The Holy Books of Thelema

The Holy Books of Thelema is the name recently given to the collection of those works that Aleister Crowley penned, but that he claimed were written through him--not by him. They therefore are to be considered 'inspired' works. The chief of these books, Liber AL vel Legis, is the only one that involved a voice dictating the text to him. Of all the others, Crowley writes in Confessions:<br> <br> <i>"The spirit came upon me and I wrote a number of books in a way which I hardly know how to describe. They were not taken from dictation like The Book of the Law nor were they my own composition. I cannot even call them automatic writing. I can only say that I was not wholly conscious at the time of what I was writing...I cannot doubt that these books are the work of an intelligence independent of my own."</i> Contents of ΘΕΛΗΜΑ <ul> <li><b>Volume I</b> <ul> <li><i>Liber LXI vel Causæ</i>--Explains the actual history and origin of the present movement. This text, being in Class D, is not technically a <i>Holy Book</i>, but was included in "ΘΕΛΗΜΑ" as an Introduction, and is thus listed here.</li> <li><i>Liber LXV: Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente</i>--An account of the relations of the aspirant and his Holy Guardian Angel.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Volume II</b> <ul> <li><i>Liber VII: Liber Liberi vel Lapidis Lazuli</i>--These are the Birth Words of a Master of the Temple. Its 7 Chapters are referred to the 7 Planets in the following order: Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Sol, Mercury, Luna, Venus.</li> </ul> </li> <li><b>Volume III</b> <ul> <li><i>Liber XXVII: Liber Trigrammaton sub Figura XXVII</i>--Being a book of Trigrams of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin and yang. An account of the Cosmic process.</li> <li><i>Liber CCXX: Liber AL vel Legis sub Figura CCXX: The Book of the Law</i>--Among the <i>Holy Books of Thelema</i>, the chief is <i>The Book of the Law</i>. Every Thelemite is expected to interpret the book, "each for himself".</li> <li><i>Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita</i>--An account of the Hexagram and the method of reducing it to the Unity and Beyond. This book describes in magical language a very secret process of Initiation.</li> </ul> </li> </ul>