J. Edward “Jerry” Cornelius (1951–2023) spent a lifetime developing Aleister Crowley’s sacred formula of ON—especially the male formula of O. Initially, he channeled his Genius unconsciously. From 1969 to 1976, Jerry flooded notebook after notebook with intriguing—often beautiful—tables, diagrams, and drawings. About his process, he writes:

Volumes upon volumes were produced in these early years. Well over twenty-five. I was such a maniac and obsessed. Some of these notebooks, only numbers 7 thru 11, which are dated from April to December 1976, still survive. … [T]hese years … were truly chaotic on a magickal level, if not seemingly disjointed, but, believe it or not, there was a purpose behind all my madness….

Jerry’s creativity and its New-Aeonic import may be appreciated through a 200-page pictorial work from these years—The Book of Archai. His early inspiration comes into clearer view through the addition of 76 vivid drawings I selected from Jerry’s notebooks of the period. Almost any one of these images could obsess a person for hours.

Having carefully studied The Book of Archai and Jerry’s extant notebooks and diaries, I offer an interpretative framework in “On Creation, Channeling, and the Watchers,” included in this volume. Here I express the underlying synthesis of Gnostic and Thelemic principles that emphasize the importance of achieving Wisdom and Understanding, balancing spiritual and material forces, and embracing the transformative power of the New Aeon. Viewed through Jerry’s productions, our Work in the end is simply to bring Heaven down to Earth.

—Christopher Reed Johnson

Topics in “On Creation, Channeling, and the Watchers”:

• The Negative Veils and Creation
• The Elohim, Pi, and the Archai
• Watchers, Nephilim, Gibborim, Et. Al.
• Gnostic Foundations of Thelema
• J. Edward Cornelius’ Gnosticism
• ABRAHADABRA
• Sacred Numbers of Importance to Jerry
• On the Validity of the Tzaddi-Heh Switch
• Aeonic Progression

Bonus Material: “Realms Between” by Jerry Edward Cornelius 1084, published in OTO KAABA, Volume I, Number 2, An. LXXIV Sol in Cancer, Summer 1978 e.v.