Liber Resh vel Helios: Crowley's Four Daily Adorations of the Sun
How to perform Liber Resh vel Helios, Crowley's four daily adorations of the sun to Ra, Ahathoor, Tum and Khephra, with its Egyptian sources and history.
Liber Resh vel Helios is a short devotional practice that Aleister Crowley published in 1911 for students of his order, the A∴A∴: four brief salutations to the sun at dawn, noon, sunset and midnight, each addressed to an Egyptian god representing the sun at that station. It is the most widely kept daily observance in Thelema. Crowley intended it to remind the practitioner, several times a day, of the "Great Work" and of the sun as the image of the true self that never really sets.
How to do it§
The words below are from Crowley's 1911 text, published in The Equinox; only short phrases are quoted, and the rest is paraphrased. Practitioners usually learn the full text from the published Equinox or a Thelemic handbook.
- At sunrise, face east. Make a gesture of reverence (Crowley directs the "sign of one's grade"; non-initiates often simply raise the hands or bow). Say: "Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising, even unto Thee who art Ra in Thy strength", continuing with the image of the sun travelling across the heavens in its boat, steered by Tahuti (Thoth) and with Ra-Hoor at the helm, and ending with a greeting to the god from the abodes of night.
- At noon, face south. Greet the sun as Ahathoor (Hathor) in her triumphing and beauty, travelling over the heavens at mid-course, and conclude with a greeting from the abodes of morning.
- At sunset, face west. Greet the sun as Tum (Atum) in his setting and joy, and conclude with a greeting from the abodes of day.
- At midnight, face north. Greet the sun as Khephra (Khepri, the scarab) in his hiding and silence, travelling through the hours of night, and conclude with a greeting from the abodes of evening.
- After each adoration. Crowley's instruction is to give the sign of silence, then perform an adoration taught by one's superior (Thelemites commonly recite verses adapted from the Stele of Revealing), and then to rest a moment in meditation on one's joy.
- Keep a record. Note each performance in a magical diary. If you miss one, simply take up the next; Crowley valued the habit of remembrance above perfection. Many Thelemites also greet one another with the Thelemic salutation when they meet after the adoration.
Origins and history§
Crowley published Liber Resh vel Helios (the Hebrew letter resh is attributed to the Sun in Golden Dawn correspondences; Helios is Greek for the sun) as Liber CC in The Equinox, volume I, number 6, in September 1911. It was one of a series of practical instructions for the A∴A∴, the order he founded with George Cecil Jones in 1907 after leaving the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
The four gods reflect Golden Dawn Egyptianism and Crowley's own revelation. Ra, Hathor, Atum and Khepri were genuine forms of the Egyptian sun god: Khepri the scarab was associated with the morning sun and rebirth, Ra with the full sun and Atum with the evening sun, in a theology attested in texts such as the Book of the Dead. Crowley rearranged them into four stations of the day. Ra-Hoor-Khuit, invoked in the dawn adoration, is the god of the second chapter of The Book of the Law, the text Crowley received in Cairo in April 1904 after his wife Rose drew his attention to a funerary stele of the priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu (Twenty-fifth or Twenty-sixth Dynasty) in the Cairo museum (which Crowley called the Boulak Museum), known to Thelemites as the Stele of Revealing.
Solar devotion at fixed hours has many precedents, from Egyptian hymns to the rising and setting sun to the Christian and Islamic daily hours of prayer and the Hindu sandhya worship at dawn, noon and dusk. Crowley, who knew several of these, presented Liber Resh as a Thelemic equivalent. It became central to Thelemic communal life, observed at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù (1920–23) and today by members of the Ordo Templi Orientis and independent Thelemites worldwide.
Variations§
Some practitioners face the actual sun rather than the cardinal points, or adjust for the southern hemisphere. Others perform only the sunrise and sunset adorations, or speak the words silently in public. Many add the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram or a meditation after the morning adoration.
Safety and good sense§
Never look directly at the sun, even at sunrise or sunset when it seems dim; it can damage the eyes. If waking for the midnight adoration disturbs your sleep, perform it before going to bed instead, as many practitioners do. Devotional practice may bring calm and focus, but it is no substitute for medical, psychological, legal or financial help.
Sources and further reading§
- Magick: Liber ABA, Book Four — Aleister Crowley, 1997
- The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis) — Aleister Crowley, 1904
- The Magick of Thelema — Lon Milo DuQuette, 1993
- Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley — Richard Kaczynski, 2002
- Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism — Henrik Bogdan & Martin P. Starr, 2012
- The Egyptian Book of the Dead — E. A. Wallis Budge, 1895