The Vision and the Voice of the Angels of the thirty Aethyrs, reprinted from the Equinox, Volume 1, Supplement to No. 5, but here represented for the first time with an elaborate commentary by the MASTER THERION, is unique in that it attempts to describe in a perfectly sane and scientific manner spiritual experiences, and the investigations of the more subtle planes.
The first attempts to obtain these visions were made in 1900, in Mexico, where FRATER PERDURABO had journeyed in his efforts to obtain a perfect understanding of the mystic traditions and methods of attainment of every race and clime. The first two Aires were investigated on November 14 and 17, 1900. The Vision and the Voice was mysterious and terrific in character. But what he saw was not altogether beyond his previous experiences; what he heard was as unintelligible to him as William Blake to a 7th Day Adventist. He was encouraged by the evident importance of these results, but found that he was absolutely unable to proceed with the 28th Aethyr. It became evident, some 9 years later, that what stopped his further exploration of the Aethyrs in 1900 was simply that his Grade did not entitle him to go further than the 29th. In fact only a Master of the Temple, 8x = 3{square x}, can penetrate beyond a certain point, and further, as sections of the Comment point out, even a Master of the Temple cannot pierce through the veils surrounding the outer of these Aires.
The Seer had not thought of continuing this work for nearly 9 years. It is not at all clear how the idea came to him in 1909, during a walk through the Desert with Frater O.V., (Victor Neuburg) a Probationer of the A{.'.} A{.'.}, but at Aumale a Hand suddenly smote its lightning into his heart, and he knew that now, that very day, he must take up The Vision and the Voice from the point where he had laid it down in 1900. Parallel to this, it is also possible that he had in his ruck sack one of his earliest Magical Note Books, where he had copied with infinite patience the 19 Calls or Keys obtained by Sir Edward Kelly from certain Angels and written down by Queen Elizabeth's astrologer, Dr. John Dee.
The facts that stamp these Keys or Calls are these. Over 100 squares filled with letters were obtained by these two Magicians, in a manner which no one yet has quite understood. Dee would have one or more of these tables (as a rule 49 by 49) --- some full, others lettered only on alternate squares --- before him on a writing table. Kelly would sit at what they called the Holy Table, and gaze into a "Shewstone" in which he would see an Angel, who would point with a wand to letters on one of these charts in succession. Kelly would report, for example, "He points to column 6, rank 31", and so on, apparently not mentioning the letter, which Dee found and wrote down from the "Table" before him. When the Angel had finished, the message was rewritten backwards. It had been dictated backwards as being too dangerous to communicate forwards --- each word being in its nature so powerful that its direct communication would have evoked forces which were not wanted at that time.
These Keys being re-written backwards, there then appeared conjurations in a language which they called "Enochian", or "Angelic". It is not a jargon; it has a grammar and a syntax of its own. It is far more sonorous, stately and impressive than even Greek or Sanskrit and the English translations, though in places difficult to understand, contain passages of a sustained sublimity that Shakespeare, Milton and the Bible do not surpass.
"Can the Wings of the Wind understand your voices of Wonder? O Ye! The Second of the First! whom the burning flames have framed in the depths of my Jaws! Whom I have prepared as cups for a wedding, or as flowers in their beauty for the chamber of Righteousness! Stronger are your feet than the barren stone! and mightier are your voices than the manifold winds! For you are become a building such as is not, save in the mind of the All-Powerful." (Second Key)
There are nineteen of these Keys: the first two conjuring the element called Spirit; the next sixteen invoke the Four Elements; each sub-divided into four; the nineteenth, by changing two names, may be used to invoke any one of what are called the thirty "Aethyrs" or "Aires".
The genuineness of these Keys, altogether apart from any critical observation, is guaranteed by the fact that anyone with the smallest capacity for Magick finds that they work. The Seer had used these Keys a great deal, --- always with excellent effect. It was in Mexico that the idea occurred to him to discover for himself what these Aethyrs really were, by invoking them in turn by means of the nineteenth key, and, by skrying in the Spirit Vision, judge their nature by what he saw and heard.
It was then in Aumale, that he prepared to commence once more the investigations of these Aethyrs, and accordingly bought a number of notebooks. After dinner, on the 23rd of November, 1909, he invoked the 28th Aethyr by means of this 19th Key. When it was compared with those of the 29th and 30th Aethyrs, --- lo and behold, there were exhibited the same peculiarities of subject and style. This is true also of the 27th, and so on to the 24th; yet there is a continuous advance towards coherence both in each Aethyr itself, and as regards its neighbour. The subject shows solemnity and sublimity, as well as the tendency to fit in with those conceptions of the Cosmos, those mystic Laws of Nature, and those ideas of transcendental Truth which had already been foreshadowed in The Book of the Law (Vernal Equinox, 1904), and the more exalted of the trances which the Seer had experienced prior to this date.
The Method of obtaining The Vision and the Voice was as follows.
The Seer had with him a great golden topaz (set in a Calvary Cross of six squares, made of wood, and painted vermillion) which was engraved with a Greek Cross of five squares charged with the Rose of 49 petals. He held this, as a rule, in his hand. After choosing a spot where he was not likely to be disturbed he would take this stone and recite the Enochian Call, and after satisfying himself that the forces invoked were actually present, made the topaz play a part not unlike that of the looking glass in the case of Alice.
(He had long learned not to trouble himself to travel to any particular place in his Body of Light. He realized that Space was not a thing in itself, but merely a convenient category [one of many such] by reference to which we can distinguish objects from each other.) He would then describe what he saw and repeat what he heard, and Frater O.V., the Scribe, would write down his words, and incidentally observe any phenomena which struck him as peculiar. (For instance, He would at times pass into a deep trance so that many minutes might pass between two successive sentences, as the text to the later Aethyrs shows.)
They walked steadily through the Desert, invoking the Aethyrs, one by one, at convenient times and places, or when the Spirit moved them. As a rule, one Aethyr was obtained every day. Bou-Sada was reached on November 30th; on December 8th they started again through the desert for Biskra which they reached on December 16th, completing the work on the 19th. By the time Bou-Sada was reached, and they had arrived at the 20th Aethyr, the Seer began to understand that these visions were, so to speak, cosmopolitan. They brought all systems of Magical doctrine into harmonious relation.
the symbolism of Asiatic cults
the ideas of the Qabalah, both Jewish and Greek
the Arcana of the Gnostics
the Pagan Pantheon, from Mithras to Mars
the Mysteries of Ancient Khem
the Rites of Eleusis
the Scandinavian Sagas
Celtic and Druidical ritual
Mexican and Polynesian traditions
the Mysticism of Molinos no less than that of Islam,
--- all these fell into their proper places without the slightest tendency to quarrel
The whole of the past Aeon, in
short, appeared in detailed perspective, and each element
therefore surrendered its sovereignty to Horus, the
Crowned and Conquering Child, the Lord of the Aeon
announced in The Book of the Law,
Frater E{.'.}N{.'.}L{.'.}
The titles of the Thirty AEthyrs whose
dominion extendeth in ever
widening circles without and beyond the Watch Towers of
the Universe
(The first is Outermost)
1 LIL 16 LEA
2 ARN 17 TAN
3 ZOM 18 ZEN
4 PAZ 19 POP
5 LIT 20 KHR
6 MAZ 21 ASP
7 DEO 22 LIN
8 ZID 23 TOR
9 ZIP 24 NIA
10 ZAX 25 VTI
11 ICH 26 DES
12 LOE 27 ZAA
13 ZIM 28 BAG
14 UTA 29 RII
15 OXO 30 TEX
THE CALL OR KEY OF THE THIRTY AETHYRS
MADARIATZA das perifa LIL1cahisa
micaolazoda saanire caosago od fifisa balzodizodarasa
Iaida. Nonua gohulime: Micama adoianu MADA faoda
beliorebe, soba ooaona cahisa luciftias peripesol, das
aberaasasa nonuafe netaaibe caosaji od tilabe adapehaheta
damepelozoda, tooata nonuafe jimicalazodoma larasada
tofejilo marebe yareryo IDOIGO2; od
torezodulape yaodafe gohola, Caosaga, tabaoreda saanir od
caharisateosa yorepoila tiobela busadire, tilabe noalanu
paida oresaba, od dodaremeni zodayolana. Elazodape tilaba
paremeji peripesatza, od ta qurelesata booapisa. Ianibame
oucaho sayomepe, od caharisateosa ajitoltorenu, mireca qo
tiobela lela. Tonu paomebeda dizodalamo asa pianu, od
caharisateosa aji-la-tore-torenu paracahe a sayomepe.
Coredazodizoda dodapala od fifalazoda, lasa manada, od
faregita bamesa omaoasa. Conisabera od auauotza tonuji
oresa; catabela noasami tabejesa leuitahemonuji. Vanucahi
omepetilabe oresa! Bagile? Moooabe OL coredazodizoda. El
capimao itzomatzipe, od cacocasabe gosaa. Bajilenu pii
tianuta a babalanuda, od faoregita teloca uo uime.
Madariiatza, torezodu!!! Oadariatza orocaha aboaperi! Tabaori periazoda aretabasa! Adarepanu coresata dobitza! Yolacame periazodi arecoazodiore, od quasabe qotinuji! Ripire paaotzata sagacore! Umela od peredazodare cacareji Aoiveae coremepeta! Torezodu! Zodacare od Zodameranu, asapeta sibesi butamona das surezodasa Tia balatanu. Odo cicale Qaa, od Ozodazodama pelapeli IADANAMADA!
THE CALL OR KEY OF THE THIRTY AETHYRS
O Ye Heavens which dwell in the first Aire1, ye are mighty in the parts of the Earth, and execute therein the Judgment of the Highest! Unto you it is said: Behold the Face of your God, the beginning of Comfort, whose eyes are the brightness of the Heavens, which provided you for the Government of the Earth, and her unspeakable variety, furnishing you with the power of understanding to dispose of all things according to the Foresight of Him that Sitteth on the Holy Throne2, and rose up in the Beginning, saying: The Earth, let her be governed by her parts, and let there be Division in her, that the glory of her may be always ecstasy and imitation of orgasm. Her course, let it run with the Heavens; and as an handmaid let her serve them. One season, let it confound another, and let there be no creature upon or within her the same. All her members, let them differ in their qualities, and let there be no one Creature equal with another.
The reasonable Creatures of the Earth, and Men, let them vex and weed out one another; and their dwelling-places, let them forget their Names. The work of man and his pomp, let them be defaced. His building, let it be a Cave for the Beast of the Field! Confound her understanding with darkness! For why? It repenteth me concerning the Virgin and the Man. One while let her be known, and another while a stranger: because she is the bed of an Harlot, and the dwelling-place of him that is fallen.
O ye Heavens arise! The lower heavens beneath you, let them serve you! Govern those that govern! Cast down such as fall. Bring forth with those that increase, and destroy the rotten. No place let it remain in one number. Add an diminish until the stars be numbered. Arise! Move! and appear before the Covenant of His mouth, which He hath sworn unto us in His Justice. Open the Mysteries of your Creation, and make us partakers of THE UNDEFILED KNOWLEDGE.
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE CONTENTS OF THE CALLS OF THE
THIRTY AIRES OR AETHYRS
Aethyr
30. "Exordium of the Equinox of the Gods."
29. "The Disruption of the Aeon of Osiris."
28. "The Vision of the Dawn of the Aeon of Horus (Atu XVII)"
27. "The Vision of the Initiation of Hecate (Atu XIV)
The Redemption of the Woman of Witchcraft by Love."26. "The Slave-Gods superseded (The Vision of Atu XX, the Stl)
The Vision of the Stl of Revealing, abolishing the Aeon of the Slave-Gods."25. "The Path of Teth (Atu XI. The Fire-Kerub in the Initiation).
The Vision of the Fruit of the Great Work of the Beast - 666. The Lion."24. "The Rose. (The Woman of Atu XIV. Minister of Babalon;
The Water-Kerub in the Initiation.) The First Kiss Of the Lady of Initiation."23. "The Kerubim of Earth and Air (Minor officers in the Initiation to 8x = 3{square x}.) The Vision of the Interplay And Identity of Earth and Air."
22. "The 49-fold Table (First appearance of the Crowned and Conquering Child to the Exempt Adept as in the Pastos) The Vision of the Rose, the Heart of BABALON and of The Birth of the Universe."
21. "Kether. (TheHierophant prepares the Candidate). The Vision of the Ineluctable Destiny."
20. "The Path of Kaph (Atu X). The Hiereus prepares the Candidate). The Vision of the Wheel of Fortune. The Three Energies of the Universe."
19. "The Path of Gimel (The Hegemone between the Pillars. Preliminary: The Vision of the Unguided Universe.)"
18. "Tiphereth. (The King's Chamber. The Vision of the holy Guardian Angel.) The Instruction concerning the Obtaining of the Vision and the Voice of the Thirty Aethyrs. The Preparation of the Candidate." Aethyr
17. "The Path of Lamed. (The combination Gimel, Lamed, Samech. The Vision of the Justice or Balance of the Universe."
16. "Keter. (Path of Pe.) The Overthrow of the Salve-Gods by The Beast 666."
15. "The Vision of the rose of 49 petals, and of the Holy 12-fold Table. Examination of the Candidate for M.T."
14. "The Vision of the City of the Pyramids. The Reception Of the Master of the Temple."
13. "The Garden of Nemo. The Work of the Magister Templi."
12. "The Path of Cheth. The Bearer of the Sangraal. The Black Brothers."
11. "Yesod. The Frontier of the Abyss."
10. "The Abyss. Choronzon, his Nature."
9. "Malkuth. (The Pure Virgin.) The reward of the Magister Templi."
8. "The Holy Guardian Angel. His instruction."
7. "The Path of Daleth. The Black Brothers."
6. "The Vision of the Urn. The Magus 9x = 2{square x}. The Three Schools of Magick."
5. "The Vision of the Middle Pillar. (Arrow). The Mystery Of Atheism."
4. "The Marriage of Yod and He. (The common Tibetan Symbol.) The Seer identifies himself with it."
3. "The Magus of the Tarot. (Atu 1). Mayan, the Maker of Illusion. The Seer in Illusion (Lilith)."
2. "The Marriage of the Seer with BABALON. (Atu VI)."
1. "The Vision of The Crowned and Conquering Child, the Lord Of the Aeon."
Note: In various footnotes to the text, Crowley makes correspondences to Enochian letters and Astrological symbols. An ambiguity exists in regard to the letter "T". The Germer/Thelema Publishing Edition of 1952 e.v. makes extensive use of symbols for Astrological concepts, and it is not possible to clearly differentiate the signs for Leo and Caput Draconis in all instances, since the handwritten symbols for these two correspondences are usually indistinguishable in the Germer edition. Enochian corresponds directly to English letters, while the astrological correspondences come from correspondences to Hebrew letters. There are two letters in Hebrew which are loosely rendered "T" in English/Enochian; Tet = Leo and Taw = Caput Draconis/Saturn.
Crowley uses both Leo and Caput Draconis for the Enochian "T" in his notes. Where Leo or Caput Draconis is made clear by the context of the note, the rendering has been duplicated here. Where this is ambiguous, T is assumed to be matched to Leo in this text. F.I.Regardie, in his edition, usually renders the Enochian "T" as Caput Draconis, a practice reversed in this present version. A concise edition should therefore be made only after careful examination of the notations for every instance of the use of the Enochian "T", with citation of uncertainty in regard to Leo or Caput Draconis where Crowley's intention is unclear.
WEH = Bill Heidrick (William E. Heidrick, TG OTO)