The Holy Books of Thelema

Aleister Crowley, the founder of the religion of Thelema, designated his works as belonging to one of several classes. Not all of his work was placed in a class by him. He also added material that other people wrote to the classes.

Class A was for Holy Works

Class B consists of works of scholarship and enlightment.

Class C consists of material that suggests things other than the obvious.

Class D consists of official rituals and instructions.

Class E was everything else.

Table of contents 1 The Books 2 Class A 3 Class A-B 4 Class A-B 5 Class D 6 Notes on the List 7 Reference Texts

The Books

Class A material has a prime directive from Liber Al: III, 47.
This book shall be translated into all tongues: but always with the original in the writing of the Beast; for in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another: in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine.

Liber AL vel Legis is the foundational text for Thelema. It is the only Holy Book that Aleister Crowley claimed to have had no part in the authorship of.

Class A

• Liber I: Liber B Vel Magi Sub Figurâ 1
  
• Liber VII: Liber Liberi Vel Lapidus Lazuli, Adumbratio Kabbalæ Ægyptiorum Sub Figurâ VII
  
• Liber X: Liber Porta Lucis Sub Figureâ X
  
• Liber XXVII: Liber Trigrammaton Sub Figurâ XXVII
  
• Liber LXV: Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente Sub Figurâ XXVII
  
• Liber LXVI: Liber Stellæ Rubeæ Sub Figurâ LXVI
  
• Liber XC: Liber Tzaddi Vel Hamus Hermeticus Sub Figurâ XC
  
• Liber CLVI: Liber Cheth Vel Vallum Abiegni Sub Figurâ XC
  
• Liber CCXX: Liber Al Vel Legis Sub Figurâ CCXX
  
• Liber XXXI: Liber Al(Liber Legis), The Book of the Law
  
• Liber CCXXXI: Liber Arcanorum ιων ATU ν TAHUTI Quas Vidit Asar In Amennti Sub Figurâ CCXXXI Liber Carcerorum ιων Qliphoth cum suis Geniis
  
• Liber CCCLXX: Liber A'ash Vel Capricoroni Pneumatici Sub Figuræ CCCLXX
  
• Liber CD: Libe Tau Vel Kabbalæ Trium Literarum Sub Figuræ CD
  
• Liber DCCCXII: Vel Ararita Sub Figuræ DLXX

Class A-B

• Liber CCCCXVIII: Liber XXX Ærum Vel Saeculi, Being of the Angels of the Thirty Aethyrs the Vision and the Voice.
  
• Liber CDXV: Opes Lutetianum
  

Class A-B

• Liber DCCCCLXII: ΘΗΣΑΥΡΟΥ ΗΙΔΩΛΩΝ

Class D

• Liber LXI: Liber Causae

Notes on the List

Liber I originally was a Class B document, but was changed to Class A in 1913.

Liber LXI was originally Class A, then changed to Class B, then changed to Class D.

Liber CCXX and Liber XXXI are essentially the same. The latter is the handwritten original. The reason for the two documents comes from Liber Al: III, 74, which states Paste the sheets from left to right and from top to bottom: then behold!

Liber CCCCXVIII has instructions in Aethyr 8 and 18 which are to be regarded as Class D. As it is a diary, it more properly belongs in Class B, except for the parts that the Angels dictated. Parts which are not consistently and clearly demarcated.

Liber DCXV, more commonly known as The Paris Working is a magickal diary. The Class A material is so intertwined that segregating them apart is extremely difficult.

Liber DCCCCLXIII is Class A for the introduction only. The rest of the text is Class B.

The Stèlle of Revealing is not part of the Holy Books, despite it being a part of the Gnostic Mass (Liber XV) that is performed by Thelemites as part of their sacred rituals.

The Comment of Ankh F N Khonsu is sometimes considered to be part of Liber Al vel Legis. At other times, it is considered to be a different document. In either instance, it has been understood by some to mean that no discussion of any of the Holy Books may take place.

Reference Texts

The Holy Books of Θελημα
Crowley, Aleister
York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, INC; Ordo Templi Orientis: 1983

Commentaries on the Holy Books and other Papers
The Equinox Volume IV number 1
Crowley, Aleister
Blavatsky, H P
Fuller, J F C
Jones, Charles Stansfeld
York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, INC: Ordo Templi Orientis: 1996