The Law Is For All
"Then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon, & said unto the Queen of
Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; wite unto us the law! But she said: the ordeals I write not;
the rituals shall be half known and half concealed; the Law is for all. This that thou writest is the threefold book of Law."
Liber al vel Legis 1:33-36
When Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the Eqyptian sacrificial priest lived, all magick was done by secret ritual
known only to the adepts who trained like apprentices under the old masters.
Before they could be taught the secrets of the masters they were expected to prove themselves by
going through "ordeals," or tests of their sincerity and their willingness to devote their lives to both the realm of light
and darkness.
This practice continued into contemporary times. Aleister Crowley went through the ordeals, as do
serious adepts entering the various orders of the so-called secret societies existing today.
The ordeals, however, seem to have changed. No longer must initiates go through such tortures as
being buried alive. But nothing is handed to them free. To enter into the realm of contemporary magick, modern trainees are
still expected to "do the work." This involves intense mind training that turns on the right hemisphere of the brain.
Because he was bearing a message of great change, the Egyptian priest was confused. He consequently
"fell into a deep trance or swoon" and while in that state, asked "the Queen of Heaven" (Nuit)
to write down or describe the new ordeals, the new rituals and the new law so he and the others could understand them.
Nuit knew the mind and heart of the human race. She was not going to be fooled into creating a new
order of rituals that could be twisted by the priests into religious lithurgy and shoved down the throats of a limited number
of chosen adepts, followed to the letter, and known only to a few. That would just be business as usual. The message born
by Ankh-af-na-khonsu, alias Aiwass, to Crowley was a declaration of revolution.
She declared that "the Law is for all."
In other words, Nuit was saying that during the new age of Horus, all people who chose the right
path would be free of the yoke of man-made bondage. They could, at last, become the shining stars they were created to be.
She said: "The ordeals I write not . . ."
At the time he received the Book of the Law in Cairo, Crowley was already involved in the Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn and was a serious student of Yoga and Buddhism. Nuit knew that he was already familiar with the ordeals
and rituals of secret societies and would not change. Crowley was a magickian who practiced his arts in the ancient ways,
using wands, swords, mantras and spells. Thus she would not tell him these ancient methods were no longer necessary.
Since Crowley was chosen to bring the Book of the Law to us, he also was given the responsibility
of interpreting and teaching its message, and then allowing the evolutionary change to slowly work its way through society.
Nuit refused to write down a list of ordeals. She also said "the rituals shall
be half known and half concealed" because she understood that they were also going to change over time. For Crowley's
time, however, rituals were still and key to getting the work done.
Her final statement in the verse: "the Law is for all," summed it all
up. There were to be no more secrets. Anybody who wanted to learn the new way was invited to do so.
She concludes in Verse 35 that "This that thou writest is the threefold book
of Law." Eventually, someone would come along who would solve all of the puzzles of the book, teach its message,
and set the world on a new course.
At that time, all of the old ordeals, rituals and sacraments of secret organizations would be abandoned.
Copyright - James Donahue
