Liber LI prt III: The Magicians of Atlas, ZRO and the Black phosphorus
"Of course, no more than one seventh of the wisdom is ever confided to one of the Seven, and the Seven meet in council but once in every thirty-three years. But its preservation is guaranteed by the interlocked systems of "dreaming true" and of "preparation of the antinomy." The former almost explains itself; the latter is almost inconceivable to normal man. Its essence is to train a man to be anything by training him to be its opposite. At the end of anything, think they, it turns out to be its opposite, and that opposite is thus mastered without having been soiled by the labours of the student, and without the false impressions of early learning being left upon the mind."
-Aleister Crowley, Liber LI, The Lost Continent
The next chapter is crucial to everything that has come before it and after it. It's worth pointing out, although it should be obvious, that an understanding of alchemy is necessary to comprehend ZRO, the source of the Atlantean "magic power." The Keys of Eudoxus, the works of Basil Valentine (most of all, in my opinion) and the Rosicrucian manifestos will not only clarify what is being referred to by ZRO, but they will provide some insight into the way in which an allegory like Liber LI should be read. The style of Crowley's allegories are very much a mutation of the medieval alchemical writings, so trying to grasp Crowley without this background is as difficult as trying to grasp Heidegger without having read Kant.
Of the word in particular, it bears mention that ZRO numerates to 277, which Sephir Sephirot tells is is the same as the Hebrew word "to sow," "propagate," "seed," or "semen." Wow. That shit's buried deep. Of course, we will find that while the ZRO "impregnates" the Atlanteans with it's power, the ZRO itself is impregnated by the "black phosphorus," to which Hadit refers through Aiwass in AL II:51 (purple beyond purple). More on that later...
This chapter opens up with a confirmation of Baphomet as the governer of the magickal formula at least, "according to one school of cosmology" which sees humankind as in a sense exiled into a universe of contradiction. We exist and comprehend through a mechanism, knowledge, which sees nothing for what it is. Knowledge is only a confirmation of what a thing is not, or in other words, one point can only be understood in reference to another. The task of humankind, according to this cosmological understanding (which I think I can safely call Atlantean Gnosticism) was:
"to overturn the laws of Nature on that planet, thus mastering it sufficiently to enable him to make the leap to the next planet inward. Exactly how and in what sense the leap was made remains obscure, even to the heirs of Atlantis."
Crowley has a note on this which refers to the matter having been settled at the Council of Stockholm in 1913. Google tells me nothing and it's not ringing any bells. Sure, the physicists were in a state of seemingly perpetual turmoil during this time, but I figured that would have come up a little more readily on a search engine if that was what he was talking about. Any ideas, anybody?
Of the stages of ZRO, Crowley says:
"Now the name of this substance is always Zro, but in its first state the gesture is a twiddling of the thumbs. In its second, it is a rapid twittering of the fingers, and in its third state of distillation it is a screwing of the hands together. Within the spheres it sublimes suddenly in the air as a snaky powder (4) of silver, which immediately turns to an iridescent fluid (5) that is forced up, by its own need of expansion, through a fountain into the temple, on whose floor it lies (6) in a semi-solid condition. Expert Priests gather this in their hands, and rapidly shape it into its seventh state, when it is a knife of diamond, but alive."
This is crucial. The notion of a substance that is at once liquid and solid is key here. It is a substance which generates energy by "working itself from within" a contained (dare I say) unit of motion. This comes into play more in the next chapter as well, but for the time being it is necessary that we understand the implications of ZRO. It is never permenant, it always must be eventually recycled by being processed into food and drink through the application of the black phosporus (by the High Priestess in a manner unrevealed) which divides it into it's liquid and solid parts. In this form, ZRO has no application other than to provide nourishment, although it does have the unique effect of creating whatever taste one desires to taste. The bodies of the Atlanteans are thrown to the Servile Race, who consume this "manna from Heaven" and go to "work the machine." The sweat from their labour is then collected and processed into ZRO in it's first state, to be worked as described above. Now, to aid understanding, a summary:
1. ZRO refined from the sweat of the Servile
2. powder of silver
3. expanding fluid
4. semi-solid
5. hard, but alive, capable of recieving impressions
6. (eigth stage) solid, but "continually heaving" with it's own force, used by Atlanteans for beds that massage one while they sleep. This is the "last stage," (of the general cycle of ZRO) and it is only possible for the ZRO to maintain this state for a few days
7. thrown into a cauldron, sprinkled with the black phosphorus, becomes food and drink
8. eaten by the Atlanteans who are eaten by the servile race, who work the machine and sweat
Once again, a study of those alchemical texts described above is necessary to really appreciate the implications of this process. I believe that the intention here was, as much to talk about a magickal society, to describe how a single person might harness this power themselves through a social allegory. It seems to me that "the machine" is a likely culprit for the War Engine referred to in AL III:7 although there is nothing in the commentaries to suggest this. The machine is a crucial part of this equation precisely because it is so superfluous, and at the same time so vitally important.
All of us, whatever our degree of enlightenment and personal spiritual attainment, have servile characteristics and qualities. It is unfortunate that many people who adopt power-loving philosophies keep themselves in servility by adhering to the slave morality of "good" and "evil" and using the symbols of power-loving ideologies within the epistemology of the slave mind. In other words, they refuse to acknowledge their own servile characteristics and feel shame at "being bad" by being in some way servile. Some of those servile characteristics are the legacy of growing up in a slave culture, but some of them are simply a consequence of the attractions and repulsions of the vulgar part of ourselves. If we do not acknowledge that we HAVE servile characteristics, we cannot destroy the ones that do us no good, and put the ones who can behave themselves to WORK FOR US. Only by acknowledging one's own servile characteristics can one see to it that they are servile to one's own Will. If left to their own devices and ignored, they will run madly in the dark in search of a master to submit themselves to. This will bite you in the ass. Unless the servile race is kept under control and put to work, the whole Atlantean society would crumble. The same can be said for the human being. If we have slavish qualities we must see them as such so that we can see that they work "the machine," that activity which occupies the servile qualities of a person so as to prevent them from upsetting the peace of hir civilized psychology. Without the machine, not only does the flow of ZRO or power stop, but one also has to deal with a whole race of slaves that don't know what to do with themselves. This eats up a lot of time, and whatever mundane (non-ZRO) power that you have left.
Next, Crowley describes the "work" of the people of Atlas. The three parts he describes are:
1. Working at ZRO- bringing it from the first to the ninth stage
2. Working with ZRO- using methods described in the next chapter toward that Atlantean's particular purpose, sexual
3. Working for ZRO- the yogic half of the magickal implications of #2, this work is also sexual
These are, properly understood, the Work.
In keeping with the previously described elements which I identified as prescient notions about where technology would take us (re: instructions to fly/ internet, Atlantean requirements for integration into society/ eugenics) Crowley has the following to say about the use of the sex act toward reproductive ends:
"Its official name was 'the old experiment.' It was carried on simply because the new methods of continuing the race were not perfected. Childbirth was therefore in one way accident; although a duty, everyone shrank from it. For though no pain or discomfort attached to the process, it was a sort of second-best achievement from which proud women turned contemptuously. This was in part the reason why the father's name was never mentioned."
Now, we do know that there are elements of being carried in a woman's middle which are helpful to a human baby... but surely those can be reproduced as well. Why do we have women put their bodies through this process? An (anti)quaint(ed) tradition and nothing more. Perhaps it could be shown that there was value in going through all of that bullshit, but I have serious doubts about the notion that it would be difficult to overcome this. If our technology can grow children then surely we've got the hard part taken care of. It seems a little stupid to think that if we are capable of doing this that we are not capable of doing it WELL. We just need to start taking the idea seriously, stop being disgusted by the opportunities that biotechnology have given us, and seriously evaluate the merits of such a course of action. I'm not saying that it is necessarily the best way to proceed, but we'll never know if we don't seriously ask the question. To the Atlanteans, genetic variation was of supreme importance. If a man and a woman had two children together they were required to be married. Intercourse was forbidden only with one's spouse, so that one would ensure that one produced the greatest variety of children possible. This is a notion to advance the species which is, to this day, in keeping with a healthy notion of biology. Although the Atlantean solution would be socially awkward, technology has made this easy. What do you think would do more to prevent disease pandemics in the long term? Immunization (which Crowley quite adamantly comes out against in his commentaries on Liber AL) or encouraging genetic diversity?
It is worth taking note that Crowley asserts that the Atlanteans are not above human sacrifice when there's a problem with the ZRO. If they noticed that it was weakening, great numbers of the servile race were sacrificed and their blood mixed with ZRO in it's third stage to restore it's power. In addition he mentions other instances in which the ZRO began to decline and had to be treated specially for power to be restored. This is, I think, a common experience among those who practice magick. "Blocks" are encountered, and periods of stagnation in the magickal practice seem to arise inevitably. They can only be overcome through very specific modifications of thought or behavior or the like. The sacrifice of the servile race implies to me that the constant working of the ZRO through cycles upon cycles will require progressively more of the servile characteristics to be "sacrificed" or "given up" to facilitate one's magickal power. To use a terrestrial example, someone might keep particular servile characteristics in check by devotion to some drug. At a certain point, when one's understanding has evolved to the point at which these characteristics can be successfully transcended, this devotion must be sacrificed. It is no longer helpful and therefore it has become dead weight. No magickal progress can be made until the devotion is destroyed. Sometimes these are quite obvious expressions of servility (such as devotion to a drug), but sometimes they seem totally trivial, to the point at which it seems ridiculous that the habit could be connected with spiritual progress of any kind. The Tyrannical nature of such apparently innocuous habits is usually percieved as soon as they are abandoned.
The following story is of great interest to me. Don't forget that the past age, the age of Pieces, was connected with the fish. The Pagan origins of the fish-symbol in relation to Christ is also of great import to this little tidbit:
"The most serious crisis was some two thousand years before the destruction of Atlas. One of the serviles, riding his "hippopotamus" to the ploughing, fell off and was instantly bitten by the poisonous fish previously described. Through an accident of boyhood he had, however, for a reason too obscure to describe here, no such vulnerable spot as suited the Zhee-Zhou. He survived and went to work, as it chanced, the next day. The Zro was poisoned; a third of Atlas died within the hour; the plants on the affected island had to be destroyed, and all its people."
If "two thousand years" isn't enough of a clue, I refer the reader to Motta's comment on AL I:4
"There are certain analogies between 'Black Brotherhood' and paranoia, but while paranoia is a mental disorder, 'Black Brotherhood' is of Daath, and much more dangerous. Religious persecutions, throughout history, were always the result of a man reaching the threshold of the Abyss through the discipline of a particular faith, and then fearing to jump. His disease would then affect, telepathically and magically, those of his faith, with results such as Holy Inquisitions, Crusades, and others."
The connection here should be readily apparent.
ZRO, because it is connected to all of the Atlanteans, provides the greatest danger. It may cure them of disease and keep them young, but being in such close contact with such a powerful sympathetic force presents dangers of it's own. Most death among the Atlanteans is voluntary (and I believe that the text implies the one going to die has explored life, in keeping with AL II:74) except for the one called "misunderstanding" the ZRO. The implication is that one's relationship with this powerful force must not presume or in any other way fall into illusion. The blinding venom is an enabler here, although it is the ZRO itself which is the source of the individual's destruction.
-Aleister Crowley, Liber LI, The Lost Continent
The next chapter is crucial to everything that has come before it and after it. It's worth pointing out, although it should be obvious, that an understanding of alchemy is necessary to comprehend ZRO, the source of the Atlantean "magic power." The Keys of Eudoxus, the works of Basil Valentine (most of all, in my opinion) and the Rosicrucian manifestos will not only clarify what is being referred to by ZRO, but they will provide some insight into the way in which an allegory like Liber LI should be read. The style of Crowley's allegories are very much a mutation of the medieval alchemical writings, so trying to grasp Crowley without this background is as difficult as trying to grasp Heidegger without having read Kant.
Of the word in particular, it bears mention that ZRO numerates to 277, which Sephir Sephirot tells is is the same as the Hebrew word "to sow," "propagate," "seed," or "semen." Wow. That shit's buried deep. Of course, we will find that while the ZRO "impregnates" the Atlanteans with it's power, the ZRO itself is impregnated by the "black phosphorus," to which Hadit refers through Aiwass in AL II:51 (purple beyond purple). More on that later...
This chapter opens up with a confirmation of Baphomet as the governer of the magickal formula at least, "according to one school of cosmology" which sees humankind as in a sense exiled into a universe of contradiction. We exist and comprehend through a mechanism, knowledge, which sees nothing for what it is. Knowledge is only a confirmation of what a thing is not, or in other words, one point can only be understood in reference to another. The task of humankind, according to this cosmological understanding (which I think I can safely call Atlantean Gnosticism) was:
"to overturn the laws of Nature on that planet, thus mastering it sufficiently to enable him to make the leap to the next planet inward. Exactly how and in what sense the leap was made remains obscure, even to the heirs of Atlantis."
Crowley has a note on this which refers to the matter having been settled at the Council of Stockholm in 1913. Google tells me nothing and it's not ringing any bells. Sure, the physicists were in a state of seemingly perpetual turmoil during this time, but I figured that would have come up a little more readily on a search engine if that was what he was talking about. Any ideas, anybody?
Of the stages of ZRO, Crowley says:
"Now the name of this substance is always Zro, but in its first state the gesture is a twiddling of the thumbs. In its second, it is a rapid twittering of the fingers, and in its third state of distillation it is a screwing of the hands together. Within the spheres it sublimes suddenly in the air as a snaky powder (4) of silver, which immediately turns to an iridescent fluid (5) that is forced up, by its own need of expansion, through a fountain into the temple, on whose floor it lies (6) in a semi-solid condition. Expert Priests gather this in their hands, and rapidly shape it into its seventh state, when it is a knife of diamond, but alive."
This is crucial. The notion of a substance that is at once liquid and solid is key here. It is a substance which generates energy by "working itself from within" a contained (dare I say) unit of motion. This comes into play more in the next chapter as well, but for the time being it is necessary that we understand the implications of ZRO. It is never permenant, it always must be eventually recycled by being processed into food and drink through the application of the black phosporus (by the High Priestess in a manner unrevealed) which divides it into it's liquid and solid parts. In this form, ZRO has no application other than to provide nourishment, although it does have the unique effect of creating whatever taste one desires to taste. The bodies of the Atlanteans are thrown to the Servile Race, who consume this "manna from Heaven" and go to "work the machine." The sweat from their labour is then collected and processed into ZRO in it's first state, to be worked as described above. Now, to aid understanding, a summary:
1. ZRO refined from the sweat of the Servile
2. powder of silver
3. expanding fluid
4. semi-solid
5. hard, but alive, capable of recieving impressions
6. (eigth stage) solid, but "continually heaving" with it's own force, used by Atlanteans for beds that massage one while they sleep. This is the "last stage," (of the general cycle of ZRO) and it is only possible for the ZRO to maintain this state for a few days
7. thrown into a cauldron, sprinkled with the black phosphorus, becomes food and drink
8. eaten by the Atlanteans who are eaten by the servile race, who work the machine and sweat
Once again, a study of those alchemical texts described above is necessary to really appreciate the implications of this process. I believe that the intention here was, as much to talk about a magickal society, to describe how a single person might harness this power themselves through a social allegory. It seems to me that "the machine" is a likely culprit for the War Engine referred to in AL III:7 although there is nothing in the commentaries to suggest this. The machine is a crucial part of this equation precisely because it is so superfluous, and at the same time so vitally important.
All of us, whatever our degree of enlightenment and personal spiritual attainment, have servile characteristics and qualities. It is unfortunate that many people who adopt power-loving philosophies keep themselves in servility by adhering to the slave morality of "good" and "evil" and using the symbols of power-loving ideologies within the epistemology of the slave mind. In other words, they refuse to acknowledge their own servile characteristics and feel shame at "being bad" by being in some way servile. Some of those servile characteristics are the legacy of growing up in a slave culture, but some of them are simply a consequence of the attractions and repulsions of the vulgar part of ourselves. If we do not acknowledge that we HAVE servile characteristics, we cannot destroy the ones that do us no good, and put the ones who can behave themselves to WORK FOR US. Only by acknowledging one's own servile characteristics can one see to it that they are servile to one's own Will. If left to their own devices and ignored, they will run madly in the dark in search of a master to submit themselves to. This will bite you in the ass. Unless the servile race is kept under control and put to work, the whole Atlantean society would crumble. The same can be said for the human being. If we have slavish qualities we must see them as such so that we can see that they work "the machine," that activity which occupies the servile qualities of a person so as to prevent them from upsetting the peace of hir civilized psychology. Without the machine, not only does the flow of ZRO or power stop, but one also has to deal with a whole race of slaves that don't know what to do with themselves. This eats up a lot of time, and whatever mundane (non-ZRO) power that you have left.
Next, Crowley describes the "work" of the people of Atlas. The three parts he describes are:
1. Working at ZRO- bringing it from the first to the ninth stage
2. Working with ZRO- using methods described in the next chapter toward that Atlantean's particular purpose, sexual
3. Working for ZRO- the yogic half of the magickal implications of #2, this work is also sexual
These are, properly understood, the Work.
In keeping with the previously described elements which I identified as prescient notions about where technology would take us (re: instructions to fly/ internet, Atlantean requirements for integration into society/ eugenics) Crowley has the following to say about the use of the sex act toward reproductive ends:
"Its official name was 'the old experiment.' It was carried on simply because the new methods of continuing the race were not perfected. Childbirth was therefore in one way accident; although a duty, everyone shrank from it. For though no pain or discomfort attached to the process, it was a sort of second-best achievement from which proud women turned contemptuously. This was in part the reason why the father's name was never mentioned."
Now, we do know that there are elements of being carried in a woman's middle which are helpful to a human baby... but surely those can be reproduced as well. Why do we have women put their bodies through this process? An (anti)quaint(ed) tradition and nothing more. Perhaps it could be shown that there was value in going through all of that bullshit, but I have serious doubts about the notion that it would be difficult to overcome this. If our technology can grow children then surely we've got the hard part taken care of. It seems a little stupid to think that if we are capable of doing this that we are not capable of doing it WELL. We just need to start taking the idea seriously, stop being disgusted by the opportunities that biotechnology have given us, and seriously evaluate the merits of such a course of action. I'm not saying that it is necessarily the best way to proceed, but we'll never know if we don't seriously ask the question. To the Atlanteans, genetic variation was of supreme importance. If a man and a woman had two children together they were required to be married. Intercourse was forbidden only with one's spouse, so that one would ensure that one produced the greatest variety of children possible. This is a notion to advance the species which is, to this day, in keeping with a healthy notion of biology. Although the Atlantean solution would be socially awkward, technology has made this easy. What do you think would do more to prevent disease pandemics in the long term? Immunization (which Crowley quite adamantly comes out against in his commentaries on Liber AL) or encouraging genetic diversity?
It is worth taking note that Crowley asserts that the Atlanteans are not above human sacrifice when there's a problem with the ZRO. If they noticed that it was weakening, great numbers of the servile race were sacrificed and their blood mixed with ZRO in it's third stage to restore it's power. In addition he mentions other instances in which the ZRO began to decline and had to be treated specially for power to be restored. This is, I think, a common experience among those who practice magick. "Blocks" are encountered, and periods of stagnation in the magickal practice seem to arise inevitably. They can only be overcome through very specific modifications of thought or behavior or the like. The sacrifice of the servile race implies to me that the constant working of the ZRO through cycles upon cycles will require progressively more of the servile characteristics to be "sacrificed" or "given up" to facilitate one's magickal power. To use a terrestrial example, someone might keep particular servile characteristics in check by devotion to some drug. At a certain point, when one's understanding has evolved to the point at which these characteristics can be successfully transcended, this devotion must be sacrificed. It is no longer helpful and therefore it has become dead weight. No magickal progress can be made until the devotion is destroyed. Sometimes these are quite obvious expressions of servility (such as devotion to a drug), but sometimes they seem totally trivial, to the point at which it seems ridiculous that the habit could be connected with spiritual progress of any kind. The Tyrannical nature of such apparently innocuous habits is usually percieved as soon as they are abandoned.
The following story is of great interest to me. Don't forget that the past age, the age of Pieces, was connected with the fish. The Pagan origins of the fish-symbol in relation to Christ is also of great import to this little tidbit:
"The most serious crisis was some two thousand years before the destruction of Atlas. One of the serviles, riding his "hippopotamus" to the ploughing, fell off and was instantly bitten by the poisonous fish previously described. Through an accident of boyhood he had, however, for a reason too obscure to describe here, no such vulnerable spot as suited the Zhee-Zhou. He survived and went to work, as it chanced, the next day. The Zro was poisoned; a third of Atlas died within the hour; the plants on the affected island had to be destroyed, and all its people."
If "two thousand years" isn't enough of a clue, I refer the reader to Motta's comment on AL I:4
"There are certain analogies between 'Black Brotherhood' and paranoia, but while paranoia is a mental disorder, 'Black Brotherhood' is of Daath, and much more dangerous. Religious persecutions, throughout history, were always the result of a man reaching the threshold of the Abyss through the discipline of a particular faith, and then fearing to jump. His disease would then affect, telepathically and magically, those of his faith, with results such as Holy Inquisitions, Crusades, and others."
The connection here should be readily apparent.
ZRO, because it is connected to all of the Atlanteans, provides the greatest danger. It may cure them of disease and keep them young, but being in such close contact with such a powerful sympathetic force presents dangers of it's own. Most death among the Atlanteans is voluntary (and I believe that the text implies the one going to die has explored life, in keeping with AL II:74) except for the one called "misunderstanding" the ZRO. The implication is that one's relationship with this powerful force must not presume or in any other way fall into illusion. The blinding venom is an enabler here, although it is the ZRO itself which is the source of the individual's destruction.