Liber Al Vel Legis is a book written by Aleister Crowely...Here is the history of it, from Wikipedia: Liber AL vel Legis is the central sacred text of
Thelema, written by
Aleister Crowley in
Cairo,
Egypt in the year 1904. Its full title is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI,
[1] and it is commonly referred to as The Book of the Law.
Liber AL vel Legis contains three chapters, each of which was written down in one hour, beginning at noon, on 8 April, 9 April, and 10 April.
[2] Crowley claims that the author was an entity named
Aiwass, whom he later referred to as his personal
Holy Guardian Angel (or "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.
[3]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 the title Liber XXXI.
[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.
[5]The writing of Liber Legis
[
edit] The summons
According to Crowley,
[6] the story began on 16 March 1904, when he tried to "shew the
Sylphs" by means of a ritual to his wife,
Rose Kelly. 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 — without having any prior study of the subject. 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] The final proof was Rose's identification of Horus in the
stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, then housed in the
Bulaq Museum (inventory number 666) but now in the
Egyptian Museum of Cairo (number A 9422). The stela was subsequently known to practitioners 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.
More Later: 93
