LIBER TRIGRAMMATON and CIPHER X
Liber Trigrammaton, of the Thirteen Holy Books, was considered to be of great import to Crowley, because he considered it to be the key to a 'holy cipher' of the English Language, or a 'Kaballah of the English Alphabet'. This is why students of EQ after a fashion began to supplant the spelling of the art with a Q rather than a K, to denote the difference not only from the original system, but from the later Christianized versions ('Cabala'). Liber Trigrammaton is a key, to understanding not only the cipher system of ALW, but of any cipher system which operates the English Alphabet.
The term Trigrammaton of course refers to the I-Ching, and the system of hexagrams which issue from it. Crowley was himself an expert in the I-Ching, and immediately saw a connection with this structure and the English Language. The I-Ching was instrumental in creating Binary, and it is apparent that it is a visual codex, a language unto itself which is at once both a pictographic and mathematical language.
The term Trigrammaton of course refers to the I-Ching, and the system of hexagrams which issue from it. Crowley was himself an expert in the I-Ching, and immediately saw a connection with this structure and the English Language. The I-Ching was instrumental in creating Binary, and it is apparent that it is a visual codex, a language unto itself which is at once both a pictographic and mathematical language.
The I-Ching represents binary in a simple fashion: numeral 1 is represented by a solid line.
The number two is represented by a broken line.
However, Daoism also has a glyph which represents zero as an integer, which is simply a dot.
When calculating the combinations of '0,1,2' a new series of glyphs emerge, a set of trigrams, which are twenty seven in number.
This is why Liber Trigrammaton is also called 'Liber 27' because of the 27-fold nature of this 'trinary' arrangement. This formula also unlocks an understanding of Astrology and the Tarot which again, needs no ancient language to operate. The mathematical language of the I-Ching is universal, and English is our modern language. A new Tarot, with the English Qaballah as its basis, will be one of the great tasks of the N*O*T*.
Joel Love's innovations with various ciphers would fill a huge volume unto itself, and the body of research that he amassed in his lifetime is so vast that it is even still it is being examined and cataloged. But what stood forth early on was his immense work with Liber 27 and the deep mathematical and cosmological analysis of it to which he would commit two decades of his life. It became apparent early on to Joel that the trigrams in Liber 27 represented Base Three numbers. However, when calculating the straightforward series, the cipher solution does not arrive at ALW, but an alternate cipher. Joel had a fondness for puns and limericks and was adept at reading metaphor, so he looked at the last line of Liber 27:
"Therefore was the end of it sorrow; yet in that sorrow a sixfold star of glory whereby they might see to return unto the stainless Abode; yea, unto the Stainless Abode."
To Joel 'seeing to return' meant 'going backwards' through the trigram sequence, which, mathematically, suggested a process of inversion.
Base operations can be easily inverted, so Joel merely took the ALW cipher, converted it to Base Three, and then inverted it. The result is Cipher X:
9=A 18=L 3=W 6=D 1=K 2=F 12=H 21=S 15=O 24=Z 10=V 19=G 11=Q 20=B 4=R 7=Y 5=M 8=T 13=C 22=N 16=J 14=X 25=U 23=I 17=E 26=P
(A=1 L=2 W=3 H=4 S=5 D=6 O=7 Z=8 K=9 V=10 G=11 R=12 C=13 N=14 Y=15 J=16 U=17 F=18 Q=19 B=20 M=21 X=22 I=23 T=24 E=25 P=26)
Liber 27, with Joel Love's Original Commentary:
Being the Book of the Trigrams of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin and the Yang
The trigrams can be seen as base three numbers. The EQ values from 1 to 26 can be assigned to the trigrams by their value as a number. As the first trigram is 000 = 0, it is not assigned a letter (silence).
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Cipher X is obtained by taking the letter assigned by Eq values and giving it the value of the trigram read top to bottom (inverted).
Using the values the letters in both ciphers it is possible to plot out Liber XXVII on a graph |
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The final 8 trigrams of Liber XXVII are the traditional 8 trigrams of the I Ching. They have often been interpeted as binary numbers, but if you look at them as base three numbers, their sum is 156 in both EQ and Cipher X.
These are the only trigrams truly manifest. All of the prior trigrams relate to Da'ath and the Supernals.
These are the only trigrams truly manifest. All of the prior trigrams relate to Da'ath and the Supernals.