The Book of the Law
Chapter 2
Hadit
- Nu! the hiding of Hadit.
- Come! all ye, and learn the secret that
hath not yet been revealed. I, Hadit, am
the complement of Nu, my bride. I am not
extended, and Khabs is the name of my House.
- In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as
she, the circumference, is nowhere found.
- Yet she shall be known & I never.
- Behold! the rituals of the old time are black.
Let the evil ones be cast away; let the
good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall
this Knowledge go aright.
- I am the flame that burns in every heart of
man, and in the core of every star. I am
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is
the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the
axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle.
“Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that
go.
- Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath have
worshipped me; ill, for I am the worshipper.
- Remember all ye that existence is pure joy;
that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they
pass & are done; but there is that which
remains.
- O prophet! thou hast ill will to learn this
writing.
- I see thee hate the hand & the pen; but I am
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- stronger.
- Because of me in Thee which thou knewest not.
- for why? Because thou wast the knower,
and me.
- Now let there be a veiling of this shrine: now
let the light devour men and eat them
up with blindness!
- For I am perfect, being Not; and my number
is nine by the fools; but with the just I am
eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for
I am none indeed. The Empress and the King
are not of me; for there is a further secret.
- I am The Empress & the Hierophant. Thus
eleven, as my bride is eleven.
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- Hear me, ye people of sighing!
The sorrows of pain and regret
Are left to the dead and the dying,
The folk that not know me as yet.
- These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We
are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the
earth are our kinsfolk.
- Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the
highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen:
who sorroweth is not of us.
- Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and
delicious languor, force and fire, are of us.
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit:
let them die in their misery. For they feel
not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp
down the wretched & the weak: this is the
law of the strong: this is our law and the
joy of the world. Think not, o king, upon that
lie: That Thou Must Die: verily thou shalt
not die, but live. Now let it be understood:
If the body of the King dissolve, he shall remain
in pure ecstasy for ever. Nuit! Hadit! Ra-Hoor-
Khuit! The Sun, Strength & Sight, Light; these
are for the servants of the Star & the Snake.
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight
and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men
with drunkenness. To worship me take wine
and strange drugs whereof I will tell my
prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not
harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly
against self. The exposure of innocence
is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy
all things of sense and rapture: fear not
that any God shall deny thee for this.
- I am alone: there is no God where I am.
- Behold! these be grave mysteries; for there
are also of my friends who be hermits. Now
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- think not to find them in the forest or on the
mountain; but in beds of purple, caressed by
magnificent beasts of women with large limbs,
and fire and light in their eyes, and masses
of flaming hair about them; there shall ye
find them. Ye shall see them at rule, at
victorious armies, at all the joy; and there
shall be in them a joy a million times
greater than this. Beware lest any
force another, King against King! Love one
another with burning hearts; on the low men
trample in the fierce lust of your pride,
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- in the day of your wrath.
- Ye are against the people, O my chosen!
- I am the secret Serpent coiled about to
spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I
lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one.
If I droop down mine head, and shoot
forth venom, then is rapture of the earth,
and I and the earth are one.
- There is great danger in me; for who doth
not understand these runes shall make
a great miss. He shall fall down into
the pit called Because, and there he shall
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- perish with the dogs of Reason.
- Now a curse upon Because and his kin!
- May Because be accursèd for ever!
- If Will stops and cries Why, invoking
Because, then Will stops & does nought.
- If Power asks why, then is Power weakness.
- Also reason is a lie; for there is a
factor infinite & unknown; & all their
words are skew-wise.
- Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog!
- But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!
- Let the rituals be rightly performed with
joy & beauty!
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- There are rituals of the elements and feasts
of the times.
- A feast for the first night of the Prophet
and his Bride!
- A feast for the three days of the writing of
the Book of the Law.
- A feast for Tahuti and the child of the
Prophet — secret, O Prophet!
- A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and a
feast for the Equinox of the Gods.
- A feast for fire and a feast for water; a
feast for life and a greater feast for death!
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- A feast every day in your hearts in the
joy of my rapture!
- A feast every night unto Nu, and the
pleasure of uttermost delight!
- Aye! feast! rejoice! there is no dread
hereafter. There is the dissolution, and
eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.
- There is death for the dogs.
- Dost thou fail? Art thou sorry? Is fear
in thine heart?
- Where I am these are not.
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- Pity not the fallen! I never knew them.
I am not for them. I console not: I hate
the consoled & the consoler.
- I am unique & conqueror. I am not of the
slaves that perish. Be they damned &
dead! Amen. (This is of the 4: there is
a fifth who is invisible, & therein am I
as a babe in an egg.)
- Blue am I and gold in the light of my
bride: but the red gleam is in my eyes;
& my spangles are purple & green.
- Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- than eyesight.
- There is a veil: that veil is black. It is
the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil
of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none
of me. Tear down that lying spectre of
the centuries: veil not your vices in
virtuous words: these vices are my service;
ye do well, & I will reward you here and
hereafter.
- Fear not, o prophet, when these words are
said, thou shalt not be sorry. Thou art
emphatically my chosen; and blessed are
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- the eyes that thou shalt look upon with
gladness. But I will hide thee in a
mask of sorrow: they that see thee shall
fear thou art fallen: but I lift thee up.
- Nor shall they who cry aloud their folly
that thou meanest nought avail; thou
shall reveal it: thou availest: they are
the slaves of because: They are not of
me. The stops as thou wilt; the letters?
change them not in style or value!
- Thou shalt obtain the order & value of
the English Alphabet; thou shalt find
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- new symbols to attribute them unto.
- Begone! ye mockers; even though ye laugh
in my honour ye shall laugh not long: then
when ye are sad know that I have
forsaken you.
- He that is righteous shall be righteous still;
he that is filthy shall be filthy still.
- Yea! deem not of change: ye shall be as ye
are, & not other. Therefore the kings of
the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves
shall serve. There is none that shall
be cast down or lifted up: all is ever
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- as it was. Yet there are masked ones my
servants: it may be that yonder beggar is
a King. A King may choose his garment as
he will: there is no certain test: but a
beggar cannot hide his poverty.
- Beware therefore! Love all, lest perchance is a
King concealed! Say you so? Fool! If he
be a King, thou canst not hurt him.
- Therefore strike hard & low, and to hell
with them, master!
- There is a light before thine eyes, o prophet,
a light undesired, most desirable.
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- I am uplifted in thine heart; and the kisses
of the stars rain hard upon thy body.
- Thou art exhaust in the voluptuous fullness
of the inspiration; the expiration is sweeter
than death, more rapid and laughterful than
a caress of Hell’s own worm.
- Oh! thou art overcome: we are upon thee;
our delight is all over thee: hail! hail:
prophet of Nu! prophet of Had! prophet of
Ra-Hoor-Khu! Now rejoice! now come in
our splendour & rapture! Come in our passionate
peace, & write sweet words for the Kings!
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- I am the Master: thou art the Holy Chosen One.
- Write, & find ecstasy in writing! Work, &
be our bed in working! Thrill with the
joy of life & death! Ah! thy death shall
be lovely: whoso seeth it shall be glad. Thy
death shall be the seal of the promise of
our agelong love. Come! lift up thine heart
& rejoice! We are one; we are none.
- Hold! Hold! Bear up in thy rapture;
fall not in swoon of the excellent kisses!
- Harder! Hold up thyself! Lift thine head!
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- breathe not so deep — die!
- Ah! Ah! What do I feel? Is the word
exhausted?
- There is help & hope in other spells. Wisdom
says: be strong! Then canst thou bear more
joy. Be not animal; refine thy rapture!
If thou drink, drink by the eight and ninety
rules of art: if thou love, exceed by
delicacy; and if thou do aught joyous, let
there be subtlety therein!
- But exceed! exceed!
- Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- mine — and doubt it not, an if thou art
ever joyous! — death is the crown of all.
- Ah! Ah! Death! Death! thou shalt long for
death. Death is forbidden, o man, unto thee.
- The length of thy longing shall be the strength
of its glory. He that lives long & desires
death much is ever the King among the Kings.
- Aye! listen to the numbers & the words:
- 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y
X 24 89 R P S T O V A L. What
meaneth this, o prophet? Thou knowest
not; nor shalt thou know ever. There
cometh one to follow thee: he shall
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- expound it. But remember, o chosen
one, to be me; to follow the love of
Nu in the star-lit heaven; to look forth
upon men, to tell them this glad word.
- O be thou proud and mighty among men!
- Lift up thyself! for there is none like unto
thee among men or among Gods! Lift up
thyself, o my prophet, thy stature shall
surpass the stars. They shall worship thy
name, foursquare, mystic, wonderful, the
number of the man; and the name of
Liber 220, Chapter 2: Hadit
- thy house 418.
- The end of the hiding of Hadit; and
blessing & worship to the prophet of
the lovely Star!