- Z: The Order and Value of the English Alphabet
- Nothing is a secret key of this law.
- Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred & eighteen.
- But they have the half: unite by thine art so that all disappear.
- These verses are the principal verses, in the Book of the Law, of exclusive reference to Gematria. The Prophet notes in the Comment that 61=, (Hebrew for nothing) and 8 + 80 + 418 = 506. We may add these halves together to get 567, which equals Will in the English Gematria. We may also subtract 61, making all, a word equal to 61 (in the English Gematria as well as in Hebrew letters ), disappear, thus giving us back 506. If we visually divide 506 into 50 & 6 we have the letters N & U, the word or name of Nuit:
- I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty.
- Divide, add, multiply, and understand.
- If we further visually divide 56 into 5 & 6, and then add 5 + 6, we get 11. Multiplying 5 × 6 gives us 30, the value of the letter L. Card XI of the Thelemic Tarot is the Empress (see Part IV), and corresponds with the letter L. The first and main key of the development of the English Qabbala, however, is in verse II:19,
- That stele they shall call the Abomination of Desolation; count well its name, & it shall be to you as 718.
- Although this is the first key to the English Qabbala, the Prophet had developed a Greek solution to the verse:
- . . . I asked myself for the thousandth time what the Stélé could claim with literal strictness as its name. I scribbled the word and added it up. The result is 546, when counts as 500, or 52, when is 6, a frequent usage, as in , whose number is thus 777.
- Idly enough, my tired pen subtracted 52 from 718. I started up like a Magician who, conjuring Satan in vain till Faiths lamp sputters, and Hopes cloak is threadbare, gropes, heavily leaning on the staff of Love, blinking and droning alongand suddenly sees Him!
- I did the sum over, this time with my pen like a panther. Too good to be true! I added my figures; yes, 718 past denial. I checked my value of Stele; 52, and no error. Then only I let myself yield to the storm of delight and wonder that rushed up from the Hand of Him that is throned in the Abyss of my Being; and I wrote in my Magical Record the Triumph for which I have warred for over seventeen years:
- 718
- 6 6 634
- The Prophet remarks that he had tried to count Abomination of Desolation, but felt that that is what they shall call it, not its proper name.
- It must have been on Aires 19 of the year IVVII (95 t.e.), that this verse began to stick out in my mind. I had desired to begin study of the literal Qabbala, but only in the English, as I had desired to apply it foremost to the Book of the Law, a text I had begun to study a few months earlier.
- I began totalling up the Abomination of Desolation, aiming at 718. I adopted the Hebrew values for A (1), B (2), H (5), and R (200), since these were defined in Abrahadabra. The value of Abrahadabra seemed an unquestionable 418, as the Prophet had worked it out in detail. Thus, in the Abomination of Desolation, I was left to solve for T, E, O, M, I, N, F, D, S, and L. I turned again to the Hebrew Qabbala for other values. I accepted that T = = 9, D = = 4, L = = 30, M = = 40, N = = 50, S = = 60, and O = = 70. This left me to solve for E, F, and I. I did not accept as an I mainly because this letter is foremost a Y. I spent some time trying to work out favourable values for E, F, and I, but in the midst of my calculations, I had discovered an unmatchable indicator: page 16 of Chapter II of the Manuscript of Book L.
- Let him not seek to try: but one cometh after him, whence I say not, who shall discover the Key of it all. Then this line drawn is a key: then this circle squared in its failure is a key also. And Abrahadabra. It shall be his child & that strangely.
- Note that the numbers are 110, and the letters are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. Of these letters, we should presently concern ourselves with E and F. Of the values (110), the ones not yet claimed are 3, 6, 7, 8, and 10. If the grid is to solve for E and F with 2 of these values, the answer can be found by positioning the line drawn to go through the circle squared. The slope of the line is -2 across the grid. From D7, it moves down through E8, E9, and into F10. F is here indicated to be 10, and E is either 8 or 9. Since 9 is already taken by T, E should be 8. From here, we should consult algebra to solve for I. The equation of our title is thus:
- T + H + E + A + B + O + M + I + N + A + T + I + O + N + O + F + D + E + S + O + L + A + T + I + O + N = 718. Therefore,
- T × 3 + H + E × 2 + A × 3 + B + O × 5 + M + I × 3 + N × 3 + F + D + S + L = 718. Therefore,
- 9 × 3 + 5 + 8 × 2 + 1 × 3 + 2 + 70 × 5 + 40 + I × 3 + 50 × 3 + 10 + 4 + 60 + 30 = 718. Therefore,
- 27 + 5 + 16 + 3 + 2 + 350 + 40 + I × 3 + 150 + 10 + 4 + 60 + 30 = 718. And so
- I × 3 + 697 = 718, thus I × 3 = 21 and I = 21 ÷ 3 = 7. Now we must also consider that the title may be, simply, Abomination of Desolation. In this, we should consult algebra as well to solve for I:
- A + B + O + M + I + N + A + T + I + O + N + O + F + D + E + S + O + L + A + T + I + O + N = 718. Therefore,
- A × 3 + B + O × 5 + M + I × 3 + N × 3 + T × 2 + F + D + E + S + L = 718. Therefore,
- 1 × 3 + 2 + 70 × 5 + 40 + I × 3 + 50 × 3 + 9 × 2 + 10 + 4 + 8 + 60 + 30 = 718. Therefore,
- 3 + 2 + 350 + 40 + I × 3 + 150 + 18 + 10 + 4 + 8 + 60 + 30 = 718. And thus,
- 675 + I × 3 = 718. Therefore, I × 3 = 43 and I = 43 ÷ 3 = 141/3. At this point we should note that, customary to most literal Qabbalas, we are not considering values between 10 and 20, 20 and 30, and so forth. As with the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, the values of the English letters will range from 1900 in 27 possible integer values: 19, 1090 in multiples of 10, and 100900 in multiples of 100. Therefore, 141/3 is not an acceptable value in our Qabbala and thus the full title is the Abomination of Desolation and the value of I is 7.
- Next, we may recall in Chapter 0 a verse that indicates the values of N and U: I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty. The Prophet noted that Nu = 6 + 50 = 56. Our study as well has determined N to be 50 in the English Gematria. Therefore, U must be equal to 6, despite occurring foremost as a V and sometimes as a W.
- The letters left undetermined now are G, C, J, K, P, Q, V, W, X, Y, and Z. Of these, G, K, P, Q, Y, and Z appear in the Hebrew Qabbala. Y and Z, however, appear as 10 and 7, values that have already been claimed. The others, however, may be adopted so that G = = 3, K = = 20, P = = 80, and Q = = 100.
- We are now left with 8 values and 7 letters. The values 90, and 300900 (in multiples of 100) are those left unclaimed. The letters C, J, V, W, X, Y, and Z are those left undecided. Without other indications, we can only match these letters and values in their prior alphabetical order. Thus would C = 90, J = 300, V = 400, W = 500, X = 600, Y = 700, and Z = 800. From this, let us try to solve the puzzling string of verse I:76,
- 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L. What meaneth this, o prophet? Thou knowest not; nor shalt thou know ever. There cometh one to follow thee: he shall expound it. But remember, o chosen one, to be me; to follow the love of Nu in the star-lit heaven; to look forth upon men, to tell them this glad word.
- All but the last two letters add up to Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. We can infer that this is the glad word to be told. (Note also, the statement is equal to fourfold word, the blasphemy against all Gods of men.) Now the last two letters suggest a passage regarding to whom the Law is to be told. In verse 78, the word foursquare appears as a key. We then find that AL (31) squared is equal to 961, the value of the Law is for all. How 31 is taken to be four is through theosophical reduction, where 31 = 3 + 1 = 4.
- Now with the solution of the first half we may presume that our values for V (in the string) W (in the statement) X (in the string) and Y (in the string) are correct. Doubt, however, may remain for C, J, and Z. In fact, for these the values chosen earlier are all incorrect. C is 300, J is 90, and Z is 900. Proof for the value of C is that Abrahadabra equals his child, as stated in verse II:47, And Abrahadabra. It shall be his child & that strangely.
- The proof for J can only be asserted by what my signature name has now become: 999 (Matthew B. Joiner). Z then must be either 800 or 900. As the Hebrew uses second forms of five of its letters for a total of 27 values, the English also will include a second form of the letter E, a form that both is of English use and is found within the Book of the Law. Therefore, as E is 8, its other form is best 800, allowing Z to finish the order of the alphabet at 900.
- The 800 is then claimed by the E grave (È), the second form of E, and joined with it on the same path of the Tree of Life. The English uses this form for certain past tense verbs used as adjectives, such as in the wingèd globe. As for the E acute (É), this appears in the word stélé of the Book, as a transliteration of the Greek . Note that is valued at 8, the same as e. No direct Qabbalistic transliteration can be made of the rest of the word, but it is obvious that we are dealing with É as a foreign sound, and shall thus value all diacritics other than the È at their base letters. Therefore, É is counted as E. There may be one last indication here, that stélé 666 is now equal to 781, a number quite close, in appearance at least, to 718.
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- 34 The unabridged New Commentary to Liber Legis III:19.
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- Copyright © 2003-2006 c.e. Matthew B. Joiner
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