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INTRODUCTION#9

When one reads the book it can be read sequentially or by subject. It is unwise to think that when one begins a sentence that the subject will remain the same all the way through. On a superficial level it will seem to make sense albeit outrageous sense at times, but the reality is in it’s Qaballa. Take for example 1:5 ‘‘Help ME o warrior Lord of Thebes in MY unveiling before the children of Men.’’ ME=46=WOMAN MY=36=SUN=MAN. So a simple way of understanding this sentence is ‘Help woman in the unveiling of the Sun or Man before the children of men.’ A deeper interpretation would be ‘Help woman to understand the mystery of MAN/SUN at the time of Sun conjunct Venus (BEFORE=107=SUN+VENUS). The warrior Lord =97=PISCES=RA HOOR KHUT. It is Ra Hoor Khut who must help woman because being also Pisces it contains all the variations of the Zodiac. All the ME’s in Al refer to woman and all the MY’s refer to the Sun or Man. Similarly all the THEE’s refer to Nuit and so on.

Although it may seem that the ideas in Al are sequential they are more often than not fragmented. As an example the word ‘Vice’ comes up in several places. ‘‘Compassion is the vice of Kings’’ would suggest that compassion is a negative quality until we read later that ‘‘these vices are my service’’. The value of vice is 71=VENUS Venus governs the emotions. Therefore the first phrase could be read ‘‘compassion is the emotional response of kings’’ and ‘‘compassionate emotional responses are in the service of MAN/SUN’’=MY=36. If it is read straight then it is an ugly trap for the uninitiated. It will give the ignorant an excuse for their ignorance and the cruel justification for their cruelty, in the end it will destroy both types or if they are intrinsically ‘‘good’’ their essential goodness will save them. The road to Thelema is littered with the corpses of greedy ignorant opportunists with ego’s as big as houses but with souls you could fit on a pinhead. Do not blame the book if you fail, all the book did was to highlight an aspect of you that you can’t cope with, if you follow the instructions with wisdom and discrimination you will survive, if you don’t it will teach you these qualities or be the instrument of your destruction, but it is yourself that wields that instrument.