The Law is for All

84 The Law is for All P.S. The Gnostic Mass is intended to supply this need; “Liber XV.” It has been said continuously in California for some years.1 1 [Crowley refers to Agape Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) in Southern California, founded by Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885-1957) in 1935 E.v. “Liber XV” is now celebrated weekly around the world.] 2 The Equinox 1(9). [See “Liber 811,” Works Cited.] 63. Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! Commentary: All those acts which excite the divine in man are proper to the Rite of Invocation. Religion, as understood by the vile Puritan, is the very oppo­ site of all this. He—it—seems to wish to kill his—its—soul by forbidding every expression of it, and every practice which might awaken it to expression. To hell with this Verbotenism! In particular, let me exhort all men and all women, for they are Stars! Heed well this holy Verse! True Religion is intoxication, in a sense. We are told elsewhere to intoxicate the innermost, not the outermost; but I think that the word “wine” should be taken in its widest sense as meaning that which brings out the soul. Climate, soil, and race change conditions; each man or woman must find and choose the fit intoxicant. Thus hashish in one or other of its forms seems to suit the Moslem, to go with dry heat; opium is right for the Mongol; whiskey for the dour temperament and damp cold climate of the Scot. Sex-expression, too, depends on climate and so on, so that we must interpret the Law to suit a Socrates, a Jesus, and a Burton, or a Marie Antoinette and a de Lamballe, as well as our own Don Juans and Faustines. With this expansion, to the honour and glory of Them, of Their Natures, we acclaim therefore our helpers, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Apollo—Wine, Woman, and Song. Intoxication, that is, ecstasy, is the key to Reality. It is explained in “Energized Enthusiasm”1 2 that there are three Gods