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Liber XXXII · Thelema

Liber XXXII · Thelema · Chapter IV: Thelemic Doctrine

Liber Resh vel Helios: Thelema's Four Daily Solar Adorations

Liber Resh vel Helios, Crowley's 1911 solar adorations to Ra, Ahathoor, Tum and Khephra at dawn, noon, sunset and midnight: text, sources and meaning.

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Liber Resh vel Helios is a short ritual instruction by Aleister Crowley, published in 1911, that directs the Thelemite to salute the Sun four times a day: at dawn, noon, sunset and midnight. At each station the practitioner faces the Sun's position and addresses it under an Egyptian divine name (Ra, Ahathoor, Tum and Khephra), then meditates. It is the most widely performed daily practice in Thelema, a way of keeping the Great Work in mind throughout the day.

The Text and Its Place in Crowley's System§

Liber Resh vel Helios ("the Book of Resh, or the Sun") was published in The Equinox, volume I, number 6 (1911), as a practice for students of Crowley's teaching order. Its number, 200, is the numerical value of the Hebrew letter Resh, which the Golden Dawn and Crowley attributed to the Sun and to the tarot trump XIX, The Sun (see The Sun). Crowley placed it in his Class D, the category of official rituals and instructions, rather than among the inspired Holy Books.

The instruction is brief, little more than a page. It sets out four short invocations, specifies the direction to face and the posture or sign to give, and explains the purpose of the practice in a few closing sentences. Crowley later reprinted it in the appendices of his textbook Magick (Book Four), and it has been included in most collections of Thelemic ritual since. Its brevity is part of its success: unlike the long ceremonies of the Golden Dawn, it can be performed by anyone, anywhere, in a minute or two.

The Four Adorations: Ra, Ahathoor, Tum and Khephra§

Each of the four adorations hails the Sun under a different name and describes it travelling across the heavens or through the night in its sacred boat, with the ibis-headed god Tahuti (Thoth) at the prow and Ra-Hoor at the helm:

  • At sunrise, facing east, the practitioner salutes Ra in his rising, the newly born sun in strength.
  • At noon, facing south, the salutation is to Ahathoor in her triumphing, the goddess Hathor as the sun at its height, in beauty.
  • At sunset, facing west, the address is to Tum in his setting, Atum as the sun descending in joy.
  • At midnight, facing north, the address is to Khephra in his hiding, the scarab god who carries the hidden sun through the night towards rebirth.

Each invocation ends by greeting the Sun from the "abode" of the preceding station, so that the four together form a continuous cycle. The instruction asks the practitioner to give the sign of his or her grade while speaking, then the sign of silence, then to perform an adoration taught by their superior, and finally to compose themselves for meditation. It adds that it is better to assume the god-form of the deity being addressed, as though uniting with that god in adoring what lies beyond it, a technique of visualising oneself as the god inherited from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

The adoration now used by most Thelemites after each salutation is a verse paraphrase of the hieroglyphic text of the Stele of Revealing, which Crowley incorporated into the third chapter of The Book of the Law. Its use in this position is a tradition of practice rather than a requirement of Liber Resh itself.

Egyptian Solar Theology Behind the Rite§

Crowley's adorations draw on genuine features of ancient Egyptian religion, in which the sun was the most important visible image of divinity and was understood to change its form through the day. Egyptian theologians commonly distinguished Khepri, the scarab beetle, as the sun at dawn, Ra as the sun at its height, and Atum as the old sun of evening. Hymns to the rising and setting sun were among the most common religious texts and appear in many copies of the Book of the Dead.

The night was the sun's most mysterious phase. Royal tomb texts of the New Kingdom, such as the Amduat and the Book of Gates, describe the sun god sailing through the twelve hours of the underworld in his barque, renewing himself in union with Osiris and emerging reborn at dawn. Thoth and other deities accompany him on the journey.

Crowley rearranged this scheme. He placed Ra at sunrise rather than at noon, gave noon to Hathor, a goddess closely linked with the sun as the "Eye of Ra," kept Atum at sunset and assigned Khephra, the scarab, to midnight, emphasising the hidden work of regeneration in the dark. The result is less an Egyptological reconstruction than a modern liturgy built from Egyptian materials, of a kind familiar from Golden Dawn ritual and from the Egyptian revival in nineteenth-century esotericism.

The Meaning of Resh in Thelemic Doctrine§

Crowley explained the purpose of the practice in its final lines: by performing the adorations the student is constantly reminded of the Great Work undertaken, and strengthened to pursue it towards wisdom and happiness. In this sense Liber Resh is a discipline of attention, like the hourly bells of a monastery, which interrupts ordinary activity four times a day to recall the practitioner to their spiritual purpose.

Thelemic commentators have found further meanings in it, drawing on the doctrines described in Thelemic Doctrine. The Sun is the central image of the self in Thelema: the Book of the Law teaches that every man and every woman is a star, and Crowley often used the Sun as an image of the true self or Hadit at the centre of each being. Commentators point out that the Sun does not really rise or set; it only appears to because the Earth turns. By saluting its apparent changes while knowing it to be constant, the practitioner rehearses the Thelemic view of death and change as appearances that leave the inner star untouched. The four stations can also be read in terms of the elements, the cardinal directions and the four stages of life.

Resh in Practice Today§

Liber Resh is practised by members of the A∴A∴ and the Ordo Templi Orientis and by many independent Thelemites. Some perform all four adorations daily; many manage the dawn and sunset adorations and perform the others when they can. Practitioners differ on details: whether to speak aloud or silently, how strictly to time the adorations to astronomical sunrise and sunset, and whether to perform the sign of their grade or a simpler gesture. In public settings, such as Thelemic gatherings and festivals, Resh is often performed together at sunset.

The practice is notable for its adaptability. It requires no temple, tools or robes and can be performed indoors or out, alone or in company. Some practitioners keep a magical diary noting each adoration, following Crowley's insistence on recording all practice, and many describe its long-term effect less in terms of dramatic experiences than of a steady orientation of the day around a spiritual centre. It is often the first practice adopted by people new to Thelema.

Daily Prayer Compared: Resh and Other Traditions§

Fixed daily prayer at turning points of the solar day is widespread in the history of religion. Christian monasticism developed the canonical hours, including Lauds at dawn, Sext at midday, Vespers at evening and a night office, described in Christian Sacraments and Liturgy. Islam prescribes five daily prayers timed by the sun's position, from dawn to night. Hindu Brahmins traditionally perform sandhyavandana at the junctions of the day, reciting the Gayatri mantra addressed to the solar deity Savitr; Crowley had travelled in India and Ceylon and studied yoga there.

Crowley's adorations belong to this pattern while differing from it in theology. They address Egyptian solar gods rather than the God of the monotheistic traditions, and they ask the practitioner to identify with the deity rather than only to petition it. Scholars of modern esotericism see in Liber Resh a good example of how Crowley built a new religion's daily life from older materials: an Egyptian vocabulary, Golden Dawn ritual technique and a widespread human practice of greeting the sun.

Frequently asked questions§

What is Liber Resh?§

Liber Resh vel Helios is a Thelemic practice of saluting the Sun four times daily, at sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight, using Egyptian divine names. Crowley published it in The Equinox in 1911 as a discipline to keep the Great Work in mind.

Who are Ra, Ahathoor, Tum and Khephra?§

They are Egyptian forms of the sun or solar deities: Ra the sun god, Ahathoor (Hathor) the goddess linked to the sun's eye, Tum (Atum) the evening sun, and Khephra (Khepri) the scarab who renews the sun. Crowley assigned them to dawn, noon, sunset and midnight respectively.

Do you have to perform all four adorations?§

Crowley's instruction prescribes all four, and committed students try to perform them daily. In practice many Thelemites perform those they can, particularly at sunrise and sunset, and practice varies between individuals and groups.

Sources and further reading§