149 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
149 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
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BAPHOMET XIø
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Liber CVI
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{Book 106}
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Concerning Death
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This Epistle first appeared in The International, and its appearance
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here is dedicated to the late Frater Superior Hymenaeus Alpha 777 Xø
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O.T.O.--H.B.
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AN EPISTLE OF BAPHOMET to the Illustrious Dame Anna Wright,
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Companion of the Holy Graal, shining like the moon, concerning Death,
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that she and her sisters may bring comfort to all them that are nigh
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death, and unto such as love them.
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Beloved Daughter and Sister,
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
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Let it be thy will and the will of all them that tend upon the sick,
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to comfort and to fortify them with these words following.
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I
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IT IS WRITTEN in The Book of the Law: Every man and every woman is a
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Star. It is Our Lady of the Stars that speaketh to thee, O thou that
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art a star, a member of the Body of Nuith! Listen, for thine ears
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become dulled to the mean noises of the earth; the infinite silence of
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the Stars woos thee with subtile musick. Behold her bending down above
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thee, a flame of blue, all-touching, all-penetrant, her lovely hands
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upon the black earth, and her lithe body arched for love, and her soft
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feet not hurting the little flowers, and think that all thy grossness
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shall presently fall from thee as thou leapest to her embrace, caught
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up into her love as a dewdrop into the kisses of the sunrise. Is not
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the ecstasy of Nuit the consciousness of the continuity of existence,
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the omnipresence of her body? All that hath hurt thee was that thou
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knewest it not, and as that fadeth from thee thou shalt know as never
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yet how all is one. Again She saith: I give unimaginable joys upon
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earth, certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death. This thou hast
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known. Time that eateth his children hath not power on them that would
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not be children of Time. To them that think themselves immortal, that
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dwell alway in eternity, conscious of Nuit, throned upon the chariot
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of the sun, there is no death that men call death. In all the universe
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darkness is only to be found in the shadow of a gross and opaque
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planet, as it were for a moment; the universe itself is a flood of
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light eternal. So also death is but through accident; thou hast hidden
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thyself in the shadow of thy gross body, and taking it for reality,
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thou hast trembled. But the orb revolveth anon; the shadow passeth
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away from thee. There is the dissolution, and the eternal ecstasy in
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the kisses of Nu! For inasmuch as thou hast made the Law of Freedom
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thine, as thou hast lived in Light and Liberty and Love, thou hast
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become a Free-man of the City of the Stars.
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II
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LISTEN AGAIN to thine own voice within thee. Is not Hadit the flame
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that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star? Is
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not He Life, and the giver of Life? And is not therefore the knowledge
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of Him the knowledge of Death? For it hath been shown unto thee in
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many other places how Death and Love be twins. Now art thou the
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hunter, and Death rideth beside thee with his horse and spear as thou
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chasest thy Will through the forests of Eternity, whose trees are the
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hair of Nuit thy mistress! Thrill with the joy of life and death!
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Know, hunter mighty and swift, the quarry turns to bay! Thou hast but
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to make one sharp thrust, and thou hast won. The Virgin of Eternity
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lies supine at thy mercy, and thou art Pan! Thy death shall be the
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seal of the promise of our agelong love. Hast thou not striven to the
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inmost in thee? Death is the crown of all. Harden! Hold up thyself!
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Lift thine head! breathe not so deep--die!
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III
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OR ART THOU STILL ENTANGLED with the thorny plaits of wild briar rose
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that thou hast woven in thy magick dance on earth? Art not thine eyes
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strong enough to bear the starlight? Must thou linger yet awhile in
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the valley? Must thou dally with the shadows in the dusk? Then if it
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be Thy Will, thou hast no right but to do Thy Will! Love still these
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phantoms of the earth; thou hast made thyself a King; if it please
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thee to play with toys of matter, were they not made to serve thy
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pleasure? Then follow in thy mind the wondrous word of the St^ele of
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Revealing itself. Return if thou wilt from the abode of the Stars;
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dwell with mortality, and feast thereon. For thou art this day Lord of
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Heaven and of Earth.
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``The dead man Ankh-f-na-Khonsu
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Saith with his voice of truth and calm:
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O thou that hast a single arm!
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O thou that glitterest in the moon!
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I weave thee in the spinning charm
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I lure thee with the billowy tune.
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The dead man Ankh-f-na-Khonsu
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Hath parted from the darkling crowds
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Hath joined the dwellers of the light
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Opening Duant, the star-abodes,
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Their keys receiving.
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The dead man Ankh-f-na-Khonsu
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Hath made his passage into night
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His pleasure on the earth to do
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Among the living.''
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Love is the law, love under will.
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The Benediction of the All-Begetter, All-Devourer be upon thee.
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Baphomet Xø O.T.O.
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Given under Our hand and seal this day of An XII the Sun our Father
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being in Leo, and the Moon in Pisces, from the throne of Ireland, Iona
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and all the Britains that is in the Sanctuary of the Gnosis.
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