Editing Thelema (section)

===James Lees===
[[File:Liber AL - page 60.jpg|thumb|295px|The 'grid' page of Liber AL's manuscript]]
James Lees (August 22, 1939{{sfnp|Thompson|2018}} - 2015) was an English [[ceremonial magic]]ian known for creating the system he called [[English Qaballa]]. In November 1976, Lees explained how he had discovered{{sfnp|Lees|2018}} the "order & value of the English Alphabet."{{sfnp|Crowley|1976|loc=ch. 3, v. 47}} Following this, Lees founded the order [[O∴A∴A∴]] in order to assist others in the pursuit of their own spiritual paths.{{sfnp|Thompson|2018}} The first public report of the system known as English Qaballa (EQ) was published in 1979 by Ray Sherwin in an editorial in the final issue of his journal, ''The New Equinox''. Lees subsequently assumed the role of publisher of ''The New Equinox'' and, starting in 1981, published additional material about the EQ system over the course of five issues of the journal, extending into 1982.{{sfnp|Lees|2018}}

The "order & value"{{sfnp|Crowley|1976|loc=ch. 3, v. 47}} proposed by James Lees lays the letters out on the grid superimposed on the page of manuscript of ''Liber AL'' on which this verse (Ch. III, v. 47) appears (sheet 16 of Chapter III).{{sfnp|Crowley|1976|loc=ch. 3, v. 47}} Also appearing on this page are a diagonal line and a circled cross. ''The Book of the Law'' states that the book should only be printed with Crowley's hand-written version included, suggesting that there are mysteries in the "chance shape of the letters and their position to one another" of Crowley's handwriting.  Whichever top-left to bottom-right diagonal is read the magical order of the letters is obtained.{{sfnp|Stratton-Kent|1988}}

Little, if any, further material on English Qaballa was published until the appearance of Jake Stratton-Kent's book, ''The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187'', in 2011.{{sfnp|Stratton-Kent|2011}} This was followed in 2016 by ''The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer'' by Cath Thompson.{{sfnp|Thompson|2016}} An account of the creation, exploration, and continuing research and development of the system up to 2010, by James Lees and members of his group in England, is detailed in her 2018 book, ''All This and a Book''.{{sfnp|Thompson|2018}}