Walt asked:
"Did Crowley hear the true title of Liber CCXX. I'm fascinated with the question, "What is the true title of the book of Law?" In I:35, Nuit calls it "...book of Law." I thought though I remembered reading somewhere Crowley saying that he only heard L, which could of been AL in Hebrew (pronounced El [as if you needed the > clarification!]), but this seems to assert that he heard in trance the title of the Book of Law, but I can't remember where I read this!?"
David Allen Hulse answered:
You are correct. Crowley heard the contents of the book of the law dictated to him over his left corner from the voice of Aiwass. The voice was outside of Crowley, rather than heard within. Crowley heard Aiwass speak the title of the book as LIBER L, or Book L. Crowley referred to it later as LIBER LEGIS, thus The Book of the Law. This is a term used in Masonry, so Crowley did not come up with the English phrase on his own. 14 years later Crowley believed that what he really heard in 1904 was LIBER AL, not LIBER L, and you are correct in assuming the actual phonetic pronunciation would be EL rather than AL. Yet both Crowley and Achad embraced the Qabalistic pun that AL = ALL.
Walt asked for further clarification:
1.) Can you cite where he says this, that he heard the title during the reception? 2.) So do you think the title page was the first thing he penned, instead of just beginning with "Had! The manifestation of Nuit!"? 3.) So you're saying that you have read that Crowley actually heard the title during the reception as "Liber L(possibly AL in Hebrew)," or are you saying that he heard "Book L(possibly AL in Hebrew)?
David Allen Hulse answered:
I went back to the Book, to find all instances of the reference to its name. Including your own I found 5 (there are other references to the word "book" itself):
I:35 the threefold book of Law
II:38 the writing of the Book of the Law
III:39 thy comment upon this the Book of the Law
III:63the fool readeth this Book of the Law
III:75 The Book of the Law is written and concealed.
That was fascinating to me for Aiwass' own voice would speak this title. You asked me to source my response concerning Crowley hearing Liber L from Aiwass. I thought it would be easy, but for the life of me I could not readily find it in Crowley's words. Crowley states in his commentary on The Book of the Law appearing in The Equinox of the Gods that he first titled the book Liber L vel Legis for the 1909 publication (not in the Equinox series but in his Holy Books). But he does not speak on its renaming, nor whether he heard Aiwass speak this Book title. I realized that it had to exist in something after 1918 when Achad first discovered the book's real title as Liber AL. It is not in The Equinox of Gods and it is not in Confessions, nor is it in Magick. But it is in the second commentary on The Book of the Law that Crowley wrote while at Cefalu (around 1920).
I quote from THE MAGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTARIES ON THE BOOK OF THE LAW (93 Publishing, Canada, 1974) page 75 (Crowley's lead paragraph in his introduction to the commentary itself):
"In the first edition this Book is called L. L.is the sacred letter in the Holy Twelvefold Table which forms the triangle that stabilizes the Universe. See Liber 418. L. is the letter of Libra, Balance, and "Justice" in the Taro. This title should probably be AL, pronounced "EL", as the 'L' was heard of the Voice of Aiwaz, not seen. AL is the true Name of the Book, for these letters, and their Number 31, form the Master Key to its Mysteries."