Liber I – The Book of the Zero Hour
By Frater Pacitius (Albin Grau)
Pansophic Lodge of the Light Seeking Brethren, Orient Berlin, 1925
Publication in Class C
Lection I.
0000. The End draws near! The invisible flame bursts forth. The old World is threatened! The new Earth drinks first strength out of the primordial Waters!
000. We proclaim the good news of the End of Infinity!
00. We proclaim the destruction of tarrying indetermination and comfort – through action! – – – – – – – – – – –
0. in order to eliminate the accumulated karma of the past aeon , and to make room for the ice-clear Waters of the Amphora!
1. For the neophyte it is first of all important to realise this in regard to his here-being.
2. Then let meditation upon the aforesaid follow in the position of his asana, and let it create within him an absolute vacuum.
3. Into this vacuum let flow the Law:
DO WHAT THOU WILT
4. Once the Law has entirely filled Space in the form of a glowing aura, let him place into its centre the Word of the Law:
THELEMA
5. But let him add, directly and keenly:
Love is the Law
Love under the control of the Will!
This afterthought closes like a steel ring around the Law and its Word.
6. Let the neophyte now meditate upon M ……!
Beginning with the feet, let him slowly raise the current to his heart. The current becomes cool – and its glory and sweetness assuage the austerity of the Law. But let the neophyte beware of the illusion created by M ……!
7. Let him reject all dreamery and sleepiness; let him retain nothing in his consciousness other than Love – – – – Thelema – – – – the Star over M ……!!
8. Let Thelema be his torch in the dreadful darkness at the beginning of his upcoming wandering through the spaces of the “lower Mother”.
9. Let the neophyte be without compassion against himself, when, tortured by the pangs of necessity, the “garment” rebels against the “depiction”.
10. If the neophyte loves – without compassion – then he will chastise both, should the need arise!
For, let him consider:
11. A commentary to the Law states: When your time is come, you will need to account for all your actions. Thus the Law was proclaimed in Light, Love, Life and Liberty, in the name of Thelema!
12. If he has not learnt this lesson then it may be that irrespective of his person, he may be forced to carry, like a burden, the karma of the “unresolved example” for the rest of his incarnation.
13. If the neophyte is still in the clutch of ostentatiousness, if his soul is still beguiled by the fantastic beauty and the seductive allure of Maya toward reincarnation – through sin; if he still clings to the sad pleasures of the body – which promise but never grant satisfaction – – – –
then let him turn back!!
14. If he has not yet liberated his “higher Self” from Death through Love under Will – then he cannot be initiated.
15. If the neophyte is still a thrall of his “lower Self”, if he still groans and trembles under each breath of the zodiac, if he still reacts disoriented to an every influence of astral demons – – – –
then let him turn back!!
16. If his brain still toys with pleasure and pain, if he still holds that to be true which is tangled – – – –
then let him turn back!!
17. If he is still held by the leash of Reason and Intellect, these “cursed and empty things” – – –
then let him turn back!!
18. If, however, the neophyte has realised – and he has escaped the twelve-times cursed prisons of the Dragon of the outermost darkness; if he is free from the fetters of the material and demonic world, then let him safely journey on the Path of Binah – the path of ISHVARA to RA-HOOR-KHUIT. Yea, let him safely journey on the Path!
19. Let the neophyte be prepared to transmute within himself the formula of Osiris into that of Horus.
HORUS namaskar! i.e. profoundest veneration.
20. He, with the gold-flaming hair and diamond-clear eye! The GREAT, whose brow is adorned by the Silver Star – namaskar! He, whose Right carries the stele of his rule. He, who in his rising kisses the parting brother CHRESTOS – who brought us the Cross and the Rose; kissing him, the great initiator of the past aeon .
21. In the Chalice of the Grail the great parting brother passes the sign of his rule:
The Holy Flower
that has been rescued from the insanity of the past centuries, rescued from the malevolent stupor of bestial suspicion. – – – –
The Holy Flower, for the relinquishment of which one endeavoured to compel the fearless Keepers by torture, stake and sword.
To HER – the Rose on the Cross,
namaskar, namaskar, namaskar!!
22. Now if, after the most meticulous examination of thrice seven days, the neophyte is prepared to take the path that leads into the City of Pyramids, then let him hearken to the counsel of the elder brothers before he begin his journey:
23. The Spindle of Life runs in unfathomable simplicity, and its Norns are:
Will, Courage, Knowledge, Silence!
24. Let the neophyte accomplish his purification under this quaternity, and let him crush the worm of his idleness. Once he has done this, let him take the regal Path of Light.
Yea, let him take the regal Path!
25. Once the fetters of restriction are torn; once the mountain-high heap of refuse of the metaphysics and religions of the past aeons has been swept aside; once the neophyte has realised that Anatta, Allah, Jehovah have become weapons without sting – corroded by time, names watered down by the karma of senseless use; then will he recognise upon the sharp-edged cubic stone that towers before him as the symbol of the New Age the Word:
THELEMA
the Word of the lapis philosophorum born out of R.’.C.’. In “Thelema” he will recognise the Word of the New Aeon.
26. Let him furthermore consider what the Master proclaims:
“The Golden Cross, the Rose have perished when, shining from afar, the Hawk’s Eye blinds the Silver Star.”
27. You pilgrims on the Path of the Rose! Seven bolts must be loosened at the Doors of the outer Rampart:
The First:
Clothe your body in the straightjacket of the will. Expel everything that tortures your thoughts!
The Second:
Bring your breathing into a rhythm with yourself!
The Third:
Let your life be pure and calm!
The Fourth:
Let your will to Life be bound to the ONE Depth!
The Fifth:
Rigorously guard your thoughts. Guard relentlessly, with inward directed attention!
The Sixth:
Sink into meditation – steeply and strongly. Repel without feeling – be it God or the Devil – whosoever seeks to dissuade you from your attention to the set act!
The Seventh:
All this combined will enable you – you – to approach the circumference of the outermost hull of the Pleroma.
28. Thus purified from the lower trinity of the World of Emptiness, purified from the breath of the “black aeons”, the neophyte will reach the Gate of the Realm of the Mother
Achamoth
who, having been cast out before the gates of the invisible world of the Pleroma, awaits redemption.
29. The word M ……, and continued meditation upon it, form the Key to the Gate.
30. It may then be that at the given hour the Adeptus Exemptus stands at the brink of the Abyss. Loneliness and silence surround him – he is infinitely alone!
31. The dreadful depths of primordial space yawn toward him. Filled with shudder he gazes into the Bythos of the World. His unprepared eyes behold the Lord of Seb, towering steeply in the form of a thousand monsters. In ancient Books of the Law the neophyte will find his equivalent, and will recognise him as the “Guardian of the Threshold”. No path leads into this unfathomable hell in which the MOTHERS dwell. No bridge leads to the other shore.
32. The Abyss must be overflown!
33. If the Adeptus Exemptus ventures the crossing without “being ready”, then he will fall into the Depth – for an eternity and a half. For aeons will he be lost in unspeakable agony, to which is joined the “dreadful karma of failure”. Although he can nevermore lose the dignity of his humanity, it is nonetheless possible that he be thrown back onto Chesed. He will wind up between the Towers of the Black Brothers, and he will never reach the desired City of Pyramids.
34. Only All-Love, purified through discipline and suffering, will give the Adeptus Exemptus the strength to cross the Abyss.
The whole universe will then carry him – unified in one point of boundless love – within the small human heart. – – – –
35. The keyword M ……, carrying within the origin and karma of the World, is given to the neophyte as a weapon in the lower grades against the World of Demons.
36. He must consolidate all his future labours under this word and its sign, and his goal will be:
PAN-EGERSIS
i.e. all-awakening.
37. Let the neophyte seek to vivify this word within him through
three and seven!
38. Yea, let him vivify it within him through meditation upon M ……!
39. Only now does he begin to wander on the high path to the securely kept Secrets of the Sanctuary.
Wisdom must rule – born out of love – paired with austerity!
40. The World shall be the school of Pansophia; a temple of consecration through Thelema; a kingdom of justice, liberty and love.
41. There is only One teacher and One student – both united in the neophyte!
42. People seek outside themselves; they seek the things under themselves; and they seek God above themselves!
But the inexhaustible treasure chamber of the great
PAN is MAN the MAGICIAN!!
43. The neophyte must ruthlessly try to think the magical formula of Pan to its end.
Night.
Dawn!
Day!!
Midday!!! – – – – – – –
The voice of midday cuts through the languid silence of hopelessness!
And proclaims:
I am the End of this World! I will enflame you! – – “My enflaming shall be so vast that nothing in the past of this turning-point of the World will compare to it!”
For this Age shall simultaneously be End and Beginning. Let divinity no longer be a depiction in your mind, but let it become deed!
44. Thus and not otherwise is the Law to be understood:
Do what thou wilt.
To will in strict self-discipline “to become God” – that is True Will!
45. Your “higher Self” lies buried deep beneath the exhausted goods of a mendacious civilisation, smothered under the fiendish maxims of a materialistic world.
46. You were given Thelema that you may tear yourselves away – at any cost! The seraphic spirit groans under the ruins; if you love the Spirit then you must destroy and remove, without compassion, what buries it!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
I am the Voice of the New Age!
I intone the mighty Song of the great PAN.
The hour is come for the Pan-Egersis, for the all-awakening!!
47. Terrible will the burning breath of my midday voice be to those “who sleep”. They will writhe under the relentlessness with which all things will be revealed by me, and they will stand in the Light naked and bare.
48. You neophytes!!
Step up to the first, great Hour of Horus and profess:
We desire to unite within us holy, burning Fire and the Water of Love to a vast rhythm, so that in us awakens
The sleeping Child of the Aether
the Lord of the New Aeon!
We are one with Horus.
We are the visible cloak of the progressing Deity. We want to ruthlessly destroy within us all that is false and evil. We will not stop – not even for friend, wife and child – in our pitiless labour of love!!
For we know only one goal:
The Salvation of Humanity!!
49. Once “lust for success” has prompted the neophyte to profess, then will everything be without success. He will fail in the execution of his task at the cliff of compassionless love. Upon this granite rock will he break in the Sea of sentimental self-indulgence, if his love be not “cleansed of purpose.”
50. The obligations have been given. Let the Commentary on the Word now follow. But let the neophyte carefully contemplate whether curiosity be the driving force of his actions, or even, whether it be bestiality!
Thrice cursed be his Beginning if the devil of his “lower Self” whispers within him: Compassionless love is cruelty, selfishness, hatred! Yea, thrice cursed!!!
51. Let the neophyte drive the following deep into his memory:
*
a) Compassionless love must be endured.
*
b) In compassionless love against the “beast within” does the neophyte’s love prove itself.
*
c) Compassionless love is suffering, assumed voluntarily; and that which is not freely done
must first be learnt through necessitation!
*
d) Compassionless love is no shield for egotism.
*
e) The neophyte dare not apply compassionless love – in his sense – against others. Fragmentation and perplexity will arise out of his actions, and insanity will be the result.
*
f) Compassionless love is not a permanent condition, but should be applied like an acid only until the metal has been cleansed from grime. Let compassionless love cleanse good from bad – for the sake of goodness, which has our love.
52. Let the neophyte direct his actions outward under the Law, and let him know that “each person is a star”. ONE life is in you – in the brother – in the realms above and below you, from the rising to the setting of primordial space!
53. Let the neophyte meditate deeply upon this, and let the Divine Spark come to life within him, and let him realise:
I am THAT.
54. He who has realised this carries on his brow the invisible Sign of the Knights of Thelema! He who has realised this has been admitted into the Circle, and may contribute toward the destiny of this planet for all time in the Splendour of the Law. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
*
Mysterious,
threefold Energy,
mysterious Matter,
fourfold and sevenfold divided,
whose interplay weaves the dancing Veil of Life.
Let harmony and beauty rule upon the Countenance of the Spirit in the fervour of mystical love, so that health and prosperousness, strength and divine happiness may rule within us – in accordance with the Law.
Let each person live out his divine Will, like a strong man joyously wandering along his path like a star, eternally shining in the community of the stars!
So mote it be!
May the fulfilment of the True Will be granted to all from whose eyes the veil of life has fallen. Be it that it was their will to be absorbed into infinity, or be united with those who they loved, or peace and tranquillity, or reincarnation on this or any other planet, or star, or be it motionless Being in nirvana! – – – – –
Yea, let their Will be fulfilled!
So mote it be!
*
Oh Lord of Plenty, enlighten our understanding! Open the Path and the Gate of creation and of the connection between us and THEE! Encourage our hearts! Let THINE Light imbue our blood, and thus accomplish our rebirth in the Spirit of Thelema! The End reaches the Beginning! That which is disorderly withdraws into motionlessness.
All that moves overflows into silence and tranquillity. All contemplation ends in silence. All neophytes of Pan herewith enter into the GREAT TRANSFORMATION:
The final experience will be star-like with stars:
Mergence into the ONE – in the all-embrace of Allness!
PANSOPHIA.
May the Law help us to this end.
Love is the Law, Love under the control of the Will!
Orient Berlin
In the Equinox of Aquarius
Given in the XXIst Year of the Light
Frater Pacitius
Worshipful Master of the great and honourable Lodge, Berlin
Translation by Markus Haverkamp
Sources:
Fraternitas Saturni, Saturn Gnosis, Vol. III, Nr. 1, 2008
Fraternitas Saturni, Blätter für angewandte okkulte Lebenskunst, August 1954
Website of Peter-R. Koenig: http://www.parareligion.ch/dplanet/html/liber-i.htm