" Thou Shalt obtain the Order & Value of the English Alphabet ; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto" -LiberAL chapter II v 55 What is the English Qaballa ? Part I The English Qaballa fulfils the requirements of the instructions given in Liber Al vel Legis (The Book of the Law) Chapter II verse 55. It was discovered on the 23 rd of November 1976. After working with the Cipher several radical methods and new techniques were discovered that confirmed that was indeed the promised cipher of Al. The word had finally become flesh. How did the English Qaballa originate ? On April 8th, 9th and 10th 1904 Aleister Crowley received a Book, The Book of the Law via direct voice communication from a "Praeter human intelligence" called Aiwass, identifying himself as "The minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat", an aspect of Horus. Crowley who was both a brilliant Qaballist and an accomplished magician was surprised and shocked by the content of the book which claimed to be the basis of the " New Aeon." The Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child. Despite the unusual circumstances involved in its reception Crowley dismissed the Book as a mere curiosity. The Manuscript was subsequently lost for five years before it was "Rediscovered" and began to realise that the book seemed to contain Qabbalistic formulae of an unusually high order, formulae that promised to revolutionise and eclipse the crumbling traditions of the Golden Dawn with a living vital evolutionary system that was based entirely on self realisation using Magickal and Mystical techniques. This system was called Thelema. In an effort to proliferate the message of LiberAl Crowley completed several extensive commentaries on the text utilising Hebrew, Arabic and Greek Qaballa to unlock its many secrets. His attempts at the instructions of LiberAl II 55 were initially equated to the pictograms of Liber Trigrammaton however he was not entirely satisfied with the results. In the New comment he states " The Attribution in Liber Trigrammaton is good theoretically, but no Qabalah of merit has arisen therefrom" In 1918 Crowley's magickal child, Frater Achad, provided a valuable key to unlocking LiberAl as outlined in his thesis Liber 31. Achad notes the following :- "Then I noticed another very important thing. I was wondering why A and L should be chosen, or rather why L the 12 th letter of the Hebrew alphabet should follow A, the first." It would also appear that he was closer to the Cipher than has probably been realised, although he knew it Not, for the 12 th letter of the English Alphabet is also L the second letter of the EQ cypher and the name of the book from which it was generated. After Achad's split with Crowley the subject of the English Qaballa was almost forgotten until the 1970's when a concerted effort was made to discover the Key to Al. What about the more recent efforts to discover the Cipher ? In 1976 certain groups and individuals signed A A oaths and worked with LiberAl in search of the promised Qaballa. Several attempts were made then either abandoned or ritually sacrificed as failures. Two orders in particular actively sought the answer the O.Z.R.C.S and the T.T.S. Both groups worked independently and were ignorant of each other's existence yet both found recurrent symbols relevant to Venus, Scorpio and the Rosy Cross. After several attempts the T.T.S decided to seek out the key magickally and appropriately enough one member began counting 11 letters from A to the letter L. He continued the sequence counting another 11 letters toW. Thus deriving the initials of "Azure Lidded Woman." Resuming the 11 fold sequence he eventually generated the order :- A L W H S D O Z K V G R C N Y J U F Q B M X I T E P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Many individuals and groups worked with the above Cipher using the Class A texts applying the EQ to various aspects of Magick. After the collation of much empirical data the consensus was overwhelming. This was indeed the promised Qaballa. In the US certain members of the QBLH worked with the Cipher. One member, Soror Ishtaria, produced a program to allow rapid and accurate reseach. This Program is called "Lexicon" and remains the only program worth considering for serious EQ Research. What makes this the promised Cipher ? The text of Al contains a tremendous amount of corroborative evidence to substantiate this particular order. The sequence begins with the name of the book Al, in conjunction with the third letter W produces an anagram of Law, the English title of the Book. In all "Official" copies of the book of the Law is a facsimile of the handwritten manuscript. Page 16 of chapter III contains a grid drawn by Crowley on the text of LiberAL III v47. Writing the alphabet continuously down the columns from the top left hand corner will produce the above sequence across the diagonals. This is proof enough for some, however, the evidence continues to mount up. On the same page the centre of the grid contains a cross within a circle, traditionally the symbol of a "Rosy Cross". The text states "then this circle squared in its failure, is a key also" The symbol occurs in the square allotted to K with the value of 9. The "Square" of nine = 81 the EQ value of "Rosy Cross" ! The edge of the circle intrudes into the adjacent square allotted to U or 17. The sum of the two squares that contain the circle is 26, the number of letters in the English Alphabet. The value of "In it's failure" is 187 which equals "English Alphabet". "Is a key also" yields the value 93, equivalent to "Scorpio," "Divide" and "Time". Ninety-three of course being the value of the number that designates the Thelemic Current as a whole. This suggests that the particular order & value of the English Alphabet presented here is especially relevant to Thelema. The total sum of the English Alphabet is 351 which is the total sum of letters and numbers of Al II verse 76 one of the more intriguing verses in the book and the subject of much debate. In Chapter one verse 24 Nuit states the following: "I am Nuit, and my number is six and fifty" Applying the EQ to the text reveals that Nuit = 78. Naturally, 7 multiplied by 8 = 56, precisely Six and fifty and is equal to the value of "Isis". This is just a fraction of the number of examples to be found in the text of Al. One verse in particular requires further scrutiny for it contains the seeds of Initiation concealed and revealed therein. In Liberal II 75 Hadit declares the following : "Aye, listen to the numbers & the words" The phrase is one of the more remarkable in the text. It seems to be a further instruction to seek out the order and value. The total sum of the verse is 418 equal to "Abrahadabra" in Hebrew and according to Crowley the number of the completion of the Great Work. The sum of Four + One + Eight is 187 and is the value of two phrases in particular "English Alphabet" is the first, the second phrase... ..."And doubt it not !" What about English Qaballa Methods and Techniques ? All of the techniques of the Hebrew Qaballa can be used with the cipher of Al. Essentially they can be broken down into specific groups. Gematria. This is a method of comparing the total sum of words of a specific value and comparing the relationships between them. For example the Gematria of Love = 44 (2+7+10+25) = "Aum Ha", the last two words of Liberal. The value of 44 is also "Solar Hawk" and "Hawk + Lord." It is also equal to EQ the system that both reveals and conceals these relationships. Notariqon. This is another common technique deriving acronyms from phrases. The Classic example in Liberal is that of ISIS =56 this is demonstrated in LiberAl v1 22. " Since I am Infinite Space and Infinite Stars thereof" This method can be extended by examining the first letters of a phrase and verse and comparing them with the last letters of the phrase to discover its form of manifestation. For example: - "Love is the law, love under will". LITLLUW = 73 = Power, from where ? ESEWERL = Warrior Lord Mystic Numbers. This is the sum of a given series from 1 to a significant integer. For example, the mystic number of seven is 28 (= 1+2 +3 +4 +5+6+7). Seven is the number of Netzach the sephiroth traditionally alloted to Venus. Note that 28 is equal to "Holy" and "Ankh" the Egyptian Symbol of Venus. Anagrams These can be found extensively throughout the class A texts. For example Hours is an anagram of Horus = 45. Arms is an anagram of Mars = 39 etc Counting Well This technique involves the crossmultiplying of two numbers and is derived from the text of Al III v 19 "Count well its name & it will be as to you as 718 " The shortest method of accomplishing this is to multiply the total value of one word by the number of integers in the second. And repeating with the second word. The two sums are then added and the resultant is termed "Counted Well" and designated by convention with a "%" sign.. For example Azure % Lidded = 718. Azure = 63 (1+8+17+12+25) Lidded = 68 ( 2+23+6+6+25+6) 63 x 6 = 378 68 x 5 = 340 + = 718 Aum%Ha = 93, Love%Law = 156, Sun % Midnight = 666 Abra%Hadabra = 418, Number Reversal This techniqure is revealed in the first verse of chapter 3 "Abrahadabra the reward of Ra Hoor Khut" and is used to find the reward of the number e.g. the reward of Ra Hoor Khut = 97 is 79 = Abrahadabra = Heaven. The Reward of Horus 45 = 54 = Snake (The traditional bringer of wisdom). There are many other techniques but they lie outside the scope of this brief introduction. Working with the methods outlined above will provide sufficient momentum and "Proof" to confirm the validity of the System. We stand on the brink of a New Aeon. The English Qaballa provides a key to unravelling the initiatory mysteries as revealed in Liber Al vel Legis and the Class A texts of Thelema. As a largely experimental system, it has no dogma and appeals to the very core of the individual.. The choice, it would seem, is clear. Love is the law, love under will. -Fr Alav, QBLH-RC+ Part II A L W H S D O Z K V G R C 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 N Y J U F Q B M X I T E P 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 More Frequently Asked Questions: Q. Why is the E.'.Q.'. Order & Value a serial order (one to twenty six) rather than hundreds, tens and units like the Hebrew system and others? A. Many students of the Golden Dawn system and the better known sources on Greek and Hebrew Qabalah ask this question. In fact there is a considerable body of evidence that Greek and Hebrew characters were used for a serial order first, and that this order was important in the development of these systems, similarly many other ritual alphabets have used serial orders rather than hundreds, tens and units. There is thus no reason why E.'.Q.'. should adhere to the same pattern as the systems which have had most currency since the nineteenth century. On the other hand the vast majority of alternative English Gematrias proposed since E.'.Q.'.'s discovery have adopted the 1 to 26 "value" while proposing another "order" for the letters. Q. Surely any attribution of numbers to letters would produce results? Isn't it more a matter of belief and "word association by numbers"? A. Apparently not, though before my own experience of E.'.Q.'. I might well have thought so myself. Several alternative gematrias do exist, but as yet none has produced a magical system. The question of belief is not appropriate to a true numerical system, numbers are a standard of immutable truth that rises above mythology and other limited paradigms. So far the alternative gematrias have indeed proved to be nothing more than systems of word association, or go little further than "proving" the discoverer is Crowley's successor! E.'.Q.'. on the other hand has shown itself capable of considerably more than this, a situation that cannot be entirely due to the superior ability of its exponents! Since writing the above I have become familiar with the work of David Allen Hulse, whose unpublished work on English gematria is a major exception to the above rule. Though not extending to a magical methodology in itself - as yet - the system he uses is the simplest of all, the ABC series numbered 1 to 26, which the discoverers of E.'.Q.'. had tried and not found of interest, my own researches also failed to find anything of interest in this schema. Hulse on the other hand, and I take my hat off to him for it, came at the problem from another direction, as may be seen in his "Key of it All" which I cannot recommend to highly, and got first class results from what had seemed to some of the best qualified persons in this field to be an unlikely schema. Having surveyed and examined many alternative methods of English gematria it is my belief that more is to come, and that the serial order applied to ABC and its odd numbered permutations (of which "family" E.'.Q.'. is an honoured member) is likely to be the most fertile area for future discoveries. Q. What simple proofs can you present that E.'.Q.'. is a valid solution to the Qabalistic puzzles of the Book of the Law? A. Simple proofs are many, though in their enthusiasm E.'.Q.'. writers have often assumed the reader will find them for themselves, and have concentrated on other more technical aspects. These following are among the simplest and most "accessible" indicators of E.'.Q.'.'s astonishing ability to detail Thelemic principles exactly without mindbending calculation or peculiar spellings! Many Thelemites are accustomed to writing "Love is the law, love under will" as three 93's. The value of LOVE IS THE LAW, LOVE UNDER WILL by E.'.Q.'. is 279 or 3x93. Similarly "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" = 386 which is 2x193. The second chapter of the Book of the Law, gives the number of "Had" as eleven, the value of HAD in E.'.Q.'.. The phrase STRANGE DRUGS from AL has the value 143, the same value as the phrase DISTANT DRUG in Liber VII. This is a striking example of the accuracy of the gematria system, involving not only AL but the entire Class A literature. The Book of the Law injoins us to exceed by delicacy and drink by the eight and ninety rules of art. DELICACY = 98 by E.'.Q.'., no other reason has ever been presented for the number of "rules of art". The Thelemic Pentagram rituals frequently attribute Babalon to West and Water, while Aiwass/Aiwaz is frequently attributed to the direction of Air. BABALON = 65 = WATER, AIWAZ = 36 = AIR. Accordingly E.'.Q.'. derived ritual corresponds closely with traditional ritual in this obvious respect and in others less obvious, without any necessity to squeeze round pegs into square holes by selective spelling or other contortions. The Counting Well process (briefly, value of word a times number of letters in word b and vice versa) produces other startling proofs. AZURE % LIDDED = 718 Note eleven letters and initials AL, the next word is "Woman", thus the initials ALW, which are the first three letters of the E.'.Q.'. Order & Value. Note also that the phrase "O Azure-Lidded Woman" starts with the letters O.A.Z., which letters have the E.'.Q.'. values of 7.1.8. ABRAHAD % ABRA = 418 (Crowley's "Hebrew" system gives the same value). AUM % HA = 93 (this word seals the book). SUN % MIDNIGHT = 666, this number is traditionally associated with the Sun and with the "Solar Phallic" current of which "The Beast" is the embodiment. There are important keys in this equivalence, relating to Khephra, results magick and the IVth house of astrology, the enemy naming ceremony and much else. [BABALON % BABALON = 910, 91 is a significant number, with or without considerations of the Hebrew system, since it is the sum of the numbers one to thirteen, and the value of 13x7. The E.'.Q.'. value of BABALON is 65, 65 + 91 = 156, the value of Babalon in Crowley's "Hebrew" system.] These simple proofs are outside the realm of coincidence and are unmatched by any alternative system. Neither Achad or Crowley produced results of this quality or quantity with their qabalistic analyses, simply because they lacked the tools, no alternative gematria schema has come close either. It is not a matter of "my qabalah is better than yours", though many responses to E.'.Q.'. have been based on such a petulant attitude. The "English Qaballists" have done considerable research into all alternatives which have been put forward, and have often tried harder to extract sense from them than the proposers of the alternatives themselves. The vital thing to bear in mind is a qabalah is a ritual language, and any proposed system that does not produce a magical system is not a qabalah, whatever else it might be. I see no reason to reject the possibility of further numerical systems within the Book of the Law, but this is no argument against making use of the only one so far to produce practical results!