(everything stated in this blog is based upon my own research, personal practice, and opinion)

Adoring the Sun: The Esoteric Power of Liber Resh vel Helios

At the heart of Thelemic spiritual practice lies a deceptively simple ritual: Liber Resh vel Helios. Also known simply as Liber Resh, this solar adoration rite was written by Aleister Crowley and published as Liber CC (200) in the curriculum of the A∴A∴. Despite its brevity, Liber Resh is one of the most potent daily rituals in Thelemic magick, designed to align the practitioner with both cosmic forces and the deeper dimensions of the Self.

Find it here –  http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Liber_Resh

This fourfold ritual, performed at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight, invokes ancient Egyptian solar deities at each station of the Sun: Ra in the east, Ahathoor in the south, Tum in the west, and Kephra in the north. These names are not chosen arbitrarily; they represent a powerful spiritual cycle, a microcosmic reflection of the soul’s journey through light and darkness, life and death, ego and divinity.

Origins and Symbolism: A Ritual of the Solar Mysteries

The roots of Liber Resh lie in the solar worship of ancient Egypt, where the Sun was revered as the embodiment of divine order and the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Crowley, influenced by both the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and his personal mystical experiences in Egypt (notably the reception of The Book of the Law in 1904), crafted Resh as a bridge between ancient symbolism and modern magickal practice.

Each of the four solar deities invoked corresponds to a phase of the Sun’s daily cycle and, symbolically, to the phases of the magician’s spiritual transformation:

Ra (Sunrise/East): The dawning of awareness, new beginnings, and divine inspiration.

Ahathoor (Noon/South): The height of power, beauty, and creative expression.

Tum (Sunset/West): Decline and reflection, the death of forms, and inner wisdom.

Kephra (Midnight/North): The scarab god of resurrection, representing hidden transformation and renewal in darkness.

Crowley simplified and internalized the solar framework of the Golden Dawn, reworking it to reflect the core Thelemic principles of individual will, divine identity, and cosmic alignment. In the A∴A∴ system, Liber Resh is given early in a student’s journey, forming the cornerstone of a daily rhythm that links the aspirant’s consciousness to celestial motion and archetypal power.

Daily Practice as Magical Transformation

The practical function of Liber Resh is both spiritual and initiatory. At its surface, it is a short series of adorations timed to the Sun’s passage. When looked at deeper we find it is a ritual of energetic alignment and consciousness training.

Each adoration requires the practitioner to physically face the direction of the Sun’s position and speak a praise addressed to the corresponding deity. This daily discipline fosters an awareness of natural cycles, not as abstract metaphors, but as lived spiritual realities. The magician becomes attuned to the rhythm of cosmic forces, mirrored in the Sun’s journey across the sky and within the soul.

As the day turns, so too does the soul move through phases of clarity, power, decay, and renewal. In Resh, the magician ritually acknowledges and participates in these shifts, developing a stable, solarized center of being; a consciousness that holds steady like the Sun, even as the world spins.

Thelemic Cosmology and the Solar Self

In Thelemic thought, the Sun is not just a celestial body, it is a radiant symbol of the True Will, the divine purpose within each person. Liber AL vel Legis: The Book of the Law (ch1v3) declares: “Every man and every woman is a star.” This star is the essential identity, the flame of Hadit, a point of infinite potential and divine purpose.

Each of the four adorations in Liber Resh marks a movement through the alchemical process of spiritual development:

Ra (Dawn): The first spark of Will, innocence, and awakening.

Ahathoor (Noon): Will in full expression, joy, and creative strength.

Tum (Sunset): Wisdom, detachment, and the descent into mystery.

Kephra (Midnight): Transformation, gestation, and preparation for rebirth.

By tracking the Sun’s movement and integrating it through daily ritual, the practitioner begins to live from their center, aligning their actions, thoughts, and aspirations with the divine Will. This, in Thelema, is the essence of enlightenment.

Energetic Alchemy: The Solar Current

Liber Resh also functions as a tool for energetic transformation. In Hermetic and Thelemic systems, the solar current is the clearest, most refined form of spiritual energy, conscious, radiant, and life-giving. Unlike lunar or chaotic forces, the solar current sharpens awareness, fortifies the will, and fills the body with clarity and strength.

By invoking this energy four times a day, the magician bathes their mind and subtle body in light. It is an alchemical fire, gradually refining the base elements of the ego and transforming them into the gold of spiritual realization. This is the work of the inner alchemist: to expose the soul to divine heat until it shines with its own solar radiance.

Ego Discipline and Divine Affirmation

Crowley emphasized that Liber Resh is not a prayer of supplication, it is a ritual of identification. Each adoration culminates in a direct proclamation:

 “I adore Thee, O Ra / Ahathoor / Tum / Kephra!”

This is a declaration of unity, not separation. The practitioner does not merely praise the Sun, they become it.

This dual function serves the Thelemic initiate in two essential ways:

Affirmation of Divinity: By ritually identifying with solar deities, the magician declares their own divine nature. The adoration becomes an act of sacred self-remembrance.

Ego Discipline: In placing the personal self in alignment with a vast cosmic order, the transient ego is humbled and refined. The Self, the divine flame within, is exalted above personal whims and illusions.

Hadit, the central flame, does not move, yet is the source of all motion. Practicing Liber Resh cultivates the ability to dwell in that still, eternal center, even amid life’s chaos and change.

Invocation: The Arc of Becoming the Divine

To fully grasp the power of Liber Resh, it helps to understand the deeper mechanics of invocation, the magical act of drawing a divine force into oneself, not to worship it from afar, but to become it from within.

Invocation unfolds in a recognizable arc:

He who is – The god is recognized in lofty, third-person terms: an exalted archetype.

Thou art – The god is addressed directly; relationship is formed.

I am Thou – The magician assumes the god’s essence; identification begins.

I who am – The divine speaks through the magician; full embodiment is achieved.

In this progression, the practitioner moves from reverence to realization, from duality to union. This isn’t roleplay or fantasy, it is the sacred act of becoming what you truly are: a vessel of divine power and cosmic intelligence. In Liber Resh, each adoration is a mini-invocation, an alignment not just with a mythological figure, but with one’s highest self.

Vibrating sacred names/formulas like IAO, OM, AGLA, or ARARITA further deepens this transformation. These sounds resonated through breath and voice, tune the magician’s energy field like a sacred instrument, unlocking altered states of consciousness and spiritual attunement.

A Compass for the Soul

Liber Resh vel Helios is far more than a timekeeping exercise for occultists. It is a compass, a spiritual gyroscope, that orients the magician toward the center of their own divine flame. By adoring the Sun at its cardinal stations, the practitioner does not worship a distant god, they reclaim the god within.

Crowley designed this ritual to cultivate what he called “solar consciousness”, a radiant state of spiritual sovereignty, unshaken by external chaos and anchored in True Will. With consistent practice, Liber Resh becomes a golden thread through the day, weaving each moment into a tapestry of meaning, power, and illumination.

In the end, the Sun is both above and within. To adore it is to remember that you, too, are a star, a being of light, purpose, and endless becoming.

Personalized Resh – Becoming the Embodiment of the Sun upon the Earth

In the daily rhythm of Thelemic magick, few rituals are as simple and profound as Liber Resh vel Helios. Beneath its elegance lies a potent formula for invoking not just the outer Sun, but the divine solar self within.

While the original ritual addresses solar deities in the second person, a powerful variant emerges when the practitioner steps fully into identification, proclaiming: “I am the Sun.” This is not metaphor. It is ritual truth. Let’s explore the symbolism and method of Liber Resh, culminating in a fully embodied, first-person version of the ritual that affirms the practitioner’s divine identity as a living star.

The Solar Axis of Thelema

In Thelemic cosmology, the Sun is more than a celestial body, it is a symbol of True Will, the divine core of the individual. Each human being, like the Sun, radiates a unique orbit of purpose and power. The goal of Thelemic practice is not submission to divine forces but realization of divine identity. Thus, Liber Resh becomes more than praise; it is invocation, embodiment, and exaltation.

When performed in the first person, Liber Resh transforms from an act of worship and alignment into a magical assumption of godhood. You do not merely adore Ra, Ahathoor, Tum, and Khephra, you become them, moment by moment, light to shadow, death to rebirth.

Ritual Structure: Invocation in Four Movements

To recap from earlier, each performance of Liber Resh corresponds to a solar station and a godform drawn from Egyptian mythology. These are not just metaphors, they are masks of the divine Self in its changing aspects throughout the day:

Ra (East / Sunrise): The dawning of awareness, fresh Will.

Ahathoor (South / Noon): Triumph, beauty, full creative force.

Tum (West / Sunset): Wisdom, joy in dissolution.

Khephra (North / Midnight): Hidden transformation, rebirth.

I have been practicing Liber Resh as first person, daily, for 11 years. When approached in the first person, these invocations become acts of powerful divine embodiment. The practitioner declares: “I am Ra… I am Ahathoor… I am Tum… I am Khephra.” This is magical identification, the central act of invocation, where separation vanishes and the god speaks through the self.

First-Person Invocation: Liber Resh vel Helios Reimagined

Below is the first-person version of Liber Resh, designed for use in daily practice. Perform each adoration at the appointed time and direction. Begin with the sign of your grade, then speak boldly, clearly, with breath and presence.

At Sunrise (East) — Ra

Face East. Give the sign of your grade.

Speak aloud:

Hail unto I who art Ra in My rising,
even unto I who art Ra in My strength,
as I travellest over the Heavens in My bark
at the Uprising of the Sun.

Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow,
and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.

Hail unto Me from the Abodes of Night!

Give the sign of silence. Perform the Adoration.

At Noon (South) — Ahathoor

Face South. Give the sign of your grade.

Speak aloud:

Hail unto I who art Ahathoor in My triumphing,
even unto I who art Ahathoor in My beauty,
as I travellest over the heavens in My bark
at the Mid-course of the Sun.

Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow,
and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.

Hail unto Me from the Abodes of Morning!

Give the sign of silence. Perform the Adoration.

At Sunset (West) — Tum

Face West. Give the sign of your grade.

Speak aloud:

Hail unto I who art Tum in My setting,
even unto I who art Tum in My joy,
as I travellest over the Heavens in My bark
at the Down-going of the Sun.

Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow,
and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.

Hail unto Me from the Abodes of Day!

Give the sign of silence. Perform the Adoration.

At Midnight (North) — Khephra

Face North. Give the sign of your grade.

Speak aloud:

Hail unto I who art Khephra in My hiding,
even unto I who art Khephra in My silence,
as I travellest over the heavens in My bark
at the Midnight Hour of the Sun.

Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow,
and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.

Hail unto Me from the Abodes of Evening!

Give the sign of silence. Perform the Adoration.

Ritual Notes

Each invocation ends with a ritual pause, the sign of silence, and may be followed by an adoration, prayer, or moment of inward stillness. For those who use the adoration from the Stele –

https://www.luminist.org/archives/stele.htm

, note I will also take it first person if/when using it in my daily practice. The ritual itself need take no more than a few minutes, but its effects are profound. It weaves your day with intention, alignment, and a golden thread of solar consciousness.

If you desire, you may vibrate sacred names/formulas, like IAO, after the adoration, further tuning your body and subtle energy field to the divine current. These vibrations help activate the godform within you, anchoring the transformation.

Living as the Sun: Thelemic Realization in Daily Life

Practicing Liber Resh in the first person does more than structure your day, it reforms your consciousness. You cease to think of the divine as “out there” and begin to know it as in here. The Sun becomes not just something you orbit, but something you are.

This is the secret of Hadit, the invisible point at the heart of every star:

“I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star…” (Liber AL vel Legis ch2v6)

To invoke the Sun as Self is not ego worship. It is the dissolution of the transient ego into the radiance of Will. As you proclaim “I am Ra,” you speak from that place of eternal fire. You become a conscious star, moving not by chance, but by design.

Final Thought: The Sun Behind the Sun

In Liber Resh, we trace the visible path of the Sun. But… the magician knows: behind the Sun is another Sun, the hidden source, the inmost light. Each time you face east or west, north or south, you are not just honoring the sky. You are reawakening to the divine that burns at your center.

Perform Liber Resh in this spirit, not as a chore or a dogma, but as a celebration of who you truly are: a vessel of the solar flame, a radiant axis of Will and Light.

On this Solstice, as a little treat, I leave you with the adoration I currently use after first person Resh. May it bring you life, light, love, and liberty as you bear witness to the power within.

Hail unto Me from the Abodes of Time.
For I am the Sun in rising, in fullness, in dying, and in return.
I Am the Sun.