Scarlet Asterism

Liber XXV: the Star Ruby
An Asterism in Five Angles

(A 13° e, B 13° b)
AN IVxv e.n., Dies Solis
By Fra. Nur-i-Siyah
Bubastis Camp
Ordo Templi Orientis
Valley of Dallas
Texas
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”
First Angle: ΘΗΡΙΟΝ
A General History of the Star Ruby
The Thelemic Ritual known as the Star Ruby was created by the founder and prophet of
Thelema, Aleister Crowley, in 1913 with the publication of Liber CCCXXXIII (333) or “The
Book of Lies” (Which is also Falsely Called BREAKS. The Wanderings or Falsifications of the One
Thought of Frater Perdurabo, which Thought is itself Untrue). Within Liber CCCXXXIII the ritual
appears under the heading “ΚΗΦΑΛΕ ΚΕ (Chapter 25): THE STAR RUBY”. Crowley
states in his commentary for this chapter that the name of the ritual and its placement in the
book is because “25 is the square of 5, and the Pentagram has the red colour of Geburah.” In the same
commentary Crowley also describes this ritual as a “new and more elaborate version of the
Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.” The rest of this chapter’s commentary has Crowley declining
to explain any further the secrets of this section since it details an official ritual of his ATAT
magical organization.
The ritual as a whole is obviously based off of the older “Lesser Banishing Ritual of
the Pentagram” of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to which Crowley belonged
until about 1900. The LBRP (as it is often called) served as one of the most important
magical tools given to the Golden Dawn Neophyte. It was used by the Neophyte as a means
to strengthen concentration, dispel “impure magnetism” in either a room or in the magician,
and also served as a form of ritualized prayer to be performed upon waking and prior to
sleep. As the magician became more proficient in its usage it could also be used to exorcise
unwanted spirits.
Crowley’s version of the Pentagram Ritual contains a number of differences from its
predecessor in the Golden Dawn (a full listing of which is given at the end of this section).
By way of example, in the Star Ruby Classical Greek, early Christian archetypes and
Neoplatonic entities replace the Old Testament God Names and Archangels. Additionally,
the ritual includes a “Paian,” or song of praise, dedicated to the god PAN which is to be
performed using a novel new series of magical gestures called the Signs of N.O.X. The ritual
is also almost entirely in Greek. A footnote placed after the term “Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ” in the ritual’s
reworking of the Qabalistic Cross indicates that “the secret sense of these words is to be sought in the
numberation thereof.”
As established from the Book of Lies commentary on Ch. 25 Crowley considered

the Star Ruby to be important enough of a ritual to include it in the magical regimen of the
ATAT. A decade or so later he also included the ritual as part of the daily routine for
members of the Order of Thelemites as illustrated from the following section of the Order’s
Constitution (Point 5[a]): “All Zelators shall use the daily invocations given in Liber CC, the Rituals
of Liber XXV, Liber XXXVI, and Liber XLIV, and Will before meat, as taught them in their
initiation.”
Between these two periods Crowley founded the notorious Abbey of Thelema. It
was during this phase in his magical career that he began writing what would be considered
one of his finest technical works, “Magick in Theory and Practice”. Unfortunately, this book
would not be published for another eight years somewhere between 1929 and 1930. It is in
Appendix VI of this work that we find a revised Star Ruby ritual.
The revised ritual has been retitled as Liber XXV (Book 25) and is classified on its
own as a Class D Publication of the ATAT. It varies from the 1913 edition in a number of
significant ways. First, most of the Divine Names that are to be vibrated in the cardinal
directions have been changed in order to better match Crowley’s Thelemic cosmology. Also,
the revised Divine Names are spelled using the English Alphabet instead of the Greek
utilized in the earlier version. Additionally, the method of vibration for some of the
directions has been changed. The Divine Name of the North is no longer being “screamed”
but rather “said”, and the Divine Name of the West no longer is “said” but instead
“whispered.” Also, typographically, the usage of the capital letter “C” to represent the Greek
letter Stigma was changed using the Greek letter Sigma instead. Finally, the spelling of
“Hoor pa kraat” has been changed to “Hoor-paar-Kraat.” (Note: To date I’m unaware as to
why the change in spelling took place since neither version may be found exactly in Liber AL
vel Legis [CCXX]. The 1913 printing is close to the form used in III:xxxv but does not
include hyphenation. And the 1930 spelling is close to the one used in Book I, verse 7 of
Liber AL but has a capital “K” whereas a lower case “k” is used in the Class A document.)
Differences Between The Star Ruby (SR) and the LBRP:
- The SR begins with an introductory Exorcism.

- The SR has a revised Qabalistic Cross.
- The SR is performed almost entirely in Greek instead of English or Hebrew.
- The SR pentagrams are not physically traced as in the LBRP, but rather
visualized and physically projected.
- The Divine Names used in the SR are not directly part of the Judaistic tradition.
- The cardinal directions are approached in a counterclockwise direction in the SR
as opposed to the clockwise rotation in the LBRP.
- The cardinal directions appear to be given alternative elemental attributions in
the SR from those assigned in the Golden Dawn.
- The SR includes a “Paian” to the Greek god Pan.
- The SR Paian also includes a series of magical gestures called the “Signs of
N.O.X.” whereas the LBRP contains no such formula.
Second Angle: ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ
Printed Versions of the Star Ruby
As mentioned above, there are only two versions of this ritual written by Crowley in
print. The first is from Liber CCCXXXIII – The Book of Lies:
From the 1913 edition of Liber CCCXXXIII:
25
ΚΗΦΑΛΕ ΚΕ
THE STAR RUBY
Facing East, in the centre, draw deep deep deep thy breath, closing thy mouth with thy right
forefinger prest against thy lower lip. Then dashing down the hand with a great sweep back
and out, expelling forcibly thy breath, cry: ΑΠΟ ΠΑΝΤΟC ΚΑΚΟ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟC.
With the same forefinger touch thy forehead, and say CΟΙ, thy member, and say
Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ,(14) thy right shoulder, and say ΙΣΧΥΡΟC, thy left shoulder, and say
ΕΥΧΑΡΙCΤΟC; then clasp thine hands, locking the fingers, and cry ΙΑΩ.
Advance to the East. Imagine strongly a Pentagram, aright, in thy forehead. Drawing the
hands to the eyes, fling it forth, making the sign of Horus, and roar ΧΑΟC. Retire thine
hand in the sign of Hoor pa kraat.
Go round to the North and repeat; but scream ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ.
Go round to the West and repeat; but say ΕΡΟC.
Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow ΨΥΧΗ.
Completing the circle widdershins, retire to the centre, and raise thy voice in the Paian, with
these words ΙΟ ΠΑΝ with the signs of N.O.X.
Extend the arms in the form of a Tau, and say low but clear:
ΠΡΟ ΜΟΥ ΙΥΓΓΕC ΟΠΙΣΟ ΜΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ ΕΠΙ ∆ΕΞΙΑ CΥΝΟΚΕC
ΕΠΑΡΙCΤΕΡΑ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΕC ΦΛΕΓΕΙ ΓΑΡ ΠΕΡΙ ΜΟΥ ΑCΤΕΡ ΤΟΝ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΚΑΙ
ΕΝ ΤΗΙ CΤΗΛΗ Ο ΑCΤΗΡ ΤΩΝ ΕΞ ΕCΤΗΚΕ.
1913 edition (cont.)
Repeat the Cross Qabalistic, as above, and end as thou didst begin.
COMMENTARY (ΚΕ)
25 is the square of 5, and the Pentagram has the red colour of Geburah.
The chapter is a new and more elaborate version of the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
It would be improper to comment further upon an official ritual of the A∴A∴.
NOTE
(14) The secret sense of these words is to be sought in the numeration thereof.
The 1929/1930 edition of Magick in Theory and Practice:
THE STAR RUBY
Facing East, in the centre, draw deep deep deep thy breath, closing thy mouth with thy right
forefinger prest against thy lower lip. Then dashing down the hand with a great sweep back
and out, expelling forcibly thy breath, cry ΑΠΟ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΚΟ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ.
With the same forefinger touch thy forehead, and say ΣΟΙ,
thy member, and say Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ,
thy right shoulder, and say ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ,
thy left shoulder, and say ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ;
then clasp thine hands, locking the fingers, and cry ΙΑΩ.
Advance to the East. Imagine strongly a Pentagram, aright, in thy forehead. Drawing the
hands to the eyes, fling it forth, making the sign of Horus, and roar ΘΕΡΙΟΝ. Retire thine
hand in the sign of Hoor-paar-Kraat.
Go round to the North and repeat; but say NUIT.
Go round to the West and repeat; but whisper BABALON.
Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow HADIT.
Completing the circle widdershins, retire to the centre, and raise thy voice in the Paian, with
these words ΙΟ ΠΑΝ with the signs of N.O.X.
Extend the arms in the form of a Tau, and say low but clear:
ΠΡΟ ΜΟΥ ΙΥΓΓΕΣ ΟΠΙΣΟ ΜΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ ΕΠΙ ∆ΕΞΙΑ ΣΥΝΟΚΕΣ ΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕ
ΡΑ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΕΣ ΦΛΕΓΕΙ ΓΑΡ ΠΕΡΙ ΜΟΥ ΑΣΤΕΡ ΤΟΝ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΕΝ ΤΗΙ ΣΤΗ
ΛΗ Ο ΑΣΤΗΡ ΤΩΝ ΕΞ ΕΣΤΗΚΕ.
Repeat the Cross Qabalistic, as above, and end as thou didst begin.
Third Angle: Α∆ΙΘ
Ritual Components and Descriptions

(At this point I should advise the reader that much of what follows barring the translation of the text is
based on my own investigations and experiences with this ritual and therefore should not be construed in any
way as official commentary on this ritual by either the O.T.O. or the ATAT.)
I. PRELIMINARY EXORCISM
ΑΠΟ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΚΟ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ − “Away (from me) every evil spirit”
The Star Ruby begins with what I have termed the Preliminary Exorcism. Its primary
purpose would appear to be as an injunction for all forms of consciousness whose Wills are
not in accord with that of the Magician to depart. It also serves to both center and invigorate
the Magician.
It is interesting to note that this ritual begins first with the Sign of Silence and then
follows with what could be construed as a variation of the Sign of the Enterer.
II. QABALISTIC CROSS (BOTH EDITIONS)
ΣΟΙ, Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ, ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ, ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ, ΙΑΩ − “Unto Thee, O Phallus,

Strength, Thanksgiving/Eucharist, IAO”
In this section of the ritual we find Crowley’s reworking of the Qabalistic Cross.
In his version ΣΟΙ replaces “Ateh” (‫ )אתה‬both of which may be translated as “Unto
Thee”. Here ΣΟΙ serves to address the continuously renewing force of Life addressed as
Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ.
Σοι spelled backwards gives us the Greek word for one, single or arrow, “Ιος”.
Crowley’s discussion of the relationship between the phallus and the Arrow from the vision
of the 5th Aethyr, LIT, proves to be very enlightening (vide, the section below on the
isopsephy of Ιος.)
Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ (or “O Phallus”) stands out as the one Greek phrase that Crowley
decided to footnote in this otherwise spartanly annotated ceremony. He tells us that a
“secret sense” of the Greek may be discovered in their “enumberation”. We may take this as
a substantial hint to this particular phrase’s importance.
The phrase itself enumerates to 1,366. This number is the sum of the Greek words
Φαλλος and Κτεις. Thus symbolizing the Phallus praised in this hymn as actually being
actively hermaphroditic in nature. It may be seen as both the source and result of the union
of male and female sexual energies. The Thelemite should be distrustful of anyone who
designates this term as merely masculine or representative of any individual’s penis.
The Phallus serves as a prime symbol for the eternally regenerating force of Life in
Crowley’s esoteric cosmology. He spoke of it as the Sun’s (and therefore Ra-Hoor Khuit’s)
“vice-regent and representative in the animal kingdom”, “His cognate symbol …
representing Love and Liberty.” (The Law is for All, New Comment of AL III, 22) In Liber
XV: The Gnostic Mass, the personified Phallus is hailed as a Lord along with other Gnostic
solar divinities during the opening of the Veil of the High Altar.
The parts of the body touched while addressing this divine principle of Life should
also be mentioned. In many esoteric spiritual systems each area of the body is imbued with
meaning. Through concentration and contact this meaning may be accessed.
In the Hindu Chakra system the forehead, which in the Star Ruby is touched when
saying, “Σοι”, is the location for the Ajna-chakra, also known as the “Command” chakra.
When saying, “Ω Φαλλε” the area attributed to the Svadishthana Chakra is touched.
Traditionally, the iconography of both of these centers contain phalluses.
ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ represents Strength and therefore refers to the Qabalistic Pillar of

Severity. It is comparable to the “Ve-Geburah” of the LBRP.
ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ, alternatively, is Thanksgiving, the Eucharist, Benevolence, and

refers to the Qabalistic Pillar of Mercy. It corresponds to the Hebrew phrase “ve-Gedulah”
in the LBRP.
The relationship between Ischuros and Eucharistos is one of interdependence.

Crowley states in Magick in Theory and Practice in the section on the Eucharist that “(o)ne
of the simplest and most complete of Magick ceremonies is the Eucharist. It consists in
taking common things, transmuting them into things divine, and consuming them.
“… A Eucharist of some sort should most assuredly be consummated daily

by every magician, and he should regard it as the main sustenance of his
magical life. It is of more importance than any other magical ceremony,
because it is a complete circle. The whole of the force expended is
completely re-absorbed; yet the virtue is that vast gain represented by the
abyss between Man and God.
“The magician becomes filled with God, fed upon God, intoxicated with
God. Little by little his body will become purified by the internal lustration of
God; day by day his mortal frame, shedding its earthly elements, will become
in very truth the Temple of the Holy Ghost. Day by day matter is replaced by
Spirit, the human by the divine; ultimately the change will be complete; God
manifest in flesh will be his name.”
A formula created using the above description would go as follows: The magical
strength (ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ) of a magician is used to create the Eucharist (ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ) which is
then consumed. The consumed Eucharist empowers the magician with greater Strength
which in turn empowers the production of a more effective Eucharist. Repeat until your
innate God-hood is realized.
III. 1913 GODNAMES:
From Steffan Michelspacher’s “Cabala” (1616 e.v.)
ΧΑΟΣ − ChAOS is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the East in the 1913 Star
Ruby ritual. Since the name is vibrated by “roaring” this would seem to indicate that the
name is also associated with the sign of Leo, the lion, and therefore with the element of Fire.
In Hesiod’s Theogony (written c. 700 b.e.v.) Chaos (Gr. “gaping void”) is the first of
all things to exist and is the primogenitor of all things. He is both bornless and deathless –
self-arisen. From Chaos issued Earth (Γαια) and Love (Ερος) as well as the Abyss
(Ταρταος, “deep place”), Pure Darkness (Ερεβος, “shadow”) and Night (Νυξ). From them
the entire scheme of creation was issued.
In the Thelemic theogony CHAOS is mentioned in a number of significant works.

First and foremost in Liber CCCCXVIII:
From The Vision and the Voice, 14th Aethyr, UTI:
“I am the snake that devoureth the spirit of man with the lust of light. I am
the sightless storm in the night that wrappeth the world about with
desolation. Chaos is my name, and thick darkness. Know thou that the
darkness of the earth is ruddy, and the darkness of the air is grey, but the
darkness of the soul is utter blackness.”
From The Vision and the Voice, 4th Aethyr, PAZ:
“… Chaos is Peace... Blackness, blackness intolerable, before the beginning

of the light. This is the first verse of Genesis. Holy art thou, Chaos, Chaos,
Eternity, all contradictions in terms! ... But when the balances are equal, scale
matched with scale, then will Chaos return.”
From The Vision and the Voice, 3rd Aethyr, ZON:
“… all things have been swallowed up in destruction; and Chaos hath

opened his jaws and crushed the Universe as a Bacchanal crusheth a grape
between her teeth. Shall not destruction swallow up destruction, and
annihilation confound annihilation?
“… And thou shalt give the sign of the Mother, for BABALON is thy
fortress against the iniquity of the Abyss, for the iniquity of that which
bindeth her unto the Crown, and barreth her from the Crown; for not until
thou art made one with CHAOS canst thou begin that last, that most terrible
projection, the three-fold Regimen which alone constitutes the Great Work.
(Note: The mystery of CHAOS is beyond the comprehension of any but
Masters of the Temple. One can only hint that this is at once the Formula of
the Feminine Trinity and of the All-Father. 156= ‫”כעוס‬
From The Vision and the Voice, 2nd Aethyr, ARN:
“… as the pure light is colourless, so is the pure soul black. And this is the
Mystery of the incest of CHAOS with his daughter. (Note: This doctrine is
most profound and important. It throws light upon the mystery of evil, and
upon the nature of Maya in general. Chaos is here the Yod of
Tetragrammaton, his daughter the final H. This passage is to be studied
closely in connection with the previous passages and notes with regard to the
formula of ‫ ;יהוה‬indeed one should perform samyama upon this whole
matter.)
“… And if thou wilt hear the voice of the Aethyr, do thou invoke it in the
night, having no other light but the light of the half moon. Then mayest thou
hear the voice, though it may be that thou understandeth it not. Yet shall it
be a potent spell, whereby thou mayest lay bare the womb of thy
understanding to the violence of CHAOS.”
Additionally, CHAOS is mentioned in the Creed of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica:
“I believe in one secret and ineffable LORD; and in one Star in the
Company of Stars of whose fire we are created, and to which we shall return;
and in one Father of Life, Mystery of Mystery, in His name CHAOS, the sole
viceregent of the Sun upon the Earth; and in one Air the nourisher of all that
breathes.”
CHAOS is also mentioned in two Class A documents received by Crowley between

1904 and 1911. In Liber I, B vel Magi (Book B or the Book of the Magus), v. 21, CHAOS is
invoked to seal the text: “And in the word CHAOS let the book be sealed, yea, let the
Book be sealed.”
The second Holy Book that mentions CHAOS is Liber CLVI, Cheth vel Vallum
Abiegni (Book Cheth or the Book of the Vault of Abiegnus). Here He is mentioned twice, in verses
1 and 21. In verse 1 He is mentioned as being the husband of BABALON:
“This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the
Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos,
that rideth upon our Lord the Beast.” (CLVI, v.1)
And in verse 21 He is further described as being BABALON's “Lawful Lord”:
“And the end thereof is known not even unto Our Lady or to the Beast
whereon She rideth; nor unto the Virgin her daughter nor unto Chaos her
lawful Lord; but unto the Crowned Child is it known? It is not known if it be
known.” (CLVI, v. 21)
It also bears mentioning that as discussed in the section on the Cross Qabalistic
Crowley uses the term “viceregent” to also describe the Phallus. The Phallus being the “vice-
regent and representative” of Ra-Hoor-Khuit & the Sun “in the animal kingdom.” “His
cognate symbol … representing Love and Liberty.” (The Law is for All, New Comment of AL
III, 22)
ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ − BABALON is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the North in the
1913 Star Ruby ritual. The name is vibrated by “screaming” this would seem to indicate that
the name is associated with its related Kerubic beast: the eagle. However, one must take into
account Crowley’s experiences with the 23rd and 24th Enochian Aethyrs. In a curious but
important footnote to the 24th Aethyr, NIA, he comments that “The Beast and the Scarlet
Woman are attributed to e and Water h. They are the two-in-one Chief Officers, of the Temple of the
New Aeon of Heru-Ra-Ha. (Note: The Eagle Kerub in the 23rd Aire is Aquarius k. Scorpio is the
Woman-Serpent. This is important; for the old attribution is of the Eagle to Scorpio h)”
Albrecht Durer’s “Woman of Babylon” (1498 e.v.)
What this means is that the Eagle which once represented one of the beasts of
Scorpio now was attributed to Aquarius and therefore with the element of Air. Conversely,
the Angel of Aquarius has now changed into the Serpent-woman of Scorpio. This switch is
represented graphically in the Crowley/Harris Tarot cards “The Hierophant” and “The
Universe”.
It is my suspicion that this attribution of BABALON to Aquarius may have been

one of the reasons why the ritual was changed in the twenties. The attribution of
BABALON to Air/Aquarius/Eagle just seems a little clumsy.
The divine BABALON finds her origins in the personification of the Babylonian
Empire by the Jewish people as a means to illustrate their antipathy towards their Babylonian
conquerors. A prime example of this embodiment occurs in the Book of Jeremiah (51:7)
where the nation of the Babylonians is seen as a golden chalice: “calix aureus Babylon in
manu Domini inebrians omnem terram de vino eius biberunt gentes et ideo commotae sunt”
(Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand that hath made all the earth drunken: The nations have
drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.)
Later the image was modified by the Jewish inspired Christian faith as the “Whore of
Bablyon” described by John of Patmos in the Book of Revelations (REV 17:1-6)
“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the
kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried
me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a
scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and
ten horns And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her
forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with
great admiration.”
Since that time a number of images have arisen that fit what we as Thelemites have
come to view as Babalon-esque characteristics. In the Barbelite sect of Gnosticism you have
the worship of the female entity, Barbelo, who was considered to be the eternal mother of
light as well as the daughter and consort of Armodzel, the All-Father. The Apocryphon of
John mentions Barbelo as the “first power, the glory … the perfect glory in the aions, the
glory of the revelation.” In worshipping this divinity the Barbelites gained a reputation for
sexual licentiousness and were accused of great wickedness.
Another Gnostic work that bears the familiar strength of the Thelemic Babalon is
the poem “Thunder, Perfect Mind” whose speaker shows the same type of paradoxical
qualities that we have come to associate with the Thelemic envisioning of BABALON.
In the Enochian language BABALON translates to “those who are wicked” and it is
in the Enochian system that the Thelemic BABALON is named and fully envisioned by its
discoverers and by Crowley.
The Enochian system’s discoverers, John Dee and Edward Kelly, came across the
following vision while working with the Seventh Aire or Aethyr (DEO):
“I am the daughter of Fortitude, and ravished every hour from my youth.

For behold I am Understanding and science dwelleth in me; and the heavens
oppress me. They cover and desire me with infinite appetite; for none that
are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stars
and covered with the morning clouds. My feet are swifter than the winds,
and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the
beginning, and my dwelling place is in myself. The Lion knoweth not where I
walk, neither do the beast of the fields understand me. I am deflowered, yet a
virgin; I sanctify and am not sanctified. Happy is he that embraceth me: for
in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company
is a harmony of many symbols and my lips sweeter than health itself. I am a
harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not. For lo, I
am loved of many, and I am a lover to many; and as many as come unto me
as they should do, have entertainment.
“Purge your streets, O ye sons of men, and wash your houses clean; make
yourselves holy, and put on righteousness. Cast out your old strumpets, and
burn their clothes; abstain from the company of other women that are
defiled, that are sluttish, and not so handsome and beautiful as I, and then
will I come and dwell amongst you: and behold, I will bring forth children
unto you, and they shall be the Sons of Comfort. I will open my garments,
and stand naked before you, that your love may be more enflamed toward
me. As yet, I walk in the clouds; as yet, I am carried with the winds, and
cannot descend unto you for the multitude of your abominations, and the
filthy loathsomeness of your dwelling places.”
This message was received by Kelley from an entity whom appeared clothed in: “…
attire (…) like beaten gold; she hath on her forehead a cross crystal, her neck and breast are bare unto under
her dugs: she hath a girdle of beaten gold slackly buckled unto her with a pendant of gold down to the
ground...”
While this entity is never identified as such with BABALON her speech is indicative
of the qualities of strength, supreme spiritual understanding and paradoxical promiscuity that
are normally associated with the worship of BABALON in the modern Thelemic context.
Crowley has numerous references in Liber CDXVIII of BABALON. She is

mentioned in the following Aethyrs:
From The Vision and the Voice, OXO, the 15th Aethyr:
“Lo! I gather up every spirit that is pure, and weave him into my vesture of
flame. I lick up the lives of men, and their souls sparkle from mine eyes. I am
the mighty sorceress, the lust of the spirit. And by my dancing I gather for
my mother Nuit the heads of all them that are baptized in the waters of life. I
am the lust of the spirit that eateth up the soul of man. I have prepared a
feast for the adepts, and they that partake thereof shall see God.”
From The Vision and the Voice, LOE, the 12th Aethyr:
“This is the Mystery of Babylon, the Mother of Abominations and this is the
mystery of her adulteries, for she hath yielded up herself to everything that
liveth, and hath become a partaker in its mystery. And because she hath
made herself the servant of each, therefore is she mistress of all. Not yet
canst thou comprehend her glory.
“Beautiful art thou, O Babalon, and desirable, for thou hast given thyself to
everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath subdued their strength. For in
that union thou didst understand. Therefore art thou called Understanding,
O Babylon, Lady of the Night.
“This is that which is written, ‘O my God, in one last rapture let me attain to
the union with the many." For she is Love, and her love is one, and she hath
divided the one love into infinite loves, and each love is one, and equal to
The One, and therefore is she passed "from the assembly and the law and
the enlightenment unto the anarchy of solitude and darkness. For ever thus
must she veil the brilliance of Her Self.’ O Babylon, Babylon, thou mighty
Mother, that ridest upon the crown d beast, let me be drunken upon the wine
of thy fornications; let thy kisses wanton me unto death, that even I, thy cup-
bearer, may understand.”
From The Vision and the Voice, ZIP, the 9th Aethyr:
“This is the daughter of Babalon the Beautiful, that she hath borne unto the
Father of All. And unto all hath she borne her. This is the Daughter of the
King. This is the Virgin of Eternity. This is she that the Holy One hath
wrested from the Giant Time, and the prize of them that have overcome
Space. This is she that is set upon the Throne of Understanding. Holy, Holy,
Holy is her name, not to be spoken among men. For Kor they have called
her, and Malkuth, and Betulah, and Persephone.
“And the poets have feigned songs about her, and the prophets have spoken
vain things, and the young men have dreamed vain dreams; but this is she,
that immaculate, the name of whose name may not be spoken. Thought
cannot pierce the glory that defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead
before her presence. Memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of
Magick are neither words to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her. Will
bends like a reed in the tempests that sweep the borders of her kingdom, and
imagination cannot figure so much as one petal of the lilies whereon she
standeth in the lake of crystal, in the sea of glass.
“This is she that hath bedecked her hair with seven stars, the seven breaths
of God that move and thrill its excellence. And she hath tied her hair with
seven combs, whereupon are written the seven secret names of God that are
not known even of the Angels, or of the Archangels, or of the Leader of the
armies of the Lord.
“Holy, Holy, Holy art thou, and blessed be Thy name for ever, unto whom
the Aeons are but the pulsings of thy blood.”
From The Vision and the Voice, ARN, the 2nd Aethyr:
Omari tessala marax,

tessala dodi phornepax.
amri radara poliax
armana piliu.
amri radara piliu son';
mari narya barbiton
madara anaphax sarpedon
andala hriliu.
“I am the harlot that shaketh Death.

This shaking giveth the Peace of Satiate Lust.
Immortality jetteth from my skull,
And music from my vulva.
Immortality jetteth from my vulva also,
For my Whoredom is a sweet scent like a seven-stringed instrument,
Played unto God the Invisible, the all-ruler,
That goeth along giving the shrill scream of orgasm.
“And that which thou hearest is but the dropping of the dews from my
limbs, for I dance in the night, naked upon the grass, in shadowy places, by
running streams.”
In Crowley’s extensive commentary to the Book of the Law he states that BABALON is the
secret name of “Nuith” (New Commentary I,33).
After Crowley had received the Holy Books and fully plumbed the depths of the Enochian
system he included BABALON in Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass of the Ecclessia Gnostica
Catholica. In addition to the above concepts is added the idea that BABALON is also an
avatar for the Earth.
“This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the
Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos,
that rideth upon our Lord the Beast. Thou shalt drain out thy blood that is
thy life into the golden cup of her fornication. Thou shalt mingle thy life with
the universal life. Thou shalt keep not back one drop.” (Liber Cheth & The
Vault of Abiegnus CLVI, vv. 1-3)
Peter Vischer the Younger’s (1487 – 1529 e.v.) “Fortuna Amoris”
ΕΡΩΣ − EROS is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the West in the 1913 Star
Ruby ritual. Utilizing the same logic as the other deities above we may deduce that the name
relates to Scorpio and hence the element Water. Since the name is vibrated by “saying” this
would seem to indicate that the name is associated with the Angelic form mentioned above
instead of the classically attributed Eagle.
Classically, EROS is the Greek god of Love. He, too, is mentioned in Hesiod’s
Theogony where he is one of the first offspring of Chaos. Therefore, in the celebrated
Mysteries at Eleusis he was given the epithet, Protogonus (The First Born). He is more
commonly recognized as the son of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love and Beauty, and
either Ares, Hermes, or Hephaestus. Other stories of his origins have him as the son of
Porus (“plenty”) and Penia (“poverty”) as well as Iris (messenger goddess and goddess of
rainbows) and Zephyrus (Greek god of the western winds). Aristophanes in his play, The
Birds, stated that Eros was hatched from an egg that had been laid by Nyx, the Goddess of
the Night, in the pure darkness of Erebos. He then mated with Chaos to give birth to the
birds of the world.
The great classical dramatist, Euripides, once said of him: “Whoever judges not Eros
to be a mighty god is either stupid or, having no experience of good things, knows not of the
god who is the mightiest power to men.”
In Thelema EROS may be seen as the personification of the Force of Love which
instructs and compels our Union with any person, idea or object that we believe to to be
separate from ourselves. Eros is the uniter of the divided. If, in the context of this ritual,
CHAOS is Yod and BABALON He, then EROS may be viewed as the Son of that Union
(Vau) and correspond accordingly to Tiphareth. This places him as both the means by which
the conjoined energies of CHAOS and BABALON materialize on the plane of
manifestation as well as the path by which the Supernal Court may be reached through “love
under will.”
Crowley says of him in Liber CL (Lege Libellum):
“He is a wayward boy and wanton, wise in the Wiles of Aphrodite Our Lady
His sweet Mother: and all His jests and cruelties are spices in a confection
cunning as no art may match.
“Rejoice therefore in all His play, not remitting in any wise your own ardour,
but glowing with the sting of His whips, and making of Laughter itself a
sacrament adjuvant to Love, even as in the Wine of Rheims is sparkle and
bite, like as they were ministers to the High Priest of its Intoxication.”
ΨΥΧΗ − PsYChE is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the South in the 1913
version of the Star Ruby. Since the name is vibrated by “bellowing” this would seem to
indicate that the name corresponds to the astrological sign of Taurus, the Bull, and therefore
with the element of Earth.
PSYCHE, (Gr. “Soul”) in Apuleius’ story of her journey, was a princess of an

unknown kingdom whose beauty was as such that men forewent the worship of Aphrodite
to worship her instead. This turn of events gained Psyche the ire of the goddess who then
ordered her son, Eros, to punish her. In carrying out his mother’s orders Eros accidentally
pricked himself with one of his own arrows thus falling in love with Psyche.
Aphrodite’s will was accomplished however, and Psyche was cursed with an
exceptional beauty but no suitors. Her parents, who were concerned about their youngest
and only unwed daughter, consulted the Apollonian oracle. He told them that she was
destined to be married to no mortal lover and that she was to be left on a mountain top to
await her divine husband. Sadly they followed the oracle’s instructions and bid their daughter
farewell.
Psyche was eventually taken from the mountain by Zephyrus, the god of the western
wind, to a magnificent and mysterious palace. Here her every need was attended through the
agency of invisible voices and spirits. It was also here that she began receiving nightly visits
from her new husband. However, under no condition was she allowed to look at him.
After some time had passed, Psyche had become homesick and asked her new
husband to let her visit her family. Zephyrus took her back to her homeland where she met
with her family and told them about her prosperous and unusual new life. Her sisters, jealous
of their sibling’s luck, tried to find out as much as they could about Psyche’s husband.
Finding out that Psyche actually knew very little about him, they seized on her insecurities
and proceeded to try to convince her that he was an evil spirit of some kind.
Upon leaving her family and returning to the palace she had decided that she was
going to discover her husband’s identity and if he was indeed an evil spirit, she would end
his life. Armed with a lamp and a dagger she stole into his chamber and discovered that her
husband was in fact Eros. A drop of hot oil from the lamp spilled on Eros’ shoulder
awakening him. Discovering his wife’s distrust of him he decided to leave Psyche. The
palace and servants all disappeared and Psyche was forced to return to her family.
Eventually, Psyche was reunited with Eros but not until a number of impossible
tasks were performed to prove her loyalty. These trials were accomplished only through the
assistance of the gods and through the objects and the creatures of the world around her. In
due course Zeus allowed her to enter the kingdom of Olympus as Eros’ wife and goddess of
the Soul.
PSYCHE does not appear frequently through Crowley’s magical works, but that
should not prevent us from discovering her importance to the Thelemite who wishes to
understand why this deity is included in this ritual. The above story can be read with a
decidedly mystico-magical slant to great effect. One possible perspective is that PSYCHE
represents the soul of the magician, who, through Love under Will, attains the Great Work.
She is the Princess of Malkuth destined to be wed to the Prince of Tiphareth. Upon
marrying she becomes the Queen of Understanding and he, the King of Wisdom.
Edward John Poynter’s “Psyche in the Temple of Love” (1882 e.v.)

IIIa. 1929/1930 GODNAMES:
ΘΗΡΙΟΝ − ThERION, the Greek word for “Beast”, is the Thelemic Divine Name
associated with the East in the 1929/30 reworking of the Star Ruby ritual. It, like its
predecessor ChAOS, is “roared” and is associated with the sign of Leo, the lion, and
therefore with the element of Fire.
In the Christian religion “the Beast” generally refers to the creature described in the
New Testament Book of Revelations.(written 68-96 e.v.)
Rev 17:3 “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a
woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns.”
Rev 17:7 & 8 “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I
will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her,
which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was,
and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:
and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the
beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
The popular interpretation of this image is as the Anti-Christ who will enslave the
world until the second coming of the Christ. A more scholarly interpretation reveals that the
Beast may very well have been symbolic of the Roman Army which served as the mount of
the Roman Empire.
Crowley’s fascination with this biblical character was life long. He was given the
name by his mother when he misbehaved and eventually took the name Το Μεγα Θηριον
(The Great Beast) as his name for the Magus Grade of the ATAT in 1915.
Crowley believed that the Beast was in fact an office or position which was to be
held by him as Magus as revealed in his commentary to verse I,15 of the Book 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.’
“Commentary: I am inclined, however, to believe that "the Beast" and "the

Scarlet Woman" do not denote persons, but are titles of office, that of
Hierophant and High Priestess (‫ ו‬and ‫… )ג‬
“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.”
For the Thelemite the Divine Name Therion represents something more than just
Crowley’s incarnation as Magus and Hierophant of the New Aeon. It is often seen as
symbolizing the both the manifestation of the energy of CHAOS, the All-Father as well as
being another title for it.
Albrecht Durer’s “The Seven-Headed Beast and the Beast with Lamb's Horns” (1498 e.v.)
Nut & Hathor
NUIT − NUIT is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the North in the 1929/30
version of the Star Ruby ritual. However, unlike its predecessor this name is not screamed
but rather said. The reasons why are unknown to me, and I have been unable to find any
explanation in print to support this change in technique. The name is still associated with Air
and Aquarius since the same name is used in Crowley’s Liber V (The Book of the Prince).
The name, NUIT, is the Thelemic rendering of the Egyptian goddess of the sky and
the heavens, Nut. Traditionally, Nut was represented as a naked, dark skinned, star-speckled
goddess whose body arched across the heavens. When standing or sitting she often was
shown wearing the crown of Hathor (Het-Hru – “House of Horus”) which is comprised of
the solar disk nestled between a pair of cow horns. She also sometimes wears a headdress
that is crowned with a bowl of water. In her hands she often was represented as holding
both the ankh and a papyrus reed-shaped scepter. The sycamore tree was sacred to her and
she was said to subsist on its fruit. In one legend the god Apophis is slain by Ra while next
to the sycamore of Nut. Additionally, it is said that Ra begins his journey on the Bark of the
Sun by passing first through Nut's twin turquoise sycamores in the city of Heliopolis.
Concerning her importance in the Thelemic canon she is one of the three primary
deities represented on the artifact Crowley called the Stele of Revealing. Also, she is the
source of the first chapter of the Book of the Law, Liber AL vel Legis (CCXX), which was
transmitted through the spiritual intelligence Aiwass to Crowley in 1904.
Nuit and Hadit both are considered to be representations of infinity in its expansive
and contractive states respectively. Since discussion concerning an incommensurable deity is
most likely doomed it might be wise to locate those verses where she identifies herself as
being something. However, it should be noted that these descriptions were given as a
revelation to Crowley and as such may differ from revelations given to any other magician
with whom the goddess has made contact.
I:xiii “I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see
your joy.”
I:xxi “With the God & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see me. They
are as upon the earth; I am Heaven, and there is no other God than me, and
my lord Hadit.”
I:xxii “Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a

secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me. Since I am
Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof…”
I:xxiv “I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.”
I:xxvii-xxvix “Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space,
kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a
sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it
be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them
speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous! None, breathed the light,
faint & faery, of the stars, and two. For I am divided for love's sake, for the
chance of union.”
I:lxiv “I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of

the voluptuous night-sky.”
In his commentary to Liber AL Crowley stated that she is “Infinite freedom, all-
embracing, for physical Love; boundless continuity for Life; and the silent rhythm of the
Stars for Language. These three conceptions are Her gift to us.”
The goddess is referred to constantly throughout Crowley’s works. Of special note is
the eponymously titled Liber Nu (XI) which describes itself as “the Book of the Cult of the
Infinite Without” and where Nuit is described as “the infinite expansion of the Rose.” She
also plays a significant part in Liber CVI – “Concerning Death” which reads like a Thelemic
version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Moreover, an image of her appears in painted
form both in “The Star” and “The Aeon” cards in the Crowley/Harris Tarot deck.
From Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927)
BABALON − BABALON is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the West in the
1929/30 version of the Star Ruby ritual. This change from North/Aquarius/Air to
West/Scorpio/Water seems a better fit. Her name is whispered which matches the
astrological sign’s association with Crowley’s “serpent-woman.” (For more information on
BABALON see above)
Behedeti
HADIT − HADIT is the Thelemic Divine Name associated with the South in the
1929/1930 version of the Star Ruby, thus replacing PsYChe. Since the name is vibrated by
“bellowing” this would seem to indicate that the name corresponds to the astrological sign
of Taurus, the Bull, and therefore with the element of Earth.
HADIT is the Thelemic rendering of the Egyptian epithet “Behdety” which was
attributed to Horus. “Behdety” literally means “He of Behdet” which was a respected district
of the ancient Egyptian city of Edfu. The city of Edfu dates back to at least 3100 b.e.v. with
significant temples dedicated to Horus existing as early as the New Kingdom (between
1291-1213 b.e.v.) Between 237-57 b.e.v. (during the Ptolemaic Period) the largest known
temple to Horus ever constructed was erected in Edfu.
The Behedet or Behdety was iconographically represented by the winged solar disk.
It is in this form that he is represented on the Stele of Revealing and in the Aeon card of the
Harris/Crowley Tarot deck.
Whereas Nuit maintains much of her classical nature in the Thelemic canon Hadit
appears to shed his original position as a provincial form of Horus in lieu of being a god in
his own right. In this role he is the source of the second chapter of the Book of the Law
again dictated through the intelligence Aiwass.
Since Hadit like Nuit is considered to be a representation of the infinite a similar

approach to description may be used:
II:ii-viii “… I, Hadit, am the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not

extended, and Khabs is the name of my House. In the sphere I am
everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found. Yet she
shall be known & I never. I am the flame that burns in every heart of man,
and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is
theknowledge of me the knowledge of death. I am the Magician and the
Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto
me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go. Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath
have worshipped me; ill, for I am the worshipper.”
II:xi-xiii “I see thee hate the hand & the pen; but I am stronger. Because of
me in Thee which thou knewest not. for why? Because thou wast the
knower, and me.”
II:xv,xvi “For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools;
but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none
indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further
secret. I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus eleven, as my bride is
eleven.”
II:xxii, xxiii “I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright
glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine
and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They
shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of
innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and
rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this. I am alone: there is no
God where I am.”
II:xxvi “I am the secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is

joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head,
and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are
one.”
II:xlvi-li “Dost thou fail? Art thou sorry? Is fear in thine heart? Where I am
these are not. Pity not the fallen! I never knew them. I am not for them. I
console not: I hate the consoled & the consoler. I am unique & conqueror. I
am not of the slaves that perish. Be they damned & dead! Amen. (This is of
the 4: there is a fifth who is invisible, & therein am I as a babe in an egg.)
Blue am I and gold in the light of my bride: but the red gleam is in my eyes;
& my spangles are purple & green. Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher
than eyesight.”
II:lxv “I am the Master: thou art the Holy Chosen One.”
Similarly to Liber Nu there is its compliment, Liber Had (DLV). This Liber is termed
“the Book of the Cult of the Infinite Without” with Hadit described as the “infinite
concentration of the Rood (an antiquated term used to describe both a cross as well as a
pole).”
IV. PAIAN TO ΠΑΝ

ΙΟ ΠΑΝ − After sealing the four directions with projected pentagrams and divine names the
magician is instructed to raise their voice in a song of praise, or Paian, to the god Pan. The
words used for this section are simply “ΙΟ ΠΑΝ!” or “Hail Pan!” The Paian, or Paean, is as
mentioned a song of praise, but it also may be a song of thanksgiving or a means of invoking
a particular deity. At its most basic, this phrase is a formal means of displaying devotion to
its given deity.
Pan in the Greek tradition is the bawdy goat-footed god of woods, pastures and
isolated wild places. He is the god that governs the untrammeled areas beyond the civilized
realm of men. Additionally, he is the patron god of shepherds and their flocks. Also in the
Greek language ΠΑΝ translates to “All”.
Absorbing these elements into his magical system, Crowley “sacrificed” himself to
the god in a homosexual sex magick rite in Algeria in 1909 e.v. In PAN he saw something
more universal than the idyllic creature of Victorian fancy. He saw in PAN a means to rend
the veil of the Abyss and destroy ego-based consciousness through the “Night of PAN.”
Rex Sabazius describes this Thelemic PAN as a “symbol of the Universal, a personification
of Nature; both Pangenetor, ‘all-begetter’, and Panphage, ‘all-devourer.’”
The signs of N.O.X. given during this part of the ritual are of Crowley’s devising and
represent the complement to the Golden Dawn L.V.X. Signs. Where the LVX Signs
represented the “Light of the Cross” emitted by the magician through their miming of the
cycles of Nature, the NOX signs represent that light’s transformation through the ecstasy of
extinction. Where the Signs of LVX represent the accomplishment of the 5º =6□ Grade of
the Golden Dawn as well as the ATAT, the signs of NOX represent the ATAT Signs for
the Grades Adeptus Exemptus (6º =5□) to Magister Templi (8º =3□).
Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones) wrote of N.O.X. in his 1924 work I.N.R.I: De
Mysteriis Rosæ Rubeæ et Aureæ Crucis:
“And now, O my Son, go thou and partake of the Mystic Eucharist, even as
thou hast been taught by Those who Know. Fortify thyself, for thou hast yet
a perilous journey before thee. Thou hast been led unto the Light; bethink
thee that there is yet another Rose and Cross, the Rose of Nine-and-forty
Petals — which is Seven by Seven — upon the Cross of Five Squares. The
Mysteries of these thou wilt someday know, but not now; for these partake
the nature of that Great Darkness of N. O. X., the Darkness which is as the
Light which is Higher than Eyesight; the Pure Darkness of Understanding, or
of the Womb of the Lady Babalon, and the City of the Pyramids which is the
Abode of NEMO.”
Heliodorus' “Pan and Daphnis” (100 b.e.v.)

V. EVOCATION OF THE CHALDEAN INTELLIGENCES
ΠΡΟ ΜΟΥ ΙΥΓΓΕΣ ΟΠΙΣΟ ΜΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ ΕΠΙ ∆ΕΞΙΑ ΣΥΝΟΧΕΣ ΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕ
ΛΗ Ο ΑΣΤΗΡ ΤΩΝ ΕΞ ΕΣΤΗΚΕ. − “Before me the Iynges, behind me the
Teletarch(ae), on my right hand, the Synoches, on my left, the Daemons,
For about me flames the Star of Five and in the column stands the Star of
Six”
ΙΥΓΓΕΣ − They Who Began the Divine Creative Impulse. The following is from G.R.S.
Mead’s notes on the Chaldean Oracles:
(ΙΥΓΓΕΣ) THE STARTERS.
On the borderland between the intelligible and sensible worlds were the Iynges - mysterious
beings whose name may perhaps be translated as Wheels or Whirls, or even as Shriekers. As,
however, I seem to detect in these three ruling Principles a correspondence with the
creators, preservers and destroyers, or rather regenerators (perfecters or enders) of Indian
theosophy, I will call these Iynges Starters, in the sense of Initiators or Setters-up of the initial
impulse.
We will first set down the “wisdom” of the lexicon on this puzzling subject, warning the
reader that he is having his attention turned to the wrong side of the thing - the littleness and
superstition of what in the Oracles was clearly intended to be a revelation of some greatness.
Iynx is said to be the bird that we call the wryneck; it was called iynx in Greek from its cry, as
it is called wryneck in English from the movement of its head. Iyge and iygmós are used of
howling, shrieking, yelling, both for shouts of joy and cries of pain, and also of the hissing of
snakes.
The ancient wizards, it is said, used to bind the wryneck to a wheel, which they made to
revolve, in the belief that they thus drew men's hearts along with it and chained them to
obedience; hence this magic wheel was frequently used in the belief that it was a means of
recovering unfaithful lovers. This operation was called setting the magic bird or magic wheel a-
going. The unfortunate bird seems to have been attached to the wheel with its wings and legs
pegged out crosswise so as to form four spokes, spread-eagle fashion. The word iynx thus
came to mean a charm and a spell, and also a passionate yearning.
The root-idea accordingly seems to have been that of a “winged wheel” that emitted sound,
and we are reminded of the winged creatures or wheels in the famous Vision of Ezekiel, who
saw the mystic sight in Babylon, and thus probably caught some reflection of the symbolism
of the Chaldæan mysteries.
How the wryneck was first brought in, and finally assumed the chief place, is a puzzle. It
reminds one of the story of the calf in the Vaidik rite, which so interfered with the sacred
service of the sage that he had to tie it up to a post before he could continue the rite. This
casual incident became finally stereotyped into the chief feature of the rite!
Certain it is that the Iynges of our Oracles have nothing to do with wrynecks; we shall,
therefore, make bold to translate them as Wheels or Starters.
They were presumably thought of as Living Spheres, whirling out in every direction from the
centre, and swirling in again to that same centre, once they had reached the limit of their
periphery or surround. They were also, in all probability, conceived of as Winged Globes - a
familiar figure in Babylonian and Egyptian art - thus symbolizing that they were powers of
the Air, midway between Heaven, the Great Surround, and Earth, the fixed Centre. In other
words, they were the Children of the Æon.
An anonymous ancient writer tells us (K. 39) that it is the blending of the intellectual (or
gnostic) and intelligible (or ideal) orders - that is, the union of the prototypes of what we
distinguish as subject and object in the sense-world of diversity, or what we might call the
self-reflective energy of the Mind on the plane of reality - that first “spirts forth” the One
Iynx, and after this the three Iynges that are called “paternal” and also “unspeakables.” This
writer also characterizes the Iynx as the “One in the three Depths after it” (it is, therefore, of
an æonic nature), and says that it is this three-in-one hierarchy that divides the worlds into
three - namely, empyrean, ætherial, and terrene.
The information of Damascius refines and complicates the idea, when he tells us that “the
Mind of the Father is said to bring forward [on to the stage of manifestation] the triadic
ordering - Iynges, Synoches, Teletarchæ” - which we may render tentatively as Whirlings,
Holdings-together and Perfectings.
The Synoches we have come across before (i. 58). Teletarchía is used by ecclesiastical writers
as a synonym of the Trinity; while Orpheus is called teletárchēs as the founder of mysteries or
perfectionings.
The root-meanings underlying the names of the members of this triad seem to suggest, as we
have already said, the ideas of creating (or preferably starting), preserving (or maintaining),
and completing (or perfecting or finishing).
Damascius thinks that the last words of the following two verses refer to the triad of the
One Iynx:
Many are these who leaping mount upon the shining worlds; among them are three
excellencies [or heights].
(K. 40; C. 40)
The meaning of the first clause is doubtful. Who the many (fem. pl.) are is not clear; it may
mean that there are hosts of subordinate Iynges. On the contrary, it may have nothing to do
with these Nature-Iynges on the Path of Descent, that is the bringing into manifestation, but
may refer to souls who in the Ascent win their way to the “shining worlds” or Worlds of
Light, and become Iynges consciously.
According to both Damascius and Proclus, the Order of Iynges is characterized as having
the power both of proceeding or going-forth and of drawing-together or contracting - that
is, both of expansion and contraction, of out-breathing and in-breathing. They are,
moreover, free Intelligences.
The Whirls [Iynges] created by the Father’s Thought are themselves, too, intelligent [or
gnostic], being moved by Wills ineffable to understand.
(K. 40; C. 54)

They are created by Divine Thought, as Sons of Will and Yoga, and procreate by thought;
they are Mind-born and give birth to minds. Their epithet is the Ineffables or Unspeakables;
they are further called in the Oracles “swift,” and are said to proceed from and to “rush to”
or “desire eagerly” the Father (C. 52); they are the “Father’s Powers.” Indeed, as Proclus
declares:
For not only do these three divinities [or divine natures] of themselves bring into
manifestation and contract them [sci. out of manifestation], but they are also “Guardians” [or
Watchers or Preservers] of the “works” of the Father, according to the Oracle - yea, of the
One Mind that doth create itself.
(K. 40; C. 41)
Iynx in its root-meaning, according to Proclus, signifies the “power of transmission,” which
is said, in the Oracles, “to sustain the fountains.” The same idea seems to be latent in the
following verse:
For all cosmos has inflexible intelligent sustainers.
(K. 40; C. 64)
The meaning is quite clearly brought out when Proclus, elsewhere, affirms that the Order of
the Iynges “has a transmissive [that is, intermediary or ferrying] power, as the Theologers call
it, of all things from the Intelligible [or Typal] Order into Matter, and again of all things into
it [sci. the Intelligible].”
In other words, they are the direct link between the Divine and physical,
and to some extent also suggest the idea of Angels or Messengers; yet are they like to Wheels
and Whirls, or Vortices - on the one hand to vortical atoms, and on the other to
individualities. They are, of course, in essence, quite unbound by ideas of extension in space,
and sequence in time; though they manifest in space and time.
Porphyry preserves a curious Oracle which reads:
With secret rites drawing the iynx from the æether.
(K. 41)
This Oracle, however, may have been taken from some Theurgist or Hellenized Magian
source and not from our poem; and so also may the following quoted by Proclus:
Be active [or operate] round the Hecatic spinning thing.
(K. 41; C. 194)
It is doubtful what stróphalus means exactly. It may sometimes mean a top; and in the
Mysteries tops were included among the mystic play-things of the young Bacchus, or
Iacchus. They represented, among other things, the “fixed” stars (humming tops) and
planets (whipping tops).
The Iynx was said to be active, or to energize, on the three - empyrean, ætherial and terrene -
planes.
ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ − They Who Perfect the Divine Creative Impulse. The following is from
G.R.S. Mead’s notes on the Chaldean Oracles:
(ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ) THE ENDERS.
So also with the Teletarchæ or perfecting Powers; as Proclus tells us, they have the same
divisions as the Synoches (and Iynges); that is to say, it is again all the same thing looked at
from the Son-side of things. There was thus, in the elaboration of the Later Platonic
commentators, a triple, and even a sevenfold, division of this order or hierarchy. Considering
the Teletarchic energy, or activity, as triadic, Proclus tells us that
in its first mode it has to do with the finest or ultimate substance, the Empyrean, and says
that it plays the part of Driver or Guide to the “foot [? - tarsón) of Fire" - which may be
simply a poetical phrase for the Fire in its first contact with substance. Its middle mode,
embracing beginnings and ends and middles, perfects the Æther; while its third mode is
concerned with Gross Matter (Hylē), still confused and unshaped, which it also perfects.
From these and other elaborations of a like nature, we learn that the Teletarchs were
regarded as three, and were intimately bound up with the Synoches, and therefore with the
Iynges (C. 58). The unifying or holding-together of the Synochic power is de-fined and
delimited by the perfecting nature of the Teletarchic power:
Into beginning and end and middle things by Order at Necessity.
(K. 43)
In this connection it is of interest to cite a sentence from Proclus that is almost certainly
quoted from the Oracles. It relates to the Ascent of the individual soul and not to
cosmogenesis, to perfection in the Mysteries and not to the Mysteries that perfect the world:
The Soul-lord, he who doth set his feet upon the realms ætherial, is the Perfectioner
[Teletarch].
(K. 43)
Finally, Proclus refers the following two verses to the Teletarchs:
Nay, a Name of august majesty, and, with sleepless whirling, leaping into the worlds, by
reason of the Father's swift Announcement.
(K. 43; C. 111)
In another passage Proclus refers to the “Transmissive” Name that leaps into activity in the
“boundless worlds” (K. 44); and in yet another passage (K. 40), which we have already
quoted (p. xx), he gives this “Name” to the Iynges. This plainly refers to the “Intermediaries
who stand” between the Father and Matter, as Damascius says (K. 44), who further affirms
that in their aspect of Teletarchs they are perfecting, and rule over all perfections, or the
perfecting rites of the Mysteries.
ΣΥΝΟΧΕΣ − They Who Maintain the Divine Creative Impulse. The following is from
G.R.S. Mead’s notes on the Chaldean Oracles:
(ΣΥΝΟΧΕΣ) THE MAINTAINERS.
Though the Later Platonic commentators make two other allied hierarchies out of the
Synoches and Teletarchæ, both these, as we have seen, should rather be taken as modes of
this same mysterious Iynx. In manifestation, from one it passed to three, and so became
many. Thus a scrap of our Oracles reads:
Nay, and as many as are subject to the hylic [or terrene] Synoches.
(K. 41; C. 57)
This would seem to mean simply the Powers that hold together, or contract, or mass,
material things; and these Powers are again the Iynges, or simultaneously creative,
preservative, and destructive or perfective Intelligences of the Father-Mind, which are in the
Oracles symbolically called His Lightnings when thought of as Rays or Intelligences. The
word Prēstēres (Lightnings), however, is more graphically and literally rendered as Fiery
Whirlwinds - like waterspouts. These are again our Iynges or Whirls or Swirls or Wheels,
spinning in and out. Thus two verses read:
But to the Knowing Fire-whirls of the Knowing Fire [i.e., the Father] all things do yield,
subject unto the Father's W ill which makes them to obey.
(K. 42; C. 63)
As we have seen above (p. xx) these Whirls, as Synoches - that is, in their power of .holding
together - were called “Guardians,” and this is borne out by
two verses:
He gave to His own Fire-whirls the power to guard the summits, commingling with the
Synoches the proper power of His own Might.
(K. 42; C. 56)
The “summits” suggest these self-same Iynges in their creative mode; the series of which
they were the “summits” being creative (or inceptive), preservative (or guardian), and
perfective (consummative or regenerative).
Thus Damascius tells us that the whole Demiurgic Order - that is to say the order of things
in genesis - was surrounded by what the Oracles call the “Fire-whirling Guard.” In brief it is
the power of holding together (? gravitation on the life-side of things).
This is fundamentally the great power of the Mother-side of things; for, as we have seen (i.
57), the Great Mother is:
Source of all sources, Womb that holds all things together .
(K. 19; C. 99)

It follows, therefore, that the Iynges, as creative, are on the Father-side; as preservative (or
Synoches) on the Mother-side; and as result or consummating or perfecting (or Teletarchæ)
on the Son-side.
Damascius bears this out when he tells us that the Oracles call the Synoches the “Whole-
makers” (holopoioí) - that is to say, they are connected with the idea of wholeness or oneness
or the root-substance side of things, and again with the idea of the Æon.
Of course, the symbolic categories of Father, Mother, and Son are really all aspects of One
and the same Mystery - the That which understands itself alone and yet is beyond
understanding. To this Proclus refers when he writes:
Including [containing, preserving] all things in the one excellency [or summit] of His own
subsistence, “Himself subsists wholly beyond,” according to the Oracle.
(K. 42; C. 7)
∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΕΣ − They Who are the Executors of the Divine Creative Impulse. The
following is from G.R.S. Mead’s notes on the Chaldean Oracles:
THE DAIMONES.
The lesser powers were, according to Olympiodorus, divided into Angels, Daimones and
Heroes. Concerning the Heroes, however, we have no fragment remaining; while Angels and
Daimones are at times somewhat confused. On the Daimones we have the following two
verses:
Nature persuades us that the Daimones are pure, and things that grow from evil matter
useful and good.
(K. 44; C. 191)
Kroll thinks that this means that Nature deceives us into thinking that the evil Daimones are
good; it may, however, mean that whereas from Man's standpoint Daimones are good or
evil, according to Nature they are pure, or indifferent, or non-moral. Their operations are
conditioned by man's nature. They are in themselves non-human entities, and there is a scale
of them from lowest to highest.
Fourth Angle: ΝΥΙΘ
An Isopsephical Analysis
ΑΠΟ − 151 − Away (from me)

Κονια − Dust, Ashes
Οµµα − Eye, image
ΠΑΝΤΟΣ − 701 − “every” or “each”

Κελευσµα − Command, shout*
(*1 Thessalonians 4:16 – “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the chief
angel, and with God’s shofar. The dead Messiah will rise first.”
From Thayer’s Lexicon – “an order, command, spec. a stimulating cry, either that by which animals are
roused and urged on by man, as horses by charioteers, hounds by hunters, etc., or that by which a signal is given to men,
e.g., to rowers by the master of a ship, to soldiers by a commander [with a loud summons, a trumpet call.]”)
ΚΑΚΟ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ − 556 − evil spirit/genius

φηµη − Speech; omen, oracle
TOTAL = 1,408 − Ηξω − Echo, lament

Σοτηρ − Savior, redeemer
Σεβας Κυριυ − “Glory of the Lord”
Κοιτη Κυριυ − “Offspring of the Lord”
ΣΟΙ − 280 − Unto Thee

ιος − one, arrow*
(*From The Vision and The Voice, 5th Aethyr – LIT: “I see that the crown of the Arrow
is the Father of all Light, and the shaft of the Arrow is the Father of all Life, and the barb of the
Arrow is the Father of all Love. For that silver wedge is like a lotus flower, and the Eye within
the Ateph Crown crieth: I watch. And the Shaft crieth: I work. And the Barb crieth: I wait.
And the Voice of the Aethyr echoeth: It beams. It burns. It blooms.
“And now there cometh a strange thought; this Arrow is the source of all motion; it is infinite
motion, yet it moveth not, so that there is no motion. And therefore there is no matter. This
Arrow is the glance of the Eye of Shiva. But because it moveth not, the universe is not destroyed.
The universe is put forth and swallowed up in the quivering of the plumes of Maat, that are the
plumes of the Arrow; but those plumes quiver not.”)
‫ סאנדלפון‬- “Sandalphon”, the Archangel of Malkuth
Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ − 1366 − O Phallus

Φαλλος + Κτεις − Phallus and “Kteis” (lit. “comb” , a popular Greek
term for the female genitalia)– masculine and feminine generative
principles.
Η Φωνη − “The Voice”
ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ − 1580 − Strength, strong

Ο Μαχλον Θηµος − “The Lustful Soul”
Πυρ Κυριου − “The Lord’s Fire”
Ωρυς + Βοη − Horus + war-cry
Ιο Φος! − “Oh, Light/Life!”
ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ − 1886 − Thanksgiving/Eucharist

∆ικαιωµα Θυµος − Judgment of God
Ο Φιλος + Η Νυµφη − The Companion + The Bride
Ευκταιος Ζυγου − Votive of Union
Ιησους + Κορη Κοσµου − Jesus + Bride of the World/Cosmos
ΙΑΩ − 811 − Iao

Μαστος − "Breast",
Αιω − “To perceive, to know”
TOTAL = 5,923 (prime number)

III. 1913 GODNAMES:
ΧΑΟΣ − 871 − Chaos

Σκοταιος − Secret, dark
Αχος − Pain, sorrow
Φαρος − Web, cloak
Κυριος + Αιξ − Lord + Goat
Α + Χ + Ω − Alpha, the Beginning; Chi, the quartering and
demarcation of space; Omega, the End
ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ − 156 − Babalon

Λαµβδα + Λαµβδα − “Lambda + Lambda” P
(Λ[30] + Λ [30] = 60 − Μαγεια − Magic)
Μαια + Αιγλη + Ιαµα − “Mother” + “Brightness/torch” + “Healing”
Κακια + Ανα + Αιµα − “Wickedness” + “Arise!/Upwards/on high” +
“Blood/life”
12 x 13 = 12 (# of constellations in the girdle of the Zodiac) X ‫אחד‬
(Achad – Unity)
The number of squares or “pyramids” on each of the Enochian

elemental tablets received by John Dee and Edward (Talbot) Kelly.
ΕΡΩΣ − 1105 − Eros

Μεταναστησ − Wanderer
Φιλοπολεµος − Warlike, bellicose (lit. “Lover of War”)
Στιγµα + Φιλια/Βουληµα − Mark/brand + Love/Will
Κυριε Οικου − “Lord of the Temple”
ΨΥΧΗ − 1708 − Psyche

Υποδικος + Αγον − Subject to trial/Guilty* + Contest/combat/labor
(*Romans 3:19 – “Now we know that whatever things the law says; it speaks to those who are under the law, that
every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.”
From Thayer’s Lexicon: “1) under judgment, one who lost his suit; 2) debtor to one, owing satisfaction to; 3)
liable to punishment from God.”)
Η Στεγασµα Ολων − “The House of All”

Η Βλεφαρον Ηερµεω − “The Eye of Thoth/Hermes”
TOTAL = 3,840 = 960 x 4 = Συµµιξις (Marriage) or Το Κυκλον (The

Circle) x 4 (# of Elements/cardinal directions/winds etc.)
IIIa. 1929 GODNAMES:
(Since most of the ritual is in Greek I have taken the liberty of converting the Thelemic Divine Names in
this section into a Hellenized format.)
ΘΗΡΙΟΝ − 247 − Therion

Εικασια − Image
Αδαµας − Steel
13 x 19 = 13 (Βια - “Strength”) x 10 (Η Ια − “The One”)
ΝΥΙΘ − 469 − Nuit

Θεια Κορβανας − “A Divine Treasure-House”
Η Ιερος Θεαινα − “The Sacred Goddess”
Ειµι Επιδεξιος − “I am Favorable”
ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ − 156 (see above)
Α∆ΙΘ − 24 − Hadit
# of letters in the Greek Alphabet
Ιδε Αδ − “Behold! Had!”
Η Αει − “The Immortal”
Βια + Ηβα − “Strength” + “Youth”
TOTAL = 896 - Η Νικη Κοσµου − “The Victory of the Universe”

224 X 4 − Αιγισ (Aegis, the Storm; the shield of Zeus and Athena)
X 4 (# of Elements/cardinal directions/winds etc.)
Αστρα Θειος − “Stars of the Gods”
Αφροδισια − “Feast of Aphrodite”
IV. PAIAN TO ΠΑΝ
ΙΟ ΠΑΝ − 211 − Io Pan

Ιδα − Equilibrium
Ο Ραββι Αει − The Master Forever
ΠΡΟ ΜΟΥ ΙΥΓΓΕΣ ΟΠΙΣΟ ΜΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ ΕΠΙ ∆ΕΞΙΑ ΣΥΝΟΧΕΣ ΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕ
ΛΗ Ο ΑΣΤΗΡ ΤΩΝ ΕΞ ΕΣΤΗΚΕ. − “Before me the Iynges, behind me the
Teletarch(ae), on my right hand, the Synoches, on my left, the Daemons,
For about me flames the Star of Five and in the column stands the Star
of Six”
ΠΡΟ ΜΟΥ ΙΥΓΓΕΣ − “Before me the Iynges” - 250 + 510 + 621 = 1,381
ΟΠΙΣΟ ΜΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ − “Behind me the Teletarch(ae)” - 430 + 510 +

1,352 = 2,292
ΕΠΙ ∆ΕΞΙΑ ΣΥΝΟΚΕΙΣ − “On the right, the Synoches” - 95 + 80 + 1,535 =

1,710
ΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕΡΑ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΕΣ − “On the left, the Daemons” - 822 + 380 = 1,202
ΦΛΕΓΕΙ ΓΑΡ ΠΕΡΙ ΜΟΥ Ο ΑΣΤΗΡ ΤΟΝ ΠΕΝΤΕ − “For about me flames the
Star of Five” - 553 + 104 + 195 + 510 + 70 + 609 + 1,150 + 440 = 3,631
ΚΑΙ ΕΝ ΤΗΙ ΣΤΗΛΗ Ο ΑΣΤΗΡ ΤΩΝ ΕΞ ΕΣΤΗΚΕ − “And in the column stands
the Star of Six” - 31 + 55 + 318 + 70 + 609 + 1,150 + 65 + 538 = 2,836
TOTAL = 13,052 = 52 x 251 = Καλα (pl. “Beautiful”) X Ειλικρινεια (“Purity”)
Ιυγγες − 621 – Πυοµαι – To save/guard

Ουλε Ο Ζαλη − “Hail to Thee, O Storm!”
Εκποησις + Ιη − Emission of seed/Orgasm + Arrows
Τελεταρχαι − 1,352 – Η Οδος Κυριου – “The Way of the Lord”

Η Επιπηανεια Ρυµβον – “The Manifestation of Whirling Motion”
Ο Απορρητοσ Ερµησ – “O Ineffable Hermes”
Συνοκεισ − 1,535 – Η Επικληρος Κυριου – “The Daughter of the Lord”

Ζωη + Σποροσ – “Life” + “Seed/Birth”
Κολπος + Συνεσις – “Womb/Bosom” + “Understanding”
∆αιµονες − 380 – Κοπισ – Dagger/sword

Ευνειν Θειος – “Kindess of the Gods”
Ηδονη Ενεροι – “Delight of the Dead”
Ο Αστηρ Τον Πεντε − 2,269 − Η Καθυπερτατος ∆ιακτορος − “The Most-High
Messenger of the Gods”
Η Τετραπολος Στερνον − “The Fourfold Heart”
Ο Αστηρ Τον Εξ Εστηκε − 2,432 − Η Φοσπορος − “The Light-Bringer” (Venus,

the Daystar)
152 X 16 = Αλκαρ (“Protection”) X Αει (“Forever”)
Fifth Angle: Θ
K
Performance
The instructions here are pretty straightforward. The magician should stand in the center
of their Temple facing East. Then they should center themselves by taking deep full breathes
through the nose with the mouth closed and “sealed” with the index finger of the right hand.
Next the hand is brought down, “back and out” while quickly emptying the lungs
and crying: ΑΠΟ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΚΟ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ (A-po Pan-tos Ka-ko-daye-mon-os). The
hand gesture here seems to describe an arc that moves down the front of the body, to the
groin area, past the right hip and then to a position pointing directly behind the magician.
The forehead, genitals, right and left shoulders are touched in turn while saying
ΣΟΙ, (Soi)
Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ, (Oh Fahl-ley)
ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ, (Is-chur-ohs)
ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ. (Yoo-chah-ris-tohs)
Then with clasped hands cry out the name ΙΑΩ (Ee-Ah-Oh).
It is not necessary to sing or intone any part of this section except possibly the crying out of
IAO.
III. 1913 GODNAMES:

Here as in the 1929/1930 version of the ritual we are given the instruction that
pentagrams rather than being physically traced are visualized and localized in the forehead
and then projected with the sign of the Enterer. The pentagrams in question are merely said
to be “aright” and it is not specifically stated whether the visualization process is supposed
to replicate the elementally associated directions attributed to the pentagram. We are not told
to project a banishing Earth pentagram for instance.
Also, the word “aright” proves to be somewhat problematic. “Aright” merely
indicates that the pentagram is visualized correctly and properly. It gives no indication
whether the correctness of the pentagram is to be modeled after the Golden Dawn model or
the model set out in the Liber V ritual which uses “averse” pentagrams.
The directions, vibratory style and god names are as follows:
East – Roar ΧΑΟC (Cha-os)

North – Scream ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ (Ba-ba-lon)
West – Say ΕΡΟC (Eh-rohs)
South – Bellow ΨΥΧΗ (Soo-chee)
After each pentagram and divine name has been projected the magician brings the
right index finger back to the lips in the Sign of Hoor-pa kraat (or Sign of Silence)
IIIa. 1929 GODNAMES:
The directions, vibratory style and god names are as follows:
East – Roar ΘΕΡΙΟΝ (Theer-ee-on)

North – Say NUIT
West – Whisper BABALON
South – Bellow HADIT
After each pentagram and divine name has been projected the magician brings the
right index finger back to the lips in the Sign of Hoor-pa kraat (or Sign of Silence)
IV. PAIAN TO ΠΑΝ

The Paian is said to be performed with a raised voice. Since the term is generally
used to describe a devotional song or hymn, I have found it useful to sing the Paean, altering
the pitch and volume of the verse with the sign being made.
The verse may be pronounced as EE-Oh Pan, or more traditionally as Yoh Pan.
The signs of N.O.X. are described as follows (from Liber V vel Reguli). The
ordering of the signs duplicates the ordering given by Crowley in that ritual. However it
should be noted that the ordering appears to change in The Star Sapphire (Liber XXXVI)
Hexagram ritual where it is given as Puer, Vir, Puella & Mulier with Mater Triumphans
mentioned but not given until sometime later in the ritual. I have found that both orderings
are very useful in their own ways and encourage the reader to experiment with both forms in
order to get the most out of these powerful gestures.
Puella (Girl)
“Let him make the sign called Puella, standing with his feet together, head bowed, his left
hand shielding the muladhara cakra, and his right hand shielding his breast (attitude of the
Venus de Medici).”
Puer (Boy)(N)
“Let him give the sign Puer, standing with feet together and head erect. Let his right hand
(the thumb extended at right angles to the fingers) be raised, the forearm vertical at a right
angle with the upper arm, which is horizontally extended in the line joining the shoulders.
Let his left hand, the thumb extended forwards, and the fingers clenched, rest at the junction
of the thighs (attitudes of the gods Mentu, Khem, etc.).”
Vir (Man)(O)
“Let him give the sign called Vir, the feet being together. The hands, with clenched fingers
and thumbs thrust out forwards, are held to the temples; the head is then bowed and pushed
out, as if to symbolize the butting of an horned beast (attitude of Pan, Bacchus, etc.).”
Mulier (Woman)(X)
“Let him give the sign Mulier. The feet are widely separated, and the arms raised so as to
suggest a crescent. The head is thrown back (attitude of Baphomet, Isis in Welcome, the
Microcosm of Vitruvius).”
Mater Triumphans (The Conquering Mother)

“…the sign of Mater Triumphans. (The feet are together; the left arm is curved as if it
supported a child; the thumb and index finger of the right hand pinch the nipple of the left
breast, as if offering it to that child.)”
Rex Sabazius points out in his notes on the Star Ruby that there are five signs of
N.O.X. as well as being five letters in IO PAN. It would be reasonable, although he certainly
doesn’t say as such, that one could associate each letter of the Paian with a Sign. The
attributions of letter to Sign may also produce some noteworthy correspondences.
In Liber CCCXXXIII (Book of Lies) Crowley mentions the attributions of NOX in

Chapter 1: The Sabbath of the Goat. He says:
“It is explained that this triad lives in Night, the Night of Pan, which is
mystically called N.O.X., and this O is identified with the O in this word. N
is the Tarot symbol, Death; and the X or Cross is the sign of the Phallus.”
In the same chapter he associates N.O.X. with the letters ΠΑΝ. Bishop T
Poliphilus utilizes this chapter in creating a Thelemic “Analysis of the Keyword”
style litany for the Signs of N.O.X. and Π.Α.Ν.
His NOX Litany is as follows:
N.O.X. Litany
Latrant Deity Project 34-1
i. Stand upright, feet together, arms at sides.

Then face East and say:
ii. "P.A.N.
"Pi. Alpha. Nu.
"The Pillars, Priapos, casting forth the seed.
"The Pentagram, Hades, ruling the secret place.
"The Scorpion, Nike, triumphant over death and life.
"Priapos, Hades, Nike: PAN! IO PAN!"
iii. Take the posture of Mentu (the Pillars of arm and member), and say,
"N. The sign of the Youth, fair and godly."
iv. Assume the attitude of horned Bacchus (the averse Pentagram), and say,
"O. The sign of the Lord, dark and beastly."
v. Stand in the attitude of the Capitoline Venus, and say,
"The sign of the Maiden, modest in desire."
vi. Assume the stance of Babalon (Tiamat and Scorpio), and say,
"X. The sign of the Lady, brazen in fulfillment."
Stand in the posture of Isis Rejoicing, and say,

"N.O.X., Nox, the Night of PAN!"

The evocation of the Chaldean Intelligences occurs after the Paian to Pan and is
performed by extending the arms to the side in the form of the Greek letter Tau (T). The
following Greek should then be said clearly and either in a deeper register than normal or
quietly depending on your interpretation of what Crowley meant in using the word “low”.
Visualization of the abstract intelligences can be more challenging than what one is
accustomed to in the LBRP. The College of Thelema utilizes telesmatic imagery in order to
visualize the intelligences as archangelic beings. Not being privy to what type of telesmatic
system they may be using, I haven’t really used their visualizations much.
Traditionally, these Intelligences refer to orders of beings instead of actual entities.
Jim Eshelman wrote once in Black Pearl I:5
“Multiplicity is a distinctive characteristic of Yetzirah, even as unity is of

Briah; and it is a Briatic (Archangelic) level of guardianship that is warranted
here. It is our view that, in writing The Star Ruby, Crowley did not delve
deeply into the ancient meanings of these names but, rather, simply knew
that he needed Greek names for this purpose and used what was at hand.
Whatever beings are posted here must serve the same function as the
Elemental Archangels in the Lesser Banishing Pentagram Ritual.”
While I don’t entirely agree with Eshelman on this point I belief that the
visualizations of the Intelligences should be singular.
Working with and modifying the suggestions of Frater A.L. in his “An
Analysis of the Star Ruby Ritual” I tend to visualize the Iunges as a whorl of
scintillating energy before me that shoots off the primal fire of the All-Father.
Behind me the Teletarch is visualized as a hooded psychopompos, or guide of the
soul, since they are the Masters of Initiation and Perfectors of the Divine Creative
Impulse. He keeps me in place and prevents me from falling away from the Primal
Fire before me. The Sunoches I visualize as a dark orb that absorbs the Primal Fire
that issues from the Iunges and prepares it to become the forms of creation. It takes
the primal fire and constructs and eidolon of myself which issues from it and is
absorbed by me. I visualize the Daimones as being ruled by my Daimon, the Holy
Guardian Angel, so I visualize the image I have been given of Him as he stands on
my left working with the Teletarch in urging me forward. These visualizations are
obviously of a highly personal nature, and it should go without saying that
experience and research will aid the magician in deciding which set of techniques will
work best for them.
ΠΡΟ ΜΟΥ ΙΥΓΓΕΣ ΟΠΙΣΟ ΜΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΤΑΡΧΑΙ ΕΠΙ ∆ΕΞΙΑ ΣΥΝΟΧΕΣ

ΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕΡΑ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΕΣ ΦΛΕΓΕΙ ΓΑΡ ΠΕΡΙ ΜΟΥ ΑΣΤΕΡ ΤΟΝ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΚΑΙ
ΕΝ ΤΗΙ ΣΤΗΛΗ Ο ΑΣΤΗΡ ΤΩΝ ΕΞ ΕΣΤΗΚΕ.
Pronunciation:
Pro Moo Yoong-es,
O-pees-oh Moo Tehl-e-tar-chaye,
Eh-pee Deks-ee-ah Soon-o-chehs,
Ehp-ahr-is-teh-rah Daye-moh-nays,
Fleh-gaye Gahr Peh-ree Moo Ahs-tehr Ton Pehn-tay
Kai En Tee Stee-lee Oh Ahs-teer Tohn Eks Es-tee-kay
VI. QABALISTIC CROSS

Repeat as in Section II and “end as thou didst begin.” This may be an injunction to
repeat the preliminary exorcism but I’ve always seen this as a redundancy. Therefore, I have
chosen to interpret this as meaning that you end as you began, facing east breathing deeply
in the attitude of Silence.
The Mandala of the Star Ruby
Works Cited:
- Barry, Kieren, Greek Qabalah, York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1999
- Crowley, Aleister; Book 5: vel Reguli, in Magick. Book IV, Parts I-IV, second,
revised edition; edited, annotated and introduced by Hymenaeus Beta. York
Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1997.
——; Book 15: Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae, in Magick: Book IV, Parts
I-IV, second, revised edition; edited, annotated and introduced by Hymenaeus
Beta, Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine 1997.
——; Book 25: The Star Ruby, in Magick. Book IV, Parts I-IV, second, revised
edition; edited, annotated and introduced by Hymenaeus Beta. York Beach, ME:
Samuel Weiser, 1997.
——; Book 36: The Star Sapphire, in Magick. Book IV, Parts I-IV, second, revised
edition; edited, annotated and introduced by Hymenaeus Beta. York Beach, ME:
——(received by); Book 156 in The Holy Books of Thelema, edited by Hymenæus
Alpha and Hymenæus Beta. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1983.
——(received by); Book 220, Liber AL vel Legis in The Holy Books of Thelema,
edited by Hymenæus Alpha and Hymenæus Beta. York Beach, ME: Samuel
Weiser, 1983.
——; Book 333, The Book of Lies, revised paperback edition. York Beach, ME:
—— (et al); Book 418 in The Vision and the Voice with Commentary and Other Papers,
edited by Hymenaeus Beta. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1998.
——; The Law is for All, ed. I. Regardie. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1975; rpt.
Scottsdale, AZ: New Falcon, 1991, Revised 2nd Ed., ed. Louis Wilkinson and
Hymenaeus Beta, Scottsdale, AZ: New Falcon, 1996.
- Dee, John & Kelly, Edward (received by); True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for
Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits; ed. by Meric Casaubon (1659), Kila,
MT: Kessinger.
- Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days; translated annotated and introduced by M.L. West,
New York City, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Levi, Eliphas (Constant, Alphonse Louis); Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine & Ritual,
Revised ed.; London, UK: Bracken Books, 1995.
- k-Elohim, Frater H'yitem (1131); Additional Notes on the Star Ruby; from
www.lionserpent.com
- Frater A.L.(443), An Analysis of the Star Ruby Ritual; originally printed in In The
Continuum, Vol. III, Number 3; online version from www.lionserpent.com
- McRae, George W. (trans.) & Parrott, Douglas M. (edited); Thunder, Perfect Mind in
The Nag Hammadi Library, Robinson, James M (gen. editor). San Francisco, CA:
Harper Collins, 1990.
- Mercatante, Anthony S.; Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology. New York, NY: Clarkson
Potter, 1978, revised and ed. by Bianchi, Robert Steven, New York, NY: Barnes and
Noble, 1998.
- Mead, G.R.S.; The Chaldean Oracles; Kila, MT: Kessinger, 1997.
- T Polyphilus; I – Air, in Elemental Invocations from Scarlet Letter, vol. III, 4, ed. Soror
Continuity. Austin, TX: Scarlet Woman, 1996; Revised 2nd ed. Latrant Deity Project
(LDP 34-86), http://hermetic.com/dionysos/34-86.htm,
- Sabazius; Liber XXV The Star Ruby (Composed by Aleister Crowley for the Order A:.A:.
Unofficial notes and comments in brackets by Sabazius); from the Invisible Basilica.
http://hermetic.com/sabazius/starruby_rit.htm.
- Shaw, Ian & Nicholson, Paul; The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. London, UK: British
Museum, 1995; revised edition, New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 2003.
- Wisse, Frederick (trans.); The Apocryphon of John in The Nag Hammadi Library;
Robinson, James M (gen. editor). San Francisco, CA: Harper Collins, 1990.
Love is the law, love under will.

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Liber XXV: the Star Ruby

An Asterism in Five Angles

A General History of the Star Ruby

As established from the Book of Lies commentary on Ch. 25 Crowley considered

Differences Between The Star Ruby (SR) and the LBRP:

- The SR begins with an introductory Exorcism.

Printed Versions of the Star Ruby

From the 1913 edition of Liber CCCXXXIII:

THE STAR RUBY

Go round to the North and repeat; but scream ΒΑΒΑΛΟΝ.

Go round to the West and repeat; but say ΕΡΟC.

Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow ΨΥΧΗ.

The 1929/1930 edition of Magick in Theory and Practice:

THE STAR RUBY

Go round to the North and repeat; but say NUIT.

Go round to the West and repeat; but whisper BABALON.

Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow HADIT.

Ritual Components and Descriptions

ΑΠΟ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΚΟ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ − “Away (from me) every evil spirit”

II. QABALISTIC CROSS (BOTH EDITIONS)

ΣΟΙ, Ω ΦΑΛΛΕ, ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ, ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ, ΙΑΩ − “Unto Thee, O Phallus,

ΙΣΧΥΡΟΣ represents Strength and therefore refers to the Qabalistic Pillar of

ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΣ, alternatively, is Thanksgiving, the Eucharist, Benevolence, and

The relationship between Ischuros and Eucharistos is one of interdependence.

“… A Eucharist of some sort should most assuredly be consummated daily

III. 1913 GODNAMES:

From Steffan Michelspacher’s “Cabala” (1616 e.v.)

In the Thelemic theogony CHAOS is mentioned in a number of significant works.

From The Vision and the Voice, 4th Aethyr, PAZ:

“… Chaos is Peace... Blackness, blackness intolerable, before the beginning

From The Vision and the Voice, 3rd Aethyr, ZON:

“… all things have been swallowed up in destruction; and Chaos hath

From The Vision and the Voice, 2nd Aethyr, ARN:

Additionally, CHAOS is mentioned in the Creed of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica:

CHAOS is also mentioned in two Class A documents received by Crowley between

And in verse 21 He is further described as being BABALON's “Lawful Lord”:

It is my suspicion that this attribution of BABALON to Aquarius may have been

“I am the daughter of Fortitude, and ravished every hour from my youth.

Crowley has numerous references in Liber CDXVIII of BABALON. She is

Omari tessala marax,

“I am the harlot that shaketh Death.

Crowley says of him in Liber CL (Lege Libellum):

PSYCHE, (Gr. “Soul”) in Apuleius’ story of her journey, was a princess of an

Edward John Poynter’s “Psyche in the Temple of Love” (1882 e.v.)

“Commentary: I am inclined, however, to believe that "the Beast" and "the

I:xxii “Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a

I:xxiv “I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.”

I:lxiv “I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of

Since Hadit like Nuit is considered to be a representation of the infinite a similar

II:ii-viii “… I, Hadit, am the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not

II:xxvi “I am the secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is

II:lxv “I am the Master: thou art the Holy Chosen One.”

IV. PAIAN TO ΠΑΝ

Heliodorus' “Pan and Daphnis” (100 b.e.v.)

(ΙΥΓΓΕΣ) THE STARTERS.

(K. 40; C. 40)

(K. 40; C. 54)

(K. 40; C. 41)

For all cosmos has inflexible intelligent sustainers.