This Abyss is also called ‘ Hell,’ and ‘ The Many.’ Its name is ‘ Consciousness,’ and ‘ The Universe,’ among men.
But THAT which neither is silent, nor speaks, rejoices therein.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΑ
THE GLOW-WORM
Concerning the Holy Three-in-Naught.
Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, are only to be understood by the Master of the Temple.
They are above The Abyss, and contain all contradiction in themselves.
Below them is a seeming duality of Chaos and Babalon ; these are called Father and Mother, but it is not so. They are called Brother and Sister, but it is not so. They are called Husband and Wife, but it is not so.
The reflection of All is Pan : the Night of Pan is the Annihilation of the All.
Cast down through The Abyss is the Light, the Rosy Cross, the rapture of Union that destroys, that is The Way. The Rosy Cross is the Ambassador of Pan.
How infinite is the distance from This to That ! Yet All is Here and Now. Nor is there any There or Then ; for all that is, what is it but a manifestation, that is, a part, that is, a falsehood, of THAT which is not?
Yet THAT which is not neither is nor is not That which is !
Identity is perfect ; therefore the Law of Identity is but a lie. For there is no subject, and there is no predicate ; nor is there the contradictory of either of these things.
Holy, Holy, Holy are these Truths that I utter, knowing them to be but falsehoods, broken mirrors, troubled waters ; hide me, O our Lady, in Thy Womb ! for I may not endure the rapture.
In this utterance of falsehood upon falsehood, whose contradictories are also false, it seems as if That which I uttered not were true.
Blessed, unutterably blessed, is this last of the illusions ; let me play the man, and thrust it from me ! Amen.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ IB
THE DRAGON-FLIES
IO is the cry of the lower as OI of the higher.
In figures they are 1001 ;9 in letters they are Joy.10
For when all is equilibrated, when all is beheld from without all, there is joy, joy, joy that is but one facet of a diamond, every other facet whereof is more joyful than joy itself.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΓ
PILGRIM-TALK
O thou that settest out upon The Path, false is the Phantom that thou seekest. When thou hast it thou shalt know all bitterness, thy teeth fixed in the Sodom-Apple.
Thus hast thou been lured along That Path, whose terror else had driven thee far away.
O thou that stridest upon the middle of The Path, no phantoms mock thee. For the stride’s sake thou stridest.
Thus art thou lured along That Path, whose fascination else had driven thee far away.
O thou that drawest toward the End of The Path, effort is no more. Faster and faster dost thou fall ; thy weariness is changed into Ineffable Rest.
For there is no Thou upon That Path : thou hast become The Way.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΔ
ONION-PEELINGS
The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General at the Expense of the Particular, quoth FRATER PERDURABO, and laughed.
But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow.
Those next to them laughed, seeing the Universal Joke.
Below these certain disciples wept.
Then certain laughed.
Others next wept.
Others next laughed.
Next others wept.
Next others laughed.
Last came those that wept because they could not see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought it safe to act like FRATER PERDURABO.
But though FRATER PERDURABO laughed openly, He also at the same time wept secretly ; and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept.
Nor did He mean what He said.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΕ
THE GUN-BARREL
Mighty and erect is this Will of mine, this Pyramid of fire whose summit is lost in Heaven. Upon it have I burned the corpse of my desires.
Mighty and erect is this Φαλλος of my Will. The seed thereof is That which I have borne within me from Eternity ; and it is lost within the Body of Our Lady of the Stars.
I am not I ; I am but an hollow tube to bring down Fire from Heaven.
Mighty and marvellous is this Weakness, this Heaven which draweth me into Her Womb, this Dome which hideth, which absorbeth, Me.
This is The Night wherein I am lost, the Love through which I am no longer I.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΣ
THE STAG-BEETLE
Death implies change and individuality if thou be THAT which hath no person, which is beyond the changing, even beyond changelessness, what hast thou to do with death?
The bird of individuality is ecstasy ; so also is its death.
In love the individuality is slain ; who loves not love?
Love death therefore, and long eagerly for it.
Die Daily.
ΚΕΦΑΛΗ ΙΖ
THE SWAN11
There is a Swan whose name is Ecstasy : it wingeth from the Deserts of the North ; it wingeth through the blue ; it wingeth over the fields of rice ; at its coming they push forth the green.
In all the Universe this Swan alone is motionless ; it seems to move, as the Sun seems to move ; such is the weakness of our sight.
O fool! criest thou?
Amen. Motion is relative : there is Nothing that is still.
Against this Swan I shot an arrow ; the white breast poured forth blood. Men smote me ; then, perceiving that I was