Sex Magick
in the Aeon of Horus:
“Do what thou wilt
shall be the whole of the Law.”
“AL I.15: "Now ye shall know that the chosen priest
& apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his
woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my
children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the
hearts of men."
THE NEW COMMENT
The definition of "infinite space" offered in
the Comment on verse 13 is useful here. My Work is in great part to insist upon
the infinite possibilities of human development. Man has too slavishly
acquiesced in his limitations. Science itself has shewn itself almost as
intolerant as Religion toward certain lines of research. Indeed, every element
of society has added its energy to the opposition which bars each pioneer with
undiscriminating stupidity. Darwin, Pasteur, Lister, and Jenner met with the
same ferocious cowardice as Shelly and Luther; they were assailed on every
ground from Religion and Morality upwards; every falsehood that malice could
invent was circulated about them. In short, they were treated then as I am
being treated now; and I am resolute to prosecute my Work now as they were
resolute then. That which is beneath is like that which is above. The Beast and
the Scarlet Woman are avatars of Tao and Teh, Shiva and Sakti. This Law is then
an exact image of the Great Law of the Cosmos; this is an assurance of its
Perfection. It is necessary to say here that The`Beast appears to be a
definite individual; to wit, the man Aleister Crowley. But the Scarlet Woman is
an officer replaceable as need arises. Thus to this present date of writing,
Anno XVI. Sun in Sagittarius, there have been several holders of the title.
1. Rose Edith Crowley nee Kelly, my wife. Put me in touch
with Aiwas; see Equinox 1, 7, "The Temple of Solomon the King."
Failed as elsewhere is on record.
2. A doubtful case. Mary d'Este Sturges nee Dempsey. Put
me in touch with Abuldiz; hence helped with Book 4. Failed from personal
jealousies.
3. Jeanne Robert Foster nee Oliver. Bore the
"child" to whom this Book refers later. Failed from respectability.
4. Roddie Minor. Brought me in touch with Amalantrah.
Failed from indifference to the Work.
5. A doubtful case, Marie Rohling nee Lavroff. Helped to
inspire Liber CXI. Failed from indecision.
6. A doubtful case, Bertha Almira Prykryl nee Bruce.
Delayed assumption of duties, hence made way for No. 7.
7. Lea Hersig. Assisted me in actual initiation; still at
my side, An XVII. Sol in Sagittarius. (P.S. & An XIX, Sol in Aries).
"Prince-priest" is an unusual word, and not in
tone with other references to me. I suspect therefore a secret cipher of some
sort. For one thing, it is an anagram of PRINCEPS ITER, not bad for Alastor the
Wanderer, or PRINCIPS ERIT, he shall be the chief (see verse 23). But such
Qabalah is hardly to be considered serious. The recurrence of the letters PRI
is however curious and may be significant. The combination PR in most Aryan
Languages gives the idea of "Before." P and R are the letters of Mars
and Sol respectively. Now Mars is referred to the number 5, and Sol to the
number 6; both to the idea "Force and Fire", though in different
ways. Now "Force and Fire" is the attribute of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Lord of
the Aeon; and 5 and 6 are mystically mated to represent the Accomplishment of
the Great Work in Abrahadabra, the Word of the Aeon. (See, for this Word, infra
Qabalistic Appendix). The termination ST is the coronal combination XXXI which
we shall notice often enough later on. The Beast, besides 666 correspondences,
is by English sound, the Magus (Beth, Mercury, etc.) of this ST. S has in the
Tarot the card numbered XX, which represents the Stele of Revealing, and is
called the Judgment; i.e., the ending of an Aeon. T has the card numbered XI
and is called Strength. It is the card of Leo and represents Babalon and the
Beast conjoined. "Their fold"; not only a sheepfold, but as if it
were written "their embrace".”
Every aspirant has to attain within the limitations of his or her appointed lot, it may be in this, that the wheat is separated from the chaff. The greater the Ordeal the greater the Attainment, or at least it makes sense this way. The aspirant will have to give every last drop of his blood to the Cup of Babalon, if he is to finally make it to the City of the Pyramids. Therefore, the world is against the work of the White School of Magick, it is clear in the onslaught against Crowley throughout his life by the yellow press, that this is the case. The reason, from what I can tell, is that the majority of humanity is happy to live out their lives as slaves, perpetually under the control of the Black School. The White School serves as a mirror, which reflects this and highlights to them their servitude. Thus, proponents of the White School have always been subject to this attack, that in the above is said to subsist of slander, which is the weapon of what is called the yellow press. Ironic is the fact, that Thelema highlights to us our divinity and aims at liberating the individual from his or her servitude, hence the aforementioned conclusion is drawn.
The Beast and his Scarlett Woman’s office was to make contact
with the Archetypal World and manifest to us this revelation. They served as
the Great Mother and Great Father, associated with the Supernal Triad, from their
union they brought forth Thelema as their offspring into the world. Since falling
from his office is possible, Crowley would use sex magick throughout his life to maintain his
connection with the Supernals and draw inspiration from them. Although his work
with Rose Kelly was spontaneous and not sought, he would later in life seek out
women to fulfil this function. This is a stretch, but perhaps “Love is the
law, love under will” may be applied to this practice as its function is
raised to the highest level and the Beast became the Logos of the New Aeon and his
Scarlet Woman became Babalon. Thus, his magick was to dramatically act out the Law
of Thelema, as well as the nature of creation itself.
“Love is the law,
love under will.”