Liber Veneris - Chapter 43

Verses

Verse 58

The Revealer said: You praise the lamp because you have forgotten the fire from which lamps borrow.

Verse 59

The disciples pointed to the Morning Star and asked, Is that the Light?

Verse 60

He said: It is a bright witness, but a witness is not the thing witnessed.

Verse 61

Every ruler of the lower heavens loves reflected glory, for reflection allows ownership.

Verse 62

The First Light cannot be owned because it does not stand opposite the one who knows it.

Verse 63

Therefore the archon builds mirrors and says, Behold, I have manufactured the Sun.

Verse 64

His servants applaud because their salaries depend upon cosmology.

Verse 65

Do not curse the mirror. Without it you might never notice your hunger for light.

Verse 66

Lucifer said, I will ascend. The fool hears only pride. The wise ask: What imagined itself below?

Verse 67

If a spark rises toward fire, has it rebelled or remembered?

Verse 68

Yet beware the counterfeit ascent, where the ego climbs seven heavens and brings its luggage.

Verse 69

A crown carried into awakening is merely a heavier dream.

Verse 70

The Morning Star appears before the Sun and is erased by greater brightness.

Verse 71

So too the teacher appears before knowledge and must disappear when knowledge rises.

Verse 72

Any teacher who survives your awakening as master has taught dependence.

Verse 73

The rulers say, Kneel so that light may enter you.

Verse 74

The Revealer says, Find the one who could ever have stood outside it.

Verse 75

A demon heard this and shouted, Excellent, no paperwork.

Verse 76

An angel heard this and opened a new department.

Verse 77

A human heard this and asked whether rent was still due. The Revealer said, Unfortunately, gnosis has poor tenancy law.

Verse 78

Zohra shines beautifully because she reflects what is not hers.

Verse 79

Learn from her honesty: she never claims to generate the radiance men worship.

Verse 80

The false god says, My brightness proves I am the source.

Verse 81

The cat in the doorway says nothing and blocks the temple entrance.

Verse 82

Blessed is the one who recognizes obstruction as instruction.

Verse 83

The world is not evil because it appears. Bondage begins when appearance claims final authority.

Verse 84

The body is not the prison. Mistaken identity is the lock.

Verse 85

The key is not hidden in another heaven. The thought another heaven is one of the bars.

Verse 86

When Morning and Evening are known as one star, division loses a servant.

Verse 87

When knower and known are seen in one awareness, the heavens lose a landlord.