(Aleister Crowley's drawing of Coronzon at lunch)

Coronzon (more commonly, but perhaps less correctly, spelled Choronzon) is an angelic being first named in the transcripts of the conversations that took place between the Elizabethan mathematician and magician Dr. John Dee and the hierarchy of spiritual beings who identified themselves as the angels that had instructed the patriarch Enoch in the holy magic of God.

These angelic conversations occurred between the years 1582 and 1587, through the mediumship of Dee's hired crystal scryer, the alchemist Edward Kelley. One or more times a week Kelley, under Dee's guidance, established communication with the Enochian angels in a ritual setting, using a globe of natural rock crystal as his instrument. He described to Dee what he saw in the crystal. Dee asked questions of the angels, and Kelley reported their replies verbatim. Dee transcribed both his questions, and the responses transmitted through Kelley, in a set of diaries. A large portion of this transcript has survived. Much of the most important material was reprinted in Meric Casaubon's A True and Faithful Relation, published in London in 1659.

The primary reference to Coronzon (so the name is spelled in Casaubon's book) occurs on page 92 of a True and Faithful Relation. It is spoken to John Dee by the archangel Gabriel, or at least by an Enochian spirit that identifies itself as the archangel Gabriel. Since this passage is essential to any understanding of the nature of Coronzon, I will quote it:

Man in his Creation, being made an Innocent, was also authorised and made partaker of the Power and Spirit of God: whereby he not onely did know all things under his Creation and spoke of them properly, naming them as they were: but also was partaker of our presence and society, yea a speaker of the mysteries of God; yea, with God himself: so that in innocency the power of his partakers with God, and us his good Angels, was exalted, and so became holy in the sight of God until that Coronzon (for so is the true name of that mighty Devil) envying his felicity, and perceiving that the substance of his lesser part was frail and unperfect in respect of his pure Esse, began to assail him, and so prevailed: that offending so became accursed in the sight of God; and so lost the Garden of felicity, the judgement of his understanding: but not utterly the favour of God, and was driven forth (as your Scriptures record) unto the Earth which was covered with brambles: where being as dumb, and not able to speak, he began to learn of necessity the Language which thou, E[dward] K[elley] callest Hebrew, and yet not that Hebrew amongst you: in the which he uttered and delivered to his posterity, the nearest knowledge he had of God his Creatures: and from his own self divided his speech into three parts, twelve, three, and seven: the number whereof remaineth, but the true forms and pronunciations want; and therefore is not of that force that it was in his own dignity, much lesse to be compared with this that we deliver, which Adam verily spake in innocency, and was never uttered nor disclosed to man since till now, wherein the power of God must work, and wisdom in her true kind be delivered: which are not to be spoken in any other thing, neither to be talked of with mans imaginations; for as this Work and Gift is of God, which is all power, so doth he open it in a tongue of power, to the intent that the proportions may agree in themselves; for it is written, Wisdom sitteth an Hill, and beholdeth the four Winds, and girdeth her self together as the brightnesse of the morning, which is visited with a few, and dwelleth alone as though she were a Widow.

This enormously important quotation deserves a brief examination in general, before referring to its significance for Coronzon. Gabriel declares that the early biblical description of Man and his expulsion from the Garden in the land of Eden is essentially correct. In the beginning Man was free of sin -- innocent -- and by virtue of this innocence was able to converse not only with the angels of God, but with God directly. He knew all creatures and things in the Garden and was able to name them accurately because he spoke in the language of the angels themselves, and this language contains no error. Coronzon envied Man's happiness and perceived that Man's "lesser part" was weak and imperfect -- by this, humanity's tendency to sexual desire is intended by the angel. However, Man's pure essence was perfect, and continues to be perfect. The Garden of Eden is described in metaphorical terms, as a "Garden of felicity." Having been induced to sin by Coronzon in a manner not described by Gabriel, Man is driven into the "Earth which was covered with brambles."

Part of the curse of this expulsion, not explicitly mentioned in the corresponding section of the Book of Genesis, is the loss of the holy language of the angels. The revelation of Gabriel that Man spoke this angelic language in the Garden explains how, as described in Genesis, Adam was able to accurately name all the beasts and birds, and through the magic power of their true names, to command them.

Perhaps the greatest consequence of the deceit of Coronzon that resulted in Man's expulsion was the loss of the angelic language. Man was rendered "as dumb, and not able to speak" and of necessity began to learn a new less perfect language in order to express his thoughts and needs. This new language was not Hebrew, since it did not have the same sounds or shapes of the written letters of Hebrew. However, as Gabriel reveals, the first language of Man after the Fall from Grace shared the same division of letters that occurs in modern Hebrew: three Mother letters, seven Single letters, and twelve Double letters. This division has great significance in magic.

Gabriel declares that the Enochian angels will restore to mankind through Dee and Kelley the angelic language "which Adam verily spake in innocency, and was never uttered nor disclosed to man since till now."

This language is incredibly potent. It is the language "wherein the power of God must work, and wisdom in her true kind be delivered: which are not to be spoken of in any other thing, neither to be talked of with mans imaginations."

The Enochian language is in this sense not only the ideal medium of holy mysteries and truths, but the only medium through which these mysteries and truths can be conveyed. Just as a higher mathematical concept, such as the theory of relativity, cannot be conveyed in ordinary language, so is it impossible to convey the higher wisdom of God in ordinary language. It simply cannot be done. Ordinary language is unsuited to embody higher truth. This is the enormous importance of the Enochian language intimated by the archangel Gabriel. And this is the precious "Work and Gift of God" stolen from Man by Coronzon -- at least, in the version of the tale transmitted to Dee and Kelley by Gabriel.

Wisdom is used by Gabriel as another title for Chokmah, the second Sephirah on the Tree of Life. Notice that when Man is cast out, he is said by Gabriel to have "lost the Garden of felicity, the judgement of his understanding." Understanding is the English title for the Binah, the third Sephirah, and Judgement a title for Geburah, the fifth Sephirah. Understanding is located at the top of the Left Pillar of the Tree, and Judgement also on the Left Pillar, directly below it. When the power of Wisdom (Chokmah) on the Right Pillar of the Tree was cut off by God -- an act that took the form of rendering Man dumb, unable to speak or comprehend the angelic language -- the wellspring that fed Understanding (Binah) ceased to flow, and as a result, Man lost the power of true and considered Judgement (Geburah). His judgement became unbalanced and reckless, and he fell prey to his lower emotions and impulses.

The "four winds" mentioned by Gabriel that surround Wisdom are the four archangels of the elements, Michael (Fire), Gabriel (Water), Raphael (Air) and Uriel (Earth). They are winds because the speak with the angelic language, and its power and authority, and of course because they are winged. They are mentioned as a group in the Book of Enoch in connection with the fallen Watchers who sin with the daughters of Man, where these four archangels are primary servants and agents of God's judgement.

It is clear from the words of Gabriel to John Dee that Coronzon is to be regarded as synonymous with the Serpent described in Genesis. This Serpent is almost always treated as the same as fallen Lucifer, later to be known as Satan, the archangel who led a rebellion in heaven, and for this crime was cast down by God into an Abyss or Pit. Curiously, in Gabriel's account of the Fall of Man, Adam's name is not used, and Eve is not mentioned in any way. We might regard Gabriel's references to Man as signifying mankind or the human race, which would imply more than two human beings in the Garden at the time of the Fall. The myth of Lilith, Adam's wife before Eve, supports such a speculation, although Lilith is often regarded as a demonic spirit rather than a human being. Perhaps there was a colony of human beings in the Garden.

Gabriel, who is a servant and messenger of God, naturally portrayed Coronzon as envious and spiteful of the happiness of Man in the Garden, for which reason the Serpent "began to assail him, and so prevailed." Gabriel is transmitting the standard propaganda of heaven. But if you actually look at Genesis, you find that the Serpent merely pointed out to Eve that God was deceiving her about the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (see Genesis 3:1-7). God stated that if Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they would die; the Serpent told Eve that she would not die, but would become "as gods, knowing good and evil." And when Eve and later Adam ate the fruit, this is exactly what happened. God lied. The Serpent told the truth.

It was this obvious, but strangely, seldom acknowledged, truth, that led the Gnostics, who began as serpent worshippers, to present the Serpent in the Garden as the savior of mankind, the benevolent being who began the process by which mankind would be restored to their rightful status as gods. The Gnostics viewed the Hebrew God of Genesis as a kind of malicious evil demon who had kept Man in a state of ignorance in the prison of the Garden so that Man would not realize his own innate divinity, and at the same moment recognize that he was superior to his spiteful master.

How we regard Coronzon thus depends on how we regard the Serpent of Genesis. If we are good, unquestioning Christians and Jews, we will look upon this Serpent as the persecutor of mankind, the view we have been commanded to accept in Scripture and by the leaders of religion. But if we are Hermetics or Gnostics, or even more open-minded Kabbalists, we may suspect that the Gnostic opinion has virtue, and that the Serpent initiated the reformation and salvation of mankind that will ultimately result in the ascent of humanity to the status of gods (the Elohim), a status that the jealous God of the Old Testament concealed from mankind at our time of origin.

Once we understand that the Enochian angels viewed Coronzon as equivalent to Lucifer or Satan, we can learn something about the nature of Coronzon by studying the references to the Devil or the Old Serpent that occur in the Bible. A very interesting reference is found in the Book of Revelation: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:7-9).

The Serpent of Genesis is identified as the Devil or Satan. Moreover, the Serpent is said to be a Dragon. This is not as strange as might first appear. In past times, dragons and serpents were often confused together -- a great snake such as a python was called a dragon by the Romans, for example. Dragons were sometimes called "worms" in ancient Anglo-Saxon literature. Another important point to gather from the quote above is that the Old Serpent is identified with the leader of the angelic rebellion, Lucifer, the Light-bearer, second only to God in his glory.

The Bible has little to report about the Fall of the Angels. Fortunately, the matter is treated in detail in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. In this work the leader of the rebellious angels is named Semjaza, or elsewhere, Azazel. The second name is more usually accepted as the leader of the rebellious Watchers, but the first may be older. The number of rebellious angels is given as 200, but the list of the leaders numbers 21. Since each leader presides over ten lesser lieutenants (20 X 10 = 200), one angel must be regarded as the supreme leader of all. This one would be equivalent to Coronzon. It is interesting in the context of Enochian magic that in the Book of Enoch the term Watchers is applied to these angels. They are also characterized as stars.

The Watchers look down from heaven upon the daughters of mankind, and desire them for their beauty. "And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' They sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it."

Descending to earth, the Watchers take mortal women as their mates, and engender upon them powerful offspring. "And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind."

Elsewhere these giants are described as evil spirits. "And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies, because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called... And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against women, because they have proceeded from them."

In gratitude, as a kind of payment for services rendered, the Watchers teach mankind all types of arts and sciences that have been forbidden by God, such as the arts of warfare, cosmetics, astrology, metal-working, and magic. Each of the leaders of tens teaches a different set of arts or sciences. In a sense, the Watchers are responsible for our technological society, since their teachings served as the basis for modern science. This being so, modern society may justly be described as Satanic, because it is the gift of Semjaza, or Coronzon, to the daughters of Man. Whether or not technology is a good thing or a bad thing is another question, but we enjoy the fruits of the legacy of the fallen Watchers.

Just as Prometheus was severely punished by Zeus for daring to give the gift of fire to mankind, so were the Watchers punished by God, who instructs the archangel Michael: "Go bind Semjaza and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness [i.e. during their menstrual cycle]. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: and to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind."

This punishment seems a little too harsh to Michael. He talks it over with the archangel Raphael, who agrees with him, but when the critical moment arrives to speak in behalf of the Watchers, both angels remain silent in fear of God's wrath. "And it came to pass when he stood before the Lord of Spirits, Michael said thus to Raphael: 'I will not take their part under the eye of the Lord; for the Lord of Spirits has been angry with them because they do as if they were the Lord. Therefore all that is hidden shall come upon them for ever and ever; for neither angel nor man shall have his portion in it, but alone they have received their judgement for ever and ever."

In the Enochian Key known as the Call of the Thirty Aethyrs, Coronzon is referred to under the descriptive title "Him That Is Fallen," which is equated with the Enochian words Teloc-vovim. Coronzon is the proper name of the fallen leader of the Watchers, whereas Teloc-vovim is a title similar to those applied to God, such as Lord of Hosts. In the Eighth Key, reference is made to the "stooping dragon." This is almost certainly another title for Coronzon, who stoops in the way that a falcon stoops upon its prey, falling like a bolt of lightning from the heavens. In Enochian it translates as Abai-vovin. Note the similarity between the endings of both titles. They are probably the same word -- vovim or vovin is translated by Laycock in his Complete Enochian Dictionary as "dragon." The Enochian word teloc means "death." Therefore a more accurate meaning for Teloc-vovim is the Death Dragon, or perhaps the Slaying Dragon.

Aleister Crowley linked Coronzon to the Tenth Aethyr of Enochian magic. The aethyrs (or aethers or ethers or airs) are dimensions or worlds of spirit arranged in a series of concentric shells, like Ukrainian nesting dolls. The outermost sphere is numbered 1, and the innermost that is next to the earthly sphere of the four elements is numbered 30. One Call is used to invoke the spirits of all the aethyrs, but the name of each aethyr is inserted into the first sentence of this invocation to differentiate it. The name of the Tenth Aethyr is ZAX. It is unique in that it is associated with the spirit names that lie upon the Black Cross of the Great Tablet of the Watchtowers. All the other Aethyrs are linked to spirit names that appear within one of the four Watchtowers on the quarters of the Great Table -- the names linked with ZAX lie outside the Watchtowers. They are Lexarph, Comanan and Tabitom. It is interesting that this particular Air rules over the nation of Germany, in view of the attempt by the Nazis to exterminate the Jews during the Second World War.

In 1909, while on a walking tour of Algeria in northern Africa, Crowley took up a project he had begun in 1900 in Mexico -- the invocation of the Thirty Enochian Aethyrs. While in Mexico he had procured through ritual means psychic visions of the last two Aethyrs, numbers Thirty and Twenty-nine. Now, nine years later, he took up where he had left off with an invocation to the Twenty-eighth Aethyr. Israel Regardie wrote concerning this inspiration of Crowley's to begin again this ambitious project: "It is not at all clear how the idea came to him, but in 1909, during a walk through the desert with Frater O. V. (Victor Neuburg) a Probationer of the A[rgenteum] A[strum], a Hand suddenly smote its lightning into his heart at Aumale, and he knew that now, that very day, he must take up "the Vision and the Voice" from the point where he had laid it down in 1900" (Crowley, The Vision and the Voice, introduced and explained by Israel Regardie. Dallas: Sangreal Foundation, 1972, page 5). This episode in Crowley's life is described in many places, notably in chapter 66 of Crowley's autobiography The Confessions of Aleister Crowley (London: Arkana, 1989, pages 611-24).

Aumale is a small town in Algeria around 60 miles or so inland from Algiers, in a mountainous desert region -- the elevation is between three thousand and six thousand feet above sea level in that part of the country. It must have been a physically demanding undertaking to go into the desert and invoke spirits, but the desert places of the world have always been the best places to communicate with spirits of dubious origins.

Crowley fancied himself a reincarnation of Edward Kelley, whom he idolized, insofar as Crowley was capable of placing any historical figure on a pedestal. Victor Neuberg, a strange masochistic follower of Crowley, was regarded by Crowley as fulfilling the role of John Dee, who wrote down the original Enochian communications dictated by Kelley. Crowley never understood that the Enochian communications were focused entirely upon John Dee, or that in the eyes of the angels Kelley was merely a psychic telephone through which they could talk to Dee. Crowley placed all importance in Kelley, and regarded Dee with the same contempt that he heaped upon his own poor follower, Neuberg. This distortion of the true relationship between Dee, Kelley and the angels says a great deal about Frater Perdurabo's ego, his vanity, and the limitations of his mind.

Since Crowley's vision of the Tenth Aethyr reveals a great deal about his personal concept of Coronzon (spelled by him Choronzon), I will quote the text of the vision in full. It was first published in 1911 in the supplement to issue 5 of volume 1 of Crowley's periodical The Equinox. It may be of some minor interest that the name "Coronzon" appears at the bottom of page 92, the page facing page 93 of Casaubon's True and Faithful Relation, and that the vision of the Tenth Aethyr begins just before page 93 of the supplement to Vol. 1, number 5 of The Equinox, but of course the scientifically minded reader will see in this nothing more than a coincidence.

The Cry of the 10th Aethyr, Which is Called ZAX

There is no being in the outermost Abyss, but constant forms come forth from the nothingness of it.

Then the Devil of the Aethyr, that mighty devil Choronzon, crieth aloud, Zazas, Zazas, Nasatanada Zasas.

I am the Master of Form, and from me all forms proceed.

I am I. I have shut myself up from the spendthrifts, my gold is safe in my treasure-chamber, and I have made every living thing my concubine, and none shall touch them, save only I. And yet I am scorched, even while I shiver in the wind. He hateth me and tormenteth me. He would have stolen me from myself, but I shut myself up and mock at him, even while he plagueth me. From me come leprosy and pox and plague and cancer and cholera and the falling sickness. Ah! I will reach up to the knees of the Most High, and tear his phallus with my teeth, and I will bray his testicles in a mortar, and make poison thereof, to slay the sons of men.

(Here the Spirit stimulated the voice of Frater P[edurabo], which also appeared to come from his station and not from the triangle.)

I don't think I can get any more; I think that's all there is.

(The Frater was seated in a secret place covered completely by a black robe, in the position called the "Thunderbolt". He did not move or speak during the ceremony.)

Next the Scribe was hallucinated, believing that before him was a beautiful courtesan whom previously he had loved in Paris. Now, she wooed him with soft words and glances, but he knew these things for delusions of the devil, and he would not leave the circle.

The demon then laughed wildly and loud.

(Upon the Scribe threatening him, the Demon proceeded, after a short delay.)

They have called me the God of laughter, and I laugh when I will slay. And they have thought that I could not smile, but I smile upon whom I would seduce. O inviolable one, that canst not be tempted. If thou canst command me by the power of the Most High, know that I did indeed tempt thee, and it repenteth me. I bow myself humbly before the great and terrible names whereby thou hast conjured and constrained me. But thy name is mercy, and I cry aloud for pardon. Let me come and put my head beneath thy feet, that I may serve thee. For if thou commandest me to obedience in the Holy names, I cannot swerve therefrom, for their first whispering is greater than the noise of all my temptests. Bid me therefore come unto thee upon my hands and knees that I may adore thee, and partake of thy forgiveness. Is not thy mercy infinite?

(Here Choronzon attempts to seduce the Scribe by appealing to his pride.

But the Scribe refused to be tempted, and commanded the demon to continue with the Aethyr.

There was again a short delay.)

Choronzon hath no form, because he is the maker of all form; and so rapidly he changeth from one to the other as he may best think fit to seduce those whom he hateth, the servants of the Most High.

Thus taketh he the form of a beautiful woman, or of a wise and holy man, or of a serpent that writheth upon the earth ready to sting.

And, because he is himself, therefore he is no self; the terror of darkness, and the blindness of night, and the deafness of the adder, and the tastelessness of stale and stagnant water, and the black fire of hatred, and the udders of the Cat of slime; not one thing, but many things. Yet, with all that, his torment is eternal. The sun burns him as he writhes naked upon the sands of hell, and the wind cuts him bitterly to the bone, a harsh dry wind, so that he is sore athirst. Give unto me, I pray thee, one drop of water from the pure springs of Paradise, that I may quench my thirst.

(The Scribe refused.)

Sprinkle water upon my head. I can hardly go on.

(This last was spoken from the triangle in the natural voice of the Frater, which Choronzon again simulated. But he did not succeed in taking the Frater's form -- which was absurd!

The Scribe resisted the appeal to his pity, and conjured the demon to proceed by the names of the Most High. Choronzon attempted also to seduce the faithfulness of the Scribe. A long colloquy ensued. The Scribe cursed him by the Holy Names of God, and the power of the Pentagram.)

I feed upon the names of the Most High. I churn them in my jaws, and I void them from my fundament. I fear not the power of the Pentagram, for I am the Master of the Triangle. My name is three hundred and thirty and three, and that is thrice one. Be vigilant, therefore, for I warn thee that I am about to deceive thee. I shall say words that thou wilt take to be the cry of the Aethyr, and thou wilt write them down, thinking them to be great secrets of Magick power, and they will be only my jesting with thee.

(Here the Scribe invoked the Angels, and the Holy Guardian Angel of the Frater P. . . . The demon replied:)

I know the name of the Angel of thee and thy brother P. . . ., and all thy dealings with him are but a cloak for thy filthy sorceries.

(Here the Scribe averred that he knew more than the demon, and so feared him not, and ordered the demon to proceed.)

Thou canst tell me naught that I know not, for in me is all Knowledge: Knowledge is my name. Is not the head of the great Serpent arisen into Knowledge?

(Here the Scribe again commanded Choronzon to continue with the call.)

Know thou that there is no Cry in the tenth Aethyr like unto the other Cries, for Choronzon is Dispersion, and cannot fix his mind upon any one thing for any length of time. Thou canst master him in argument, O talkative one; thou wast commanded, wast thou not, to talk to Choronzon? He sought not to enter the circle, or to leave the triangle, yet thou didst prate of all these things.

(Here the Scribe threatened the demon with anger and pain and hell. The demon replied:)

Thinkest thou, O fool, that there is any anger and any pain that I am not, or any hell but this my spirit?

Images, images, images, all without control, all without reason. The malice of Choronzon is not the malice of a being; it is the quality of malice, because he that boasteth himself "I am I", hath in truth no self, and these are they that are fallen under my power, the slaves of the Blind One that boasted himself to be the Enlightened One. For there is no centre, nay, nothing but Dispersion.

Woe, woe, woe, threefold to him that is led away by talk, O talkative One.

O thou that hast written two-and-thirty books of Wisdom, and art more stupid than an owl, by thine own talk is thy vigilance wearied, and by my talk art thou befooled and tricked, O thou that sayest that thou shalt endure. Knowest thou how nigh thou art to destruction? For thou that art the Scribe hast not the understanding that alone availeth against Choronzon. And wert thou not protected by the Holy Names of God and the circle, I would rush upon thee and tear thee. For when I made myself like unto a beautiful woman, if thou hadst come to me, I would have rotted thy body with the pox, and thy liver with cancer, and I would have torn off thy testicles with my teeth. And if I had seduced thy pride, and thou hadst bidden me to come into the circle, I would have trampled thee under foot, and for a thousand years shouldst thou have been but one of the tape-worms that is in me. And if I had seduced thy pity, and thou hadst poured one drop of water without the circle, then would I have blasted thee with flame. But I was not able to prevail against thee.

How beautiful are the shadows of the ripples of the sand!

Would God that I were dead.

For know that I am proud and revengeful and lascivious, and I prate even as thou. For even as I walked among the Sons of God, I heard it said that P. . . . could both will and know, and might learn at length to dare, but that to keep silence he should never learn. O thou that art so ready to speak, so slow to watch, thou art delivered over unto my power for this. And now one word was necessary unto me, and I could not speak it. I behold the beauty of the earth in her desolation, and greater far is mine, who sought to be my naked self. Knowest thou that in my soul is utmost fear? And such is my force and my cunning, that a hundred times have I been ready to leap, and for fear have missed. And a thousand times am I baulked by them of the City of the Pyramids, that set snares for my feet. More knowledge have I than the Most High, but my will is broken, and my fierceness is marred by fear, and I must speak, speak, speak, millions of mad voices in my brain.

With a heart of furious fancies,
Whereof I am Commander,
With a burning spear
And a horse of Air
To the wilderness I wander.

(The idea was to keep the Scribe busy writing, so as to spring upon him. For, while the Scribe talked, Choronzon had thrown sand into the circle, and filled it up. But Choronzon could not think fast and continuously, and so resorted to the device of quotation.

The Scribe had written two or three words of "Tom o'Bedlam," when Choronzon sprang within the circle (that part of the circumference of which that was nearest to him he had been filling up with sand all this time), and leaped upon the Scribe, throwing him to the earth. The conflict took place within the circle. The Scribe called upon Tetragrammaton, and succeeded in compelling Choronzon to return into his triangle. By dint of anger and of threatening him with the Magick Staff did he accomplish this. He then repaired the circle. The discomfited demon now continued:)

All is dispersion. These are the qualities of things.

The tenth Aethyr is the world of adjectives, and there is no substance therein.

(Now returneth the beautiful woman who had before tempted the Scribe. She prevailed not.)

I am afraid of sunset, for Tum is more terrible than Ra, and Khephra the Beetle is greater than the Lion Mau.

I am a-cold.

(Here Choronzon wanted to leave the triangle to obtain wherewith to cover his nakedness. The Scribe refused the request, threatening the demon. After a while the latter continued:)

I am commanded, why I know not, by him that speaketh. Were it thou, thou little fool, I would tear thee limb from limb. I would bite off thine ears and nose before I began with thee. I would take thy guts for fiddle-strings at the Black Sabbath.

Thou didst make a great fight there in the circle; thou art a goodly warrior!

(Then did the demon laugh loudly. The Scribe said: Thou canst not harm one hair of my head.)

I will pull out every hair of thy head, every hair of thy body, every hair of thy soul, one by one.

(Then said the Scribe: Thou hast no power.)

Yea, verily I have power over thee, for thou hast taken the Oath, and art bound unto the White Brothers, and therefore have I the power to torture thee so long as thou shalt be.

(Then said the Scribe unto him: Thou liest.)

Ask of thy brother P. . . ., and he shall tell thee if I lie!

(This the Scribe refused to do, saying that it was no concern of the demon's.)

I have prevailed against the Kingdom of the Father, and befouled his beard; and I have prevailed against the Kingdom of the Son, and torn off his Phallus; but against the Kingdom of the Holy Ghost shall I strive and not prevail. The three slain doves are my threefold blasphemy against him; but their blood shall make fertile the sand, and I writhe in blackness and horror of hate, and prevail not.

(Then the demon tried to make the Scribe laugh at Magick, and to think that it was all rubbish, that he might deny the names of God that he had invoked to protect him; which, if he had doubted but for an instant, he had leapt upon him, and gnawed through his spine at the neck.

Choronzon succeed not in his design.)

In this Aethyr is neither beginning nor end, for it is all hotch-potch, because it is of the wicked on earth and the damned in hell. And so long as it be hotch-potch, it mattereth little what may be written by the sea-green incorruptible Scribe.

The horror of it will be given in another place and time, and through another Seer, and that Seer shall be slain as a result of his revealing. But the present Seer, who is not P. . . ., seeth not the horror, because he is shut up, and hath no name.

(Now was there some further parleying betwixt the demon and the Scribe, concerning the departure and the writing of the word, the Scribe not knowing if it were meet that the demon should depart.

Then the Seer took the Holy Ring, and wrote the name BABALON, that is victory over Choronzon, and he was no more manifest.)

(This cry was obtained on Dec. 6, 1909, between 2 and 4.15 p.m., in a lonely valley of fine sand, in the desert near Bou-Saada. The Aethyr was edited and revised on the following day.)

After the conclusion of the Ceremony, a great fire was kindled to purify the place, and the Circle and Triangle were destroyed.

NOTE BY SCRIBE

Almost from the beginning of the ceremony was the Scribe overshadowed, and he spoke as it were in spite of himself, remembering afterwards scarcely a word of his speeches, some of which were long and seemingly eloquent.

All the time he had a sense of being protected from Choronzon, and this sense of security prevented his knowing fear.

Several times did the Scribe threaten to put a curse upon the demon; but ever, before he uttered the words of the curse, did the demon obey him. For himself, he knoweth not the words of the curse.

Also is it meet to record in this place that the Scribe several times whistled in a Magical manner, which never before had he attempted, and the demon was apparently much discomforted thereat.

Now knoweth the Scribe that he was wrong in holding much converse with the demon; for Choronzon, in the confusion and chaos of his thought, is much terrified by silence. And by silence can he be brought to obey.

For cunningly doth he talk of many things, going from subject to subject, and thus he misleadeth the wary into argument with him. And though Choronzon be easily beaten in argument, yet, by disturbing the attention of him who would command him, doth he gain the victory.

For Choronzon feareth of all things concentration and silence: he therefore who would command him should will in silence: thus is he brought to obey.

This the Scribe knoweth; for that since the obtaining of the Accursed Tenth Aethyr, he hath held converse with Choronzon. And unexpectedly did he obtain the information he sought after having long refused to answer the demon's speeches.

Choronzon is dispersion; and such is his fear of concentration that he will obey rather than be subjected to it, or even behold it in another.

The account of the further dealings of Choronzon with the Scribe will be found in the Record of Omnia Vincam.

In his autobiography Crowley wrote concerning his concept of the nature of Coronzon: "The name of the Dweller in the Abyss is Choronzon, but he is not really an individual. The Abyss is empty of being; it is filled with all possible forms, each equally inane, each therefore evil in the only true sense of the word -- that is, meaningless, but malignant, in so far as it craves to become real" (Confessions, page 623).

To understand this surprising analysis, you must realize that for Crowley, the Abyss did not lie beneath the lowest Sephirah, Malkuth, the sphere of the four elements, but was a gulf that divided the Tree of the Sephiroth just below the three highest spheres, known collectively as the Supernals. To reach the Supernals in a spiritual sense, it was necessary for the seeker to cross the Abyss. The Abyss may be entered through the doorway of the eleventh quasi-Sephirah, Daath, located just below the Supernals on the Middle Pillar of the Tree.

Kenneth Grant has treated the connection of the realm of Coronzon with Daath at length in his book Nightside of Eden, which is to a large extent a commentary and expansion on an essay by Crowley titled Liber CCXXXI, first published in 1912 in volume 1, issue 7 of Crowley's periodical The Equinox. Grant writes about this essay: "The present work, therefore, which is based upon an extremely sinister grimoire known as Liber 231, continues to transmit the 93 Current as revived by Crowley in the twentieth century" (Nightside of Eden, page xii). In a footnote he adds: "The number 231 is the sum of the numbers of the Tarot Cards, 0-21; it is, therefore, the extension of the number 22. Liber 231 (or CCXXXI as it is more usually designated) treats of the 22 Atus of Thoth as applied to the 22 Paths of the Tree of Life, and the 22 cells of the Qliphoth. Crowley has treated openly of the Atus (see The Book of Thoth), but of the 22 Cells of the Qliphoth and the Tunnels of Set beneath the Paths, he did not write. The present book therefore completes the work he left unfinished" (Ibid.).

Set is the Egyptian god of evil and darkness, one of whose forms is that of a great serpent. He is therefore another name of the Death Dragon, Coronzon.

Below is a table of Qliphothic sigils corresponding to the 22 Hebrew letters, the 22 Tarot trumps, and the 22 channels on the Tree of the Sephiroth. It was presented by Crowley as part of his Liber CCXXXI, and published in The Equinox, volume 1, issue 7. This table and its Qliphothic spirits provides the structure for Part Two of Kenneth Grant's Nightside of Eden. It was reproduced by Grant on page 138 of that work above the title "The Sigils of the 22 Sentinels of the Tunnels of Set."

(sigils of the Qliphoth, from Crowley's Equinox, 1912)

About the nature of the eleventh false Sephirah, Daath, Gareth Knight observed:

The Abyss is the void between force and form and the place where the transmutation takes place is the 'hidden' Sephirah Daath --meaning Knowledge. The Mysteries of Daath are profound and were little touched upon in earlier writings on the Qabalah. The Sephirah has no number allocated to it and by Knowledge is meant not so much what we understand by the word, but the word in its biblical usage of sexual union, only here the meaning is a kind of Divine Union where differing planes of being impact and there is a resultant change of state brought to birth -- a transformation or transmutation of power. (Gareth Knight, A Practical Guide To Qabalistic Symbolism. New York: Weiser, 1980, pages 32-3)

You will remember the words of the archangel Gabriel, spoken to John Dee through the mouth of his seer Kelley, regarding the division of Binah (Understanding) from Geburah (Judgement). The Abyss and its gateway Daath lie between the level of Binah and the lower level of Geburah on the Tree. Knowledge is the union of Chokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding), but when the wellspring of Chokmah is cut off, knowledge cannot result, and judgement must be unbalanced. There is no passage across the Abyss. Wisdom remains isolated upon the crown of the hill, a "widow" in the terminology of Gabriel, protected by the four winds, shining in isolation with the "brightness of the morning" (Lucifer is the name of Venus as the Morning Star) because Chokmah cannot unite in marriage with Binah. Their sexual union, as intimated by Gareth Knight in the quote above, must occur through Daath. On a lower, shadow level, the Blindragon, Coronzon, is required to sexually unite Samael, the Slant Serpent, with Lilith, the Tortuous Serpent. The union of the Watchers with the beautiful daughters of Man was a work of Daath.

Gareth Knight is correct in a strict sense that Daath is unnumbered, but it is worth noting that eleven is the number linked to the goddess Nuit and to all Thelemites in Crowley's Book of the Law. Nuit is quoted as saying: "My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us." Since Daath is one Sephirah more than the recognized ten, it is natural to assign it the number eleven.

This essay is somewhat more complex and difficult than others on this Web site, but the importance of Coronzon in the more subtle aspects of Western occultism, and the general lack of knowledge concerning the Fallen One, impelled me to treat this topic in greater than usual depth. I recommend that those interested in understanding Coronzon study Crowley's Vision and the Voice, Casaubon's True and Faithful Relation, and Grant's Nightside of Eden.

For an analysis of the numerical significance of Coronzon's name, and how my interpretation differs from that of Aleister Crowley, see my response to a visitor's e-mail, What Is Coronzon?, elsewhere on this site.