Crowley, Sumeria and the Fallen Angels

Crowley, Sumeria and the Fallen

The following is an excerpt from a book

On April 8th, 9th and 10th of the year 1904, English Magus Aleister Crowley

received a communication from a “praeterhuman” intelligence calling itself Aiwass

or Aiwaz (pronounced eye

minister of the Egyptian god Hoor

Horus. Aiwaz revealed that Crowley was to be the prophet of a new aeon or era for

mankind: the Aeon of Horus. Aiwaz proceeded to dictate to Crowley three chapters

of a book later to be called

coming age, a 2,000 year reign. A time of force, fire and blood. Of unparalleled

freedoms and rampant chaos, a time not unlike our present age. The philosophy of

this book came to be known as the Law of T

meaning “will”, and the “True Will” is at the center of Crowley’s occult philosophy.

According to Crowley, this planet has already been through two previous ages of

approximately 2,000 years each.

According to Crowley, this planet has already been through two previous ages of approximately 2,000

years each. His “reception” of

these two preceding ages was called the Aeon of the Egyptian Goddess Isis.

a matriarchal, earth-bond age. Isis’ era can be seen in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. This was

followed by the Aeon of Osiris , a patriarchal age that worshipped various gods in the form of the sun as a

dying and resurrected deity. The beliefs of Christianity represent the culmination of this second age.

Aiwaz “appeared” to Crowley in order to announce the birth of the new aeon, the offspring of Isis and

Osiris, Horus. As explained by Crowley, the Aeon of Horus is an

Crowley, Sumeria and the Fallen Angels

The following is an excerpt from a book forthcoming

By Vadge Moore

CHAPTER I Crowley and Jung

Aiwaz:

n April 8th, 9th and 10th of the year 1904, English Magus Aleister Crowley


or Aiwaz (pronounced eye-was). This being announced to Crowley that it was the

tian god Hoor-pa-Kraat, an aspect of the Egyptian sun god



of a book later to be called The Book of the Law. This book discloses the pattern of a



this book came to be known as the Law of Thelema. Thelema is a Greek word



approximately 2,000 years each.

, this planet has already been through two previous ages of approximately 2,000

years each. His “reception” of the Book of the Law marked the dawning of the third aeon. The first of

these two preceding ages was called the Aeon of the Egyptian Goddess Isis. The Aeon of Isis represented

bond age. Isis’ era can be seen in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. This was


surrected deity. The beliefs of Christianity represent the culmination of this second age.


Osiris, Horus. As explained by Crowley, the Aeon of Horus is an epoch in which the inhabitants of earth

Crowley, Sumeria and the Fallen

The following is an excerpt from a book

n April 8th, 9th and 10th of the year 1904, English Magus Aleister Crowley


was). This being announced to Crowley that it was the

Kraat, an aspect of the Egyptian sun god



. This book discloses the pattern of a



helema. Thelema is a Greek word



, this planet has already been through two previous ages of approximately 2,000

marked the dawning of the third aeon. The first of

The Aeon of Isis represented

bond age. Isis’ era can be seen in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. This was


surrected deity. The beliefs of Christianity represent the culmination of this second age.


epoch in which the inhabitants of earth

know that the sun does not die at night, pass through the Underworld only to be reborn at dawn. Instead it

is seen as a great, fiery star that seemingly burns eternally as our individual spirits live eternally as well.

Who or what was this Aiwaz? Where did he come from? Is there any evidence that he existed anywhere

but in the mind of Aleister Crowley? Crowley describes Aiwaz as “…an Intelligence possessed of power

and knowledge absolutely beyond human experience; and therefore Aiwaz is a Being worthy, as the

current use of the word allows, of the title of a God…” Crowley proceeds to characterize Aiwaz as “…an

intelligence praeterhuman and articulate purposely interfering in the philosophy, religion, ethics,

economics and politics of the planet…the proof of his praeterhuman Nature – call him a Devil or a god or

even an Elemental as you will – is partly external, depending on events and persons without the sphere of

its influence…” Crowley writes “But is there any Intelligence or Individuality (of the same general type

as ours) independent of our human brain structure? For the first time in history, yes! Aiwaz has given us

proof: the most important gate towards knowledge swings wide…This Book proves: there is a person

thinking and acting in a praeterhuman manner, either without a body of flesh, or with the power of

communicating telepathically with men and inscrutably directing their actions.” In Crowley’s book The

Equinox of the Gods there is a long passage describing Aiwaz.

“The Voice of Aiwaz came apparently from over my left shoulder, from the furthest corner of the room. It

seemed to echo itself in my physical heart in a very strange manner, hard to describe…The voice was of

deep timbre, musical and expressive, its tones solemn, voluptuous, tender, fierce or aught else as suited

the moods of the message. Not bass – perhaps a rich tenor or baritone…The English was free of either

native or foreign accent, perfectly pure of local or caste mannerisms, thus startling and even uncanny at

first hearing…I had an impression that the speaker was actually in the corner where he seemed to be, in a

body of ‘fine matter,’ transparent as a veil of gauze, or a cloud of incense smoke. He seemed to be a tall,

dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest

their gaze should destroy what they saw. The dress was not Arab; it reflected Assyrian or Persian, but

very vaguely. I took little note of it, for to me at that time Aiwaz was an ‘angel’ such as I had often seen

in visions, a being purely astral.

…I now incline to believe that Aiwaz is not only the God or Demon or Devil once held holy in Sumer,

and mine own Holy Guardian Angel, but also a man as I am, insofar as he uses a human body to make his

magickal link with Mankind…”

As a footnote Crowley adds:

“I do not necessarily mean that he is a member of human society in quite the normal way. He might rather

be able to form for Himself a human body as circumstances indicate, from the appropriate Elements, and

dissolve it when the occasion for its use is past. I say this because I have been permitted to see Him in

recent years in a variety of physical appearances, all equally ‘material’ in the sense in which my own

body is so.”

While the description of this experience might sound rather odd and the reader might now be convinced

that Mr. Crowley was desperately and hopelessly insane, there is a perfectly good explanation for this

experience. It can be found in the work of Professor Carl Jung.

Philemon:

what he termed “archetypes”; mythological and religious symbols that can severely influence the conscious

mind.

Professor Carl Jung, Doctor of psychology, who posited the existence of a collective unconscious mind

inhabited by what he termed “archetypes”; mythological and religious symbols that can severely

influence the conscious mind. Jung had a experience very similar to Crowley’s Aiwaz encounter. During

the First World War, Jung had “communications” with a “transpersonal entity” named Philemon. In the

book The Aryan Christ author Richard Noll writes, “…it is from discussions with Philemon…that Jung

received his most profound insights about the nature of the human psyche.” Philemon is described as a

“…Gnostic-Mithraic guru” that resides in what Jung called the “Land of the Dead” otherwise interpreted

as the primordial Unconscious of Mankind. It was here, writes Noll, “…that Jung received instruction in

‘the Law,’ the esoteric key to the secrets of the ages.” This is very similar to Crowley receiving the “Law

of Thelema” as propounded in the Book of the Law.

Jung’s visions of Philemon came to a head in 1916 when, Noll writes, “The year 1916 rewarded years of

tremendous dreams and visions that pushed him to the brink of insanity and suicide. He had been

practicing a highly dissociative trance-induction technique that enabled him to travel to the realm of the

gods and to talk to entities such as Philemon…” Jung called “beings” like Philemon “Dominants” of the

collective unconscious. It was through contacts with Philemon that Jung was inspired to write his most

controversial piece, The Seven Sermons to the Dead. According to Jung Biographer Deirdre Bair,

“Jung described Philemon as the pagan voice of an old man of ‘simply superior knowledge.’ He believed

Philemon was teaching him: ‘psychological objectivity, the reality of the soul. He represented the

dissociation between me and my imaginary object. Earlier, it used to be what I say, then it became a thing

apart from me, and he personified this thing. He formulated this thing that was not me and expressed

everything that I had not thought…Until the Seven Sermons, it was only said by him. Then it was

demanded of me that I say it myself…The Seven Sermons, that was when Philemon simply lost his

absolute autonomy and I had to say it myself.”

The Seven Sermons to the Dead is a short work very similar to Crowley’s Book of

the Law in that it expresses a philosophy of balance wherein the opposites of dark

and light, good and evil, God and Satan are united. In Crowley’s work, his spiritual

guide, Aiwaz, introduces Crowley to a host of different gods representing the

philosophical dominants of the new era; Horus, Ra-hoor-Khuit, Hoor-pa-kraat, Nuit

and Hadit. Together they express a Nietzschean doctrine of strength, freedom and

balance. For Professor Jung, Philemon introduces him to the Gnostic deity Abraxas.

In the Seven Sermons to the Dead Jung writes,

“Abraxas is the god whom it is difficult to know. His power is the very greatest, because man does not

perceive it at all. Man sees the supreme good of the sun, and also the endless evil of the devil, but

Abraxas, he does not see, for he is undefinable life itself, which is the mother of good and evil

alike…Abraxas is the sun and also the eternally gaping abyss of emptiness, of the diminisher and

dissembler, the devil. The power of Abraxas is two fold. You can not see it, because in your eyes the

opposition of this power seems to cancel it out. That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; that which is

spoken by the Devil is death. Abraxas, however, speaks the venerable and also accursed word, which is

life and death at once. Abraxas generates truth and falsehood, good and evil, light and darkness with the

same word and in the same deed. Therefore Abraxas is truly the terrible one. He is magnificent even as

the lion at the very moment when he strikes his prey down. His beauty is like the beauty of a spring

morn.”

“He is fullness, uniting itself with emptiness. He is the sacred wedding; He is love and the murder of love;

he is the holy one and his betrayer. He is the brightest light of day and the deepest night of madness…All

things which you beg from God-the-Sun, generate an act of the devil. All things which you accomplish

through God-the-Sun add to the effective might of the devil. Such is the terrible Abraxas.”

Abraxas looked as terrifying and as contradictory as he sounded. Ancient Greek talismans depict him as a

rooster-headed deity with human arms and torso and a host of serpents for legs. He wields a whip and a

shield and is usually driving a chariot.

Philemon first appeared to Jung in a dream. Jung’s method of initiation is called active imagination and it

consists of taking a figure from one of your own dreams, closing your eyes and intensely visualizing this

figure until it begins to move and speak of its own volition. This is very similar to the ancient western

magical practice of ascending to the “astral plane” and engaging with beings there, something Crowley

practiced extensively in his magical workings and in his contact with Aiwaz in particular. Bair writes,

“Jung’s Philemon bore wings and floated like an angel, but his visage was nevertheless “something

demonic…something Mephistophelean.’” Crowley’s Aiwaz bares evidence of being both a god and a

demon, as does Jung’s Philemon.

There is an age-old precedence for this experience. It’s called the encounter with the daemon.

There is an age-old precedence for this experience. It’s called the encounter with the daemon. The ancient

civilizations of Greece, Rome, Egypt, China and India believed in a whole host of fairies, satyrs and

elementals. Manly P. Hall, in his magnificent tome, The Secret Teachings of All Ages writes, “The Greeks

gave the name daemon to some of these elementals, especially those of the higher orders, and worshipped

them. Probably the most famous of these daemons is the mysterious spirit which instructed Socrates, and

of whom that great philosopher spoke in the highest terms.” Hall quotes Thomas Taylor’s Apuleius on the

God of Socrates, “As the daemon of Socrates, therefore, was doubtless one of the highest order, as may

be inferred from the intellectual superiority of Socrates to most other men, Aspuleius is justified in calling

this daemon a God.” It is also inferred here that Socrates’ daemon was responsible for his philosophical

output, as were Crowley’s and Jung’s. It was initially believed that each person is in possession of two

daemons; one good and one evil. As previously described, in both Crowley and Jung’s experiences, the

good and evil deities appear to be combined into one entity, in keeping with their non-dualistic approach.

True Will:

Crowley and Jung had their own methods for initiation which will be discussed separately prior to revealing

the similarities between the two approaches.

Crowley and Jung had their own methods for initiation which will be discussed separately prior to

revealing the similarities between the two approaches. In Aleister Crowley’s system of Magick the initiate

is instructed to utilize the ancient Hebrew symbol system known as the Qabalah. Incorporating eastern

yogic practices of breath control, concentration and visualization the neophyte is to ascend to the astral

plane, utilizing his “body of light” and slowly ascend the “paths” as illustrated in the Qabalistic glyph

known as the Tree of Life. This includes encountering the various entities that are situated on the paths

and reside in the spheres called the Sephirah. Each encounter is a kind of test for the initiate, whose

ultimate goal is to ascend to the very top of the Tree of Life and achieve supreme enlightenment.

Midway through this journey it is imperative that the initiate encounter--what Crowley termed--the Holy

Guardian Angel. This Angel is a being particular to each person, as individually fitted to the initiate as his

shoe size or finger print. Once this Angel has been encountered the student’s journey becomes more

natural, more significant. This Angel is the Genius latent in every individual. Crowley writes,

“The first step is the separation of (what we call, for convenience) the astral body from the physical body.

As our experiments proceed, we find that our astral body itself can be divided into grosser and subtler

components. In this way we become aware of the existence of what we call, for convenience, the Holy

Guardian Angel, and the more we realize the implications of the theory of the existence of such a being,

the clearer it becomes that our supreme task is to put ourselves into intimate communication with him.”

To further equate this Angel with the daemons of antiquity Crowley states,

“He [the Holy Guardian Angel] is a Person, a macrocosmic Individual. (We do not know about his birth

and so on; but that is because he is, so to speak a private God; he only appears to the world at all through

some reference to him by his client; for instance, the genius or Augoeides of Socrates.)” Concerning

instruction Crowley writes, “…you must remember that your Holy Guardian Angel is not only far more

fully instructed than yourself on every point that you can conceive, but you may go so far as to say that it

is definitely his work, or part of his work; remembering always that he inhabits a sphere or plane which is

entirely different from anything of which you are normally aware.”

Crowley continues,“To attain to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is

consequently without doubt by far the simplest way by which you can yourself approach that higher order

of being.” Once the initiate’s Holy Guardian Angel has been engaged, then does the True Will of the

individual become apparent. In this passage from Crowley’s own Commentary to the Book of the Law he

refers to the this daemon as the Silent Self in each person, “So also our own Silent Self, helpless and

witless, hidden within us, will spring forth, if we have the craft to loose him to the Light; spring lustily

forward with his Cry of Battle, the Word of our True Wills…This is the Task of the Adept, to have the

Knowledge and Conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel, to become aware of his nature and his true

purpose, fulfilling them.” Crowley warns his readers that, “…unless you know what your true Will is, you

may be devoting the most laudable energies to destroying yourself.” In a passage similar to the writings

of Carl Jung, Crowley writes, “Unite the conscious will with the true Will, and the conscious Ego with the

Silent Self.” In Jungian terms the same thing is done when a patient unites his ego consciousness with the

Transcendent Self or the collective unconscious.

Individuation:

Carl Jung’s method of individuation is a process by which a persons conscious self or ego becomes aware of

the primordial substrata of the collective unconscious of humanity, its forms, figures, gods, demons, heroes

and myths.

Carl Jung’s method of individuation is a process by which a persons conscious self or ego becomes aware

of the primordial substrata of the collective unconscious of humanity, its forms, figures, gods, demons,

heroes and myths. These figures and forms are energetic patterns that deeply affect the thoughts, feelings

and behavior of individuals. These patterns, called archetypes, are usually unconscious to the waking ego,

leaving the ego completely unaware of their influence. Individuation occurs when the ego consciously

integrates these patterns through dream analysis and what Jung termed “active imagination”. Jung

explains, “As the archetypes, like all numinous contents, are relatively autonomous, they cannot be

integrated simply by rational means, but require a dialectic procedure, a real coming to terms with them,

often conducted by the patient in dialogue form, so that, without knowing it, he puts into effect the

alchemical definition of the meditatio: ‘an inner colloquy with one’s good angel.’ Usually the process

runs a dramatic course, with many ups and downs. It expresses itself in, or is accompanied by, dream

symbols that are related to the ‘representations collectives,’ which in the form of mythological motifs

have portrayed psychic processes of transformation since the earliest times.”

Individuation is described by Jungian author Edward Edinger as “The conscious realization and

fulfillment of one’s own unique being. It is associated with typical archetypal imagery and leads to the

experiencing of the Self as the center of personality transcending the ego. It begins with one or more

decisive experiences challenging egocentricity and producing the awareness that the ego is subordinate to

a more comprehensive psychic entity.” This is very concurrent with Crowley’s ritual methods of invoking

a particular god and merging with that deity. The ego is temporarily usurped as the god takes control. As

a pattern of the archetypal realm the god is challenging the initiate’s egocentricity and giving the ritualist

a taste of the larger Self. As this is done repeatedly with various god forms the ego resonates more and

more to the Self and becomes conscious of its true individuality or True Will. The True Will is the

ultimate goal of the Crowley magician just as individuation is the desired result for the Jungian patient.

Similar methods are used in each system for identical ends.

Active imagination is the ritual invocation of the Jungian. Edinger describes it thus: “A technique for

conscious dialogue between the ego and the unconscious whereby unconscious contents are integrated.”

Expanding upon this interpretation Jungian author Joan Chodorow writes, “Jung’s therapeutic method had

many different names before he settled on the term active imagination. At first it was the ‘transcendent

function.’ Later he called it the ‘picture method.’ Other names were ‘active fantasy’ and ‘active

phantasying.’ Sometimes the process was referred to as ‘trancing,’ ‘visioning,’ ‘exercises,’ ‘dialectical

method,’ ‘technique of differentiation,’ ‘technique of introversion,’ ‘introspection,’ and ‘technique of the

descent.’” As strange as some of these terms sound active imagination consists of simply utilizing a figure

from your dreams, a picture of a god or of any kind of character from culture or even fantasy and

allowing your imagination to freely “play” with it. Jung suggests, “looking, psychologically, brings about

the activation of the object; it is as if something were emanating from one’s spiritual eye that evokes or

activates the object of one’s vision.” Once activated, this object takes on a life of it’s own and begins to

interact with the viewer. This too, is how Crowley describes ascending to the astral plane and interacting

with the denizens of that realm. Describing the astral body Crowley writes, “This body, which is called by

various authors the Astral double, body of Light, body of fire, body of desire, fine body, scin-laeca, and

numberless other names is naturally fitted to perceive objects of its own class… in particular, the

phantoms of the astral plane.”

Littered throughout Jung’s works are descriptions of processes that sound reminiscent of Crowley’s

method of the “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel” as to show no differentiation.

For example, Jung writes, “I have presented a series of dream-symbols of the process of individuation.

They were dreams which without exception exhibited rebirth symbolism. In this particular case there was

a long-drawn-out process of inner transformation and rebirth into another being. This ‘other being’ is the

other person in ourselves-- that larger and greater personality maturing within us, whom we have already

met as the inner friend of the soul.”

Another aspect of Jung’s method similar to Crowley’s is the ability to talk to this friend or “other,” ask

him pertinent questions and receive answers, “You need not be insane to hear his voice.” writes Jung,

“On the contrary, it is the simplest and most natural thing imaginable. For instance, you ask yourself a

question in which ‘he’ gives answer. The discussion is then carried on as in any other conversation. You

can describe it as mere ‘associating’ or ‘talking to oneself,’ or as a ‘meditation’ in the sense used by the

old alchemists, who referred to their interlocutor as aliquem alium internum, ‘a certain other one,

within.’” Some people frequently experience this “other” inside of their self and explain it away as rogue

associations or stray thoughts. These explanations allow the ego to maintain its belief in its own

superiority, saving the ego from being drowned in the murky waters of the unconscious. Magick and

Individuation are both practices that allow the ego access to these primordial realms without

overwhelming the individual personality.

The final similarity between these two “initiatory methods” is the belief in separate ages or aeons. We’ve

already covered Aleister Crowley’s belief in the three aeons of Isis, Osiris and the current age of Horus.

Jung had tapped this belief as well. He writes, “…there exist universal ideas of world periods, critical

transitions, gods and half gods who personify the aeons. The unconscious naturally does not produce its

images from conscious reflections, but from the world wide propensity of the human system to form such

conceptions as the world periods of the Parsees, the yugas and avatars of Hinduism, and the Platonic

months of astrology with their bull and ram deities and the great ‘fish’ of the Christian aeon.” In regards

to this last aeon Jung writes, “…the present aeon of the Fishes is drawing to it’s end…” the Fish, as we

know, represents Christ and the aeon of Osiris.

This idea of different aeons lasting approximately 2,000 years each is not new or original.

This idea of different aeons lasting approximately 2,000 years each is not new or original. Manly P. Hall

writes, “The period of 2,160 years required for the regression of the sun through one of the zodiacal

constellations is often termed an age. According to this system, the age secured its name from the sign

through which the sun passes year after year as it crosses the equator at the vernal equinox. From this

arrangement are derived the terms The Taurian Age, The Aryan Age, The Piscean Age, and the The

Aquarian Age. During these periods, or ages, religious worship takes the form of the appropriate celestial

sign—that which the sun is said to assume as a personality in the same manner that a spirit assumes a

body.” Crowley presents these aeons differently, yet they still mean the same thing. The Aryan Age is the

age of Isis, the Piscean age the age of Osiris and the Aquarian age the Aeon of Horus. In fact, Jung

posited his belief that that this coming or current age will be an age in which the opposites are conjoined,

in which good and evil are seen as relative to each other and not in opposition. Jung saw developing, “…a

religious attitude that was destined to bridge and compensate the frightful gulf that had opened out

between Christ and Antichrist in the eleventh century.” In Jung’s work Christ and Satan are not in

opposition. Indeed they are brothers representing the two halves of dark and light much like the Chinese

symbol of yin-yang does. In the Piscean/Osirian age the dark and light, Christ and Satan are opposed to

one another. But, as Jung states, “If, as seems probable, the aeon of the fishes is ruled by the archetypal

motif of the hostile brothers, then the approach of the next Platonic month, namely Aquarius, will

constellate the problem of the union of the opposites. It will then no longer be possible to write off evil as

the mere privation of good; its real existence will have to be recognized.”

In a book that was “received” through Aiwaz, Liber XC, Crowley expresses the same sentiment as Jung

stating; “Many have arisen, being wise. They have said ‘Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever

golden, and unite yourselves with it.’ Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, ‘Stoop down into

the darkly splendid world and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime.’ I who am beyond Wisdom

and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both! Beware, beware, I

say lest you seek after the one and lose the other! My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens,

their feet below the hells. But since one is naturally attracted to the Angel, another to the Demon, let the

first strengthen the lower link, the last attach more firmly to the higher. Thus shall equilibrium become

perfect. I will aid my disciples; as fast as they acquire this balanced power and joy so faster will I push

them.” While Jung writes, “Christ is followed by the Antichrist, at the end of time,” how curious it is that

the aeon following the age of Christ has allegedly been ushered in by a man calling himself The Great

Beast 666, Aleister Crowley.

We are going to find a slight discrepancy in the time periods, as explained by Crowley, of the succession

of the aeons. The aeon of Isis, we will find, was much older then the civilizations of Greece and Rome. In

fact it was quite mature prior to the civilization of ancient Egypt. Its home was Sumeria. Crowley has

stated that he believed his daemon Aiwaz was originally a god or demon once worshipped in the ancient

civilization of Sumeria. We will now explore this fascinating antique culture and see how this may be so.

CHAPTER II

The Fallen Angels

Sumeria:

The Sumerians were a highly developed culture in terms of agricultural, architectural and artistic production;

they created the oldest form of written language and the first formal education system.

The civilization of Sumeria sprang up approximately 5,000 years ago located in what is currently known

as Iraq. The Sumerians were a highly developed culture in terms of agricultural, architectural and artistic

production; they created the oldest form of written language and the first formal education system. Occult

author Boyd Rice writes, “Sumeria is the oldest civilization known to man. Long before Greece and

Rome had attained their golden age, Sumeria was already ancient. Those in search of the roots of early

history often go back to the glory days of the pharaohs of Egypt, yet Egypt too was in its infancy at a time

when Sumeria had long been the center of the world. For all intents and purposes, Sumeria seems to have

entered the world stage as a high civilization. It wasn’t there, and then suddenly it was – complete with

arts, sciences, astronomy, navigation, agriculture and all the complexities of a highly-evolved culture. All

of which leaves the modern observer to ponder exactly how such a society could appear out of nowhere

and nothing into such a fully realized entity, seemingly instantaneously.” Rice adds, “…ancient Sumeria

seems to have leap-frogged over and beyond the baby steps of civilization; a feat never since repeated in

the annals of mankind. How did they do it? Their explanation is quite simple and straightforward: they

were taught everything they knew by a race of gods.”

These “gods” appeared in Sumeria with a fully formed mature civilization and imparted their knowledge

to the local inhabitants of the Middle East. But where had these “gods” come from? Where had they

developed their knowledge? One answer to these questions can be found in the work of a little known

early twentieth century Sumerologist, Lawerence Austine Waddell or L.A. Waddell (1854-1938). His

work has been dismissed and ignored for nearly a century due to his belief in the superiority of the Aryan

race. However, the writer’s prejudice notwithstanding, his work has revealed cultural patterns and clashes

that have occurred in the ancient Near East. According to an introductory biography, “Waddell was a

medical officer in the Indian government service, traveler and orientalist.” Waddell’s interest in

Buddhism led him to explore India; its people and its customs. Later he studied Tibetan Buddhism and

wrote two classics on the subject, The Buddhism of Tibet and Lhasa and its Mysteries. After his

retirement, Waddell directed his attention towards defining the relationship between India and Sumeria.

Waddell believed that he had uncovered proof that these talented Sumerians were actually ancient

Europeans that had spread out over Europe, the Middle East, Egypt and the Indus valley carrying with

them their knowledge of civilization. This was in contradistinction to the then popular belief that the

Sumerians were either of Semitic or unknown origin. According to Waddell’s research these Europeans

were so shockingly different to the Middle Eastern inhabitants, and their store of knowledge so vast and

advanced, that they came to be known as gods. According to ancient Hebrew myth these “gods”

subsequently coupled with the local female population. This had a terrific impact on the culture, religion

and lives of these indigenous people. The Apocryphal text The Book of Enoch reveals a tradition of a host

of “fallen angels” that were believed to have bred with the daughters of men. This is found in the Old

Testament as well, where it is written in Genesis 6, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on

the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. That the Sons of God saw the daughters of men

that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose…There were giants in the earth in

those days; and also after that, when the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare

children to them, the same became mighty men which were, of old, men of renown.”

In the myths of the ancient Hebrews it is these “Sons of God” that become known as the Watchers. They

are the angels of God that have grown attracted to the daughters of men and proceed to mate with them

and hence breed monstrous offspring called Nephilim. These offspring are described as of a giant stature

and unusual complexion. In The Book of Enoch, Enoch speaks of the strange birth of his grandson Noah:

“After a time, my son Mathusala took a wife for his son Lamech. She became pregnant by him and

brought forth a child, the flesh of which was as white as snow, and red as rose; the hair of whose head

was white like wool, and long; and whose eyes were beautiful. When he opened them, he illuminated all

the house, like the sun; the whole house abounded with light. And when he was taken from the hand of

the midwife, opening also his mouth, he spoke to the Lord of righteousness. Then Lamech his father was

afraid of him; and flying away came to his own father Mathusala, and said, I have begotten a son unlike

to other children. He is not human; but, resembling the offspring of the angels of heaven, is of a different

nature from ours, being altogether unlike to us. His eyes are bright as the rays of the sun; his countenance

glorious, and he looks not as if he belonged to me, but to the angels.”

As is clearly stated in this text, Lamech’s son Noah is the offspring of the angels or the Watchers, the

“Sons of God.” These offspring do become “men of renown”. In his book The Makers of Civilization,

Waddell writes, “And the ‘Sons of God’ who married ‘the daughters of men’ in the Hebrew legend are

seen to have been obviously the…‘sons’ or descendants of the… King ‘Adam’.” Waddell’s writing

reveals what he believes to be the real historic identity of Adam, Eve and all of the antediluvian figures

from the Old Testament as well as the true identities of Jehovah, Jupiter, Zeus, Thor, Bacchus, Lucifer,

Osiris, Isis, Set, and interestingly for our purposes, Horus, as being based on the heroes, villains and

Sumerian Kings of antiquity.

Having spent many years studying ancient Indian texts Waddell began to notice similarities between the

names of the ancient Indian Kings and the Kings of Mesopotamia, and the chronology of their reign. In

Waddell’s earlier work he had seemingly proven the identity of the Sumerians as an advanced ancient

European culture. By poring over documents and records of various civilizations he identified a common

thread in the names of a very long line of kings. He writes, “This identity of these Kings…is complete,

not only in respect of their names and titles, but also as regards their exact chronological position and

order of succession and in the achievements of the leading Kings throughout this very long period of over

two millenniums of years—an overwhelming proof of identity unparalleled perhaps elsewhere in the

annals of History.”

These extensive records list a long line of ancient European rulers, these rulers’ names, titles and real

historical tales, allegedly revealing them to have been the legendary templates for the gods, heroes, kings,

queens, monsters and devils of following civilizations. Waddell writes, “The epoch-making first king

himself, the traditional builder of the first city and founder of civilization, which changes the whole

history of mankind, has his whole personality and achievements preserved in considerable circumstantial

detail in the numerous early representations of him, and in the celebrations of his fame and his

benefactions to humanity in Sumerian literature, and in the Indian chronicles and Vedas and in the great

Gothic epics of the Nordics, the Eddas, and for these benefactions he was latterly canonized and deified.”

Waddell proposes that the heroic mythology from nearly every race and culture has its origin in real

historic figures from the ancient world. He writes, “A vast deal of what has hitherto been looked upon as

‘prehistoric’ and mythical becomes historic and real. Heroes who have been raised into gods again take

form as men, and as historic early…Kings of relatively fixed dates. Gods and demi-gods of the ancient

Greeks and Romans, Egyptians and Hittites, Persians and Aryans, as well as of the Goths, Scandinavians

and Germans, Ancient Britons, Irish and Anglo-Saxons…” And, Waddell here fails to mention, the

Hebrews. Jungian author Edward Edinger expresses this possibility in his book The Eternal Drama,

“Where do myths come from? The psychological view is that they emerge progressively from the

collective unconscious and gradually, by the collective endeavor of the race, are worked over and

embodied in some durable form. But from almost the beginning this question has come up: do they not

rather express the residue of some historical reality?” Edinger further states, “As far back as the third or

fourth century BC, a man named Euhemerus put forth the idea that myths are derived from historical

happenings, and that all heroes, for instance, were once actual kings or personages.”

Waddell makes an immense claim, but provides detailed textual material to back up his findings.

Additional aspects of Waddell’s work, which has special significance for our present study, includes a re-

appraisal of the Germanic Poetic Edda with it’s tales of Odin, Thor, Loki, Freya, and Baldur. According

to his subsequent book, The British Edda Waddell reveals that the Poetic Edda was a misrepresentation of

a more ancient text regarding the Sumerian Kings and conquerors. In this earlier text is told the historic

tale of King Dar, Tar or Thor, who is the leader of this conquering people not, as recounted in the later

Poetic Edda, Odin (otherwise known in the later Poetic version as Wodan or Wotan). In the Poetic Edda,

King Dar or Thor is misrepresented and separated into two gods Odin and Thor. In the Sumerian text Dar

or Thor is described as the leader of a Sun-worshipping race. In the Sumerian history, Budun (Wodan or

Wotan) is the enemy of King Dar and faces him in battle in this original ancient tale. In Waddell’s British

Edda Wodan is described as being one of the leaders of a Serpent-Moon cult along with Wodan’s “evil

Mother-Weird” as she is described in the text. This matriarchal figure seems to be a strange combination

of mother/lover-consort to Wodan. Her name is El and she is the matriarch queen of this serpent-cult. The

male offspring of Wodan and El is called Baldr-Sutt or Baldr-Abel. The text depicts the battle between

these opposing cults. In this recovered text it is described how King Dar finds a mate for himself from

among the Serpent-Moon cult. Her name is Ifo, Guen-Ever or Eve and, as Waddell explains she is of the

same sea-faring, sun worshipping people as Dar and was kept as a ward by El, the serpent queen. Dar and

Ifo bring forth a son named Crown Prince Kon, Gunn or Kan, later known as Cain in the Bible.

From these Sumerian texts Waddell believed he saw the emergence of certain archetypal patterns that will

later become the figures of myths and legends. For instance the Serpent-cult leaders El and Wodan, when

fused together, are the template for what will later become the Egyptian and Greek evil serpent-beast

Typhon. Their son Baldur-Sutt is the precursor to the dark, infernal Egyptian god Set. Sun-lord King Dar

and his consort Ifo are translated as the Egyptian god and goddess Osiris and Isis, as well as the first man

and woman depicted in the Biblical legend, Adam and Eve. Most importantly their son Prince Kon,

(Gunn, Kan or Cain), in an interesting twist on the Biblical legend of Cain and Abel, becomes the “good”

prince while the Serpent Prince Baldr-Sutt or in his other title Baldr-Abel, becomes the “bad” figure. This

then makes Prince Kon, (Gunn, Kan or Cain’s) Egyptian equivalent the god Horus, the god presiding over

Crowley’s new aeon.

Watcher Motifs

In the Sumerian seals—translated by Waddell—King Dar was frequently depicted as a bird-man or

accompanied by a falcon or a hawk.

In the Sumerian seals—translated by Waddell—King Dar was frequently depicted as a bird-man or

accompanied by a falcon or a hawk. The hawk, later associated with Prince Kon who, Waddell believed,

emerges in Egyptian myth as the hawk-headed god Horus, was also an Egyptian icon for the sun. This

symbolism emphasizes the solar attributes and identities of these people as sun-worshippers. They were

generally depicted with horned headdress making them appear goat-like and are seen on many ancient

seals in the presence of goats. The word “Goat,” according to Waddell was synonymous with Goth,

meaning the ancient Gothic people of which these solar conquerors were descended. King Dar is revered

in these seals as the “champion” of the Goats or Goths. Waddell’s book, The Makers of Civilization

shows an illustration of a seal from approximately 2500 B.C. depicting the deified first king as “In-dur,

showing him bearded with his Goat and Bull emblems and Gothic horned headdress of self and votaries.”

On these seals serpents represent the Snake-Moon cult of the local inhabitant matriarch El. King Dar is

often depicted taming or battling these serpents. In the book From the Ashes of Angels author Andrew

Collins explores the subject of the Watchers and, presumably without knowledge of Waddell’s obscure

texts, discovers precisely the same depictions. In Collins research these people are represented as bird-

men and goat-men. Collins writes, “…the goat would…appear to have been one of the primary totemic

symbols of the Watchers.” Writing specifically of Azazel, one of the fallen angels that appear in the Book

of Enoch Collins states,

“Azazel’s chosen form was the goat, and in this capacity he had also been the ruler of a monstrous race of

demons named the seirim, or ‘he-goats’. They are even mentioned in the Bible and were worshipped and

adored by some Jews. There is even an indication that women had actually copulated with these goat-

demons for it states in the Book of Leviticus: ‘And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the he-

goat (seirem), after whom they go a-whoring’, perhaps a distant echo, once again, of the way in which the

Watchers had taken wives from among mortal kind. This clear relationship between the Watchers and he-

goats was so strong that it led the Hebrew scholar J.T. Milik to conclude that Azazel ‘was evidently not a

simple he-goat, but a giant who combined goat-like characteristics with those of men.”

Collins examines a stamped seal from ancient Iran “…showing anthropomorphic goats controlling

serpents and vultures.” Collin asks, “Do these goat ‘demons’ preserve some memory of the advanced

shamanistic culture thought to be behind the accounts of angels and Watchers in Judeo-Christian

tradition?” Collins goes on to quote Edith Porada, author of Early Mesopotamia and Iran, who stated,

“…the evidence…suggests that there was an early concept of a creature or creatures, which combined the

features of goat and powerful bird in a manner unknown to us; that the human figure with the horned

animal head on stamps of the Ubaid Period was a powerful, shamanistic demon capable of warding off

serpents.” This mythical “warding off serpents” seems to depict the real history of King Dar of the Sun-

Hawk cult, wearing his typical horned headdress battling the Serpent-Moon cult of Wodan-El and Baldr-

Sutt or Set. Based on Waddell’s research on the Sumerian seals and cuneiform texts we read these

symbols as representing the form of religious worship that came most naturally to each group. One group

worshipped the sun; their leaders donning horned headdresses as a symbol of their royalty. The sun was

their lord and was worshipped as the All-Father and giver of life. The other group worshipped the moon

and the serpent, the serpent representing the cycles of nature in the continual shedding of its skin. The

moon is generally a symbol of the female sex and was reverenced and invoked by this matriarchal

society. We can see how the symbolism of these two cults merged, in Crowley’s estimation, as the Aeon

of Horus, the child of the matriarchal and patriarchal ages. Waddell explains how the Serpent-Matriarch

cult was predominant before the invasion of the Sun worshippers. After the solar cult superceded the

previous paradigm the symbolism of both were combined to accommodate the conquered peoples. Later

the symbolism of the goat, bird, and serpent were synthesized to represent precisely this adaptation. The

union of these two cults gave birth to chthonic symbolism; the serpent rising out of the earth terminating

in a lions head, the ancient symbol of the solar force. This icon of a lion-serpent is explored in Crowley’s

Book of the Law in which it is described as, “…the Secret Self of every man, the Serpent with the Lion’s

Head.” In that context it represents the True Will of the initiate. Also, the Abraxas figure combines the

solar icon of the rooster head with the serpent feet. Furthermore, the goat and serpent symbols can be

seen, specifically, but perhaps unintentionally, on the Baphomet; the pentagram goat-head token used by

the Church of Satan. The outer edge of this emblem spells out Leviathan, the serpent, in Hebrew.

Yezidi Devil-God

Crowley identified Aiwaz as a god, demon, or devil that had once been worshipped in Sumeria; the god

worshipped by the Yezidi.

Crowley identified Aiwaz as a god, demon, or devil that had once been worshipped in Sumeria; the god

worshipped by the Yezidi. According to the Frater Superiour of the current Ordo Templi Orientis (an

occult order once headed by Crowley), “Like their relatives the Kurdish ‘Chaldeans,’ the Yezidi’s (or

Yazidi’s) are a cultural survival of older Mesopotamian cultures. The principal Yazidi deity is named

Melek Taus. They were termed Shaitan-worshippers (i.e., devil-worshippers as a pejorative term by their

hostile Arab neighbors.).” In his book From the Ashes of Angels Andrew Collins writes,

“The appellation of ‘devil worshippers’ had been given to the Yezidi’s … yet their creed ventured far

beyond such an ignorant description. The name Yezidi derived from the nature of their beliefs, which

focused primarily around an indigenous breed of angelic beings. In many ways their name can be

translated as the ‘angelicans’, and originally this would appear to have been the name by which the

Kurdish angel cults were known. Yet chief among the Yezidi angels was a unique and very important

figure indeed. His name was, and still is (for the Yezidis still exist) Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. He

corresponds with the Judeo-Christian concept of the Evil One—Satan or Lucifer—But this association

hardly does him justice, for Meleck Taus is seen as a supreme being, with authority over human affairs.”

This is very similar to Crowley’s description of Aiwaz as a being that appears to have great insight into

and control of human affairs. The Yezidi are in possession of a holy book known as the Black Book

supposedly dated--in its present form-- around the 13th century A.D. According to Collins this book

states, “…the first name of the Peacock Angel had been ‘Azazil,’ an Arabic rendering of Azazel, one of

the leaders of the Watchers in Judeo-Christian apocrypha.” More intersestingly, in The British Edda

Waddell identifies Azazel with Prince Kon, Cain, or his Eyptian identity, Horus. We will recall that in

Crowley’s “prophetic” book The Book of the Law, Aiwaz is described as being the “minister” of Hoor-

pa-Kraat, the passive aspect of the god Horus. With Crowley identifying Aiwaz as the god of the Yezidis,

known to scholars as Melek Taus or Azazel and Waddell’s research revealing Azazel as the Sumerian

Prince, Kan, Cain, or Horus of Egyptian lore, we can now identify Aiwaz as an agent or an aspect of this

ancient Sumerian real-historic Prince Kan. Further confirmation of the identification of Horus with the

Watchers comes from the findings of Egyptologist Walter Bryan Emery. Andrew Collins sites Emery’s

discovery of late pre-dynastic graves in northern Egypt as containing the bodies of a “race of great stature

believed to have founded the royal line of Egypt…Emery identified them with the Shemsu-Hor, the

companions, or followers of the hawk

therefore implying that the most distant ancestors of the Egyptians had been tall in stature with large

craniums.” Waddell described them as “lo

Sumerian graves. Also similar was the unique architecture in Sumer and Egypt showing a distinct

To remind the reader; in Biblical and Apocryphal texts the Sumeri

God, angels or Watchers; fallen angels after “coming in unto the daughters of men.” I wondered if

Crowley had ever mentioned the Watchers in his work and soon discovered that he had. In a letter to the

American automobile maker Henry Ford, Crowley beseeches Ford to embrace his Thelemic religion and

the Law of Do What Thou Wilt. Regarding the Watchers, Crowley writes,

“…there occur from time to time certain crises in the affairs of men which compel them [the Watchers] to

act in concert, and to select and send forth one of their number to put publicly forward such portions of

their secret doctrine as will enable men to solve the current problem which baffles them, and to triumph

over the dangers which beset them round. Two

It was already evident to the Watchers that all the sanctions which had served humanity for guidance had

According to Crowley, all of the myths and legends of the past

humanity in check. Crowley explains, “The Watchers in silence understood that the time had come for

them to take action. They foresaw that men left guideless and incapable of wisdom would plunge into the

madness of the world war, and all its consequences of aimless unrest. They [the Watchers] saw that the

one way to save the race from such red ruin as has overwhelmed civilizations of the past was to send forth

a Man with a Message.” That Man was, of course, Aleister Cro

now have identified from ages past. In

of Aiwaz and the Book of the Law

of the Watchers drove him (Crowley) back to the work…” The “work” is the spread of the Law of

Thelema and the contents of The Book of the Law

archetypes that periodically bubble up from the cauldron of humanity

“sensitives” like Crowley seem to have superiorly attuned psyche’s that can interpret these messages as

they stream up from the depths of the unconscious mind.

Now, as interesting as this line of inquiry into the origins of C

not the only interpretation. The previous explication emphasized the Solar

of our next inquiry will be the Typhonian Mother

modern-day exponent of these dark mysteries is Crowley disciple Kenneth Grant who utilizes, to great

effect, the work of Egyptologist Gerald Massey. According to Grant, Aiwaz’ origins do not reside in the

Solar-Cult.

companions, or followers of the hawk-headed god Horus.” Collins further writes of Emery, “…he was


craniums.” Waddell described them as “long-headed.” The same skulls were found buried in early


relationship between the two cultures.

To remind the reader; in Biblical and Apocryphal texts the Sumerian royalty were described as Sons of



le maker Henry Ford, Crowley beseeches Ford to embrace his Thelemic religion and





over the dangers which beset them round. Two and twenty years ago, such a situation reached its climax.


lost their compelling force.”

According to Crowley, all of the myths and legends of the past were no longer strong enough to keep



world war, and all its consequences of aimless unrest. They [the Watchers] saw that the


a Man with a Message.” That Man was, of course, Aleister Crowley and Aiwaz was that Watcher that we

now have identified from ages past. In the Equinox of the Gods Crowley wrote of his attempted rejection

the Book of the Law. Regardless of his repudiation, “Again and again the unsleeping might

tchers drove him (Crowley) back to the work…” The “work” is the spread of the Law of

The Book of the Law. The Fallen Angels or Watchers appear to be primordial

archetypes that periodically bubble up from the cauldron of humanity’s racial unconscious. Certain


they stream up from the depths of the unconscious mind.

Now, as interesting as this line of inquiry into the origins of Crowley’s Devil-God Aiwaz has been, this is

not the only interpretation. The previous explication emphasized the Solar-Cult attributes but the subject

of our next inquiry will be the Typhonian Mother-Weird Serpent-Cult of the destructive demon Set. The

day exponent of these dark mysteries is Crowley disciple Kenneth Grant who utilizes, to great


Cult. Aiwaz is, rather, a denizen of the Serpent pantheon.

headed god Horus.” Collins further writes of Emery, “…he was


headed.” The same skulls were found buried in early


an royalty were described as Sons of



le maker Henry Ford, Crowley beseeches Ford to embrace his Thelemic religion and





and twenty years ago, such a situation reached its climax.


were no longer strong enough to keep



world war, and all its consequences of aimless unrest. They [the Watchers] saw that the


wley and Aiwaz was that Watcher that we

Crowley wrote of his attempted rejection

. Regardless of his repudiation, “Again and again the unsleeping might

tchers drove him (Crowley) back to the work…” The “work” is the spread of the Law of

. The Fallen Angels or Watchers appear to be primordial

’s racial unconscious. Certain


God Aiwaz has been, this is

Cult attributes but the subject

Cult of the destructive demon Set. The

day exponent of these dark mysteries is Crowley disciple Kenneth Grant who utilizes, to great


Copyright-2005.

Bair, Deirdre: Jung; A Biography, Back Bay Books, Little Brown & Company (New York-Boston: 2004)

Collins, Andrew: From the Ashes of Angels, The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race, Bear & Company

(Rochester, UT: 1996)

Crowley, Aleister: The Equinox of the Gods, New Falcon Press (Scottsdale, AZ: 1991, 1991 Ordo Templi

Orientis)

The Holy Books of Thelema, Samuel Weiser (York Beach, Maine: 1988)

The Law is for All: An Extended Commentary on the Book of the Law, New Falcon Publications (Phoenix,

AZ: 1993, 1993 Ordo Templi Orientis)

Magick, Red Wheel/Weiser LLC (York Beach, ME: 2002)

Magick Without Tears, New Falcon Publications (Tempe, AZ USA: 1997)

The Revival of Magick and Other Essays, New Falcon Publications, Ordo Templi Orientis (Tempe, AZ:

1998, 1998 Ordo Templi Orientis)

Edinger, Edward F.: Ego and Archetype, Shambala (Boston and London: 1992)

The Eternal Drama, Shambala (Boston and London: 1994)

Hall, Manly P.: The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Tarcher-Penguin (New York: 2003)

Hoeller, Stephan A.: The Gnostic Jung & The Seven Sermons to the Dead, A Quest Book (USA, India,

England: 1982)

Jung, C.G., Aion, Princeton/Bollingen (1979)

The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, Princeton/Bollingen (1990)

Jung on Active Imagination, Edited with an Introduction by Joan Chodorow, Princeton University Press

(Princeton, New Jersey: 1997)

Noll, Richard: The Aryan Christ; The Secret Life of Carl Jung, Random House (New York, NY: 1997)

Prophet, Elizabeth Claire: Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil, Summit University Press (Corwin Springs,

Montana: 2000)

Rice, Boyd: The First Eden, http://www.rosenoire.org/articles/www.thevesselofgod.com (Boyd Rice

2004)

That Which Has Fallen, http://www.rosenoire.org/articles/www.thevesselofgod.com (Boyd Rice 2004)

Waddell, L.A.: The British Edda, Christian Book Club (Hawthorne, CA: 1930)

Egyptian Civilization its Sumerian Origin and Real Chronology, Christian Book Club (Hawthorne, CA:

1930)

The Makers of Civilization, Luzac & Co. (London, England: 1929)

Excerpts from the Holy Bible taken from the King James version.

http://www.rosenoire.org/articles/www.thevesselofgod.com

http://www.rosenoire.org/articles/www.thevesselofgod.com

Documents

Crowley, Sumeria and the Fallen Angels