ONE of the most enigmatic of the ‘Holy Books’ written by Aleister Crowley is Liber XXVII, entitled

Liber Trigrammaton --- Being the Book of the Trigrams of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin and the Yang.

This work contains 27 Trigrams formulated by the use of three symbols in groups of three:

a Tao, represented by a point; a Yin, represented by a broken line; and a Yang, represented by a solid line.

Crowley notes that Liber XXVII describes the cosmic process, or the course of creation, on the basis of three principles.

The present work will show that by using the Base Three system of mathematics,

this cosmic process can be decoded, and an entirely new qabalah, or mystical system, can be established from it.

The decoding of the Trigrams is a simple process. In Base Three, there are only three numerals: Zero, One, and Two.

These numerals correspond to the symbols for Tao, Yang, and Yin.

As with the Hexagrams of I Ching, the Trigrams are analyzed starting from the bottom line and moving to the top line.

In the decoding process, the bottom line corresponds to the first digit of the Base Three system.

This digit represents the “Ones” place, inasmuch as 3^0 equals 1.

The middle line of each Trigram corresponds to the second digit in Base Three, which represents the “Threes” place, (where 3^1equals 3).

The top line of each Trigram corresponds to the third digit in Base Three, which represents the “Nines” place, (where 3^2 equals 9).

Each line may be occupied by the number zero, one, or two,

which designates how many ones, threes, and nines go to make up the number.

According to this system, a value can be generated for each Trigram by considering which symbol is in which place,

and converting those symbols into Base Three. These figures will then be translated into Base Ten for easier comprehension.

For example, the Trigram containing three Yang lines has a value of

1 for the “Ones” place, 1 for the “Threes” place, and 1 for the “Nines” place.

The sum of 1 + 3 + 9 = 13, therefore that Trigram is an expression of the number 13 in Base Three.

The same method is used for all the Trigrams, with the three symbols of Tao, Yang, and Yin

determining how many ones, threes, and nines are involved in each.

After being decoded, the 27 Trigrams are seen to represent all the numbers from Zero to Twenty-six.

These 27 numbers are NOT in serial order, making the sequence all the more fertile for creating a new Qabalah.

For example the first Trigram contains a zero value for every digit, and therefore equals 0.

The following six Trigrams all contain two points, and designate this numerical sequence:

1, 2, 3, 6, 9, & 18. The total of all six of these numbers is 39; this is the key number of Liber Trigrammaton.

The next 12 Trigrams all contain only one point, and are in this order:

4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 19, 20, 12, 15, 21, & 24. The sum of this set of twelve numbers is 156.

The final set of eight Trigrams all contain no points, and appear in this order:

13, 14, 16, 22, 17, 23, 25, & 26. The sum of this set of eight numbers is also 156. Note that 156 = 4 x 39.

The sum of all the Trigrams, the numbers from 0 to 26, is 351. This total is split into three sections;

the first section of seven Trigrams equals 39, and the following two sections each equal 4 x 39.