 Cover ofThe Blue Equinox displaying theEye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian religious symbol adopted intoThelema | |
| Author | Aleister Crowley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Equinox |
Release number | III (1) |
| Subject | Thelema |
| Publisher | Ordo Templi Orientis |
Publication date | 1919 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 1-57863-353-2 |
| Preceded by | The Equinox,I (10) |
| Followed by | The Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw[1] |
The Blue Equinox, officially known asThe Equinox (Volume III, Number 1) is a book written by the English occultistAleister Crowley, the founder ofThelema. First published in 1919,[2] it details the principles and aims of the secret societyO.T.O. and its ally theA∴A∴, both of which were under Crowley's control at the time. It includes such topics asThe Law of Liberty,The Gnostic Mass, and Crowley's "Hymn to Pan".
In February 1904, Aleister Crowley and his wife Rose arrived inCairo. Pretending to be a prince and princess, they rented an apartment in which Crowley set up a temple room and began invoking ancient Egyptian deities, while studyingIslamicmysticism andArabic.[3] According to Crowley's later account, Rose regularly became delirious and informed him "they are waiting for you." On 18 March, she explained that "they" were the godHorus, and on 20 March proclaimed that "the Equinox of the Gods has come". She led him to a nearby museum, where she showed him a seventh-century BCE mortuarystele known as theStele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu; Crowley thought it important that the exhibit's number was 666, theNumber of the Beast in Christian belief, and in later years termed the artefact the "Stele of Revealing."[4]
According to Crowley's later statements, on 8 April he heard a disembodied voice identifying itself as that ofAiwass, the messenger of Horus, orHoor-Paar-Kraat. Crowley said that he wrote down everything the voice told him over the course of the next three days, and titled itLiber AL vel Legis orThe Book of the Law.[5] The book proclaimed that humanity was entering a newAeon, and that Crowley would serve as itsprophet. It stated that a supreme moral law was to be introduced in this Aeon, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," and that people should learn to live in tune with their Will. This book, and the philosophy that it espoused, became the cornerstone of Crowley's religion,Thelema.[6]
In 1909, Crowley initiated publication of an irregular journal of Thelema,The Equinox. It served as the "official organ of theA∴A∴", his teaching order, and ofOrdo Templi Orientis, his social order. It mainly featured articles aboutoccultism andmagick, while several issues also contained poetry, fiction, plays, artwork, and biographies.The Blue Equinox is the first issue of the third volume of the journal.
The Blue Equinox opens with Crowley's poem "Hymn to Pan", a devotional work devoted to the ancient Greek deityPan.[7] This is followed by an editorial, in which Crowley discusses Thelema, his spiritual training orderA∴A∴, his magical fraternityOrdo Templi Orientis, and the important role which he believed that they had to play in the Aeon of Horus.[8]