CROWLEY - TEN RITUAL GESTURES - IAO For his practical magic, Aleister Crowley worked out a series of ten ritual gestures, related to the Four Elements, and the secret 'Sign of Light'. The ten are represented here, in the form drawn by Crowley, in accordance with certain esoteric principles. One observes, for example, that the lower four Elements are separated from the topmost four sound-gestures by the Veil gesture, of opening and closing. This is expressed in the diagram spatially, but in actual practice, it is worked out and expressed in Time. Working upwards, and reading from left to right: [Bottom] The gesture of Earth, which represents the god Set fighting. [Second line up] The gesture of Air, which represents the god Shu supporting the sky. [Third line up, left] The gesture of Water, which represents the goddess Auramoth. [Third line up, right] The gesture of Fire, which represents the goddess Thoum-aesh-neith. [Fourth line up] are gestures of Spirit, described as the rending [Left] and closing [Right] of the sacred Veil [in esotericism, the Veil of Isis, which separates the material realm from the higher spiritual]. [Top four images] are called the LUX signs, or Signs of Light, which Cowley identifies with the formula IAO, in which Isis represents Nature, Apophis destruction, and Osiris, the restorer of Isis (the three letter word is therefore circular and endless, descriptive of the magical process). [Reading from left to right, these sound-gestures are]. The cross sign, or Osiris slain. The L sign, or Isis mourning - sometimes called the Svastika. The V sign, or the Sign of Typhon, which is also called the Trident sign. The X sign, or Osiris Risen, sometimes called the Pentagram sign. From Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice,