The Stèle of Revealing

In 1904, Aleister Crowley and his wife, Rose, were staying in Cairo when Rose began to behave in a very uncharacteristic way. She urgently told her husband, "They are waiting for you." He was prone to dismiss her words as the outpourings of a hysterical female but she began to use cues and symbols of his magical cipher. He finally took her to the Boulak Museum in Cairo, more as a challenge than in the expectation that he would really discover anything new. He wanted to prove his wife didn't know wh at she was talking about and he was smugly gratified when she walked right past several images of Horus. But then she led him to the exhibit that has become known to Thelemites as The Stèle of Revealing. It was exhibit "666" which was alrea dy one of his most personally important numbers of self-identification, referring to the Beast of Revelations.

Then, on April 8, 9 and 10, 1904, Crowley sat in his room and wrote The Book of the Law from the dictation of a being called Aiwass. Passages in the book are taken from the writing on the Stèle. Crowley writes, "This passage appears to be a dramatic presentation of the scene shown in the Stele. The interpretation is to be that Ankh-f-n-Knonsu recorded for my benefit the details of the magical formula of Ra-Hoor-Khuit. To link together the centuries in this manner is nothing strange to the accomplished magician; but in view of the true character of time as it appears to the adept in mysticism, the riddle vanished altogether.... Stanza 3 [Note: Referring to the lines starting with "I am the Lord of Thebes..." -- Fran] suggests the Rosicrucian Benediction:

"May thy Mind be open unto the Higher!
"May thy Heart be the Center of Light!
"May thy Body be the Temple of the Rosy Cross!

"...See the translation of the Stele in the Introduction to Book 4, Part IV. Note the four quarters or four solar stations enumerated in lines 3 and 4 of the first stanza, and compare the ritual given in Liber Samekh. (Book 4, Part III, Appendix.)"

A Paraphrase of the Stèle of Revealing:

     Above, the gemmèd azure is
          The naked splendour of Nuit: 
     She bends in ecstasy to kiss
          The secret ardours of Hadit.
     The wingèd globe, the starry blue
     Are mine, o Ankh-f-n-Khonsu.

     I am the Lord of Thebes, and I
          The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;
     For me unveils the veilèd sky,
          The self-slain Ankh-f-n-Khonsu
     Whose words are truth.  I onvoke, I greet
     Thy presence, o Ra-Hoor-Khuit!

     Unity uttermost showed!
          I adore the might of Thy breath,
     Supreme and terrible God,
          Who makest the gods and death
               To tremble before Thee: -
                    I, I adore thee!

     Appear on the throne of Ra!
          Open the ways of the Khu!
     Lighten the ways of the Ka!
          The ways of the Khabs run through
               To stir me or still me!
               Aum!  let it fill me!

     The Light is mine; its rays consume 
          Me: I have made a secret door
     Into the House of Ra and Tum,
          Of Khepra, and of Ahathoor.
     I am thy Theban, o Mentu,
     The prophet Ankh-f-n-Khonsu!

     By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
          By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
     Show thy star-splendour, O Nuith!
          Bid me within thine House to dwell,
     O wingèd snake of light, Hadith!
     Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!

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