Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

LIBER XV: THE GNOSTIC MASS

Aleister Crowley wrote Liber XV in1913 in Moscow, the year after his appointment by Theodor Reuss as the X° Head of the British Section of O.T.O. According to W. B. Crow in A History of Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism (Aquarian Press, London 1968), Crowley wrote it “under the influence of the Liturgy of St. Basil of the Russian Church.” Crowley published the Gnostic Mass three times during his life: in 1918 in The International, in 1919 in The Equinox, Volume III, No. 1 (the “Blue Equinox”), and in 1929 in Appendix VI of Magick in Theory and Practice. Theodor Reuss published a German variant in 1918. It was first publicly celebrated on Sunday, March 19, 1933 e.v. by Wilfred T. Smith and Regina Kahl in Hollywood, California. Crowley writes in Chapter 73 of his Confessions:

“During this period [The summer of 1913 e.v. – Ed.] the full interpretation of the central mystery of freemasonry became clear in consciousness, and I expressed it in dramatic form in `The Ship’. The lyrical climax is in some respects my supreme achievement in invocation; in fact, the chorus beginning: “Thou who art I beyond all I am…” seemed to me worthy to be introduced as the anthem into the Ritual of the Gnostic Catholic Church, which, later in the year, I prepared for the use of the O.T.O., the central ceremony of its public and private celebration, corresponding to the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Public and Private Celebration

A public celebration of the Gnostic Mass is one which is open to members of the public; or which is noticed in any official O.T.O. publication under the name “Gnostic Mass”, “Gnostic Catholic Mass”, “Liber XV”, or equivalent names. A private celebration of the Gnostic Mass is one at which the individual participants are all initiate members of O.T.O. of at least 0°. Private celebrations of the Gnostic Mass may be held for initiates of higher degrees as well.

Chalice of Heaven Oasis celebrates the Gnostic Mass at various locations, days and times.

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Love is the law, love under will.