Liber AL vel Legis - Latin meaning?
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Really basic question:
"Liber AL vel Legis"
Liber means book, Legis means law. What does "AL vel" mean? Why is AL capitalized, is it an abbreviation?Also, when citing a quote from the Book of the Law, what is the proper way to note it, such as -
"Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us."
- Liber AL vel Legis, II:20 OR - Liber AL vel Legis, 2:20
Thank you
93 93/93
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Liber AL means "Book of AL" (AL being the "secret key" of 31)
vel means "also known as"
Legis means "Law"So the translation is The Book of AL also known as The Book of the Law
I find the most common method of citing Liber AL is Roman numeral of chapter followed by the Hindu-Arabic numeral of the verse. II:20 for instance.
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AL is Aleph Lamed, the "key" to the Book found by Achad. Vel means or.
As for how to note a quotation... There's no rule. Most commonly chapters are rendered in Roman numerals. But there's no rule.
PS: Note that the original title of the Book is simply L. (Pronounced identically to Aleph Lamed.) That probably stands, of course, for Legis.
PPS: Takamba beat me to it, but I'm posting anyway.
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Picky refinement:
The original title of the Book, that which was taken down during its dictation, is Liber L. vel Legis. The "L." may be an abbreviation of legis, or it may have a different meaning.
Vel means "or." As already mentioned above, in practice this has much the effect of "also known as."
Legis doesn't just mean "law," it's the particular form of lex that means "of or from law."
So, the literal reading of this is: "Book L., or Of/From The Law"; or, more casually (since translation should render in comprehensible meaning, not just in mechanical word substitution), "Book L., or The Book of [the] Law." (There is no "the" in Latin. You can add it or not in situations like this.)
PS - I know you have a copy of my book The Mystical & Magical System of the A.'.A.'.. One of its appendices has all of these titles translated.
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@Takamba said
"Liber AL means "Book of AL" (AL being the "secret key" of 31)
vel means "also known as"
Legis means "Law"
"To OP (not takamba). Something that came to me about the AL in reference to the secret key that gives an alternative to the title. I forget how this came to me, if it was an original thought or I read it somewhere else! But another way to interpret the title is 'The Book of the Law of God" Of course God is defined by all three chapters of the book (as the entire universe), and should not be considered the same as God as in 'God we Trust' religious style.
AL specifically in reference to secret key is half of the uttering AL - LA pronouncing the inhalation and exhalation of the universe and is in 'Allah' or the name of God in Islam. There is very deep meaning and meditation on this alone! The fact that the title does not say AL LA may be because the discovery of the LA in the formula and in relationship to the universe, and the revealing of the book of the law gives an extra layer of meaning that the aspirant needs to discover for themselves, the uniting of 'this and that' into perfect conjunction.
yikes, and hopefully I didn't blow that for anyone, much less myself!
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YOINKS!