The Book of the Law, the holy text that forms the basis of Thelema, was transmitted to Crowley by the entity known as Aiwass in Cairo, on three successive days during April 1904. Acting as a medium, Crowley recorded the communications on hotel notepads and later organized his automatic writing into a short, coherent document. Aiwass/Crowley presents The Book of the Law as an expression of three god-forms in three chapters: Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

Also included is Crowley’s essay ‘Cocaine’ from the October 1917 issue of The International. His examination of cocaine and its role in society is an important document in any serious discussion of the history of recreational drugs and was considered by him to be one of his best efforts.

• Page notes.


• Illustrations.