 Cover of The Book of the Law | |
| Author | Aleister Crowley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
Publication date | 1909 |
| Publication place | Egypt |
| Text | The Book of the Law, or Liber AL vel Legis at Wikisource |
| Part of a series on |
| Thelema |
|---|
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| The Rights of Man |
Liber AL vel Legis (Classical Latin: [ˈlɪbɛr aː.ɛɫ wɛl‿ˈleːgɪs]), commonly known as The Book of the Law, is the central sacred text of Thelema. 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.[1]
Aleister Crowley said that the book was dictated to him by a beyond-human being, Aiwass, who he later referred to as his own Holy Guardian Angel. 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".[2][a][b] The primary precept of this new aeon is the charge, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
The book contains three chapters, each of which Crowley said had been dictated and written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on 8 April, 9 April, and 10 April in Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1904.[3] The three chapters of the book are attributed to the deities Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley's wife, corrected two phrases in the manuscript.
Crowley later wrote that "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[...]"[3] 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.[4]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Betawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Crowley (1976), Introduction, IV.
- ^ a b Crowley (1991), p. [page needed].
- ^ Sutin (2000), pp. 122–140, 312.
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