The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

40 Choronzon
Choronzon (© RICHARD COOK)
to access two of the 30 aethyrs or aires (levels or planes)
of expanded consciousness. He decided to access the remaining
28 aethyrs.
Crowley and Neuberg went out into the desert to a
mount and ascended it. To make the Call, Crowley held
a vermilion-painted Calvary Cross with an engraved topaz
set in its axis. The topaz was engraved with a rose of
49 petals. When his clairvoyant visions unfolded, Crowley
dictated to Neuberg. They performed one aethyr a
day, except for one day when they two performed. They
started with the last-numbered aethyr and worked backward
toward the first.
Most of Crowley’s visions were apocalyptic in nature.
In the 15th aethyr, he underwent an initiation to the magical
grade of Master of the Temple, a title that could be
fully realized only by accessing the other aethyrs. However,
Crowley experienced great difficulty in trying to
access the next, the 14th aethyr. After making several attempts,
he stopped.
He and Neuberg were on their way down the mount
when Crowley suddenly was seized with the inspiration
to perform a homosexual magic ritual with Neuberg and
dedicate it to the Greek god of nature, Pan. They went
back to the top of the mount, inscribed in the sand a
magic circle protected with names and words of power,
and made a crude stone altar. Crowley took the submissive
role in the sexual act as a way of eliminating ego. The
ritual marked a turning point for him in his view of the
importance of sex in magic; he now saw it as a beneficial
sacrament.
The ritual also led to a breakthrough in consciousness,
for later that evening, Crowley gained access to the
14th aethyr. In his vision, he was informed that in order
to attain his cherished goal of becoming a Secret Chief
and Master of the Temple, he had to undergo the complete
death of his ego and unite his spirit with the ocean
of infinity. Only this way, could he cross the Abyss, the
gulf that separates ordinary mortals from the Secret
Chiefs.
Crowley was able to resume his explorations of the
other aethyrs, where he received revelation after revelation,
laden with symbolism. In the 11th aethyr, he was
told that in the 10th aethyr he would have to make a
conscious crossing of the Abyss, inhabited by a single
entity, the demon Choronzon, the “first and deadliest of
all the powers of evil,” a being composed of “complete
negation.”
The ritual for crossing the Abyss took place on December
6, 1909, outside the town of Bou Saada. Crowley
and Neuberg walked out into the desert until they found
a valley that had a suitable floor of fine sand. They formed
a circle of rocks, drew around it a magic circle, and then
drew a magic triangle. The demon would be invoked into
the triangle. The circle would protect Neuberg, who would
sit within it, armed with a magical knife and a notebook
for recording what happened. Crowley intended to enter
the triangle, a dangerous act for a magician. He thus became
perhaps the first magician in the Western magical
tradition to offer his own body ritually as a vehicle for
manifestation of a demon.
Before the start of the ritual, Neuberg took an oath
that he would defend the magic circle “with thoughts and
words and deeds” and would use the knife to attack anything
that entered it, even Crowley.
Crowley apparently was not in the triangle when he
invoked the aethyr, but was in a “secret place” out of the
sight and hearing of Neuberg. After the invocation, Crowley
entered the triangle. To help the demon materialize,
he sacrificed three pigeons at the points of the triangle
and sprinkled their BLOOD. He took care not to let a drop
fall outside the triangle, for that would enable Choronzon
to manifest in the universe. When all the blood had
soaked into the sand, he secretly recited the Call of the
aethyr. He was in full trance.
Neuberg records that he heard a voice, simulating
Crowley’s voice, call out barbarous names and then blasphemies.
Visions appeared within the triangle. First, Neuberg
saw the form of a woman prostitute he had known
in Paris. The “woman” tried to seduce him, but Neuberg
resisted, figuring it was Choronzon in a shape-shifted
form. The “woman” then offered submission, which he
also rejected. The demon next turned into an old man,
then a SERPENT, and then into Crowley, who begged for
water. Neuberg held fast within the circle.
Neuberg ordered Choronzon to declare his nature.
The demon replied that he spat upon the name of the
Most High. He was Master of the Triangle, who had no
fear of the pentagram. He gave Neuberg words that the
magician took as “great secrets of magic” but turned out
to be worthless, a joke played by the demon. Neuberg invoked
Aiwass. Choronzon said that he knew the name
of the angel and that “all thy dealings with him are but a
cloak for thy filthy sorceries.”