Aleister Crowley- The Book of Lies.pdf

BOOK OF LIES

BY ALIESTER CROWLEY

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BOOK OF LIES

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.

"Break, break, break

At the foot of thy stones, O Sea!

And I would that I could utter

The thoughts that arise in me!"

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BOOK OF LIES

(OPPOSITE: Photo of FRATER PERDURABO on his ass.)

COMMENTARY (Title Page)

The number of the book is 333, as implying dis-

persion, 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.

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BOOK OF LIES

FOREWORD

THE BOOK OF LIES, first published in London

in 1913, Aleister Crowley's little master work, has

long been out of print. Its re-issue with the author's

own Commentary gives occasion for a few notes. We

have so much material by Crowley himself about this

book that we can do no better that quote some

passages which we find scattered about in the un-

published volumes of his "CONFESSIONS." He

writes:

"...None the less, I could point to some solid

achievement on the large scale, although it is com-

posed of more or less disconnected elements. I refer

to THE BOOK OF LIES. In this there are 93 chapters:

we count as a chapter the two pages filled re-

respectively with a note of interrogation and a mark of

exclamation. The other chapters contain sometimes a

single word, more frequently from a half-dozen to

twenty paragraphs. The subject of each chapter is

determined more or less definitely by the Qabalistic

import of its number. Thus Chapter 25 gives a revised

ritual of the Pentagram; 72 is a rondel with the refrain

~Shemhamphorash', the Divine name of 72 letters;

77 Laylah, whose name adds to that number; and

80, the number of the letter Pe, referred to Mars, a

panegyric upon War. Sometimes the text is serious

and straightforward, sometimes its obscure oracles

demand deep knowledge of the Qabalah for inter-

pretation, others contain obscure allusions, play

upon words, secrets expressed in cryptogram, double

or triple meanings which must be combined in order

[5]

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BOOK OF LIES

to appreciate the full flavour; others again are

subtly ironical or cynical. At first sight the book is a

jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader. It

requires infinite study, sympathy, intuition and

initiation. Given these I do not hesitate to claim that

in none other of my writings have I given so pro-

found and comprehensive an exposition of my

philosophy on every plane...."

"...My association with Free Masonry was there-

fore destined to be more fertile that almost any other

study, and that in a way despite itself. A word should

be pertinent with regard to the question of secrecy.

It has become difficult for me to take this matter

very seriously. Knowing what the secret actually is,

I cannot attach much importance to artificial

mysteries. Again, though the secret itself is of such

tremendous import, and though it is so simple that

I could disclose it...in a short paragraph, I might

do so without doing much harm. For it cannot be used

indiscriminately...I have found in practice that the

secret of the O.T.O. cannot be used unworthily...."

"It is interesting in this connection to recall how it

came into my possession. It had occurred to me to

write a book `THE BOOK OF LIES, WHICH IS

ALSO FALSELY CALLED BREAKS, THE

WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATION OF THE

THOUGHT OF FRATER PERDURABO WHICH

THOUGHT IS ITSELF UNTRUE. . . .' One of

these chapters bothered me. I could not write it. I

invoked Dionysus with particular fervour, but still

without success. I went off in desperation to `change

my luck', by doing something entirely contrary to

my inclinations. In the midst of my disgust, the

spirit came over me, and I scribbled the chapter

down by the light of a farthing dip.. When I read it

over, I was as discontented as before, but I stuck it

into the book in a sort of anger at myself as a

deliberate act of spite towards my readers.

[6]

"Shortly after publication, the O.H.O. (Outer

Head of the O.T.O.) came to me. (At that time I did

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