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Basic Information

Title: Liber DCCCXIII vel ARARITA sub figura DLXX

Date written: Winter 1907-1908

Class: Class A. This is considered a Holy Book of Thelema.

Crowley’s descriptions

• “This book is an account of the Hexagram and the method of reducing it to the Unity, and Beyond.”
  —Liber 207: A Syllabus of the Official Instructions of the A∴A∴

• “This book describes in magical language a very secret process of Initiation.”
  —The Equinox III:1 (a.k.a. The Blue Equinox), “Præmonstrance”

Firstly, Crowley says “This book is an account of the Hexagram.” In this case, the “Hexagram” is a symbol of the mind of the Adept. The six Sephiroth centered around and including Tiphareth (Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod) constitute the “Ruach,” or mind. Crowley explains that this book is both an account of the Hexagram, the Ruach, as well as “the method of reducing it to the Unity, and Beyond.” This method is what Crowley later says is “a very secret process of Initiation.” The method is given very explicitly in his notes to the 22nd Aethyr where he writes:

“The use of this Name and Formula [ARARITA] is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as ‘true’ (and therefore binding); one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach. See Liber 813, vel Ararita….”

We can therefore see that the very nature of this Holy Book is to use the method or formula of equating & identifying every idea with its opposite in order to be free from both. In this way, “one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach,” by which he means the conceptual mind. It is this conceptual mind that limits our perception through its inherent duality, obscuring and veiling the “higher” aspects of the Soul that are, in Qabalistic terms, “above the Abyss” (Yechidah, Chiah, and Neshamah which are 3 names or aspects of 1 thing).

This same formula is mentioned in another Holy Book, Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente sub figura LXV, when it is written “Also he taught me the holy unutterable word Ararita, so that I melted the sixfold gold into a single invisible point, whereof naught may be spoken” (LXV, V:15). Interestingly, the word “Ararita” is not capitalized and is used as a word in itself here, rather than being simply a Notariqon.

Further reinforcing this idea is the fact that the letters of ARARITA can be arranged around a Hexagram with the Yod (the “I” in ARARITA) in the center. This is the “single invisible point” that is mentioned in Liber LXV. Also, the letters form a symmetrical arrangement that mirrors the idea of equating and identifying each idea with its opposite, which is the nature of the formula of ARARITA. This symbol has many other meanings and interpretations which you may divine by your own ingenium.

Other information: At the beginning of this text is a note which reads, “The full knowledge of the interpretation of this book is concealed from all. The Philosophus must nevertheless acquire a copy and thoroughly acquaint himself with the contents. He must commit one chapter to memory.” It is therefore assigned particularly to the A∴A∴ grade of “Philosophus,” attributed to Netzach on the Tree of Life and sometimes designated by the title “4=7.” Also, the phrase “the full knowledge of the interpretation of this book is concealed from all” may refer to the fact that “knowledge” is the “false Sephirah” known as “Da’ath,” which is the crown of the Ruach. We already have seen that this Book contains a method whereby one transcends the Ruach entirely, therefore it is not possible to have “full knowledge” of it, insofar as this knowledge refers to the knowledge of the Ruach. 

Title

“Liber DCCCXIII vel ARARITA sub figura DLXX”

It is usually called “Liber 813 vel Ararita” or “Liber Ararita” by Crowley.

Translation: Book 813 or Book ARARITA of the number 570

ARARITA: ARARITA is a “Notariqon” which is essentially a Qabalistic acronym. Each letter is the first letter of a word in the Hebrew phrase “Achad Rosh Achdotho Rosh Ichudo Temurato Achad” that Crowley translates to mean “One is His Beginning; one is His Individuality; His Permutation One.” The very first line of Liber ARARITA is “O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!” which is another translation of sorts of the phrase ARARITA. 

813: 813 is the enumeration of ARARITA in Hebrew. Crowley writes in Sepher Sephiroth  “Ararita; a name of GOD  which is a Notariqon of the sentence AChD RASh: AChDVThV RASh YYChVDVThV: ThMVRThV AChD. ‘One is His Beginning; one is His Individuality; His Permutation One.'” Also 813 is, as noted in Sepher Sephiroth, the enumeration of the entire line of Genesis 1:3 which is “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

570: The reason this Liber was, at least at some point, “sub figura 570” is still a mystery to me. In “Liber 207: A Syllabus of the Official Instructions of the A∴A∴,” Crowley gives the rationale for assigning certain numbers to certain Libers, but there is a conscpicuous blank next to “DLXX” (570). 

Basic Structure

This Holy Book has 7 chapters, each corresponding to one letter of the word ARARITA.

Each chapter has 14 lines, the first line numbered as 0, and the rest numbered 1 through 13. Therefore, there are technically 98 lines total, but it is most likely that the lines numbered 0 are supposed to be excluded from the total number of lines for reasons that will become apparent. Excluding the lines marked as “0,” there are 91 lines total, the number of “Amen” and the mystic number of 13 (Sum of 1-13), which Crowley says is “The Mystic Number of Kether as Achad” (Kether is the 1st Sephirah on the Tree of Life, which means “Crown,” and “Achad” is a Hebrew word that means “Unity” which enumerates to 13). Because the 7 chapters all end with the “13th” line, and because of the connections of this number to 91 (being 7 * 13), it is most likely that this Book has, at least symbolically, 91 lines.

In the 22nd Aethyr of The Vision and the Voice, Crowley gives an explanation of the nature of Liber ARARITA that shows the chapters have a coherent structure or progression:

“ARARITA (— a name of God, which is a Notariqon of the sentence: ‘One is His beginning; One is his Individuality; His Permutation One.’) The use of this Name and Formula is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as ‘true’ (and therefore binding); one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach. See Liber 813, vel Ararita. Contrast each verse of Cap. I with the corresponding verse of Cap. II for the first of these methods. Thus in Cap. III (still verse by verse correspondence) the Quintessence of the ideas is extracted; and in Cap. IV they are withdrawn each one into the one beyond it. In Cap. V they have disappeared into the Method itself. In Cap. VI they reappear in the Form appointed by the Will of the Adept. Lastly, in Cap. VII they are dissolved, one into the next until all finally disappear in the Fire Qadosh, the Quintessence of Reality.”

In general, then, the 7 chapters follow several patterns, including each one being attributed to a Hebrew letter of the word ARARITA, each having 13 lines (a “0” line and lines 1 through 13), and each being part of a greater method as described by Crowley in the 22nd Aethyr.

Chapter I – א (Aleph)
The “upright” ideas that correspond, verse by verse, with the “averse” ideas in Chapter II, the following chapter.

Chapter II – ר (Resh)
The “averse” ideas that correspond, verse by verse, with the “upright” ideas in Chapter I, the preceding chapter.

Chapter III – א (Aleph)
“The Quintessence of the ideas” from the verses in Chapters I and II are “extracted.”

Chapter IV – ר (Resh)
These ideas “are withdrawn each one into the one beyond it.”

Chapter V – י (Yod)
These ideas “have disappeared into the Method itself.”

Chapter VI – ת (Tav)
These ideas “reappear in the Form appointed by the Will of the Adept.”

Chapter VII – א (Aleph)
These ideas “are dissolved, one into the next until all finally disappear in the Fire Qadosh, the Quintessence of Reality.”

Further Commentary

• Chapter I – א (Aleph)
• Chapter II – ר (Resh)
• Chapter III – א (Aleph)
• Chapter IV – ר (Resh)
• Chapter V – י (Yod)
• Chapter VI – ת (Tav)
• Chapter VII – א (Aleph)