Liber Pennae Praenumbra (The Book of the Pre-Shadowing of the Feather) is a text by American occultistNema Andahadna who said that shechanneled the text in 1974 while in meditation. The result was a work imbued with poetic and cryptic language, filled with references to cosmic justice, personal enlightenment, and themagical formulaIPSOS. This work is significant within certain esoteric circles, particularly those influenced byThelema and theMaatian tradition.
Nema, born Margaret E. Cook, was an Americanoccultist and writer who practiced and wrote aboutmagick for over thirty years. She developed her own system called "Maat Magick", aiming at the transformation of the human race, and co-founded theHorus-Maat Lodge in 1979.[1]
Liber Pennae Praenumbra is considered by its adherents to be a continuation or complement toAleister Crowley'sLiber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law). It presents a series ofvisionary writings that explore themes of spiritual evolution, the interplay of cosmic forces, and the unfolding of human consciousness. The text is often associated with theMaatian current, emphasizing balance, truth, and transformation.[2]
Within the system ofThelema, history is broken down into a series ofAeons, each with its own dominant concept of divinity and its ownmagical formula of redemption and advancement.[3] According toAleister Crowley, the last three Aeons have been the Aeon ofIsis, the Aeon ofOsiris and the currentAeon of Horus which began in 1904 with the writing ofThe Book of the Law.[4]
Crowley believed that theAeon of Ma'at will succeed the present one.[4] According to one of Crowley's early students,Charles Stansfeld Jones (a.k.a. Frater Achad), the Aeon of Ma'at has already arrived or overlaps the present Aeon of Horus.[5]
Crowley wrote:
I may now point out that the reign of the crowned and Conquering Child is limited in time byThe Book of the Law itself. We learn that Horus will be in his turn succeeded byThmaist, the Double-Wanded One; she who shall bring the candidates to full initiation, and though we know little of her peculiar characteristics, we know at least that her name is justice.[6]
In 1974,Nema Andahadna, a dedicated occultist and practitioner of ceremonial magick, received the text ofLiber Pennae Praenumbra during a profound mystical experience. At the time, Nema was deeply immersed in explorations ofThelema,Kabbalah, andHermetic traditions, and had begun developing her unique perspective onmagical practice.[7]
According to Nema's account, the channeling occurred during an intense meditative state, heightened by her invocation of thedivine feminine and a focus on balancing the cosmic forces of the Aeons. She described the experience as a direct transmission from what she called the "Maatian Current"—a flow of consciousness originating from the futureAeon of Ma'at. During this transmission, Nema reported encountering a powerful archetypal presence that revealed itself as the embodiment of Truth and Transformation.[8]
The text was received as a series of vivid impressions and dictations, which Nema wrote down in a trance-like state. She described the process as fluid but overwhelming, with phrases, symbols, and ideas forming faster than she could consciously interpret them. The result was a work imbued with poetic and cryptic language, filled with references to cosmic justice, personal enlightenment, and the formula of IPSOS, which she later understood to mean "themselves".[8]
After the channeling, Nema spent months reflecting on and decoding the text's meaning. She believed it represented a pivotal spiritual revelation not just for her, but for the evolution of human consciousness.[8] Initially shared with close colleagues, including members of the emergingHorus-Maat Lodge, the text soon gained recognition for its visionary quality and its potential to complement Aleister Crowley'sLiber AL vel Legis.[9]
Liber Pennae Praenumbra asserts the existence of a "double current" with respect to time. It posits that the currentAeon of Horus and theAeon of Ma'at are active at the same time.[10] According to Laccetti, this is believed to facilitate the coming ofuniversal human rights, the acceptance of more fluid political andgender identities, and the fulfillment oftruth andjustice.[10]
Liber Pennae Praenumbra introduces the archetype of N'Aton, identified with the "coming race" ofhomo veritas (true human). N'Aton is figured as the "collective humanity of the future",[10] identified as a sharedsuperconsciousness which is dormant or asleep in most people, but which can be awakened through thetheurgy of Maatianmagic.[10]
IPSOS, meaning"themselves", is themagical formula of theAeon of Ma'at as transmitted byNema Andahadna in her inspired magical work,Liber Pennae Praenumbra. It is used by theHorus-Maat Lodge and Kenneth Grant'sTyphonian Order. According toKenneth Grant, its initiated translation is "the same mouth".[11] According to Grant, the wordIPSOS was received by initiates who were in communication withextraterrestrial intelligences.[11] He equates the word with part of a crypticcipher inLiber AL (II, 76),RPSTOVAL, by virtue of the fact that in theqabalistic art ofgematria, both evaluate to either696 or456, depending on whether an 'S' in each is taken as theHebrew lettershin orsamekh.[12]
Since its publication by Nema in 1974,Liber Pennae Praenumbra has held a significant place in modern occult traditions, particularly among practitioners of Maatian magick. The text was quickly embraced by theHorus-Maat Lodge, which incorporated its teachings into rituals and doctrines centered on the Aeon of Maat.[9] Its central formula, IPSOS, became a key component of the Lodge's spiritual practices, emphasizing self-realization and cosmic balance.[11]
OccultistKenneth Grant praised the work in his writings, includingBeyond the Mauve Zone, where he drew connections between the text and theTyphonian current.[13] Grant's interpretation of IPSOS as a magical formula linked to extraterrestrial intelligences added a unique dimension to its reception, particularly among adherents of his system.[9]
Academics like Don Karr and Nicholas Laccetti have also examined the text's significance. Karr explored its implications for MaatianKabbalah,[14] while Laccetti has connected its vision ofhomo veritas to broader philosophical ideas, including those ofTeilhard de Chardin and other 20th-century theologians.[10]
According to Nicholas Laccetti, the future vision of man ashomo veritas (true human) resembles the mid-20th-century concepts of Catholic theologiansPierre Teilhard de Chardin,Juan Luis Segundo, andEdward Schillebeeckx.[10] In particular, Laccetti identifies N'Aton with Teilhard'sOmega Point, Segundo's "New Humanity",[15] and Schillebeeckx'shumanum. He connects N'Aton with the latter's declaration that God is "each new moment" and that "God is the future of man".[16]
Summarizing the beliefs of theHorus-Maat Lodge, Laccetti writes:[10]
The Aeon of Maat comes to us from the future, while the Aeon of Horus, through warlike "force and fire", establishes itself by the ever-accelerating present. The point at which these two Aeons meet is our eshatologicalkairos moment, a moment in which we can catch a glimpse of the future shape of the human being—in the "mutants" who are the avatars of "the coming race of 'homo veritas'".
