The Star in the West

160 THE STAR IN THE WEST “ Fear nothing , Mary ! All is well ! I am the angel Gabriel . " She bared her right breast ; ( query why ?) ? etc. , etc. , vide Koran . But as regards that most irate and truculent old gentleman , J. H. V. H. , he has a considerable amount to relate . How “ All Power can be All Wickedness ," is a question that not only strikes Crowley's brain as ex ceptionally incongruous , but must so strike all who ever think at all . How God being Almighty as well as Beneficent can tolerate such a world of suffering as ours for one minute passes all understanding . The God idea in its infancy , as we have already seen , was the child of ignorance and revenge , and Jahveh , in his turn , is but an emanation of this world idea , no better than the rest : Baal and Jehovah , Ashtoreth And Chemosh and these Elohim , Life's panders in the brothel , Death ! Cloudy imaginings , a dream Built up of fear and words and woe . All , all my soul must overthrow .” Crowley further writes : Nor can I see what sort of gain God finds in this creating pain.3 1 The Sword of Song , Pentecost , p . 60 ; vol . ii, p . 182 . According to Al Beidâwi , Gabriel blew into the bosom of Mary's shift , which he opened with his fingers , and his breath reaching her womb , caused the conception . It may also be remembered that the Spanish mare of Silius Italicus was similarly impregnated by a certain gas or spirit in the atmosphere . 2 Ahab , vol . ii, p . 123 . 3 The Sword of Song , Pentecost , vol . ii, p . 172 ,