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LIBER QVPh

0. In the Beginning there was Naught. Words cannot define Our Lady of the Stars for She Is Not. Even "darkness" and "silence" are inadequate terms. So let us not attempt to define Her. Let us but love Her with burning hearts and aspire unto Her and play our parts as it is Willed. 

1. At the Very Centre of this Circumference of Naught is Our Lord, that mysterious Point which Is. He too is beyond crude definition. Let us then concern ourselves only with reaching unto that Very Centre of All and Naught which is our Self. Let us Become that Point of concentration until we expand and Become Naught. 

2. "For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union." (AL I.29) On this Plane of Consciousness there appear to be two beings, alike, but dissimilar. The one is Positive in nature and classed as Yang by the ancient Orientals; he is usually called "Man". The other is Negative in nature, classed as Yin by those Wise Ones of the East, and is usually called "Woman". Yet be not deceived by outer appearances. Form is but an Illusion and appearances can be deceiving. The true nature of sex is not determined by what appears to be, but rather is it determined by more subtle things. 

3. The Act of Creation may be achieved by one of three methods. These methods have been expressed, by that Holy Order called the O.T.O., as the VIII° (autosexual), IX° (heterosexual), and XI° (homosexual). But again, blessed aspirant, I caution you to remember what has before this been written concerning the nature of sex. 

Though there be three methods there is but one Way. 

If the opus be of the VIII°, the Magician, of whichever sex, unites with a pure idea having no physical vehicle. This may have the advantage of making concentration upon the Magical Child, that is, the purpose for the Working, easier, but it also has the disadvantage of being less powerful (generally speaking) than the other two methods. 

What follows is written in terms of the IX° and XI°, but is perfectly applicable to the VIII°. The aspirant, through the right ingenium, should be capable of the proper application of the following. 

4. In the Temple, the Place of Working, there is no-thing but the Beast (Priest) and the Scarlet Woman (Priestess). That is, though the Temple may be fitted in various ways, the attitude of the Magicians should be that the Universe is empty save for themselves, who are the embodiment of "love under will". He is Hadit and she is Nuit. Their masks are left behind them, on the Lower Planes, along with their other garments of dense matter. 

5. To accomplish this task of negation most effectively, all that does not pertain directly to the Work at hand must be banished. All that is alien to the Opus must be driven away and kept without the Sphere of Working, the Circle of Art, the Temple. This includes all that is in the exterior world, perceivable by the five mundane senses, as well as that which is within the interior world, that is, any thoughts and ideas in the mind that may be incompatible with the Opus. 

The Ritual of the Star Ruby is but one of those given by the A.·.A.·. which may be used effectively. 

The Magick Circle, the Sphere of Working, is like unto a mighty fortress. There must be no breach in the defenses. All unsavoury and contaminating forces must be kept without or the Work will be damaged, the Child may be destroyed or deformed, and the Magicians themselves may be subjected to various disorders and diseases. 

More than this, the Circle of Art, or Sphere of Working, is like unto a great vessel which must be hermetically sealed until it is time that the seal be broken. Within this vessel are thy Forces accumulated and transformed. If there is a crack in this vessel much Force can be lost and that lost Force may be scattered and the unsavoury forces without may feed upon it, become stronger, and gain a certain amount of influence and control over the Magicians--for this Force is of the Magicians and can serve as a Magical Link. 

Thus you see, blessed aspirant, the importance of thy Circle cannot be overstressed. Caution is the Watchword. Efficiency begets Success. 

6. After the Temple has been cleansed of all "impure" forces, the next step is the consecration of the Magicians and their Temple, or Place of Working. All must be properly dedicated to the Work at hand. The proper words and signs are left to the ingenium of the Magicians, but it is suggested that LIBER 777 and SEPHER SEPHIROTH svb figvra D be used as guides in any Magical Operation. 

7. The Opus itself should be one long building of intense and powerful Force. The Magicians should be emotionally and physically excited to the utmost degree while the climax of the Working is stalled until the very last possible moment. 

"Hold! Hold! Bear up in thy rapture; fall not in swoon of the excellent kisses! 

"Harder! Hold up thyself! Lift thine head! breathe not so deep--die! 

"Ah! Ah! What do I feel? Is the word exhausted?" (AL II.67-69) 

8. Full attention and concentration must be given, during the whole of the Working, to both the Magical Child, which is the intention of the Opus, and to the sensations that are generated. For the Child is the Form and the sensations are the Force. Force without Form accomplisheth nothing on the Lower Planes, and Form without Force is a dead thing. 

This is not an operation of Divided Concentration. Neither is it, strictly speaking, an operation of Dual Concentration, for the word "Dual" implies two things. 

This Act of Concentration upon the Form and the Force which gives it life is an act of supreme concentration and the crux of the entire Operation. It must be fully Realized, and not merely Rationalized, that "there is no difference." (AL I.4) Remember the words of LIBER AL VEL LEGIS: "Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing..." (AL I.22) The Form and the Force, the Magical Child and the sensations generated, physiological, psychological, psychical and emotional, must be Realized as One, and in that One must All Become None. "Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this." (AL II.22) 

Heed not the foolish words of those false prophets who teach that all sense of joy in sexual love must be abolished so that Magick can be rightly performed. They are dead things, the lovers of dead things, and the creators of dead things. 

The reasons for performing this Holy Rite of Magick are infinite and one. 

Whatever be the immediate purpose for the Opus, it should always be for the supreme goal of attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, the eventual Union with thy True Self, and the expression of the True Self, that is, the doing of His Will, which is thine. 

If thy magicks be otherwise directed then it is the vilest of "Black Magic"--Sorcery. 

Remember too that Magick should always be unto Nuit who is Nought. "I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy." (AL I.13) "But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!" (AL I.53) For you, O Man, are Hadit, attaining to the Realization of thy Centre to expand outward and Unite with the Circumference. And you, O Woman, are Nuit, Realizing all that you are, the Circumference concentrating upon the Centre in Holy Ecstatic Union. 

"At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say--and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple--To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant." (AL I.62) 

Do not forget that "The word of Sin is Restriction." (AL I.41) All things whatsoever are permissible so long as it be the will of all participants in thy Work. 

As for the machinations of Intellect: these should be avoided during any Act of Magick. Indulgence in reasoning should be strictly forbidden during any Magical Act and only permitted when not actually performing any Rite, be it Sexual or Ceremonial. The time for deep analysis is before or after thy Work. 

"If Will stops and cries Why, invoking Because, then Will stops & does nought." (AL II.30) The reasoning faculties of thy mind should be suspended during all Acts of Magick and the participants should be totally absorbed in their Great Work. 

Furthermore, every Act of Magick is best when Magick is performed for the sake of performing it rather than for any particular goal. This will be a stumbling block for most aspirants, and especially if that aspirant tries to reason this out. It is above and beyond mere reason. Think instead upon this: "For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect." (AL I.44) 

9. It is a common fact, though not necessarily a hard and fast rule, that Woman is capable of several climaxes during an Act of Love while Man is capable of only one. Whether this be the case or not, each orgasm must be greater than the last, and the final one, which should ideally occur for both Practitioners in unison, should be the greatest. At this time the full of the accumulated Force is thrust out with explosive momentum and instills the Magical Child with life. In one mighty gasp this should be done, concentrting all into the Child. This is the breath of life that God gave unto the being that he had created of the earth. 

Yet remember this: "...fall not in swoon of the excellent kisses!" Be careful not to give in completely to the sensations that are being aroused at the expense of the purpose for their arousal. If thou forgetest the Child for even the briefest of moments, that Child may very well be drown in the flood of thy senses. 

10. Finally, after the Operation has been completed (and it should be remembered that it may take any number of Operations to complete the Working), but another banishment should be done, for safety's sake. 

This is a time when the Magicians are most susceptible to attacks, possessions and obsessions from "unclean" and "impure" forces, for their guard may be down momentarily and the walls of their Temple may be loosened, perhaps even shattered. 

Also, all work done in the Higher, Inner Planes, must be grounded in the Lower, Outer Planes. The Magicians have raised themselves to the Higher Planes of Consciousness, but must, by necessity of the physical laws of nature and their need to relate to their fellow beings and not be considered "insane", return to the Lower Planes of logic and reason, that is, until such time as it is proper for them to go on to Higher Planes and return not to the Lower. 

11. ABRAHADABRA. Aumgn.  

REGARDING POINT 8: What has been written in previous numbers of The Newaeon Newsletter concerning "Dual Concentration" was not wrong, but possibly misleading. The entire subject is most difficult to treat simply because it is so simple. Anyway, the crux of Magick is indeed this Dual Concentration which, if one Realizes that there is no differrence, is not in the least Dual Concentration but the purest of One Pointed Concentration.

Qoph, the name of the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is spelled in Hebrew QVPh (Qoph Vau Pe), numerically: 100 + 6 + 80 = 186 (CLXXXVI) and 186 = 93 + 93, or Thelema (Greek for "Will") + Agape (Love), et cetera. Also, the numerical value of Qoph is 100 and 100 = Kaph, KPh = K(teis) 20 + Ph(allus) = 80, et cetera.