Although the title of this book may seem, to some who have not read its contents, to be both presumptuous and unwarrantable, it is hoped that these will reserve their judgment until they have given due attention and consideration to the study of such an important subject.

We are living in strange times. Civilization seems rapidly to be breaking up, while yet some inner urge is at work towards a better and more balanced construction in may departments of life.

One of the results of the Great War has been to turn the minds of many people from some of the narrower conceptions of life into wider channels. A spirit of enquiry has become apparent on the part of those who had previously been content to accept statements in regard to life's deeper issues on mere belief or hearsay. Many new Movements have arisen under the guidance of people who have obtained at least a partial glimpse of man's wider heritage, and there has been a corresponding falling away from what may be termed the orthodox or established order of things in the churches and elsewhere. Many countries have been making experiments of various kinds, most of which, however, being the outcome of "reform movements" of the narrowest sort, are quickly proving themselves to be unsatisfactory and inadequate. At present, amid all these indications, there seems to have been no complete solution in sight, and, so it might appear, very little comprehension, even on the part of those who are honestly doing their best under the circumstances, of the underlying principles involved. Those who should really be in a position to help, are unable to do so effectively for the same reason.

It may seem a far cry from the present world- conditions of a social and political nature to the Holy Qabalah, but help sometimes comes from quite unexpected sources.

The Jews, and the Jewish problem, represent very important aspects of the difficulty and its solution. A great proportion of the wealth of the world is today in the hands of the Jews, yet as a nation they have no place. As the "chosen people" they were an important nation, but the rejection of the Teacher in who they expected to find their Messiah, is usually considered to have been the cause of their becoming wanderers upon the face of the Earth. Yet the word "Jew" is derived from IU, the Ever-Coming Son, the Horus of the earliest Egyptian traditions, whose influence is not confined to the Christian Era but extends to all Ages, and of Whom all truly typical God-Men, such as Jesus, have been, and are, the representatives upon earth.

But the Jews have neglected the study of their own "Chokmah Nestorah," or Secret Wisdom Tradition, as transmitted in the Holy Qabalah, thus losing sight of their True Will as a nation and their essential Purpose in the Great Creative Plan. It has remained for the Gentile to rediscover some of the deeper mysteries of this Ancient Wisdom, and these are found to be the same in essence as those of Catholicism, Freemasonry, Pythagorean Philosophy, Hermeticism, and so forth in fact there has always been a Universal Tradition which when known has led the Nations to the height of civilization, and when lost has heralded their decline and downfall.

The present world-crisis and breaking up of civilization is due to the necessity of a general "clean-up" preparatory to a wider and grander conception being presented to humanity than has been possible for many thousands of years. All thinking people realize that things are in a critical condition, and all should be prepared to grasp any reasonable opportunity of obtaining a solution which will be of permanent, rather than of temporary value.

Things cannot be put right without effort, and the question arises: "In what direction is effort most necessary?"

About Author:

Charles Stansfeld Jones (1886 - 1950), a.k.a. Frater Achad, was an occultist and ceremonial magician. An early aspirant to A.?.A.?. (the 20th to be admitted as a Probationer, in December 1909) who "claimed" the grade of Magister Templi as a Neophyte. He also became an O.T.O. initiate, serving as the principal organizer for that order in British Columbia. He worked under a variety of mottos and mantonyms, including V.I.O. (Unus in Omnibus, "One in All," as an A.?.A.?. Probationer), O.I.V.V.I.O., V.I.O.O.I.V., Parzival (as an Adeptus Minor and O.T.O. Ninth Degree), and Tantalus Leucocephalus (as Tenth Degree O.T.O.), but he is best known under his Neophyte motto Achad (Hebrew "unity"), which he used as a byline in his various published writings.

Achad's Thelemic career began promisingly enough. After a few years working in the exterior sanctuary of Aleister Crowley's mystico-magical Order, he experienced a profound epiphany that originated with the Supernal Union of Beast and Babalon via their terrestrial avatars of the time -- namely Crowley and Jeanne Robert Foster, aka Soror Hilarion, the third woman to hold the Holy Office of Scarlet Woman. This epiphany led him to the discovery of Aleph-Lamed as the Key of the Law of Thelema -- vide Liber 31, in which he expounds on this and more. His presentation of his case in Liber 31 compelled Crowley to accept Achad's epiphany as genuine, and to admit him to the Grade of Magister Templi -- an unthinkable accomplishment for a mere Neophyte.

Later, of course, Crowley and Jones separated. The source of the problem originated with a misplaced suspicion on Crowley's part. He mistakenly accused Jones of stealing a storage of books that did finally turn up many years later; Jones was innocent. But Crowley also disapproved of Achad's reformation of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and was highly critical of the works he came to write. Yet such disapproval is as unwarranted as his suspicion was, as any meticulous initiated analysis of Jones' Qabalistic revision should make clear. We can only conclude that the Prophet was personally biased in his rash dismissal of Achad's inversion of the paths of the Qabalistic Tree.

One of the differences between Thelemic religion and archaic religions is that it doesn't deem its prophets to be infallible. Crowley was only human, and the only logical thing is to accept that, and not take his pronouncements as absolute Truth, but rather as a generally reliable yet flawed guide -- particularly in light of Liber Legis, ch.1 v.56 (addressing the Prophet): "thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark."

Following his break with Crowley, Jones rebelled against his former teacher and denounced Aiwass. He is mocked in some circles for having gone on to proclaim a new Age of Maat years later; but in a letter dated 1948 E.V., he wrote: "I may well have been over optimistic in thinking that the Aeon of Truth and Justice is very near at hand." Those who discredit him on the assumption that he was out of his right mind simply fail to grasp the whole picture.

What may be even more interesting is a quote of his from the very same letter:

"The Scientific Illuminism of the A:.A:. must continue. The System of Initiation came to an end with the Aeon of Horus, but must be revised and continue according to New Aeon lines."

This is exactly the kind of observation that Leah Hirsig made in her 1924 diaries (see A Tribute to Leah Hirsig, in the Library section of the sidebar of this blog). Such a reformation of the Hierophantic system -- streamlining the mystico-magical system propounded by Crowley in The Equinox and Book 4 - is now being worked out by the Ministers of the HTC.