Vi veri universum vivus vici

Vi veri universum vivus vici is a Latin phrase meaning: "By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe", or, "By the power of truth I, a mortal, have conquered all creation."

The phrase appears in the writings of English occultist Aleister Crowley. In The Vision and the Voice ("The Cry of the 4th Aethyr", dated December 16, 1909) Crowley writes, "his name shall be called Vir [man], and Vis [power], and Virus [poison], and Virtus [manliness], and Viridis [green], in one name that is all these, and above all these." In a footnote this is glossed as "Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici, the motto of the Seer as Magister Templi".^[1]

Since in Latin the letter U can be written as V, the phrase can be abbreviated V.V.V.V.V. In the published edition (Red Wheel/Weiser, 1999) the list of abbreviations describes "V.V.V.V.V" (short for the phrase) as Crowley's "8°=3° A∴A∴ motto".

It has also been attributed to Theodor Reuss, author of Das Erotische in Goethes Faust und die Tantriks.

The phrase has been made popular as a result of the movie version of the graphic novel V for Vendetta. In the graphic novel, the initials "V.V.V.V.V." appear embossed in an arch of V's hideout the "Shadow Gallery" — the character of "V" explains that these stand for the phrase Vi veri veniversum vivus vici.^[2] The graphic novel attributes the phrase to "a German gentleman named Dr. John Faust".^[3] In the film, this phrase appears instead on a mirror, also inside V's Shadow Gallery, and the character of "V" says the quotation is "from Faust".

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