Liber Resh Illustrated Comment

Liber Resh: An Illustrated Explication by Fra. Petros Magister Xristos (8=2) The Adorations of the Sun as written by Aleister Crowley are as follows. They are to be recited respectfully and with full vibratory force in the appropriate order depending on the time of day (dawn, noon, sunset, midnight.) For dawn, face East. For noon, face towards the South. For sunset, face West. For midnight, face to the North. Hail unto thee who are Ra in thy rising Even unto thee who art Ra in they strength Who travellest over the heavens in thy bark At the uprising of the Sun. Tahuti standeth in his splendor at the prow And Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm Hail unto thee from the abodes of Night! Hail unto thee who art Ahathoor in thy triumphing Even unto thee who art Ahathoor in they beauty Who travellest over the heavens in thy bark At the midcourse of the Sun. Tahuti standeth in his splednor at the prow And Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm Hail unto thee from the abodes of Morning! Hail unto thee who art Tum in thy setting Even unto thee who art Tum in thy joy Who travellest over the heavens in they bark At the down-going of the Sun. Tahuti standeth in his splednor at the prow And Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm Hail unto thee from the abodes of Day! Hail unto thee who art Khepra in they hiding Even unto thee who are Khepra in thy silence Who travellest over the heavens in thy bark At the midnight hour of the Sun. Tahuti standeth in this splendor at the prow And Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm Hail unto thee from the abodes of evening! After the appropriate invocation for the correct division of the day has been recited, the follow prayer is to be vibrated; it derives from the Stele of Revealing and is a portion of the Great Invocation therein.

Aiwaz saw fit to have Crowley place it into The Book of the Law as well, thus reinforcing its significance to the Aeonic liturgy.

Unity uttermost showed! I adore the might of thy breath, Supreme and terrible God Who makest the Gods and Death To tremble before thee! I, I adore thee! Appear on the throne of Ra Open the ways of the Khu Lighten the ways of the Ka The way of the Khabs runs through me To stir me or to still me. AUM Let it fill me! The light is mine, its rays consume me. I have made a secret Door into the house of Ra and Tum Of Khepra and Ahathoor. I am thy Theban O Montu, Thy prophet Ankh-na af-Khonsu! By Bes-na-Mut My breast I beat By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell Show me thy star-splendor, O Nuit, Bid me within thy house to dwell O winged snake of Light Hadit Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit! Now follows a brief interpretation of some of the major significances of the names invoked above.

Ra Major deity of the Sun. Pronounced either Rah or Ray. The word itself can be interpreted simply as 'sun' or alternatively 'creative one.' Originally however, Tum (Atum) was the progenitor deity, later unseated by Ra. Ra shares many symbols with other solar deities, especially Horus. He is usually depicted wearing the pharaoh's crown, and always with the solar disk upon his head encircled by the wadjet (cobra goddess, symbolic of kundalini raised to the sahasrara chakra.) Ra travels across the sky (both above and beneath the earth) in his Solar Barque; during his nighttime passage beneath the earth, the boat protects the solar energy from extinguishment in Amenthe-Duat (the underworld.) Additional protection is provided by another occupant of the barque, Set, who guards it actively from the various teratomas of the underworld, especially the serpent Apep (atavistic resurgence or uncontrolled kundalini) who tries to swallow the boat. Thoth (Tahuti) and his consort Ma'at navigate the boat in the prow; Horus in the form of Ra-HoorKhuit (Horus energized by a linkage with Ra) steers it at the rearward-located helm.

Ahathoor Hat-Hor (“She of the House of Horus her Child”) is an ancient goddess worshipped since pre-dynastic times. Originally she was a personification of the Galaxy (the “Cosmic Nile” across which sailed the Solar Barque) and depicted most often as a cow, symbolic of motherly nurturing. She is also associated with the annual inundation of the land by the Nile, reminiscient of the overflowing of the primal waters of creation and of the Abyss retaking the land, and also (via the red mud that results) symbolic of menstruation and childbirth. It was an innovation of Aiwaz-Crowley, apparently, to place her as the totem of the Noontime sun. However, Hathor is a daughter and consort of Ra, who at one time sent her to earth to punish humanity in the form of Sekhmet and she does bear the Solar Disk upon her head.

Tum Atum or Tum's name implies to 'complete' or to finish, thus denotating tht Tum is 'the complete one' or by extension the 'finisher of the day,' at which time he returns to the Abyss (underworld) at the end of a creative cycle (pralaya / dissolution.) He is seen as the substrata of the cosmos, with all phenomenal things being made of his ka (shadow.)

Tum is one of the few Khemite deities that are not shown in theriomorphic iconography, but is simply depicted as a man wearing a royal nemyss (head covering) or crown. However, he is occasionally portrayed by his symbol the serpent. In the myth-cycle of Annu (Heliopolis) is is the self-created god who created himself from out of the primoridal Abyss of Nun. He is thus seen as an hermaphrodite, another implication of his name ('complete' unto himself) and is also the Self-Impregnator.

Khepra Khepra or Khepri is associated with the famous Khemite scarab (kheper), often to be seen pushing a fecund ball of cow-dung in which it implants its larvae, symbolizing both the movement of the Sun across the sky and the power of fertility which it contains by sending its life-giving rays of light to the plants below. The kheper-scarab also lays its eggs within the corpses of the dead, thus it also came to represent the power of resurrection (life out of death) or the continuity of all living things. He is depicted either as a scarab or as a human figure with its head masked by the body of a scarab to indicate his sentient (human) nature while still paying homage to his primal zootype. Anciently, Khepra was associated with the dawning Sun, but the innovation of Aiwaz-Crowley has him invoked as the Midnight Sun, given that his rolling of the Sun continues all night as it passes through the Underworld.

I am thy Theban, O Menthu Monthu is a warrior falcon-headed god. Crowley pronounces it Menthu but we will use the alternate pronounciation of “Montu” here as it better rhymes with Khonsu. Monthu was connected to the Sun's radiating heat and sometimes linked directly to the sun god with the appellation Monthu-Ra. The intensity of the solar heat led to his further identification with warfare and martial fierceness. He sometimes manifests as a white bull with a black face known as the Bakha. With the coming of the Theban ascendency, Monthu became the adopted son of Mut and Amun, two deities that were important in that city.

Thy prophet, Ankh-af na-Khonsu Ankh-af-na-khonsu was a priest of the Egyptian god Montu who lived in Thebes during the 26th dynasty (8th cent. B.C.). He created the Stele of Revealing upon which the current Adoration of the Sun is written, and it is quoted in the Book of the Law. “Ankh” is of course Life, but also represents the power of movement and dynamism and is often translated as “going forth” (between worlds in this case), which is a power of the Gods.

Khonsu is a Lunar deity, but the word itself also represents, generically, “to cross over” or “the wanderer,” which is a quality of the Moon. Thus the name might be translated as “Living Moon” or “Traveller Going Forth.” As the magician or the one reciting the Adorations of the Sun, one is magically placing oneself in the position of Ankh-af na-Khonsu, the priest, as he invokes the deities.

By Bes na-Maut my breast I beat Bes is a very unusual deity for Egypt. His dwarfish size and features are more reminiscient of primitive tribes of central Africa than of native Pharaonic Khemites. He may have originally come from Nubia, as his name could be connected to the Nubian word for “cat” (besa), a protector of the home against various pests. Thus, Bes came to be considered an overall defender or patron of hearth and home – in this case, the household of gods. He is depicted full-face, uniquely for Egyptian deities, and his face is often worn as an amulet of protection. He somewhat resembles a fetus or “visitor” from Outside. He is sometimes portrayed in more horrendous fashion, with theriomorphic features giving him the appearance of a satyr or wild man, cognate with Pan. His being linked here directly to Mut is unclear, but as a god of households, he may be interpreted as protector of mother Mut and her son Monthu.

By Bes na-Maut my breast I beat Maut or Mut simply means mother, and Mut is a primal Egyptian deity associated with the watery Abyss from which all phenomenal life was born through the “miracle” of parthenogensis (birth from the woman without need of male intervention.) Yet she has many different aspects, many of which accrued to her over the centuries. Some of her titles include World Mother, Queen of the Goddesses, Lady of Heaven, and Mother of the Gods. “Mut” originally referred also to the primordial abyss itself, the Naunet, from which she and all other things were born. Her zootype is the white vulture, emblematic (to the ancient Egyptians) of the power of the female to produce its offspring parthenogenically and also of the vulture's ability to feed its offspring from just about any substance available. (Male and female white vultures look essentially identical, so it was thought that they actually had no males of the species at all.) Her human iconography depicts her as a woman with the dual crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt upon her head. Sometimes she is shown with the wings of a white vulture. With the later ascendency of the Theban dominion, Mut was said to have adopted the war-god Monthu (mentioned above) as her son. Later she also took the moon god, Khonsu, under her wings as a second adoptive son, further extending her influence.

Show me thy star-splendor, O Nuit Nuit or Nut (pronounced noot) is the primal Sky Goddess, and her name means Night. In The Book of the Law she asserts that she is “Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof,” linking her to Isis. Part of her symbol included a clay pot, thus linking her to the cosmic womb from which life (and the Sun) springs every morning. She not merely the Sky Goddess but also the Goddess of the planets and stars, and her image shows her arched over the earth and covered in stars. Her hands and feet touch each of the four cardinal directions, north, south, east and west. The image above was taken from the Stele of Revealing.

Bid me within thy house to dwell, O winged snake of Light Hadit The most abstract of the “deities” invoked in this prayer is called in the Book of the Law by the appellation “Hadit.” It is the sentient symbol of a winged blood-red disk called in Egyptian the Behedeti, but it is also found far beyond Egypt, in fact throughout the ancient Middle East, as an emblem of divine potency. It often forms part of the symbols or iconography of various gods and goddesses, or may appear (as here) by itself. Outside Egypt, it may be most well known in its Zoroastrian version as the Faravahar, where it appears as the throne starship of the God. Its prevalence, centrality and abstract qualities have led the Behedit to be equated, in Thelemic philosophy, with the concept of the innermost essence of a sentient being, similar to the Egyptian khabs (star-center) or the Hindu atman; the Behedit is the bindu (point) or axis of subjectivity around which all phenomenality (the cosmos) is projected.

Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit! Ra-Hoor-Khuit or Ra-Har-Khut is (in Thelema) the Lord of the Aeon, and is identified with Horus/Heru (the Child) and Ra (the Solar Force.) He is the speaker in the third and final chapter of the Book of the Law, noting in particular the nine-worded phrasing of the Law: “There is no Law beyond: Do What Thou Wilt.” Note that Horus is the Greek transliteration of the original Egyptian Heru or Har. He is depicted a falcon-headed warrior wearing the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. His zootype is the falcon. His most abstract and cosmic form depicts him as a falcon with wings outspread across the sky, whose right eye is the sun and left eye the moon. In this form he may be depicted as simply an Eye: