The Tables Behind the System

Liber 777 is a compact reference work consisting almost entirely of tables of correspondence that align the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, its ten sefirot and twenty-two paths, with gods, colours, plants, perfumes, animals, tarot cards, magical weapons and formulae drawn from many cultures. First published anonymously by Aleister Crowley in 1909, it systematises material inherited from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, itself resting on the labours of S. L. MacGregor Mathers and others (Crowley's friend Allan Bennett is often credited with much of the original tabulation). Its purpose is thoroughly practical: by giving, for each point on the Tree, its corresponding symbols across dozens of systems, it lets a magician assemble internally consistent rituals and see how different traditions map onto one another. It is the indispensable back-of-the-workbench companion to Crowley's ceremonial writing, and its method, reducing the world's symbols to a single correspondence grid, both epitomises the Golden Dawn approach and has drawn the criticism that it flattens very different traditions into one scheme.