Home - Crowley Home
The Cry of the 27th Aethyr,
Which is Called ZAA1
There is an angel with rainbow wings, and his dress is
green2
with silver, a green veil over silver3 armour. Flames of
many- coloured fire dart from him in all directions. It
is a woman of some thirty years old, and she has the moon
for a crest, and the moon is blazoned on her heart, and
her sandals are curved silver, like the moon.
And she cries: Lonely am I and cold in the wilderness
of the stars5.
For I am the queen of all them that dwell in Heaven, and
the queen of all them that are pure upon earth, and the
queen of all the sorcerers of hell6.
I am the daughter of Nuit, the lady of the stars. And
I am the Bride of them that are vowed unto loneliness7.
And I am the mother of the Dog Cerberus8. One person am I,
and three gods9.
And thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing
me. For I am cold as thou art cold, and burn with thy
fire10.
Oh, when shall the war of the Aires and the elements be
accomplished11?
Radiant are these falchions of my brothers, invisibly
about me, but the might of the aethyrs beneath my feet
beareth me down. And they avail not to sever the Kamailow12.
There is one in green armour, with green eyes, whose
sword is of vegetable fire13.
They shall avail me. My son is he14, ---and how shall
I bear him that have not known man?
All this time intolerable rays are shooting forth to
beat me back or destroy me; but I am encased in an egg of
blue-violet, and my form is the form of a man with the
head of a golden hawk15.
While I have been observing this, the goddess has kept up
a continuous wail, like the baying of a thousand hounds16;
and now her voice is deep and guttural and hoarse, and
she breathes very rapidly words that I cannot hear. I can
hear some of them now.
UNTU LA LA ULULA UMUNA TOFA LAMA LE LI NA AHR IMA
TAHARA ELULA ETFOMA UNUNA ARPETI ULU ULU ULU MARABAN
ULULU MAHATA ULU ULU LAMASTANA17.
And then her voice rises to a shriek, and there is a
cauldron18
boiling in front of her; and the flames under the
cauldron are like unto zinc flames19, and in the
cauldron is the Rose, the Rose of 49 petals20, seething in it.
Over the cauldron she has arched her rainbow wings; and
her face is bent over the cauldron, and she is blowing
opalescent silvery rings on to the Rose; and each ring as
it touches the water bursts into flame, and the Rose
takes new colours21.
And now she lifts her head, and raises her hands to
heaven, and cries: O Mother22,
wilt thou never have compassion on the children of earth?
Was it not enough that the Rose should be red with the
blood of thine heart23,
and that its petals should be by 7 and by 7?
She is weeping, weeping24.
And the tears grow and fill the whole stone with moons25.
I can see nothing and hear nothing for the tears, though
she keeps on praying. "Take of these pearls26,
treasure them in thine heart. Is not the Kingdom of the
Abyss accurst?" She points downward to the cauldron;
and now in it there is the head of a most cruel dragon27,
black and corrupted. I watch, and watch; and nothing
happens.
And now the dragon rises out of the cauldron, very
long and slim (like Japanese Dragons, but infinitely more
terrible), and he blots out the whole sphere of the stone28.
Then suddenly all is gone, and there is nothing in the
stone save brilliant white light and flecks like sparks
of golden fire; and there is a ringing, as if bells were
being used for anvils. And there is a perfume which I
cannot describe; it is like nothing that one can
describe, but the suggestion is like lignum aloes29.
And now all these things are there at once in the same
place and time30.
Now a veil of olive and silver31 is drawn over the
stone, only I hear the voice of the angel32 receding, very
sweet and faint and sorrowful, saying: Far off and lonely
in the secret stone is the unknown, and interpenetrated
is the knowledge with the will and the understanding. I
am alone. I am lost, because I am all and in all; and my
veil is woven of the green earth and the web of stars. I
love; and I am denied, for I have denied myself. Give me
those hands, put them against my heart. Is it not cold?
Sink, sink, the abyss of time remains. It is not possible
that one should come to ZAA. Give me thy face. Let me
kiss it with my cold kisses. Ah! Ah! Ah! Fall back from
me. The word, the word of the aeon is MAKHASHANAH33{SUP:1}.
And these words shalt thou say backwards: ARARNAY OBOLO
MAHARNA TUTULU NOM LAHARA EN NEDIEZO LO SAD FONUSA SOBANA
ARANA BINUF LA LA LA ARPAZNA UOHULU34{SUP:2}. when thou
wilt call my burden unto appearance, for I who am the
Virgin goddess am the pregnant goddess, and I have cast
down my burden even unto the borders of the universe35{SUP:3}.
They that blaspheme me are stoned, and my veil36{SUP:4}
is fallen about me even unto the end of time37{SUP:5}.
Now there arises a great raging of thousands and
thousands of mighty warriors flashing through the aethyr
so thickly that nothing is to be seen but their swords,
which are like blue-gray plumes. And the noise is
confused, thousands of battle-cries harmonizing to a
roar, like the roar of a monstrous river in flood. And
all the stone is dull, dull gray. The life is gone from
it39{SUP:1}.
There is no more to see.
Sidi Aissa, Algeria. November 24, 1909, 8-9 p.m.
- ZAA =
{Leo}{Taurus}{Taurus} =
{HEB:Tet}{HEB:Vau}{HEB:Vau} = 21. A mystery of
Atu XVIII, "The Moon". {Pisces} in
which {Venus} is exalted.
- Possibly
the traditional green of the huntress.
- Colour
of {Moon}.
- The
green of Venus is perhaps the natural veil of
Luna, her external show.
- For
{Moon} is virgin, and the path of {HEB:Gemel}
crosses the wilderness of the Abyss.
- Diana
Trivia is thus described. She is the Virgin
Goddess of Pure Love; and the Lady of Heaven. She
is the Virgin Goddess of Pure Love; and she is
Hecate, the waning Moon, presiding over
Witchcraft. (See Macbeth, etc.)
- {Virgo}
= IX = The Hermit (opposite {Pisces} in the
Zodiac).
- The
Jackals of Atu XVIII.
- {Moon} =
{HEB:Gemel} = 3. Cerberus has three heads.
- For
the {Moon} is the Sensorium; she reflects man's
spiritual state in terms of sensuous experiences.
- i.e.
the coefficients of the Circle and the Square be
commensurable. "When" means
"Through what mode of resolution?" ---
"On what plane?"
- {GRK:Kappa}{GRK:alpha}{GRK:mu}{GRK:eta}{GRK:lambda}{GRK:omicron}
{GRK:sigma}, a camel, i.e. {HEB:Gemel} Jimmel.
{GRK:Kappa}{GRK:alpha} {GRK:mu}{GRK:alpha}
{GRK:iota}{GRK:lambda}{GRK:omicron} {GRK:sigma},
a rope. And Jimmel is likened to a rope, a
threefold ({HEB:Gemel} = 3) cord linking Kether
and Tiphereth.
- The
Angel of {HEB:Dalet} = {Venus} who is green, and
{HEB:Dalet} "avails" {HEB:Gemel},
crossing it on the Tree by joining Chokmah and
Binah. That is, the Love of these Supernals
balances the Isolation of the Virgin Moon.
- {Moon}
in 20x {Pisces} at nativity of 666.
- i.e. I
assume the god-form of Horus, Sol in the Womb of
the Night-sky blue of Binah, who is the Mother of
all Stars and thus is potent against Hecate.
- The
hounds that follow Hecate. The jackals of Atu
XVIII. Quote A.C. "Ode to Hecate".
- The
Lunar language. "Ye hounds! Ho! Ho!
Tally-ho! sent the poison of the path --- Here!
There! Bark! Sweep around! There goes the quarry
down the glade of mossy rock. The foremost has
caught him. Tally ho! Tally ho! Tally ho! pull
him down! Tally-ho boys! Wind the mort! Tally ho!
Tally ho! The hunt is ended." ULU =
"Hail" plus "come" = very
nearly "Ahoy!"
- The
witches' cauldron.
- Ultra
violet of {Pisces}.
- {Venus}
in {Pisces}.
- All
this paragraph refers to Atu XIV Sagittarius, for
she is now in her huntress form. Hence the
Alchemical and rainbow symbolism.
- he
appeals to Binah, the highest form of Luna.
- This
is the use to which BABALON puts the Blood of the
Masters of the Temple (see 12th Aethyr) to vivify the rose of Universal
Creation, i.e. The Attainment of the Master of
the Temple fills the World with Life and Beauty.
Hecate does not understand this, or else she
regards it as hostile to her own Formula.
- {Water}
of {Pisces}.
- She
can produce nothing but images of herself.
- Pearls,
the M.T.'s secreted by Binah round the specks of
dust which they have become.
- A veil
or mask of Khephra (in Atu XVIII).
- All
Hecate can see of the Great Work of 8x = 3{square
x} is the Black Brotherhood; i.e., the failure of
that Work.
- Sagittarius
(Atu XIV) again. The phenomena are the
experiences of the attained Master of the Temple.
- The
attainment has destroyed the conditions of
physical manifestation.
- Olive
--- Water in Malkuth (Queen Scale) also Water
(Emperor Scale). Silver is Luna in Queen Scale.
- Hecate
now aspires to Binah, accepts the Formula of Love
(kisses), surrenders her nature ("Fall
back" etc.) and so finds the Word.
- {HEB:Heh}{HEB:Nun}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Shin}{HEB:Aleph}{HEB:Koph}{HEB:Aleph}
{HEB : Mem} = 418. A word of 8 letters is
necessary to perform the Great work on one whose
Formula is 3: 8x = 3{square x}. The Seer
"knew" that this Word was not
the correct Word, which is Abrahadabra = 418. But
on writing it down in Hebrew, as above, he saw
that it was the correct word after all. Observe
that this proves the Angel to have been an
Intelligence not of the Seer's conscious mind.
Had he given the Word which the Seer knew, it
might have been derived from his subconscious
Self. Furthermore, this Word contains more than
the mere 418 because of its 8 letters suiting the
special Formula required by this particular
Angel, whereas the other Word is a general
Formula, being of 11 letters, all Magick being
referred to 11. so far as ABRAHADABRA is
specialized, it refers to the Work of 5x =
6{square x}, there being 5 alephs and 6 other
letters. In the Latin script also Makhashanah
does have 11 letters. Again, the operation of the
Cauldron (above) is described by the 5 consonants
of this Word.
{HEB:Mem}
= {Water} (Water)
{HEB:Koph} = Wheel (Rose)
{HEB:Shin} = Fire {Dee}
{HEB:Nun} = {Scorpio}
{HEB:Heh} = Binah
-
- Translation:
"Hither, O Holy one/ whose burden pulls at
thy spine/ Ho! Ho! Ho! The two-headed God (Janus)
ploughs thy back/ sows habitations upon thy back/
thou many-phallused queen/ of princely loves/
which are all sodomies/ so that the holy ones
laugh and shake with laughter/ while the lords of
mischief/ spend upon thee/ TUTULU (this word
cannot be translated. See Liber VII). down
bounces from thy back/ the merry mad
foetus-faces/ an emission/ Gather ye sun-roses,
sun-roses gather ye from the split backside of
the Virgin (Earth).
- The
Word of the Master has gone forth into every part
of the world.
Therefore it is always possible to call Him forth
to one's assistance by the proper use of the
above Formula.
- Symbols
of Binah.
- Same
as above.
- Many
of these Visions end in some way unconnected with
the substance of the Aethyr. One must not look
for coherence in such places. They are merely
episodes on the return journey, useful to break
the shock. analogy: one might see a cab accident
while returning to one's house from the theatre.
This spectacle need have no connection with
either the play or one's home life.