58
The Law is for All
common even of men in a far higher station of life and with a 
much better education. Since childhood he had suffered con­
tinually from an incurable form of Psoriasis. This kept him in 
a state of almost constant irritation, spoilt his sleep, and 
made him lament that he was “a leper.” In fact, the scales of 
the eruption were so plentiful that his sheets had to be 
cleaned every morning with a dustpan and brush! He could 
only obtain relief (before trying to sleep) by being rubbed 
with oil of wintergreen, which filled his whole house with a 
loathsome stench. One would have thought that the first wish 
of a man thus afflicted would be to sleep alone, that it would 
be utterly repugnant and revolting to him to sleep with 
another person, for his own sake, apart from any consider­
ation for her. But his wife, herself an invalid—a huge obese 
greasy woman (of middle age when I knew the family) suffer­
ing from rheumatoid arthritis, tubercular trouble in the arms, 
etc., etc.—was his Wife; she must be immediately available 
should Mr. H. want to exercise his conjugal Right. (In this 
case, too, Mrs. H. was likely to die if impregnated.) The 
extraordinary feature is that so extremely sensitive and 
refined a man could be so disgustingly callous on such a mat­
ter. Even vulgar people fear to appear physically repulsive to 
the person whom they love. It seems as if the fact of Marriage 
destroys every natural characteristic, and has a set of rules of 
its own diametrically opposed in spirit and letter to those 
which govern Love. I confidently appeal to impartial observ­
ers to say whether the ideals of the Book are not cleaner, 
more wholesome, more human, and more truly moral than 
those of Marriage as it is.
52. If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying: 
They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not 
ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor 
Khuit!
Commentary: It is not true to say either that we are separate 
Stars, or One Star. Each Star is individual, yet each is bound to the 
others by Law. This Freedom under Law is one of the most 
difficult yet important doctrines of this Book. So too the ritual— 
our lives—must be unto Nuit; for She is the Ultimate to which 
we tend, the asymptote of our curve. Failure in this one-pointed-