THE BOOK OF LIES

196 Pages·2004·0.52 MB·English

by  Aleister Crowley

LIBER
CCCXXXIII

THE
BOOK
OF
LIES

FALSELY
SO CALLED
First published London: E.J. Wieland, 1913.
Second edition with commentary
Ilfracombe: Haydn Press, 1952

This electronic edition issued by Celepha(cid:239)s Press
from somewhere beyond the Tanarian Hills
and manifested in the waking world
in Leeds, Yorkshire, England.

Original key entry by Frater E.A.D.N.
Formatting and further proofreading
by Frater Lege Iudica Atque Ride
Last revised 17.07.2004.

(c) Ordo Templi Orientis
JAF Box 7666
New York
NY 10116
USA.
THE BOOK OF LIES
WHICH IS ALSO FALSELY
CALLED
BREAKS
THE WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATIONS
OF THE ONE THOUGHT OF

FRATER PERDURABO
(Aleister Crowley)

WHICH THOUGHT IS ITSELF
UNTRUE

A REPRINT
with an additional commentary to each chapter.

(cid:147)Break, break, break
At the foot of thy stones, O Sea !
And I would that I could utter
The thoughts that arise in me!(cid:148)

Celepha(cid:239)s Press
Ulthar - Sarkomand - Inquanok - Leeds
2004
COMMENTARY (Title Page)

The number of the book is 333, as implying dispersion, so as to
correspond with the title, “Breaks” and “Lies”.
However, the “one thought is itself untrue”, and therefore its
falsifications are relatively true.
This book therefore consists of statements as nearly true as is
possible to human language.
The verse from Tennyson is inserted partly because of the pun on the
word “break”; partly because of the reference to the meaning of this
title page, as explained above; partly because it is intensely amusing for
Crowley to quote Tennyson.
There is no joke or subtle meaning in the publisher’s imprint.
A∴A∴
Publication in Classes C and D
Official for the Grade of Babe of the Abyss
?
!
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ Η ΟΥΚ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΕΦΑΛΗ
O!1
THE ANTE PRIMAL TRIAD WHICH IS
NOT-GOD
Nothing is.
Nothing Becomes.
Nothing is not.
THE FIRST TRIAD WHICH IS GOD
I AM.
I utter The Word.
I hear The Word.
THE ABYSS
The Word is broken up.
There is Knowledge.
Knowledge is Relation.
These fragments are Creation.
The broken manifests Light.2
THE SECOND TRIAD WHICH IS GOD
GOD the Father and Mother is concealed in Genera-
tion.
GOD is concealed in the whirling energy of Nature.
GOD is manifest in gathering: harmony: considera-
tion: the Mirror of the Sun and of the Heart.
THE THIRD TRIAD
Bearing: preparing.
Wavering: flowing: flashing.
Stability: begetting.
THE TENTH EMANATION
The world.

6
COMMENTARY (The Chapter that is not a Chapter)

This chapter, numbered 0, corresponds to the Negative, which is
before Kether in the Qabalistic system.
The notes of interrogation and exclamation on the previous pages
are the other two veils.
The meaning of these symbols is fully explained in (cid:147)The Soldier
and the Hunchback.(cid:148)
This chapter begins by the letter O, followed by a mark of
exclamation; its reference to the theogony of (cid:147)Liber Legis(cid:148) is
explained in the note, but it also refers to KTEIS PHALLOS and
SPERMA, and is the exclamation of wonder or ecstasy, which is the
ultimate nature of things.

NOTE
(1) Silence. Nuit, O; Hadit; Ra-Hoor-Khuit, I.

COMMENTARY (The Ante Primal Triad)

This is the negative Trinity; its three statements are, in an
ultimate sense, identical. They harmonise Being, Becoming, Not-
Being, the three possible modes of conceiving the universe.
The statement, Nothing is Not, technically equivalent to
Something Is, is fully explained in the essay called Berashith.
The rest of the chapter follows the Sephirotic system of the
Qabalah, and constitutes a sort of quintessential comment upon that
system.
Those familiar with that system will recognise Kether, Chokmah,
Binah, in the First Triad; Daath, in the Abyss; Chesed, Geburah,
Tiphareth, in the Second Triad; Netzach, Hod and Yesod in the
Third Triad, and Malkuth in the Tenth Emanation.
It will be noticed that this cosmogony is very complete; the
manifestation even of God does not appear until Tiphareth; and the
universe itself not until Malkuth.
The chapter many therefore be considered as the most complete
treatise on existence ever written.

NOTE
(2) The Unbroken, absorbing all, is called Darkness.

7
1

ΚΕΦΑΛΗ Α

THE SABBATH OF THE GOAT

O! the heart of N.O.X. the Night of Pan.
PAN: Duality: Energy: Death.
Death: Begetting: the supporters of O!
To beget is to die; to die is to beget.
Cast the Seed into the Field of Night.
Life and Death are two names of A.
Kill thyself.
Neither of these alone is enough.
8