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Great Work

  • “In all systems of religion is to be found a system of Initiation, which may be defined as the process by which a man comes to learn that unknown Crown. Though none can communicate either the knowledge or the power to achieve this, which we may call the Great Work, it is yet possible for initiates to guide others… Now the Great Work is one, and the Initiation is one, and the Reward is one, however diverse are the symbols wherein the Unutterable is clothed.” –Liber LXI vel Causae
  • “Nox adds to 210, which symbolises the reduction of duality to unity, and thence to negativity, and is thus a hieroglyph of the Great Work.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “The chapter is a counsel to accept all impressions; it is the formula of the Scarlet woman; but no impression must be allowed to dominate you, only to fructify you; just as the artist, seeing an object, does not worship it, but breeds a masterpiece from it. This process is exhibited as one aspect of the Great Work.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “In V.V.V.V.V. is the Great Work perfect.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “Gimel is the path leading from Tiphareth to Kether, uniting Microprosopus and Macroprosopus, i.e. performing the Great Work.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “These letters, O P, are then seen to be the root of opus, the Latin word for “work”, in this case, the Great Work. And they also begin the word “opening”. I hindu philosophy, it is said that Shiva, the Destroyer, is asleep, and that when he opens his eye the universe is destroyed-another synonym, therefore, for the accomplishment of the Great Work. But the “eye” of Shiva is also his Lingam. Shiva is himself the Mahalingam, which unites these symbolisms. The opening of the eye, the ejaculation of the lingam, the destruction of the universe, the accomplishment of the Great Work–all these are different ways of saying the same thing.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “This Interchange, the Double Gift of Tongues, the Word of Double Power-ABRAHADABRA!-is the sign of the GREAT WORK, for the GREAT WORK is accomplished in Silence.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “The Adept has performed the Great Work; He has reduced the Many to Naught; as a consequence, he is no longer afraid of the Many.” –Liber 333: Book of Lies
  • “For in each Man his Inmost Light is the Core of his Star. That is, Hadit; and his Work is the Identification of himself with that Light.” –Liber Aleph
  • “This Great Work is the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of thine Holy Guardian Angel… But in these Marriages thy conscious Self is Bridegroom, and the not-Self Bride, while in this Great Work thou givest up that conscious Self as Bride to thy true Self. This Operation is then radically alien from all others. And it is hard, because it is a total Reversal of the Current of the Will, and a Transmutation of its Formula and Nature. Here, o my son, is the One Secret of Success in this Great Work: Invoke often.” –Liber Aleph
  • “The student should assimilate the doctrine of the “Black Brothers.” To refuse to fulfill any of one’s possibilities is the direct negation of the Great Work.” –Liber 666: Artemis Iota
  • “The Tau and the circle together make one form of the Rosy Cross, the uniting of subject and object which is the Great Work, and which is symbolized sometimes as this cross and circle, sometimes as the Lingam-Yoni, sometimes as the Ankh or Crux Ansata, sometimes by the Spire and Nave of a church or temple, and sometimes as a marriage feast, mystic marriage, spiritual marriage, “chymical nuptials,” and in a hundred other ways. Whatever the form chosen, it is the symbol of the Great Work.” –Liber ABA, Book 2
  • “The serpent is also the Kundalini serpent, the Magical force itself, the manifesting side of the Godhead of the Magician, whose unmanifested side is peace and silence, of which there is no symbol. In the Hindu system the Great Work is represented by saying that this serpent, which is normally coiled at the base of the spine, rises with her hood over the head of the Yogi, there to unite with the Lord of all.” –Liber ABA, Book 2
  • “The microcosm is an exact image of the Macrocosm; the Great Work is the raising of the whole man in perfect balance to the power of Infinity.” –Magick in Theory & Practice, ch.0
  • “It will be seen that (after all) the Climax is at the end. It is the second half of the formula which symbolises the Great Work which we are pledged to accomplish. The first step of this is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, which constitutes the Adept of the Inner Order. The re-entry of these twin spouses into the womb of the mother is that initiation described in Liber 418, which gives admission to the Inmost Order of the A∴ A∴ Of the last step we cannot speak.” –Magick in Theory & Practice, ch.3
  • “ABRAHADABRA is a word to be studied in Equinox I, V., “The Temple of Solomon the King”. It represents the Great Work complete, and it is therefore an archetype of all lesser magical operations… Abrahadabra describes the Operation of the Great Work.” –Magick in Theory & Practice, ch.7
  • “Until the Great Work has been performed, it is presumptuous for the magician to pretend to understand the universe, and dictate its policy. Only the Master of the Temple can say whether any given act is a crime.” –Magick in Theory & Practice, ch.21
  • “The Angel has no fear that the forces of illusion can ever interfere with the Great Work. He is himself Macroprosopus” -Commentary to LXV
  • “In all systems of religion is to be found a system of Initiation, which may be defined as the process by which a man comes to learn that unknown Crown. Though none can communicate either the knowledge or the power to achieve this, which we may call the Great Work, it is yet possible for initiates to guide others.” –Magick Without Tears, ch.77
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