beauteous
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I'm just curious if any has supposed a reason why crowley prefers the term beauteous to beautiful in the book of the law.
thus saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one .... day 1 verse 26.
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Point 1 to always keep in mind, Crowley did not "write" The Book of the Law, he received it. Point 2 to also keep in mind, The Book of the Law is a subjective experience of an objective reality. Take from it what you Will.
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nuit says "I am nuit and my numbers are 6 and 50, divide; add; multiply; understand!"
Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one (a.k.a CROWLEY a slave to his lusts for his wife and the beauty of the goddess nuit radiant within her, a prophet for the goddess nuit reporting the words that left her mouth).As it is not something Crowley claims that nuit is saying necessarily I assumed it was written by him.
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Also crowley was a lingual genius in the english language and if he or some aspect of his mind or some goddess using the lingual faculties of his mind chose beauteous there would have been a reason for it.
Nuit can't speak English. She is partially incarnate in tiphereth and wholely incarnate in the veils, there are no words in the veils because existence is negative and they don't necessarily speak English in the mental plane and emanation of the deity known as tiphereth.
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@ViaLuxInTenebresEs said
"Nuit can't speak English."
No, but Aiwass seems able to.
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Or maybe Aiwass didn't but Crowley, the medium, did. I mean, I don't speak Russian but Google Translate, the medium, does.
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@Elmida said
"Or maybe Aiwass didn't but Crowley, the medium, did. I mean, I don't speak Russian but Google Translate, the medium, does."
Crowley was very explicit, in Equinox of the Gods and elsewhere, that this dictation was not the sort of telepathic contact that one wrestles into language at the receiving end. He said (I paraphrase, not having the text in front of me) that Aiwass spoke aloud in clear, audible words, and these were taken down verbatim.
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Does it really matter? whether crowley that heard it from his own head, believing that it might have been coming from a manifesting spirit in the room or whether the manifesting spirit appeared in the room such that not only Crowley could hear but also the people in the next few rooms is totally irrelevant to the question at hand!
Why was the word beauteous used instead of beautiful. in early 20th C was it popular? Does it convey a hidden meaning? Crowley was well known for hiding occult secrets in plain sight.
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The difference in suffixes is teased out with a little pedantic imagination and license.
The suffix "-ful" literally (pedantically) suggests that the object is "full" of a quality.
The suffix "-ous" suggests that the object is "characterized by" a quality.
So, if one did wish to get really picky with the suffixes, one might end up trying to say something like - Nuit is not the kind of object to be merely seen as 'full' of beauty, as this might suggest merely one quality listed among the myriad that she contains within herself. Instead, this particular choice may intend to suggest that Nuit's chief quality or most salient characteristic is beauty. --or something along those lines.
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@ViaLuxInTenebresEs said
"Does it really matter? "
Yes, because in the one circumstance we start asking things like "why did Crowley prefer x?" which means we're missing the point.
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@ViaLuxInTenebresEs said
"Why was the word beauteous used instead of beautiful. in early 20th C was it popular? Does it convey a hidden meaning? Crowley was well known for hiding occult secrets in plain sight."
The only real difference is that beauteous is more poetic.
Of course, there could be a gematria reason also. Since not even a single letter (or even the style of a letter) is to be changed, we have cause to suspect a significance to individual letters at any point.
As with every phrase in the book, there is much here to explore.
For example, using the Anglo-Hebraic transliteration common to AC which appears to be the key that would be found by the prophet, beauteous = BHAVTHOVS = 2 + 5 + 1 + 6 + 9 + 5 + 70 + 6 + 60 = 164. While this doesn't mean anything in particular to me, it might be a clue. (Or beauteous one, by this approach, is 289, or the square of 17, showing the Star card?)
I suspect, though, that the main purpose is simply poetic stylization.
BTW, this is verse 26... the 6th or Tiphereth verse of the Gimel decad of verses. Quite a square hit for the Beauty of the ultimate pale blue Priestess.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@Elmida said
"Or maybe Aiwass didn't but Crowley, the medium, did. I mean, I don't speak Russian but Google Translate, the medium, does."Crowley was very explicit, in Equinox of the Gods and elsewhere, that this dictation was not the sort of telepathic contact that one wrestles into language at the receiving end. He said (I paraphrase, not having the text in front of me) that Aiwass spoke aloud in clear, audible words, and these were taken down verbatim."
I'm sorry, I could have and should have known that.
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"beauteous", "slave" and "prophet" together conjure up the language of Victorian bodice rippers, in which pure Christian ladies were held captive by lecherous Saracens... according to Crowley Rose was particularly fond of such, and he wrote a few in similar style for her pleasure.
(Crowley said that he interrupted the dictation with his own thoughts here, so though Aiwass is speaking, it is Crowley's (telepathic) enquiry (Who am I? What shall be the sign?) echoed in the dictation: "Then saith the prophet and slave of the beauteous one: Who am I, and what shall be the sign?" )
Does this passage relate to that of the 'slaves shall serve'? Are the 'slaves that serve' Nuit's prophets?
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@SteveM said
""beauteous", "slave" and "prophet" together conjure up the language of Victorian bodice rippers, in which pure Christian ladies were held captive by lecherous Saracens... according to Crowley Rose was particularly fond of such, and he wrote a few in similar style for her pleasure.
"In connection with 'beauteous' and Saracens I am led to the think of the recurring theme of knowing the 'beauteous breath' and 'Goodly Gift of Grace' in Crowley's poem Sir Palamedes the Saracen Knight and his following the Questing Beast:
Demand him of his dignity.
Whereat the dwarf begins to tell
A quest of loftiest chivalry. {18}Quod he: "By Goddes holy spell, So high a venture was not known, Nor so divine a miracle. A certain beast there runs alone, That ever in his belly sounds A hugeous cry, a monster moan, As if a thirty couple hounds Quested with him. Now God saith (I swear it by His holy wounds And by His lamentable death, And by His holy Mother's face!) That he shall know the Beauteous Breath And taste the Goodly Gift of Grace Who shall achieve this marvel quest." Then Arthur sterte up from his place, And sterte up boldly all the rest, And sware to seek this goodly thing. But now the dwarf doth beat his breast, And speak on this wise to the king, That he should worthy knight be found Who with his hands the dwarf should bring By might one span from off the ground. Whereat they jeer, the dwarf so small, The knights so strong: the walls resound {19} With laughter rattling round the hall. But Arthur first essays the deed, And may not budge the dwarf at all.. . .
His vow forgot, his task undone,
His soul whipped in God's bitter school!
(He moaned a mighty malison!)
The perfect knight? The perfect fool!"Now, by God's wounds!" quoth he, "my strength Is burnt out to a pest of pains. Let me fling off my curse at length In old Chaldea's starry plains! Thou blessŠd Jesus, foully nailed Unto the cruel Calvary tree, Look on my soul's poor fort assailed By all the hosts of devilry! Is there no medicine but death That shall avail me in my place, That I may know the Beauteous Breath And taste the Goodly Gift of Grace? Keep Thou yet firm this trembling leaf My soul, dear God Who died for men; Yea! for that sinner-soul the chief, Sir Palamede the Saracen!". . .
"God's wounds!" (Sir Palamedes said),
"What have I done to earn this portion?
Must I, the clean knight born and bred,Sup with this filthy toad-abortion?" Nathless he stayed with him awhile, Lest by disdain his mention torsion Slip back, or miss the serene smile Should crown his quest; for (as onesaith) The unknown may lurk within the vile. So he who sought the Beauteous Breath, Desired the Goodly Gift of Grace, Went equal into life and death. But oh! the foulness of his face! Not here was anything of worth; He turned his back upon the place, Sought the blue sky and the green earth, Ay! and the lustral sea to cleanse That filth that stank about his girth, {82} The sores and scabs, the warts and wens, The nameless vermin he had gathered In those insufferable dens, The foul diseases he had fathered. So now the quest slips from his brain: "First (Christ!) let me be clean again!". . .
SIR PALAMEDE is sick to death!
The staring eyen, the haggard face!
God grant to him the Beauteous breath!
god send the Goodly Gift of Grace!There is a white cave by the sea Wherein the knight is hid away. Just ere the night falls, spieth he The sun's last shaft flicker astray. All day is dark. There, there he mourns His wasted years, his purpose faint. A million whips, a million scorns Make the knight flinch, and stain the saint. For now! what hath he left? He feeds On limpets and wild roots. What odds? There is no need a mortal needs Who hath loosed man's hope to grasp at God's!. . .
Then every knight turned to his brother,
Sobbing and signing for great gladness;
And, as they looked on one another, {111}Surely there stole a subtle madness Into their veins, more strong than death: For all the roots of sin and sadness Were plucked. As a flower perisheth, So all sin died. And in that place All they did know the Beauteous Breath And taste the Goodly Gift of Grace. Then fell the night. Above the baying Of the great Beast, that was the bass To all the harps of Heaven a-playing, There came a solemn voice (not one But was upon his knees in praying And glorifying God). The Son Of God Himself --- men thought --- spoke then. "Arise! brave soldier, thou hast won The quest not given to mortal men. Arise! Sir Palamede Adept, Christian, and no more Saracen!. . .
All led to the one goal. Now praise
Thy Lord hat He hat brought thee through
To win the quest!" The good knight lays {112}His hand upon the Beast. Then blew Each angel on his trumpet, then All Heaven resounded that it knew Sir Palamede the Saracen Was master! Through the domes of death, Through all the mighty realms of men And spirits breathed the Beauteous Breath: They taste the Goodly Gift of Grace. --- Now 'tis the chronicler that saith: Our Saviour grant in little space That also I, even I, be blest Thus, though so evil is my case --- Let them that read my rime attest The same sweet unction in my pen --- That writes in pure blood of my breast; For that I figure unto men The story of my proper quest As thine, first Eastern in the West, Sir Palamede the Saracen! {113}extracts from THE HIGH HISTORY OF GOOD SIR PALAMEDES THE SARACEN KNIGHT AND OF HIS FOLLOWING THE QUESTING BEAST" BY ALEISTER CROWLEY RIGHTLY SET FORTH IN RIME
TO ALLAN BENNETT "Bhikkhu Ananda Metteyya" my good knight comrade in the quest, I dedicate this imperfect account of it, in some small recognition of his suggestion of its form. MANDALAY, "November" 1905