Liber VIII

A.: A.:
Publication in Class D




And thus shall he do who will attain unto the mystery of the knowledge and
conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel:

First, let him prepare a chamber, of which the walls and the roof shall be
white, and the floor shall be covered with a carpet of black squares and
white, and the border thereof shall be blue and gold. And if it be in a town,
the room shall have no window, and if it be in the country, then it is better
if the window be in the roof.  Or, if it be possible, let this invocation be
performed in a temple prepared for the ritual of passing through the Tuat.

From the roof he shall hang a lamp, wherein is a red glass, to burn olive
oil.  And this lamp shall he cleanse and make ready after the prayer of
sunset, and beneath the lamp shall be an altar, foursquare, & the height
shall be thrice half of the breadth or double the breadth.  And upon the
altar shall be a censor, hemispherical, supported upon three legs, of silver,
and within it an hemisphere of copper, and upon the top a grating of gilded
silver, and thereupon shall he burn incense made of four parts of olibanum
and two parts of stacte, and one part of lignum aloes, or of cedar, or of
sandal.  And this is enough.

And he shall also keep ready in a flask of crystal within the altar, holy
anointing oil made of myrrh and cinnamon and galangal.  And even if he be of
higher rank than a Probationer, he shall yet wear the robe of the
Probationer, for the star of flame showeth forth Ra Hoor Khuit openly upon
the breast, and secretly the blue triangle that descendeth is Nuit, and the
red triangle that ascendeth is Hadit.  And I am the golden Tau in the midst
of their marriage.  Also, if he choose, he may instead wear a close-fitting
robe of shot silk, purple and green, and upon it a cloak without sleeves, of
bright blue, covered with golden sequins, and scarlet within.

And he shall make himself a wand of almond wood or of hazel cut by his own
hands at dawn at the Equinox, or at the Solstice, or on the day of Corpus
Christi, or on one of the feast-days that are appointed in "The Book of the
Law".  And he shall engrave with his own hand upon the plate of gold the Holy
Sevenfold Table, or the Holy Twelvefold Table, or some particular device. And
it shall be foursquare within a circle, and the circle shall be winged, and
he shall attach it about his forehead by a ribbon of blue silk.
Moreover, he shall wear a fillet of laurel or rose or ivy or rue, and every
day, after the prayer of sunrise, he shall burn it in the fire of the censor.
Now he shall pray thrice daily, about sunset, and at midnight, and at
sunrise.  And if he be able, he shall pray also four times between sunrise
and sunset.  The prayer shall last for the space of an hour, at the least,
and he shall seek ever to extend it, and to inflame himself in praying.  Thus
shall he invoke his Holy Guardian Angel for eleven weeks, and in any case he
shall pray seven times daily during the last week of the eleven weeks.
And during all this time he shall have composed an invocation suitable, with
such wisdom and understanding as may be given him from the Crown, and this
shall he write in letters of gold upon the top of the altar.
For the top of the altar shall be of white wood, well polished, and in the
centre thereof he shall have placed a triangle of oak-wood, painted with
scarlet, and upon this triangle the three legs of the censor shall stand.
Moreover, he shall copy his invocation upon a sheet of pure white vellum,
with Indian ink, and he shall illuminate it according to his fancy and
imagination, that shall be informed by beauty.

And on the first day of the twelfth week he shall enter the chamber at
sunrise, and he shall make his prayer, having first burnt the conjuration
that he had made upon the vellum in the fire of the lamp.  Then, at his
prayer, shall the chamber be filled with light insufferable for splendour,
and a perfume intolerable for sweetness.  And his Holy Guardian Angel shall
appear unto him, yea, his Holy Guardian Angel shall appear unto him, so that
he shall be wrapt away into the Mystery of Holiness.

All that day shall he remain in the enjoyment of the knowledge and
conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.  And for three days after he shall
remain from sunrise unto sunset in the temple, and he shall obey the counsel
that his Angel shall have given unto him, and he shall suffer those things
that are appointed.

And for ten days thereafter shall he withdraw himself as shall have been
taught unto him from the fullness of that communion, for he must harmonize
the world that is within with the world that is without.  And at the end of
the ninety-one days he shall return into the world, and there shall he
perform that work to which the Angel shall have appointed him.

And more than this it is not necessary to say, for his Angel shall have
entreated him kindly, and showed him in what manner he may be most perfectly
involved.  And unto him that hath this Master there is nothing else that he
needeth, so long as he continue in the knowledge and conversation of the
Angel, so that he shall come at last into the City of the Pyramids.