From the Caliph 2:4

Then came Frater Achad and the Achad Tree. Crowley himself condemned it (note 1, p.7, M&TP) and it has certainly had a strange history with firm believers who have taken it to extravagant lengths, and equally firm oppenents who agree with Crowley that turning the Otz ChiiM = 228 upside down by interchanging the leaves is dangerous nonsense. Personally I agree with Crowley. Intellectual brilliance will not get you across the Abyss.

Next on my check list (this is infinitely expandable) was a friend of mine Jack Parsons, who with his Babalon Working supposedly brought down a 4th Chapter of Liber AL. This seems to have set a trend. And it is a beautiful example of a magician seriously at work. But I can not accept it as a valid 4th Chapter of Liber AL. He did, however, add something new to the brittle intellectualism of Mudd and Achad: Passion! His feeling for Babalon is poignant. And his ability as a poet makes him worthy of consideration – even if only as a model of what not to do.

Then there was Level Press operated by Mr. Lee Heflin. Mr. Heflin has a curious fixation about Liber AL. He refuses to believe it is, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” but changes it to, Do what thou wilt is the whole of the Law.” Now this might make sense from some angelic point of view – angels living in the world of no-time where everything is happening all at once like the current inside a telephone line – but humans live in a world of renewal and decay. It wouldn’t be so bad if he were upfront, but this method of penetrating the Thelemic consciousness is interesting. In general it consists of publishing a Crowley book and inserting “Do what thou wilt is the whole of the Law,” without notice to the unwary that this is directly counter to Liber AL and Crowley. Why he should try to redirect the Thelemic current at this late date bt calling blind signals from an unseen sideline is every Thelemites’ business.

The phenomenon known as “4th Chapter of Liber Alitis” is a hard fish to pin down, because what is trumpeted as such among a few chosen insiders may not exactly say that when read. Also the authors are heavy into concealing their personal glory by ascribing the actual message to a Thelemic source. We have two candidates in that category. First, THE BOOK OF PERFECTION (93 Publishing, 1977) as delivered to 777 by Aiwass. Since Aleister Crowley designated me as YMENAIOC A 777 you might think I wrote it. Not so. Pick a # any #. It’s the Wheel of Fortune, folks! 777, like any #, can be claimed by anyone. Proof is another matter. THE BOOK OF PERFECTION is an endless repetition of words from Liber AL, especially those great big HO-HO-HO ones, and other sources, and about as original as a frozen TV dinner. The only thing that interested me was p. 73 where it is written, “This book shall be sent to the Temple of the East in its original and typewritten copy.” “The game’s afoot, Watson!” This solves a mystery. About 5 years ago I received a large manila envelope in the mail. It had an Oregon return address, but no name of sender. It was post marked Jan 20’72. Inside were 2 documents, one in manuscript and a typed copy. It contained Liber Jiha’ad and other material presumably published in THE BOOK OF PERFECTION. Since it was said to be communicated by Aiwass, presumably the same angel Aiwass who transmitted Liber AL to Aleister Crowley, I take it that we are supposed to take it as an authentic communication from the Gods of Thelema. That seems unlikely since the envelope containing this thundering nonsense was addressed to

Mr. Kenneth Grant
% O.T.O.
PO Box 2043
Dublin CA 94566

Which happened to be the address of Hymenaeus Alpha aka Grady Louis McMurtry. Now it just so happens that I met Mr. Grant in Aleister Crowley’s presence in A.C.’s room at Bell Inn, Aston Clinton, circa 1944e.v. Since Aleister Crowley could obviously tell Mr. Grant from Mr. McMurtry at least long enough to introduce us, I am sure that his angel Aiwass could also do the same. Since he did not, I can only conclude that the Aiwass communicating THE BOOK OF PERFECTION is not the same Aiwass that transmitted Liber AL to Aleister Crowley.

Our final exhibit is LIBER VEL OVIZ 93 sub figura LXXVI as delivered by OVIZ to PRZOVAL 80 = 3³. (The Khabs Temple, 537 Jones St, #8475, San Francisco CA 94102) The text is the usual reshuffling of words from Liber AL, no new revelations I could find, and “Privately printed by the O.T.O.,” or so it says. Which O.T.O. it does not say. But what is really interesting is the Introduction. For one thing it lets me off the hook as a possible author since it proclaims openly it’s hostility to “the near total degeneration and fall of the existing Crowley pseudo-cults such as Hymenaeus Alpha’s Rosicrucianised O.T.O.” Apparently they have never been around to see our Gnostic Mass. As for phrases such as, “The Master of the A.A.” and “The Brothers of A.A.”, etc. Apparently the author of this work didn’t even check the Sigil of the A.’..’., clearly printed, in which the honor marks .’. after each letter are clearly shown. Now the honor (fire) marks indicate that A.’.A.’. is an inner, higher Order than O.T.O. (no honor marks). But that is hardly surprising considering that this particular Aiwass is spelled OVIZ. Crowley accepted 3 spellings of Aiwass: O’VZ = 93; X’VXSm = 78, and AIFASigmaSigma = 418 in the Greek cabala. In each instance the ‘ (I) is before the V (F) and is properly pronounced Aiwas. With the Vau before the Yod, however, it is properly pronounced OEH-veh! I doubt if Crowley’s Aiwas would appreciate such a misinterpretation.

And now for the dessert. Just as we in Aleister Crowley’s O.T.O. have our private recognition signals, verbal and written, we also have a private accord, never before published that I know of, that a 4th Chapter of Liber AL is concealed in the 3rd Chapter. Horus is a double God. As you will remember, AL III:35, “The half of the word of Heru-ra-ha, called Hoor-pa-kraat and Ra-Hoor-Khut,” it having been the spell of Ra-Hoor-Khuit that was raised.

As for finding the unknown and unidentified author/s of LIBER VEL OVIZ 93, that should not be difficult. All we have to do is join the foray and call out the Baker Street Irregulars for, as Sherlock would say. “It’s elemental, my dear Watson!” OEH-veh.

H.A. 777

Written in the INFERNO CLUB in Columbus GA
and for all you other Thelemic buckeroos out there!

Note: re Francis King, THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE O.T.O. (London, 1973) We do not endorse the publication of this material because the so-called “9th (degree) section” does not include the paper Aleister Crowley handed me at 93 Jermyn St circa 1943-44 e.v. without which the whole thing is nonsense.