The Law is for All is a collection of Aleister Crowley's

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...

 commentary on The Book of the Law

The Book of the Law

Liber AL vel Legis is the central sacred text of Thelema, written by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt in the year 1904. Its full title is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI, and it is commonly referred to as The Book of the Law.Liber AL vel Legis contains three...

, the central sacred text of Thelema

Thelema

Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...

. It was edited to be a primer of sorts into Crowley's general interpretations about the sometimes opaque text of Liber Legis. For this reason, the book omits many of the more complex qabalistic explanations that lean heavily on an understanding of gematria

Gematria

Gematria or gimatria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like...

 and The Tree of Life. As the original editor, Louis Wilkinson, wrote in his introduction (p. 17):

The aim of the Commentary on the Book of the Law is to guide the reader along the path of the discovery of his own true will, in accordance with which, and only in accordance with which, he can rightly think and act. This is why "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Only by doing so will you be shown your own true thought and life.

Crowley's long expository was written prior to the final Comment that now is appended to The Book of the Law.

Provenance

Most of Crowley's commentaries were written between 1919 and 1922, and were edited by a trusted friend, Louis Wilkinson, at Crowley's request. A first draft was completed in 1946, and it is believed that Crowley reviewed it, since a copy was found among his final possessions; however, his death in 1947 put a hold on its publication. The original manuscript was eventually published under the name Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on the Book of the Law, edited by John Symonds and Kenneth Grant

Kenneth Grant

Kenneth Grant was a British occultist, novelist, and poet, who with his partner, the artist Steffi Grant, headed the magical order previously known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis but which is now referred to as the Typhonian Order.-Occult background:Grant's occult experiences began in 1939...

. The next year, Israel Regardie

Israel Regardie

Israel Regardie, born Francis Israel Regudy was an occultist and writer, author of books on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.-Early life:...

 published a competing edition based on a 1926 manuscript. Both editions were cumbersome and neglected to address numerous inconsistencies within the complex collection of notes. The 1996 "popular edition" of The Law is for All was edited by Hymenaeus Beta based upon the final Wilkinson manuscript.

Editions

• Thelema Media, 1996. ISBN 0-9726583-8-6

Earlier editions from other manuscripts:

• (Regardie edition) New Falcon Publications, 2nd edition, 1983. ISBN 0-941404-25-0
• (Grant & Symonds edition) 93 Publishing, 1974. ISBN 0-919690-01-7

External links

• Crowley's Commentary, including his first and second round of comments