Book of Law Study Group 1.54

RLG said:

The verses numbered 54 in both chapters 1 and 2 relate the same idea of not tampering with the text. Perhaps the number 54 is significant in this regard.

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Interesting RLG.

I reduced 54 to 9. Extended it to 45. Added 54 to 54 for the two verses for 108. A common definition that kept coming up was "middle". But I couldn't make much sense out of that. Until I refered to Paul Foster Case's Occult Fundamentals.

page 80 said:

The number 9 is the reverse of 6. It represent the beginning of a logarithmic spiral in which the movement is clockwise, and extends away from the center in an ever widening sweep. This is one of the reason why the number 9 is said by Eliphas Levi to be that of initiation and prophecy.

Of prophecy, because the derivation of the word "prophet" shows that it means literally "One who speaks for, that is, One who proclaims the laws of the cosmos."

In the occult sense this involves far more than mere instruction, far more than mere announcement of the necessary consequences of some given line of action. The prophecy is creative, for it is written that the words of one who is in harmony with the laws of the cosmos shall not be empty words, shall not return unto him void. He who starts his Word from the center, from the heart of life, sees it go forth from him in a spiral whirl of energy, and the number nine signifies the beginning of this process.

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It puts a whole new spin on these verses 54 for me. I guess it is not like Crowley could mess up cosmic law with his editing. I'm still thinking it through. But I find is assuring and kind of amusing.

Thanks for the pointer.

AW

54. Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein.

Dwtw

It is noteworthy that this sentence does not sound grammatically correct. The word 'these' does not seem to match with 'therein'.

The phrase might have read
'all these mysteries hidden herein',
or
'all the mysteries hidden therein'.

I suppose one could put it down to style, (pun intended), but you never know with the BOTL. It just seems odd that the book is being self-referential here, and yet speaks as if the text it is referring to is some other text, by using the word 'therein'.

Also, the use of the word 'behold' twice seems a little awkward. It may point to the first instance being something cryptic, as if in the very word behold is an arcanum.

It's also interesting that in a verse that specifies not to change the text, there is an exclamation point after the first 'behold', when this does not appear in the holograph. I know that it also says, (in verse 2;54), that 'the stops as thou wilt', so this seems allowable, but it may point to AC thinking along the same lines here, that this word 'behold' has a special significance.

One Hebrew word that translates as 'behold' is spelled Alef-Lamed-Vau. This may be significant since AL is the name of the Book, and the letter Vau means ' a hook',and is also the word 'and' in Hebrew. So it is a connecting letter, something which something else hangs on.
AC would have understood Vau as the letter of the Hierophant.

If we multiply the Alef-lamed by the Vau, we get 31 x 6 = 186 = Thelema + Agape.

Considering all three letters, we have the Fool, Adjustment and Hierophant, or Air, Libra and Taurus. The element of Air, (which 'balances' the Water and Fire of Mem and Shin), along with the two signs ruled by Venus.

But the speculations of Hebrew may not be nearly as important as the English. Aiwass says to not even change whether a letter is capital or lower-case, so perhaps these styles of letter need to be treated differently, just as in Hebrew gematria, a letter written larger is considered to be valued at 1000 times its normal value. Thus a large Alef equals 1000, a large Beth equals 2000 etc.

The value of this word for 'behold', ALV, is 37, and there are 37 letters in the verse before the word 'behold' appears. This is evidence that the very number of letters used in the text, and their sequence, is significant, as we are told in verse 3:47 --

"in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another, in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine."


Litlluw
RLG

Change not as much as the style of a letter; for behold! thou, o prophet, shalt not behold all these mysteries hidden therein.

When you read the Book of the Law do you see the same things that Crowley saw. Or even the same things that I see?

Or is it more like a work of art? We can only see it through our own eyes, and not the eyes of another. So we only see the "mysteries" we are meant to see.

To change it may have effects on others that we are completely unaware of.