)
chili pepper
cherimoya
cocoa bean
cotton (long-staple species)
cranberry (large cranberry, or bearberry species)
cucurbita (squash)
Eryngium foetidum (culantro, Mexican coriander)
guava (common)
Helianthus (sunflower)
Jerusalem artichoke
Pachyrhizus erosus (jícama)
maize (corn)
Manilkara zapota (sapodilla)
Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear)
papaya
passionfruit
peanut
pecan
Phaseolus vulgaris (beans: pinto, lima, kidney, etc.)
pineapple
pitaya (dragon fruit)
potato
pumpkin
quinoa
soursop
stevia
strawberry (commercial varieties)
sugar-apple
sweet potato
tobacco
tomato
vanilla
yerba mate
yucca
zucchini (courgette)
Infectious diseases
bubonic plague
chickenpox
cholera
diphtheria
influenza
leprosy
malaria
measles
pertussis
scarlet fever
smallpox
typhoid fever
typhus
yaws
yellow fever
Chagas disease
Nonvenereal endemic syphilis
pinta
syphilis (disputed)
Later history[edit]
Further information: Introduced species, Invasive species, and Lists of invasive species
Plants that arrived by land, sea, or air in the times before 1492 are called archaeophytes, and plants introduced to Europe after those times are called neophytes. Invasive species of plants and pathogens also were introduced by chance, including such weeds as tumbleweeds (Salsola spp.) and wild oats (Avena fatua). Some plants introduced intentionally, such as the kudzu vine introduced in 1894 from Japan to the United States to help control soil erosion, have since been found to be invasive pests in the new environment.
Fungi have also been transported, such as the one responsible for Dutch elm disease, killing American elms in North American forests and cities, where many had been planted as street trees. Some of the invasive species have become serious ecosystem and economic problems after establishing in the New World environments.[29][30] A beneficial, although probably unintentional, introduction is Saccharomyces eubayanus, the yeast responsible for lager beer now thought to have originated in Patagonia.[31]
In addition to these, many animals were introduced to new habitats on the other side of the world either accidentally or incidentally. These include such animals as brown rats, earthworms (apparently absent from parts of the pre-Columbian New World), and zebra mussels, which arrived on ships.[32] Escaped and feral populations of non-indigenous animals have thrived in both the Old and New Worlds, often negatively impacting or displacing native species. In the New World, populations of feral European cats, pigs, horses and cattle are common, and Burmese pythons are considered problematic. In the Old World, Eastern gray squirrel have been particularly successful in colonising Great Britain and populations of raccoons can now be found in some regions of Germany, the Caucasus and Japan. Fur farm escapees such as coypu and American mink have extensive populations. Canada geese are also common.
See also[edit]
Agriculture and agronomy portal
Indigenous peoples of the Americas portal
New Spain portal
Alfred W. Crosby
Domestication
Great American Interchange
Glossary of invasion biology terms
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World
List of food plants native to the Americas
Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories
Transformation of culture
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c d Nunn, Nathan; Qian, Nancy (2010). "The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 24 (2): 163–188. doi:10.1257/jep.24.2.163. JSTOR 25703506.
Jump up ^ Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (2013). Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.slavevoyages.org/
^ Jump up to: a b http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alfred-w-crosby-on-the-columbian-exchange-98116477/?no-ist
Jump up ^ Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1972
Jump up ^ de Vorsey, Louis (2001). "The Tragedy of the Columbian Exchange". In McIlwraith, Thomas F; Muller, Edward K. North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 27. Thanks to…Crosby's work, the term 'Columbian exchange' is now widely used…
Jump up ^ Ley, Willy (December 1965). "The Healthfull Aromatick Herbe". For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 88–98.
Jump up ^ "The Impact of the Potato", History Magazine
Jump up ^ Crosby, Alfred (2003). The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. p. 184.
Jump up ^ "Super-Sized Cassava Plants May Help Fight Hunger In Africa" Archived December 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine., The Ohio State University
Jump up ^ "Maize Streak Virus-Resistant Transgenic Maize: an African solution to an African Problem", Scitizen, August 7, 2007
Jump up ^ "China's Population: Readings and Maps", Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum Project
Jump up ^ Riley, Gillian, ed. (2007). "Tomato". The Oxford Companion to Italian Food. Oxford University Press. pp. 529–530. ISBN 978-0-19-860617-8.
Jump up ^ Collingham, Lizzie (2006). "Vindaloo: the Portuguese and the chilli pepper". Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 47–73. ISBN 978-0-19-988381-3.
^ Jump up to: a b A History of the Tomato in Italy Pomodoro!, David Gentilcore (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2010).
Jump up ^ Michael Francis, John, ed. (2006). "Columbian Exchange—Livestock". Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 303–308. ISBN 978-1-85109-421-9.
Jump up ^ This transfer reintroduced horses to the Americas, as the species had died out there prior to the development of the modern horse in Eurasia.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Palmié, Stephan (2011). The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226645087.
Jump up ^ "The Story Of... Smallpox – and other Deadly Eurasian Germs", Guns, Germs and Steel, PBS Archived 17 January 2010 at WebCite
Jump up ^ Kent ME, Romanelli F (February 2008). "Reexamining syphilis: an update on epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and management". Ann Pharmacother. 42 (2): 226–36. doi:10.1345/aph.1K086. PMID 18212261.
^ Jump up to: a b c Farhi, D; Dupin, N (Sep–Oct 2010). "Origins of syphilis and management in the immunocompetent patient: facts and controversies". Clinics in dermatology. 28 (5): 533–8. doi:10.1016/j.clindermatol.2010.03.011. PMID 20797514.
Jump up ^ Smith, Tara C. (December 23, 2015). "Thanks Columbus! The true story of how syphilis spread to Europe". Quartz. Retrieved 1 September 2016. The first cases of the disease in the Old World were described in 1493.
Jump up ^ Franzen, C (December 2008). "Syphilis in composers and musicians—Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Schubert, Schumann, Smetana". European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. 27 (12): 1151–7. doi:10.1007/s10096-008-0571-x. PMID 18592279.
Jump up ^ A New Skeleton and an Old Debate About Syphilis; The Atlantic; Cari Romm; February 18, 2016
Jump up ^ Choi, Charles Q. (December 27, 2011). "Case Closed? Columbus Introduced Syphilis to Europe". Scientific American. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
Jump up ^ Emmer, Pieter. "The Myth of Early Globalization: The Atlantic Economy, 1500–1800." European Review 11, no. 1. Feb. 2003. p. 45-46
Jump up ^ Emmer, Pieter. "The Myth of Early Globalization: The Atlantic Economy, 1500–1800." European Review 11, no. 1. Feb. 2003. p. 46
Jump up ^ Mann, Charles. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. New York, New York: Vintage Books, 2011. loc. 1094 and 1050
Jump up ^ Monardes, Nicholas. "Of the Tabaco and of his Greate Vertues." Frampton, John trans, Wolf, Michael, ed. Taboacco.org. Accessed June 1, 2017 http://archive.tobacco.org/History/monardes.html
Jump up ^ Simberloff, Daniel (2000). "Introduced Species: The Threat to Biodiversity & What Can Be Done". American Institute of Biological Sciences: Bringing biology to informed decision making.
Jump up ^ Fernández Pérez, Joaquin and Ignacio González Tascón (eds.) (1991). La agricultura viajera. Barcelona, Spain: Lunwerg Editores, S. A.
Jump up ^ Elusive Lager Yeast Found in Patagonia, Discovery News, August 23, 2011
Jump up ^ Hoddle, M. S. "Quagga & Zebra Mussels". Center for Invasive Species Research, University of California, Riverside . Retrieved June 29, 2010.
External links[edit]
The Columbian Exchange: Plants, Animals, and Disease between the Old and New Worlds by Alfred W. Crosby (2009)
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart by Jeremy Adelman, Stephen Aron, Stephen Kotkin, et al.
Foods that Changed the World by Steven R. King from the Wayback Machine
The Columbian Exchange video, study guide, analysis, and teaching guide
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The Book of the Law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the book by Aleister Crowley. For Book of the Law of the Lord, see Book of Law. For the religious or philosophical text displayed during a Masonic Lodge meeting, see Volume of Sacred Law.
This article relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources. (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
The Book of the Law,
or
Liber AL vel Legis
Authors
Aleister Crowley
Rose Edith Kelly
Aiwass
Country
Egypt
Language
English
Genre
Thelema
Publication date
1904
Liber AL vel Legis (Latin pronunciation: [ˈliːber ˈɛɫ weɫ ˈleːgis])[citation needed] is the central sacred text of Thelema, allegedly written down from dictation mostly by Aleister Crowley, although his wife Rose Edith Crowley is also known to have written two phrases into the manuscript of the Book after its dictation. Crowley claimed it was dictated to him by a discarnate entity named Aiwass. However, the three chapters are largely written in the first person by the Thelemic deities Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit respectively, rather than by Aiwass/Aiwaz.
Through the reception of the Book, Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity, to be known as the "Æon of Horus".[1][2][3] The primary precept of this new aeon is the charge to "Do what thou wilt".
The book contains three chapters, each of which was alleged to be written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on 8 April, 9 April, and 10 April in Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1904.[4] Crowley says that the author was an entity named Aiwass, whom he later referred to as his personal Holy Guardian Angel (analogous to but not identical with "Higher Self"). Biographer Lawrence Sutin quotes private diaries that fit this story, and writes that "if ever Crowley uttered the truth of his relation to the Book," his public account accurately describes what he remembered on this point.[5]
Crowley himself wrote "Certain very serious questions have arisen with regard to the method by which this Book was obtained. I do not refer to those doubts—real or pretended—which hostility engenders, for all such are dispelled by study of the text; no forger could have prepared so complex a set of numerical and literal puzzles[...]"[4]
The book is often referred to simply as Liber AL, Liber Legis or just AL, though technically the latter two refer only to the manuscript.
Contents
[hide]
1 Creation
1.1 Summons
1.2 Writing
1.3 Changes to the manuscript
1.4 Speakers
2 Interpretation
2.1 Symbolism of the "New Aeon of the Child"
2.2 Qabalah of The Book of the Law
2.3 Prophecy of the Book
3 The Comment
4 Skeptical interpretations
5 Structure and Title
6 Editions
7 In popular culture
8 See also
9 Notes
10 Further reading
11 External links
Creation[edit]
The Stele of Revealing (Bulaq 666): Nuit, Hadit as the winged solar disk, Ra Hoor Khuit seated on his throne, and the stele's owner, Ankh-af-na-khonsu
Summons[edit]
According to Crowley,[6] the story began on 16 March 1904, when he tried to "shew the Sylphs" by use of the Bornless Ritual to his wife, Rose Edith Kelly, while spending the night in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, "They're waiting for you!" Since Rose had no interest in magic or mysticism, he took little interest. However, on the 18th, after invoking Thoth (the god of knowledge), she mentioned Horus by name as the one waiting for him. Crowley, still skeptical, asked her numerous questions about Horus, which she answered accurately supposedly without having any prior study of the subject:
Force and Fire (I asked her to describe his moral qualities.)
Deep blue light. (I asked her to describe the conditions caused by him. This light is quite unmistakable and unique; but of course her words, though a fair description of it, might equally apply to some other.)
Horus. (I asked her to pick out his name from a list of ten dashed off at haphazard.)
Recognized his figure when shown. (This refers to the striking scene in the Boulak Museum, which will be dealt with in detail.)
Knew my past relations with the God. (This means, I think, that she knew I had taken his place in temple (See Equinox Vol. I, No. II, the Neophyte Ritual of the G.D.) etc., and that I had never once invoked him.)
Knew his enemy. (I asked, "Who is his enemy?" Reply, "Forces of the waters—of the Nile." She knew no Egyptology—or anything else.)
Knew his lineal figure and its color. (A 1/84 chance.)
Knew his place in temple. (A 1/4 chance, at the least.)
Knew his weapon (from a list of 6.)
Knew his planetary nature (from a list of 7 planets.)
Knew his number (from a list of 10 units.)
Picked him out of (a)Five, (b)Three indifferent, i,e, arbitrary symbols. (This means that I settled in my own mind that say D of A,B,C,D, and E should represent him and that she then said D.)
We cannot too strongly insist on the extraordinary character of this identification.
Calculate the odds! We cannot find a mathematical expression for tests 1,2,4,5, or 6, but the other 7 tests give us: 1/10 x 1/84 x 1/4 x 1/6 x 1/7 x 1/10 x 1/15 = 1/21,168,000
Twenty-one million to one against her getting through half the ordeal![4]
Crowley also gives a different chronology, in which an invocation of Horus preceded the questioning. Lawrence Sutin says this ritual described Horus in detail, and could have given Rose the answers to her husband's questions.[7]
As part of his 'test' for Rose, Crowley claimed they visited the Bulaq Museum (even though that museum had been closed in 1902), where Crowley asked her to point out an image of Horus. Much to Crowley's initial amusement, she passed by several common images of the god, and went upstairs. From across the room[4] Rose identified Horus on the stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, then housed under inventory number 666 (since moved to the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, number A 9422). The stela would subsequently be known to Thelemites (adherents of Thelema) as the "Stele of Revealing."
On 20 March, Crowley invoked Horus, "with great success". Between 23 March and 8 April, Crowley had the hieroglyphs on the stele translated. Also, Rose revealed that her "informant" was not Horus himself, but his messenger, Aiwass.
Finally, on 7 April, Rose gave Crowley his instructions—for three days he was to enter the "temple" and write down what he heard between noon and 1:00 P.M.
Writing[edit]
Crowley said he wrote The Book of the Law on 8, 9 and 10 April 1904, between the hours of noon and 1:00 pm, in the flat where he and his new wife were staying for their honeymoon, which he described as being near the Boulak Museum in a fashionable European quarter of Cairo, let by the firm Congdon & Co. The apartment was on the ground floor, and the "temple" was the drawing room.
Crowley described the encounter in detail in The Equinox of the Gods, saying that as he sat at his desk in Cairo, the voice of Aiwass came from over his left shoulder in the furthest corner of the room. This voice is described as passionate and hurried, and was "of deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, fierce or aught else as suited the moods of the message. Not bass—perhaps a rich tenor or baritone."[8] Further, the voice was devoid of "native or foreign accent".
Crowley also got a "strong impression" of the speaker's general appearance. Aiwass had a body composed of "fine matter," which had a gauze-like transparency. Further, he "seemed to be a tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw. The dress was not Arab; it suggested Assyria or Persia, but very vaguely."[8]
Despite initially writing that it was an "excellent example of automatic writing,"[9] Crowley later insisted that it was not just automatic writing (though the writing included aspects of this, since when Crowley tried to stop writing he was compelled to continue. The writing also recorded Crowley's own thoughts). Rather he said that the experience was exactly like an actual voice speaking to him. This resulted in a few transcription errors, about which the scribe had to later inquire.
Note, moreover, with what greedy vanity I claim authorship even of all the other A∴A∴ Books in Class A, though I wrote them inspired beyond all I know to be I. Yet in these Books did Aleister Crowley, the master of English both in prose and in verse, partake insofar as he was That. Compare those Books with The Book of the Law! The style [of the former] is simple and sublime; the imagery is gorgeous and faultless; the rhythm is subtle and intoxicating; the theme is interpreted in faultless symphony. There are no errors of grammar, no infelicities of phrase. Each Book is perfect in its kind.
I, daring to snatch credit for these [...] dared nowise to lay claim to have touched The Book of the Law, not with my littlest finger-tip.[10]
He also admits to the possibility that Aiwass may be identified with his own subconscious, although he thought this was unlikely:
Of course I wrote them, ink on paper, in the material sense; but they are not My words, unless Aiwaz be taken to be no more than my subconscious self, or some part of it: in that case, my conscious self being ignorant of the Truth in the Book and hostile to most of the ethics and philosophy of the Book, Aiwaz is a severely suppressed part of me. Such a theory would further imply that I am, unknown to myself, possessed of all sorts of praeternatural knowledge and power.[8]
Crowley's former secretary Israel Regardie, on the other hand considered this statement by Crowley to be no real objection to Aiwass being a part of Crowley's unconscious mind, claiming that:
It can safely be said that current psychological theory would agree that any one person is possessed of all sorts of knowledge and power of which he is totally unconscious... Both Freudian and Jungian theory are on the side of such an assumption...[11]
In his introduction to his edition of The Law is for All, Israel Regardie stated:
It really makes little difference in the long run whether The Book of the Law was dictated to [Crowley] by a preterhuman intelligence named Aiwass or whether it stemmed from the creative deeps of Aleister Crowley. The book was written. And he became the mouthpiece for the Zeitgeist, accurately expressing the intrinsic nature of our time as no one else has done to date.[12]
Crowley himself was initially opposed to the book and its message. "I was trying to forget the whole business."
The fact of the matter was that I resented The Book of the Law with my whole soul. For one thing, it knocked my Buddhism completely on the head. ... I was bitterly opposed to the principles of the Book on almost every point of morality. The third chapter seemed to me gratuitously atrocious.[13]
Shortly after making a few copies for evaluation by close friends, the manuscript was misplaced and forgotten about. It would be several years before it was found, and the first official publication occurred in 1909.
The Book of the Law annoyed me; I was still obsessed by the idea that secrecy was necessary to a magical document, that publication would destroy its importance. I determined, in a mood which I can only describe as a fit of ill temper, to publish The Book of the Law, and then get rid of it for ever.[14]
Changes to the manuscript[edit]
The final version of Liber Legis includes text that did not appear in the original writing, including many small changes to spelling. In several cases, stanzas from the Stele of Revealing were inserted within the text. For example, chapter 1, page 2, line 9 was written as "V.1. of Spell called the Song" and was replaced with:
Above, the gemmèd azure is
The naked splendour of Nuit;
She bends in ecstasy to kiss
The secret ardours of Hadit.
The wingèd globe, the starry blue,
Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
On page 6 of chapter 1, the following is in the original manuscript:
And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the unfragmentary non-atomic fact of my universality. along with a note: Write this in whiter words But go forth on.
This was later changed to:
And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body. (AL I:26)[15]
Again in chapter 1, on page 19, Crowley writes, (Lost 1 phrase) The shape of my star is—. Later, it was Rose who filled in the lost phrase:
The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red. (AL I:60)
Chapter 2 has one major change.
Verse 66 in the original reads: "Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be our bed in working! Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be glad. Thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our agelong love. Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one; we are none." Instructions were given to one of Aleister Crowley's successors[16] to include a new line between the fourth and fifth lines. This line was to be added at a specified time after Aleister Crowley's death. The line reads: "One's death is a gift to Life!" The completed verse then reads: "Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, & be our bed in working! Thrill with the joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be Glad. One's death is a gift to Life! Thy death shall be the seal of the promise of our agelong love. Come! lift up thine heart & rejoice! We are one; we are none." This new addition brings the total words in the verse to 66, the number of the verse.
Chapter 3 has a few spelling changes, and includes large chunks inserted from Crowley's paraphrase of The Stele of Revealing.
The phrase "Force of Coph Nia", which is found in chapter 3, on page 64 (verse 72), was filled in by Rose Kelly because that place in the manuscript had been left incomplete as not having been properly heard by Crowley during the supposed dictation.[17] Israel Regardie proposed that Coph Nia could have been intended to represent Ain Soph, the Cabalistic phrase for Infinity, and that Rose might not have known that Hebrew letters are written from right to left or their meaning.[11]
Speakers[edit]
Although the "messenger" of Liber AL was Aiwass, each chapter is presented as an expression of one of three god-forms: Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
The first chapter is spoken by Nuit, the Egyptian goddess of the night sky, called the Queen of Space. Crowley calls her the "Lady of the Starry Heaven, who is also Matter in its deepest metaphysical sense, who is the infinite in whom all we live and move and have our being."[18]
The second chapter is spoken by Hadit, who refers to himself as the "complement of Nu," i.e., his bride. As such, he is the infinitely condensed point, the center of her infinite circumference. Crowley says of him, "He is eternal energy, the Infinite Motion of Things, the central core of all being. The manifested Universe comes from the marriage of Nuit and Hadit; without this could no thing be. This eternal, this perpetual marriage-feast is then the nature of things themselves; and therefore, everything that exists is a "crystallisation of divine ecstasy", and "He sees the expansion and the development of the soul through joy."[18]
The third chapter is spoken by Ra-Hoor-Khuit, "a god of War and of Vengeance", also identified as Hoor-paar-kraat, the Crowned and Conquering Child.
Crowley sums up the speakers of the three chapters thus, "we have Nuit, Space, Hadit, the point of view; these experience congress, and so produce Heru-Ra-Ha, who combines the ideas of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-paar-kraat."[19]
The book also introduces:
The Beast (The Great Beast 666, TO MEGA THERION, Aleister Crowley) See Therion (Thelema)
The Scarlet Woman, also known as Babalon, the Mother of Abominations
Ankh-af-na-khonsu (the historical priest associated with the Stele of Revealing)
Interpretation[edit]
Thanks in large part to The Comment, interpretation of the often cryptic text is generally considered by Thelemites a matter for the individual reader. Crowley wrote about Liber AL in great detail throughout the remainder of his life, apparently attempting to decipher its mysteries.
The mysterious 'grid' page of Liber AL's manuscript. "for in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another: in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine. ... Then this line drawn is a key: then this circle squared in its failure is a key also. And Abrahadabra."
The emancipation of mankind from all limitations whatsoever is one of the main precepts of the Book.[20]
Aiwass, uttering the word Thelema (with all its implications), destroys completely the formula of the Dying God. Thelema implies not merely a new religion, but a new cosmology, a new philosophy, a new ethics. It co-ordinates the disconnected discoveries of science, from physics to psychology, into a coherent and consistent system. Its scope is so vast that it is impossible even to hint at the universality of its application.[20]
Symbolism of the "New Aeon of the Child"[edit]
The child is not merely a symbol of growth, but of complete moral independence and innocence. We may then expect the New Aeon to release mankind from its pretence of altruism, its obsession of fear and its consciousness of sin. It will possess no consciousness of the purpose of its own existence. It will not be possible to persuade it that it should submit to incomprehensible standards; it will suffer from spasms of transitory passion; it will be absurdly sensitive to pain and suffer from meaningless terror; it will be utterly conscienceless, cruel, helpless, affectionate and ambitious, without knowing why; it will be incapable of reason, yet at the same time intuitively aware of truth. I might go on indefinitely to enumerate the stigmata of child psychology, but the reader can do it equally for himself, and every idea that comes to him as characteristic of children will strike him as applicable to the events of history since 1904, from the Great War to Prohibition. And if he possess any capacity for understanding the language of symbolism, he will be staggered by the adequacy and accuracy of the summary of the spirit of the New Aeon given in The Book of the Law.[20]
Qabalah of The Book of the Law[edit]
The general method that Crowley used to interpret the obscurities of Liber AL was the Qabalah, especially its numerological method of gematria. He writes, "Many such cases of double entendre, paronomasia in one language or another, sometimes two at once, numerical-literal puzzles, and even (on one occasion) an illuminating connexion of letters in various lines by a slashing scratch, will be found in the Qabalistic section of the Commentary."[8] In Magick Without Tears he wrote:
Now there was enough comprehensible at the time to assure me that the Author of the Book knew at least as much Qabalah as I did: I discovered subsequently more than enough to make it certain without error that he knew a very great deal more, and that of an altogether higher order, than I knew; finally, such glimmerings of light as time and desperate study have thrown on many other obscure passages, to leave no doubt whatever in my mind that he is indeed the supreme Qabalist of all time.[21]
He considered the various gematria values of certain key words and phrases, overlapping between the English, Greek, and Hebrew languages, as evidence of the Book's praeterhuman origin.
... it claims to be the statement of transcendental truth, and to have overcome the difficulty of expressing such truth in human language by what really amounts to the invention of a new method of communicating thought, not merely a new language, but a new type of language; a literal and numerical cipher involving the Greek and Hebrew Cabbalas, the highest mathematics etc. It also claims to be the utterance of an illuminated mind co-extensive with the ultimate ideas of which the universe is composed.[20]
How could he prove that he was in fact a being of a kind superior to any of the human race, and so entitled to speak with authority? Evidently he must show KNOWLEDGE and POWER such as no man has ever been known to possess.
He showed his KNOWLEDGE chiefly by the use of cipher or cryptogram in certain passages to set forth recondite facts, including some events which had yet to take place, such that no human being could possibly be aware of them; thus, the proof of his claim exists in the manuscript itself. It is independent of any human witness. The study of these passages necessarily demands supreme human scholarship to interpret— it needs years of intense application. A great deal has still to be worked out. But enough has been discovered to justify his claim; the most sceptical intelligence is compelled to admit its truth. This matter is best studied under the Master Therion, whose years of arduous research have led him to enlightenment. On the other hand, the language of most of the Book is admirably simple, clear and vigorous. No one can read it without being stricken in the very core of his being.
The more than human POWER of Aiwass is shewn by the influence of his Master, and of the Book, upon actual events: and history fully supports the claim made by him. These facts are appreciable by everyone; but are better understood with the help of the Master Therion.[22]
The existence of true religion presupposes that of some discarnate intelligence, whether we call him God or anything else. And this is exactly what no religion had ever proved scientifically. And this is what The Book of the Law does prove by internal evidence, altogether independent of any statement of mine. This proof is evidently the most important step in science that could possibly be made: for it opens up an entirely new avenue to knowledge. The immense superiority of this particular intelligence, AIWASS, to any other with which mankind has yet been in conscious communication is shown not merely by the character of the book itself, but by the fact of his comprehending perfectly the nature of the proof necessary to demonstrate the fact of his own existence and the conditions of that existence. And, further, having provided the proof required.[20]
Prophecy of the Book[edit]
Crowley would later consider the subsequent events of his life, and the apparent fulfilment of certain 'predictions' of the book, as further proof:
The author of The Book of the Law foresaw and provided against all such difficulties by inserting in the text discoveries which I did not merely not make for years afterwards, but did not even possess the machinery for making. Some, in fact, depend upon events which I had no part in bringing about.[20]
One such key event was Charles Stansfeld Jones claiming the grade of Magister Templi, which Crowley saw as the birth of his 'Magical Son'. Crowley believed that Jones later went on to "discover the Key of it all" as foretold in the book (II:76, III:47). Crowley believed that Jones' discovery of the critical value of 31 gave Crowley further insight into his qabalistic understanding and interpretation of the book. Upon receiving notification of this discovery, Crowley replied:
\ = 418. "Thou knowest not." Your key opens Palace. CCXX has unfolded like a flower. All solved, even II.76 & III.47. Did you know Π = 3.141593? And oh! lots more![23]
The Comment[edit]
Based on several passages, including: "My scribe Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest of the princes, shall not in one letter change this book; but lest there be folly, he shall comment thereupon by the wisdom of Ra-Hoor-Khuit" (AL I:36), Crowley felt compelled to interpret AL in writing. He wrote two large sets of commentaries where he attempted to decipher each line.
However, he was not satisfied with these attempts. In 1912, he prepared AL and his current comments on it for publication in The Equinox, I(7). He recalls in his confessions (p. 674) that he thought the existing commentary was "shamefully meagre and incomplete." He later explains, "I had stupidly supposed this Comment to be a scholarly exposition of the Book, an elucidation of its obscurities and a demonstration of its praeterhuman origin. I understand at last that this idea is nonsense. The Comment must be an interpretation of the Book intelligible to the simplest minds, and as practical as the Ten Commandments."[24] Moreover, this Comment should be arrived at "inspirationally," as the Book itself had been.[25]
Years later in 1925 while in Tunis, Tunisia, Crowley received his inspiration. He published the Comment in the Tunis edition of AL, of which only 11 copies were printed, and[26] what was to become called simply The Comment (which is also called the Short Comment or Tunis Comment), and signed it as Ankh-f-n-khonsu (lit. "He Lives in Khonsu"—a historical priest who lived in Thebes in the 26th dynasty, associated with the Stele of Revealing). It advises the reader that the "study" of the Book is forbidden and states that those who "discuss the contents" are to be shunned. It also suggests that the book be destroyed after first reading.
Crowley later tasked his friend and fellow O.T.O. member Louis Wilkinson with preparing an edited version of Crowley's commentaries which was published some time after Crowley's death as The Law is for All.[27]
Skeptical interpretations[edit]
Crowley's former secretary Israel Regardie argued in his biography of Crowley, The Eye in the Triangle, that Aiwass was an unconscious expression of Crowley's personality.[11] Regardie stated that although Crowley initially regarded Aiwass as one of the secret chiefs, years later he came to believe that Aiwass was his own Holy Guardian Angel. Regardie argued: "If Aiwass was his own Higher Self, then the inference is none other than that Aleister Crowley was the author of the Book, and that he was the external mask for a variety of different hierarchical personalities ... The man Crowley was the lowest rung of the hierarchical ladder, the outer shell of a God, even as we all are, the persona of a Star ... He is the author of The Book of the Law even as he is the author of The Book of the Heart Girt with a Serpent and Liber Lapidis Lazuli, and so forth ... these latter books reveal a dialogue between the component parts of Crowley. It seems to me that basically this Liber Legis is no different". Regardie also noted resemblances between The Book of the Law and these latter holy books, such as the inclusion of "rambling, unintelligible" passages, "some repugnant to reason by their absurdity, and their jarring goatish quality". In 1906 Crowley wrote: "It has struck me – in connection with reading Blake that Aiwass, etc. "Force and Fire" is the very thing I lack. My "conscience" is really an obstacle and a delusion, being a survival of heredity and education." Regardie considered this an "illuminating admission" and argued that due to Crowley’s early religious training he developed an overly rigid superego or conscience. When he rebelled against Christianity, "he must have yearned for qualities and characteristics diametrically opposed to his own. In The Book of the Law the wish is fulfilled". The Book of the Law was therefore a "colossal wish-fulfilment". Regardie noted that the Book’s rejection of Judaeo-Christian mores was completely in accord with Crowley’s own moral and religious values and that in this sense "it is his Book". Furthermore, although Crowley claimed to have initially objected to the Book's contents, Regardie said that he could not see what a person like Crowley would possibly object to. Regardie referred to Crowley's 1909 statement: "I want blasphemy, murder, rape, revolution, anything, bad or good, but strong", and pointed out that The Book of the Law delivered all these things.
He also argued that Rose's ability to answer Crowley's questions about Horus and the Qabala was not as remarkable as Crowley claimed. Rose had been married to Crowley for eight months at this point and Regardie stated that Crowley may well have used Rose as a 'sounding board' for many of his own ideas. Therefore, she may not have been as ignorant of magick and mysticism as Crowley let on.[11]
Charles R. Cammell, author of Aleister Crowley: The Man, the Mage, the Poet[28] also believed the Book was an expression of Crowley's personality:
The mind behind the maxims is cold, cruel and relentless. Mercy there is none, nor consolation; nor hope save in the service of this dread messenger of the gods of Egypt. Such is Liber Legis in letter and spirit; and as such, and in consideration of its manner of reception, it is a document of curious interest. That it is in part (but in part only) an emanation from Crowley's unconscious mind I can believe; for it bears a likeness to his own Daemonic personality.[11]
Journalist Sarah Veale has also argued that Aiwass was an externalised part of Crowley's psyche, and in support of this hypothesis quotes Crowley himself as saying:
Ah, you realize that magick is something we do to ourselves. But it is more convenient to assume the objective existence of an angel who gives us new knowledge than to allege that our invocation has awakened a supernormal power in ourselves." (Kaczynski, 542).[29]
Veale also pointed out the similarity in rhythmic style between The Book of the Law and some of Crowley's own non-channelled writings. In Magick in theory and practice, Crowley claimed that invoking the "barbarous names" in iambic tetrameter was very useful. Many of his own poems are written in iambic tetrameter, such as this excerpt from "The Riddle", a poem to his former lover, Jerome Pollitt:
Habib hath heard; let all Iran
who spell aright from A to Z
Exalt thy fame and understand
with whom I made a marriage-bed
Veale states that there are other similarities in writing styles besides the use of the same poetic meter. The fact that a supposedly discarnate intelligence just happened to have the same writing style as Crowley, suggests that Aiwass may have just been part of Crowley's unconscious mind after all.
Scholar Joshua Gunn also argued that the stylistic similarities between the Book and Crowley's poetic writings were too great for it to be anything other than Crowley's work:
Although Crowley sincerely believed that The Book of the Law was inspired by superhuman intelligences, its clichéd imagery, overwrought style, and overdone ecophonetic displays are too similar to Crowley's other poetic writings to be the product of something supernatural.[30]
Structure and Title[edit]
The technical title of the book is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI, although this title never occurs in the Book itself, which refers to itself as "the Book of the Law" and "the threefold Book of Law" (chapters 1:35, 3:75). CCXX is 220 in Roman figures, representing The Tree of Life (10 numbers times 22 paths), and is the number of verses of the Book in typescript. XCIII is 93, the enumeration of both "The word of the law" Thelema and Aiwass. DCLXVI is 666, the number of Crowley as Great Beast both as Adept and Magus. This is a way of saying that the book was delivered by Aiwass (whose number is both 93 and 418) to Crowley, who is The Beast 666.
The facsimile manuscript of the Book is not, however, numbered 220, but XXXI (31) as the first chapter's verses are unnumbered in the original manuscript: that is, no verse numbers were dictated to Crowley for chapter one. Both editions were titled by Crowley AL, pronounced "El", value 31, so therefore Liber 31 is the manuscript of The Book of the Law called AL (not be confused with Liber 31 by C. S. Jones (Frater Achad), which is an exegesis of some of the qabalistic symbolism of the Book), whereas Liber 220 is the edited (strictly according to the editing instructions dictated as part of the text of the Book itself), printed form of the text: see The Equinox of The Gods for a full account by Crowley of the reception and publishing of the Book according to these internal instructions.
The original title of the book was Liber L vel Legis. Crowley retitled it Liber AL vel Legis in 1921, when he also gave the handwritten manuscript its own title, Liber XXXI.[31]
(the full technical title of the manuscript is: "AL (Liber Legis), The Book of the Law, sub figura XXXI, as delivered by 93 – עיוז – ΑΙϜΑΣΣ – 418 to תריון – ΤΟ ΜΕΓΑ ΘΗΡΙΟΝ 666".)
Editions[edit]
1925 Tunis edition, only 11 copies printed
Ordo Templi Orientis, London, 1938, privately issued (US edition 1942, although dated 1938)
The original manuscript of The Book of the Law was sent on Crowley's death to Karl Germer, the executor of his will and head of the A∴A∴. On Germer's death no trace of it could be found in his papers. There matters rested until 1984, when Tom Whitmore, the new owner of a house in Berkeley, California, began searching through the junk left in the basement by the previous owner. Among the used mattresses, lumber, and outdated high school textbooks were two boxes of assorted papers and newspaper clippings dealing with Germer's affairs, the charter of the O.T.O. and an envelope containing the manuscript of The Book of the Law. Whitmore donated the papers to the O.T.O. How they found their way to a Berkeley basement remains a complete mystery.[32]
Weiser Books (Reissue edition; May 1987; ISBN 0-87728-334-6)
Weiser Books (100th Anniversary edition; March 2004; ISBN 1-57863-308-7)
Thelema Media (100th Anniversary edition; (leather bound limited edition: 418 copies); March 2004; ISBN 1-932599-03-7)
Mandrake of Oxford (April 1992; paperback; ISBN 1-869928-93-8)
Liber AL is also published in many books, including:
The Equinox (III:10). (2001). York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-719-8
The Holy Books of Thelema (Equinox III:9). (1983). York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-579-9
Magick: Liber ABA, Book Four, Parts I–IV. (1997). York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-919-0
And at least one out-of-print audio version common on eBay:
The Book of the Law Vondel Park Audio Book 2003
In popular culture[edit]
Toyah Willcox took the name of her 1983 album Love Is the Law from The Book of the Law.
The title of the song "The Whole of the Law" by The Only Ones is taken from The Book of the Law verse I:40 which reads in part "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and from II:60 which reads "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt."
Blues musician Graham Bond was highly influenced by Thelema and by The Book of the Law. The title of his 1969 album Love is the Law is taken from Liber AL, and other albums such as Holy Magick (1970) and We Put Our Magick on You demonstrate the influence of Crowley and Thelema, as do the names of his bands such as Graham Bond Initiation and Magus.
A song by The Church,"Song in Space", from their 2003 album Forget Yourself, includes the line "They say that in the future, every man and woman will be a star" which references The Book of the Law I:3 ("Every man and woman is a star"). This reflects the interest of Steve Kilbey in Thelema.
The song "Firm Hand" on the 1996 Carcass album Swansong is taken from The Book of the Law verse I:57, "Love is the law, love under will." with the first Love replaced by Hate.
On page 187 of the 1982–1989 graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, V announces via radio broadcast that he has cut the state's power to monitor and spy upon the civilian population, saying that for the following three days, "your movements will not be watched, your conversations will not be listened to, and 'do what thou wilt' shall be the whole of the law."[33]
The 1993 movie Ruby Cairo features a scene in which a copy of The Book of the Law is discussed by the characters, though this has little bearing on the rest of the plot.
The book is mentioned in the seventh volume of the Japanese light novel series A Certain Magical Index; here, it is regarded as one of the many 'Grimoires', forbidden magical books. The book is written in an indecipherable code, with the volume involving attempts to rescue or kill a character said to be able to decipher it. While both Aleister Crowley and Aiwass are featured in the light novel series, neither are heavily involved with the book (although it being written by Crowley and dictated by Aiwass is hinted at on various occasions).
The 2003-2008 Comedy/Horror animated TV show "The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy" featured a show intro in which the character of Mandy would walk onto an empty screen, say something dire, grim, or creepy, and walk off after which the show would begin. One of these featured Mandy saying "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", taken from verse I:40.
See also[edit]
English Qabalah
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Liber AL vel Legis OTO, London, 1938. Introduction, IV.
Jump up ^ Crowley, Aleister (1989). "49". The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography. London: Arkana. p. 399. ISBN 978-0-14-019189-9. Retrieved 9 December 2012. I may now point out that the reign of the Crowned and Conquering Child is limited in time by The Book of the Law itself. We learn that Horus will be in his turn succeeded by Hrumachis, the Double-Wanded One: "But your holy place shall be untouched throughout the centuries: though with fire and sword it be burnt down & shattered, yet an invisible house there standeth, and shall stand until the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise and the double-wanded one assume my throne and place. Another prophet shall arise, and bring fresh fever from the skies; another woman shall awakethe lust & worship of the Snake; another soul of God and beast shall mingle in the globed priest; another sacrifice shall stain the tomb; another king shall reign; and blessing no longer be poured To the Hawk-headed mystical Lord!" (Chapter 3:34)
Jump up ^ Crowley, Aleister (1936). "8". The Equinox of the Gods. ISBN 1-56184-028-9. Retrieved 9 December 2012. In this revelation is the basis of the future Aeon ... The new Aeon is ... of Horus
^ Jump up to: a b c d Crowley, Aleister. The Equinox of the Gods.
Jump up ^ Sutin, Lawrence. Do What Thou Wilt 2000. p. 122-140, 312
Jump up ^ (Crowley 1974, ch.6)
Jump up ^ Sutin, Lawrence. Do What Thou Wilt 2000. p. 120
^ Jump up to: a b c d (Crowley 1974, ch.7)
Jump up ^ "The Holograph Manuscript of Liber AL vel Legis". Lib.oto-usa.org. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
Jump up ^ The Equinox of the Gods, p. 106
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Regardie, Israel (1982). "Chapter 15. The Book of the Law". The Eye in the Triangle: an Interpretation of Aleister Crowley. New Falcon Publications. pp. 473–494.
Jump up ^ Crowley, Aleister (1983). The Law is for All: an extended commentary on The Book of the Law. Regardie, Israel (ed.) (2nd ed.). Phoenix, Arizona: Falcon Press. ISBN 978-0-941404-25-9.
Jump up ^ The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, ch 50
Jump up ^ The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, ch 60"
Jump up ^ In his Commentaries, Crowley writes: "This phrase was totally beyond the comprehension of the scribe, and he said mentally—with characteristic self-conceit—'People will never be able to understand this.' Aiwass then replied, 'Write this in whiter words. But go forth on.' He was willing that the phrase should be replaced by an equivalent, but did not wish the dictation to be interrupted by a discussion at the moment. It was therefore altered (a little later) to 'the omnipresence of my body.' It is extremely interesting to note that in the light of the cosmic theory explained in the notes to verse 3 and 4, the original phrase of Aiwass was exquisitely and exactly appropriate to his meaning."
Jump up ^ Clanda Fayne
Jump up ^ Crowley, Aleister (1996). The Law is for All. Thelema Media. ISBN 0-9726583-8-6.
^ Jump up to: a b (Crowley, The Law of Liberty)
Jump up ^ (Crowley 1985, Lecture 2)
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, ch. 49
Jump up ^ MWT Chapter IV. online version. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
Jump up ^ The Book of the Law, introduction
Jump up ^ Liber 31
Jump up ^ Confessions, p. 849
Jump up ^ The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, p. 840
Jump up ^ in the Tunis edition of AL, of which only 11 copies were printed
Jump up ^ Crowley, Aleister (December 1996). The Law is for All: The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber Al Vel Legis sub figura CCXX, the Book of the Law. Louis Wilkinson (ed.). Thelema Media. ISBN 0-9726583-8-6.
Jump up ^ The Art of the Law: Aleister Crowley’s Use of Ritual and Drama Justin Scott Van Kleeck
Jump up ^ The Morton Smith-Aleister Crowley Connection, Part II, Invocatio, a blog mostly about western esotericism, 8 August 2011
Jump up ^ Gunn, Joshua (2011). Modern occult rhetoric : mass media and the drama of secrecy in the twentieth century. University of Alabama Press. pp. 91–92. ISBN 9780817356569.
Jump up ^ Hymenaeus Beta in Crowley, Aleister, Magick: Liber ABA, p. 753, n. 3
Jump up ^ John Michael Greer. The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2003, pp. 70-71.
Jump up ^ V Addresses the Public, excerpts from V for Vendetta (1982–1989) by Alan Moore.
Further reading[edit]
Cornelius, J. Edward, et al. The Desk Reference: A Guide to the Works of Edward Aleister Crowley at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 February 2007)
Crowley, Aleister (December 1996). The Law is for All: The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber Al Vel Legis sub figura CCXX, The Book of the Law. Louis Wilkinson (ed.). Thelema Media. ISBN 0-9726583-8-6.
Crowley, Aleister (May 2004). The Book of the Law (Centennial ed.). Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 1-57863-308-7.
Thelemapedia. (2004). The Book of the Law.
External links[edit]
Wikisource has the complete text of:
The Book of the Law
O.T.O. scans of the Crowley handwritten manuscript of The Book of the Law
The Book of the Law complete text of the book
The Old and New Commentaries to Liber AL vel Legis by Aleister Crowley
The Book of the Law full text of the book, examines the original text with changes
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