Updated 2/2024
The goal of this article is to look at the Book of the Law and the secret role Setesh plays within it. While deities like Nwt, Ra, and Horus are mentioned by name in the text, the name “Set” is never directly mentioned. Crowley and mainstream Thelema generally tend to ignore the role of the Stellar Tradition, including Set. Despite this, people like Kenneth Grant have found these connections within the text and expanded upon them. What’s interesting is the only deity in the book who does not seem to appear in early Egypt is the speaker – Aiwass. I posit that this being is, itself, Set, and “I Was” is an identification with the Was Scepter. Further, the book itself constantly hints at a hidden and unknown force in the text, providing several riddles as to the nature of that identity.
An important note on the pantheon of the Book of the Law is that it is completely in line with the predynastic religion of early Egypt. You have the goddess of the night sky Nwt (called Nuit in Crowley’s rendering, proving that he could misunderstand names the same way he did with Aiwass). Next is the Sun god Ra and the god of the light, Horus the Elder, represented in his form of a winged solar disc. Osiris and Isis are mentioned but only in the negative, and the philosophy provided by the book mimics the kingly ascent of the Stellar Tradition from the time. Really the only key character missing is Set, and as I have suggested, he is not missing at all.
The way to read verses for the book is as such: AL I, 1 – in this case AL (the Book of the Law), chapter I, verse 1. The Book of the Law is now Public Domain. My personal view of the Book of the Law is that it is authentically a “divinely inspired” text. I believe that Aiwass/Set spoke with Crowley and AL is the latter’s attempt to understand his interactions with the former. This does not mean I follow Crowley or a religious form of Thelema, in fact to me it seems as though Crowley went out of his way to ignore the role of Set and the Stellar Tradition in the text. To me, Crowley was simply a tool, the book even mentions how much Crowley hated writing it, and he hid it away for years before publishing for the first time. I also think he messed with the text and embellished quite a bit more than we know. Due to this I separate the Book of the Law and its source – Aiwass – from Crowley himself and the religion he created surrounding his ego. The main way to do this is by looking for content outside of and opposed to his solar esotericism.
Let me be clear this is not a comprehensive commentary, and we are actively digging for Setesh here. In some cases I've outright just skipped some lines where the commentary would reveal the same information, both for space and my own sanity.
AL I,3: Every man and every woman is a star.
Right from the start we see this is about the Stellar Tradition. We are all independent stars (gods), not clay ruled and given life by the solar light.
I,5: Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!
Thebes was known as Waset in Egypt, the Scepter Nome, named after the Was Scepter of Set. While Montu was the Warrior of Thebes, Setesh was also a warrior and at times drawn as a hawk/falcon.
I,7: Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat.
This is where we learn the name of the speaker of the text – Aiwass. A minister is simply the agent of a divine power, which doesn’t exclude other divinities. It is important to note that Crowley heard this name and wrote it down best he could. Keeping in mind we’re actively seeking Set here; it can’t be ignored that this could be “I the Was". The Was (uas) scepter is symbolic of Set and his power, and even appears in the center of the Stele of Revealing, the artifact which drove Crowley to his experience with Aiwass. In fact, all the deities who appear on the stele are in both the Pyramid Texts and AL – Ra, Nwt, Horus, and Set as the Was Scepter, with the last being the deity most central to the image. Finally, this is the 7th verse of the text, and Set has been intimately associated with the number 7 due to the stars of the Big Dipper, which has been Set’s symbol since prehistory.
I,8. The Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs. I,9: Worship then the Khabs, and behold my light shed over you!
Khabs = stars, Khu = soul. Sort of similar to as above so below, the divine is internal. The symbolism clearly invokes the Stellar rather than Solar.
I,12. Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love! I,13: I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.
Nwt being the night sky, the Stellar symbolism is clear.
I,15: Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men. I,16: For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight.
Not only are we adding to the Stellar symbolism, but it should be noted "Scarlet" is a shade of red, the color associated with Set.
I,17. But ye are not so chosen.
Aiwass knew Crowley wouldn't "get it."
I,18: Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent!
See my book "Wandering in Darkness" or my paper "Redeeming the Egyptian God of Darkness" for in-depth discussion on Set and the Serpent. This is directly referencing the Uraeus Serpent, and indirectly the Gnostic Serpent.
I,21: With the god & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see me. They are as upon the earth; I am Heaven...
This seems to be a reference to the circumpolar stars and zodiac. Generally the gods are associated with the zodiac and migratory stars. Set’s realm in the North is separate from this, never setting below the horizon at any time and embodying the original “heaven”. Also note that when worshiping the sun Set's stars cannot be seen (well, no other stars can be).
I,22: Now, therefore, I am known to ye by my name Nuit, and to him by a secret name which I will give him when at last he knoweth me.
We are directly told there is a secret identity to be unfolded within the book. Can we find one and see if it appears consistently?
I,24: I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty. I,25: Divide, add, multiply, and understand.
• Set = 19+5+20 = 44
• Set 1+9+5+2=17
• 44÷ (6/50)=366.6666666667
• 366.6666666667+56=422.6666666667
• 422.6666666667(6×50) =126,800.00 repeating
• 1+2+6+8=17=Set
Put Set into the equation, get Set out of the equation again.
Here is what Crowley says in The Comment:
"Nu = 6 + 50 = 56 [Nun-Vav] … Nu is therefore the Dragon — “Infinite Space” — and V is “the Infinite Stars” thereof… The Dragon in current symbolism refers to the North or Hollow of Heaven; thus to the Womb of Space, which is the container and breeder of all that exists[2].”
This directly relates the verse to the North Circumpolar Stars, the realm of Set, calling it the breeder of all that exists. This also resonates with Draconianism such as the Dragon Book of Essex, as well as the works of Kenneth Grant. Nuit’s secret name is the realm of Set.
I,26: ...And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
Unlike the idea of disillusion, AL actually teaches that individual consciousness is or can be eternal, the Setian view predating Osiris et al. (Well, I would say it teaches both, because we have both Aiwass and Crowley trying to teach us through a shared text.)
I,29: For I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.
Set dividing from Nuit is the most significant mythology of division for the goddess. In the tales, rather than a natural birth, Set actually burst forth from Nwt fully evolved. While later tales have him come to be after his siblings, originally “son of Nwt” referred solely to Set. The most likely event being referenced here is therefore the birth of Set. Union need not mean dissolution here, for instance a marriage or mentorship is a union where both individuals still exist.
I,40: Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he looks but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
A hermit is “one that retires from society and lives in solitude especially for religious reasons”. Set is certainly the most likely candidate for a hermit from ancient Egypt. He was an outcast, associated with foreigners but also the disorder of the recluse, and mainly resided in the desert or oases.
Set could also have been originally seen as a lover – of Horus, of Nephthys, of Taweret, of Astarte, Anat… many of his relationships are based on love or sex.
It is further said that Set “plowed the earth” in the Pyramid Texts, and that this was how he became immortal. All three paths mentioned here – Hermit, Lover, Man of the Earth – fit with Set.
The morality of Thelema is ultimately Stellar/LHP, based on self ownership and the individual rather than submission etc.
I,44: For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.
This type of undoubting, strong action is very much of Set. He was also the will/strength of the king, and the will of the king was the will of the gods. Therefore “pure will” would be a Setian will, the power of the Was Scepter made manifest, unstoppable.
I,49: Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But they are not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer; Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the Lord initiating.
Asar is a name for Osiris, whereas Isa is the name for Christ in Islam. This god is not of the Osiris-Yahweh myth (and therefore not of the Horus the Younger myth cycle either), just as Set precedes the coming of this god to the Egyptian pantheon. Set is the lord of initiation, initiating both Osiris into his place as god of the afterlife, and Horus the Younger into kingship, not to mention the imperishable souls of the dead in deification. It can even be argued he was an initiator of Thoth, who was born from Set and sided with him against Osiris. Again, the solution to the secret name can be Set.
It was not uncommon for Set and Ra, Horus on the Horizons to be worshiped in shared Temples especially in the New Kingdom.
I,50: ...Thus ye have star & star, system & system; let not one know well the other!
This is explicitly and obviously not a solar religious text.
I,55: The child of thy bowels, he shall behold them. I,56: Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child…
“Child of thy bowels" seems to imply a child not born by normal means. Set was a child who ripped himself out through Nwt’s stomach fully developed. Set was also not from the East or West, being associated with the South and North because of the circumpolar stars and Upper Egypt. He’s also not from an expected house, likely the most expected would be the house of Osiris, the old Aeon god.
I,61: But to love me is better than all things: if under the night-stars in the desert thou…
Under the night sky in the desert – the two realms of Set. This imagery is used consistently throughout the text, especially in the context of worshiping Nwt. The night sky and the desert – the mother star goddess and the god of the desert, Set.
II,2: … Khabs is the name of my House.
Khabs are the stars. Of course, many gods resided in the stars, not just Set. But it’s interesting when connected to everything else.
II,5: Behold! the rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright."
Not black as in evil or bad, but as in Stellar! In the Pyramid Texts it is written:
"Be gone, those who Osiris guards. Do not let Osiris come in his evil coming, do not open your arms for him, let him be gone at once. Let him be gone. Do not let Horus the Younger come in his evil coming, do not open your arms for him, let him go to the other gods."
II,6: I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.
Set was associated with both birth and death, and especially immortality of the soul. Before the later Solar/Agricultural Traditions made him a god of abortions and such, he was a protector of pregnant women and their children. He was a benevolent psychopomp, helping the dead reach the afterlife in the earliest traditions, and later becoming a god of both kings and common people alike. Set further gave life back to Egypt following Atenism, in the form of the 19th dynasty, with Rameses II even tearing down a Temple of Aten and replacing it with one of Set.
Another connection is that in Gnosticism, Seth as the third son of Adam was a Gnostic guide.
II,8: Who worshipped Heru-pa-kraath have worshipped me...
Before Set was demonized he and Horus made two parts of a whole, they were worshiped in their totality.
II,11: I see thee hate the hand & the pen; but I am stronger.
The strength of the speaker, Aiwass, is mentioned many times throughout the book. Set was a god of immense strength of course. In the Pyramid Texts he’s often the very embodiment and personification of the dead individual’s strength. This is one of many times Aiwass mentions that Crowley hates what he was writing, a truth Crowley would continue to prove throughout his life as he denied the Stellar aspects of the text.
II,15: For I am perfect, being Not; and my number is nine by the fools; but with the just I am eight, and one in eight: Which is vital, for I am none indeed. The Empress and the King are not of me; for there is a further secret.
Another reference to a secret identity and another number riddle. Could Set be here?
Set = 1+9+5+2+0=17
8+1+8=17
In a standard Egyptian tarot, we’d likely expect Isis and Osiris to be the Empress and King, as these are how Egyptian mythology is generally viewed to modern occultism. This was certainly how Crowley was initiated. Set is not of them, which he already stated in chapter 1. It is reinforced that this fact is vital. Another interesting note is that Set is the Outsider, the “nobody” or No One.
II,21: Think not, o king, upon that lie: That Thou Must Die: verily thou shalt not die, but live. Now let it be understood: If the body of the King dissolve, he shall remain in pure ecstasy for ever. Nuit! Hadit! Ra-Hoor-Khuit! The Sun, Strength & Sight, Light; these are for the servants of the Star & the Snake. II,22: I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any god shall deny thee for this.
The king in the Pyramid Texts “survived the day of their death as Set survived the day of his.” Set was explicitly important to the king becoming a deity in the afterlife, within the Circumpolar Stars. We then get references to the Serpent of Genesis. The very fall of the Serpent likely references the “fall" of alpha Draconis as the pole star as it shifted to Polaris. As Grant said, it was the fall of the circumpolar stars which led to the creation of Hell. So again, Aiwass directly identifies himself with the Circumpolar Stars, as in I:24. Set has also been argued to be a god of drunkenness, most famously by Te Velde, as well as lust. This "folly against self" is the RHP view of selfhood, ironically what mainstream Thelema preaches.
II,23: I am alone: there is no god where I am.
Set as the Circumpolar Stars is something separate from the other gods. While they move and cycle across the sky, Set remains fixed, always visible year round. This is yet another direct identification of the speaker with Set and his stars.
II,25: Ye are against the people, O my chosen!
An outcast, a foreigner, like Set. A defied king, like the Setian afterlife.
II,39: A feast for Tahuti and the child of the Prophet--secret, O Prophet! 40. A feast for the Supreme Ritual, and a feast for the Equinox of the Gods.
Thoth was the child of Set and Horus, the former acting as the female. He stood with Set against Osiris in the Pyramid Texts. The equinox of the gods is the changing of the pole star, rules over by Set of course.
II,58: Yea! deem not of change: ye shall be as ye are, & not other. Therefore the kings of the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve…
Set was originally key to the king’s immortality during the time of the Pyramid Texts.
II,76: 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L
Ah the infamous cipher. Could Set be a solution? I used A=1, Z=26 here
4+6+3+8+1+2+11+2+4+1+12+7+13+15+18+3+25+24+24+89+18+16+19+20+15+22+1+12 = 395
3+9+5 = 17
Set = 1+9+5+2+0 = 17
III,3+: 3. Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance.
Ra was not God of War and Vengeance. Set was however, and Ra even relied on Set to defeat the serpent of chaos, Apep, every night.
III,17: Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms.
If the individual is a star, a god, what is there to fear? What could have power over the true self?
From the Pyramid Texts:
"(N) will not be resisted at any place he goes, (N) will not be hindered at any place he desires to be. (N)’s step is great, that he may traverse the sky. He is not seized by the earth gods, he is not rejected by the planets. Let the two doors of heaven open to him..."
III,22: The other images group around me to support me: let all be worshipped, for they shall cluster to exalt me…
Let us return to the Was Scepter on the Stele of Revealing. Set has been right there the whole time, “I, the Was". On the stele the Was is the most central deity, with Ra, Horus, and Nwt gathering around it.
III,34: But your holy place shall be untouched throughout the centuries: though with fire and sword it be burnt down & shattered, yet an invisible house there standeth, and shall stand until the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise and the doublewanded one assume my throne and place. Another prophet shall arise, and bring fresh fever from the skies; another woman shall awake the lust & worship of the Snake; another soul of god and beast shall mingle in the globed priest; another sacrifice shall stain the tomb; another king shall reign; and blessing no longer be poured To the Hawk-headed mystical Lord!
The house that stands, the imperishable house which can remain even if the physical temple to it is burned down, these clearly are the North stars. The verses even go on to discuss the precession of the equinox, the changing of the reigning pole star over the ages. In the end, the verse continues, people will actually cease worshiping the hawk-headed mystical god – Horus.
Credit to this man!
III,70: I am the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence & of Strength; my nemyss shrouds the night-blue sky.
Horus is the lord of the day, not of the night blue sky. However, it is also known that Set could be identified as a hawk or hawk-headed man, same as Horus. He was clearly related to strength, and symbolically as the outcast, having been driven from thought for centuries, he can be related to silence as well.
III,74: There is a splendour in my name hidden and glorious, as the Sun of midnight is ever the son.
In the closing verses of the book the “hidden” name is referenced one final time. The name is compared to the “Sun of midnight”, who was “ever the son”. As we well know by now, the “Sun” of midnight is Set and the pole star, and the “son” of Nwt is Set as well.
[1] Stele of Revealing, Cairo A 9422 (Bulaq 666) – photographer unknown, showing Nwt, Horus, and Ra holding a Was Scepter, obtained from Wikipedia (public domain) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele_of_Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu#/media/File:Stelae_of_Ankh-af-na-khonsu.jpg
[2] (The Law is for All, pg. 24)