Liber XV

7

VII

Of the Office of the Anthem

The priest.

Thou who art I, beyond all I am,
Who hast no nature and no name,
Who art, when all but Thou are gone,
Thou, centre and secret of the Sun,
Thou, hidden spring of all things known
And unknown, Thou aloof, alone,
Thou, the true fire within the reed
Brooding and breeding, source and seed
Of life, love, liberty, and light,
Thou beyond speech and beyond sight,
Thee I invoke, my faint fresh fire
Kindling as mine intents aspire.
Thee I invoke, abiding one,
Thee, centre and secret of the Sun,
And that most holy mystery
Of which the vehicle am I.
Appear, most awful and most mild,
As it is lawful, in thy child!

The chorus.

For of the Father and the Son
The Holy Spirit is the norm;
Male-female, quintessential, one,
Man-being veiled in Woman-form.
Glory and worship in the highest,
Thou Dove, mankind that deifiest,
Being that race, most royally run
To spring sunshine through winter storm.
Glory and worship be to Thee,
Sap of the world-ash, wonder-tree!

first semichorus, men.

Glory to Thee from Gilded Tomb!

second semichorus, women.

Glory to Thee from Waiting Womb!

men.

Glory to Thee from earth unploughed!

women.

Glory to Thee from virgin vowed!

men.

Glory to Thee, true Unity
Of the Eternal Trinity!

women.

Glory to Thee, thou sire and dam
And self of I am that I am!

men.

Glory to Thee, beyond all term,
Thy spring of sperm, thy seed and germ!

women.

Glory to Thee, eternal Sun,
Thou One in Three, Thou Three in One!

chorus.

Glory and worship unto Thee,
Sap of the world-ash, wonder-tree![4]

(These words are to form the substance of the anthem; but the whole or any part thereof shall be set to music, which may be as elaborate as art can. But even should other anthems be authorized by the Father of the Church, this shall hold its place as the first of its kind, the father of all others.)

Notes:

[in thy child] Some folios have "to thy child" instead of "in thy child". They're wrong. The Father is the Son, just as the Priest says not very long after this point.

[Male-female] Notice the hyphen: not male, not female, but a balance between them.

[Thee] "Thee" here is not the Priest, but the Lance, which is the channel for the Light being brought down from the Supernals.

[4] Note 1, p. 434:
These verses are from Crowley's verse play, 'The Ship,' published in The Equinox, volume I, number 10. It was dedicated to Theodore Reuss, the then Grand Master of the O.T.O.

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