2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries/2,000 Greater and Lesser Mysteries.iso/equinox/mys00578.txt

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THE EQUINOX  Vol. I.   No. II   2nd part of three

October 18, 1989 e.v. key entry and March 1, 1990 e.v. first proof reading
against the 1st edition.
done by Bill Heidrick, T.G. of O.T.O.
(further proof reading desirable)
Copyright (c) O.T.O.

disk 2 of 3


This is the XYWrite word processor version.  To print, use substitution
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O.T.O.
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA  94930
USA

[phone] ----  Messages only.

Pages in the original are marked thus at the bottom:  {page number}
Comments and descriptions are also set off by curly brackets {}
Comments and notes not in the original are identified with the initials of
the source: AC note = Crowley note.   WEH note = Bill Heidrick note, etc.
Descriptions of illustrations are not so identified, but are simply in
curly brackets.

(Addresses and invitations below are not current but copied from the
original text of the early part of the 20th century)


************************************************************************


                         THE WILD ASS


                              I

          THE secret of the House of Set
              Is hidden in my sevenfold veil;
          For I am he that doth beget
              The Rood, and bear the Holy Graal.

          Yet is my manhood woman-frail,
              Barren my motherhood.  They now
          Shall men my mystic mountain scale?
              These ram's-horn thumbs jut from my brow

          To push them to the miry slough
              Wherein the foes of Set are caught.
          Come, let us pluck the Golden Bough
              From the brave Tree of life and thought!

          Who heareth naught, he heedeth naught.
              Come, we are safely housed and shrined
          Where subtler images are wrought
              Than boast the treasuries of Mind!          {201}


                               II

          The secret of the House of Set.
              As a poor pilgrim clambering
          Toils on the slopes, so I to get
              Halidom for my lord the King.

          Faintly and feebly murmuring
              I uttered the mysterious runes,
          And bade my body's sleekness sing
              Silky, satanic, subtle tunes.

          Was he not holy?  Milk of moons
              Were not so pallid as his cheek,
          And roses of a million Junes
              His mouth left livid.  So I seek

          In all God's seas a tiny creek
              Wherein to moor my shallop.  Nay!
          He is a mountain, chill with bleak
              Stark winds of innocence astray!

          The fearful passion sweeps me away.
              So with a passionate thrill of fear
          I creep --- like shadows across Day!
              Like Winter on the expended year! ---

          From those cold feet, a frozen meer,
              To those cold knees, a lost lagoon,
          To that wild woodland, strangely near
              To the lone tower that tops the moon!     {202}

          Verily and Amen!  Unhewn
              The great grim forest menaces.
          What gardener may dare to prune
              Those woods to build me palaces?

          So climb, each ledge an infinite stress,
              Lustful as light, as lechery loth,
          From the brutality of Besz
              To the plumed perjury of Thoth!

          I held him holy.  Holier both
              Than aught the bearers of the bier,
          Thoum-aesh-neith and Auramoth,
              Saw in the hiding-house of fear.

          The sorceries that span the sphere,
              The spells that harness star and sun,
          I whispered in his siren ear ---
              Once, twice, and thrice for every one!

          Once, twice, and thrice --- the boon's begun!
              With four and five and six it stirs:
          With seven the druid dance is done,
              And Death drives home his silver spurs!

          Then --- the last leap.  What crowning curse
              Can bid that cup of curses brim?
          How may God's maniac ministers
              Lash the last languor out of Him?     {203}

          I did it.  How?  So great and grim
              The Gods are, I may never guess.
          Suffice it, on his mouth I swim
              A drowning dastard.  The caress

          Wakes the lost life.  I see him dress
              The godhead.  Up he bounds and brays: ---
          The wild ass of the wilderness,
              The soul that sees, the soul that slays!

          Inhabit the untrodden ways;
              Set!  Thou my god and I thy priest,
          Thy temple hidden in the haze
              Of deserts death to god or beast!

          Thou who art both shalt foin and feast
              With me who am both, thy hate's co-heir,
          Lord of the West and of the East ---
              The scorpion's hole, the lion's lair!

          I kissed his mouth --- sublime despair!
              Our souls were one; our bodies met ---
          Yea! darkness cover everywhere
              The secret of the House of Set!

                                       ALYS CUSACK.

          {204}





                    THE SPHINX AT GIZEH






{205}







                    THE SPHINX AT GIZEH


I SAW the other day the Sphinx's painted face.
   She had painted her face in order to ogle Time.
   And he has spared no other painted face in all the world but hers.
   Delilah was younger than she, and Delilah is dust.
   Time hath loved nothing but this worthless painted face.
   I do not care that she is ugly, nor that she has painted her face, so
that she only lure his secret from Time.
   Time dallies like a fool at her feet when he should be smiting cities.
   Time never wearies of her silly smile.
   There are temples all about her that he has forgotton to spoil.
   I saw an old man go by and time never touched him.
   Time that has carried away the seven gates of Thebes!
   She has tried to bind him with ropes of eternal sand, she had hoped to
oppress him with the Pyramids.
   He lies there in the sun with his foolish hair all spread about her
paws.
   If she ever learns his secret we will put out his eyes, so that he shall
find no more our beautiful things --- there are lovely gates in Florence
that I fear he will carry away. {207}
   We have tried to bind him with song and with old customs, but they only
held him for a little while, and he has always smitten us and mocked us.
   When he is blind he shall dance to us and make sport.
   Great clumsy Time shall stumble and dance, who like to kill little
children and can hurt even the daisies no longer.
   Then shall our children laugh at him who slew Babylon's winged bulls and
smote great numbers of the elves and fairies, when he is shorn of his hours
and his years.
   We will shut him up in the Pyramid of Cheops, in the great chamber where
the sarcophagus is.  Thence we will lead him out when we give our feasts.
He shall ripen our corn for us and do menial work.
   We will kiss thy painted face, O Sphinx, if thou wilt betray to us Time.
   And yet I fear that in his ultimate anguish he may take hold blindly of
the world and the moon and slowly pull down upon him the House of Man.

                                               DUNSANY.


{208}




                THE PRIESTESS OF PANORMITA


          HEAR me, Lord of the Stars!
            For thee I have worshipped ever
          With stains and sorrows and scars,
            With joyful, joyful endeavour.
          Hear me, O lily-white goat!
            O crisp as a thicket of thorns,
          With a collar of gold for Thy throat,
            A scarlet bow for Thy horns!

          Here, in the dusty air,
            I build Thee a shrine of yew.
          All green is the garland I wear,
            But I feed it with blood for dew!
          After the orange bars
            That ribbed the green west dying
          Are dead, O Lord of the Stars,
            I come to Thee, come to Thee crying.

          The ambrosial moon that arose
            With breasts slow heaving in splendour
          Drops wine from her infinite snows.
            Ineffably, utterly, tender.       {209}
          O moon! ambrosial moon!
            Arise on my desert of sorrow
          That the Magical eyes of me swoon
            With lust of rain to-morrow!

          Ages and ages ago
            I stood on the bank of a river
          Holy and Holy and holy, I know,
            For ever and ever and ever!
          A priest in the mystical shrine,
            I muttered a redeless rune,
          Till the waters were redder than wine
            In the blush of the harlot moon.

          I and my brother priests
            Worshipped a wonderful woman
          With a body lithe as a beast's
            Subtly, horribly human.
          Deep in the pit of her eyes
            I saw the image of death,
          And I drew the water of sighs
            From the well of her lullaby breath.

          She sitteth veiled for ever
            Brooding over the waste.
          She hath stirred or spoken never.
            She is fiercely, manly chaste!
          What madness made me awake
            From the silence of utmost eld
          The grey cold slime of the snake
            That her poisonous body held?       {210}

          By night I ravished a maid
            From her father's camp to the cave.
          I bared the beautiful blade;
            I dipped her thrice i' the wave;
          I slit her throat as a lamb's,
            That the fount of blood leapt high
          With my clamorous dithyrambs
            Like a stain on the shield of the sky.

          With blood and censer and song
            I rent the mysterious veil:
          My eyes gaze long and long
            On the deep of that blissful bale.
          My cold grey kisses awake
            From the silence of utmost eld
          The grey cold slime of the snake
            That her beautiful body held.

          But --- God!  I was not content
            With the blasphemous secret of years;
          The veil is hardly rent
            While the eyes rain stones for tears.
          So I clung to the lips and laughed
            As the storms of death abated,
          The storms of the grevious graft
            By the swing of her soul unsated.

          Wherefore reborn as I am
            By a stream profane and foul
          In the reign of a Tortured Lamb,
            In the realm of a sexless Owl,         {211}
          I am set apart from the rest
            By meed of the mystic rune
          That reads in peril and pest
            The ambrosial moon --- the moon!

          For under the tawny star
            That shines in the Bull above
          I can rein the riotous car
            Of galloping, galloping Love;
          And straight to the steady ray
            Of the Lion-heart Lord I career,
          Pointing my flaming way
            With the spasm of night for a spear!

          O moon! O secret sweet!
            Chalcedony clouds of caresses
          About the flame of our feet,
            The night of our terrible tresses!
          Is it a wonder, then,
            If the people are mad with blindness,
          And nothing is stranger to men
            Than silence, and wisdom, and kindness?

          Nay! let him fashion an arrow
            Whose heart is sober and stout!
          Let him pierce his God to the marrow!
            Let the soul of his God flow out!
          Whether a snake or a sun
            In his horoscope Heaven hath cast,
          It is nothing; every one
            Shall win to the moon at last.      {212}

          The mage hath wrought by his art
            A billion shapes in the sun.
          Look through to the heart of his heart,
            And the many are shapes of one!
          An end to the art of the mage,
            And the cold grey blank of the prison!
          An end to the adamant age!
            The ambrosial moon is arisen.

          I have bought a lily-white goat
            For the price of a crown of thorns,
          A collar of gold for its throat,
            A scarlet bow for its horns.
          I have bought a lark in the lift
            For the price of a butt of sherry:
          With these, and God for a gift,
            It needs no wine to be merry!

          I have bought for a wafer of bread
            A garden of poppies and clover;
          For a water bitter and dead
            A foam of fire flowing over.
          From the Lamb and his prison fare
            And the owl's blind stupor, arise!
          Be ye wise, and strong, and fair,
            And the nectar afloat in your eyes!

          Arise, O ambrosial moon
            By the strong immemorial spell,
          By the subtle veridical rune
            That is mighty in heaven and hell!       {213}
          Drip thy mystical dews
            On the tongues of the tender fauns
          In the shade of initiate yews
            Remote from the desert dawns!

          Satyrs and Fauns, I call.
            Bring your beauty to man!
          I am the mate for ye all'
            I am the passionate Pan.
          Come, O come to the dance
            Leaping with wonderful whips,
          Life on the stroke of a glance,
            Death in the stroke of the lips!

          I am hidden beyond,
            Shed in a secret sinew
          Smitten through by the fond
            Folly of wisdom in you!
          Come, while the moon (the moon!)
            Sheds her ambrosial splendour,
          Reels in the redeless rune
            Ineffably, utterly, tender!

          Hark! the appealing cry
            Of deadly hurt in the hollow: ---
          Hyacinth! Hyacinth! Ay!
            Smitten to death by Apollo.
          Swift, O maiden moon,
            Send thy ray-dews after;
          Turn the dolorous tune
            To soft ambiguous laughter!    {214}

          Mourn, O Maenads, mourn!
            Surely your comfort is over:
          All we laugh at you lorn.
            Ours are the poppies and clover!
          O that mouth and eyes,
            Mischevious, male, alluring!
          O that twitch of the thighs
            Dorian past enduring!

          Where is wisdom now?
            Where the sage and his doubt?
          Surely the sweat of the brow
            Hath driven the demon out.
          Surely the scented sleep
            That crowns the equal war
          Is wiser than only to weep ---
            To weep for evermore!

          Now, at the crown of the year,
            The decadent days of October,
          I come to thee, God, without fear;
            Pious, chaste, and sober.
          I solemnly sacrifice
            This first-fruit flower of wine
          For a vehicle of thy vice
            As I am Thine to be mine.

          For five in the year gone by
            I pray Thee give to me one;
          A love stronger than I,
            A moon to swallow the sun!       {215}
          May he be like a lily-white goat
            Crisp as a thicket of thorns,
          With a collar of gold for his throat,
            A scarlet bow for his horns!
                                          ELAINE CARR.





(216)








                      THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

                             THE KING












                              BOOK II
                   The Scaffolding of the Temple
                                of
                         SOLOMON THE KING
                               and
                   The ten mighty Supports which
                        are set between the
                         Pillars of Death
                            and Life.







                    That which is below is like
                    that which is above, and
                    that which is above is like
                    that which is below, for the
                    performance of the miracles
                    of the ONE SUBSTANCE.

                                        "Hermes."





{Illustration on this page.  In the background is an inverted solid black
pentagram.  Superimposed on the black pentagram is an upright white
pentagram, so arranged as to obscure all but the points of the black
pentagram which emerge behind the inner angles of the white.  These two
pentagrams form a perfectly symmetrical ten-pointed star or decagram with
alternating white and black points.  In the center of the white pentagram,
a symbol of alchemical salt is located, more for it's shape of a black ring
with single horizontal bar than for its alchemical significance.  This
barred ring is centered within but not touching the inner angles of the
white pentagram.  In the lower space defined by the barred ring is a solid
black upright Sans-serif letter "T".  In the upper space of the barred ring
is a white inverted Sans-serif letter "T" defined by a thin black line.}






                    THE PILLAR OF CLOUD

OBSESSED by the chimera of his mind, lost in the labyrinth of his
imagination, man wanders on through the shadowy dreamland he himself has
begotten, slothfully accepting or eagerly rejecting, but ever seeking some
unobtainable freedom, some power which will release him from those shackles
he has in his studied folly and capricious ignorance welded to his
thoughts.
   Nothing contents him, nothing satisfies him; if he is not weeping he is
laughing, if he is not laughing he is weeping; he grumbles and applauds,
despises and reveres, insults and beslavers, loves and hates, fingers
everything in turn, and when he has nothing further to soil and to thumb-
mark sits down and cries for the moon, or else like the dog in the fable
seeing his own image in the river of his dreams, loses all he has in the
vain attempt to grasp more.
   Slave to his own tyranny, shrieking under his own lash, the higher he
builds the gloomy walls of his prison the louder he howls "Liberty":
freedom is what he craves, yearns, and strives for --- freedom to leap into
some miasmal bog and wallow.  If he is a ploughman he wants more fields to
till; if a physician, more bodies to cure; if a priest, more souls to save;
if a soldier, more countries to conquer; if a lawyer, more wretches to
hang.  If he obtains "more," he grumbles {223} because it is "too much"; if
he does not obtain it he continues to grunt and to growl, and the more he
growls and grunts the more slavish he becomes, yet the freer he considers
himself.
   Once born he is carefully swaddled in the rags of Custom, rocked in the
cradle of Caste, and nursed on the soured milk of Creed.  And as with the
individual so with the nation, the one or the many, it is taught to work
its way into one narrow groove, and like the water in a drain or a gutter
to flow for a time unobtrusively between dignified cobbles and over
respectable cement, and then to vanish as genteelly as possible
underground.
   Sometimes there is a stoppage; too much filth has accumulated, and it
refuses all conventional methods of being removed.  Then comes a flood ---
a revolution --- for a time there is a nasty mess, but soon the filth is
washed away, and once again the drainage flows humbly down its customary
gutter in the same old unobtrusive manner, between the same old cobbles,
and over the same old cement until in time fresh filth silts up and there
is more trouble and annoyance.  "So runs my dream," and civilized man
dreaming from his drain naturally pictures God as a kind of Omnipotent
Sewer-Husher who everlastingly ought to trudge about with scoop, ladle, and
rake, and keep gutters clean and drains in an inoffensive condition.  So it
happens that when gutters get blocked up and drains stink, the Free-thinker
laughs and says: "You barmy fool, 'there is no sich a person'"; and when
they don't, the Believer cries: "My poor benighted brother, 'He is like a
refiner's fire and like Fuller's sope.'"
   Compared to the civilised man, the water which flows {224} down the
drain, the savage is like a mountain torrent cutting its own course amongst
the hills and rushing on wildly yet wisely to the sea.  No doubt, from the
point of view of a sanitary engineer, the drain is more useful, more
rational, altogether more proper than the wayward stream.  But it is the
rigid utilitarianism of this bread-and-water morality, this one-shirt-a-
week thrift, this skimmed-milk philosophy this cake-on-Sunday religion, and
all the other halfpenny economies of a gluttonous mediocrity, that must be
trampled under foot as if they were the very cockroaches of hell, before
Freedom of even a protoplasmic kind can be brought to life.  Better be a
savage, a one-legged hottentot, better be anything than a civilized eunuch,
a crape-capped "widder" in Upper Tooting lamenting her "demised husband"
whilst she counts the halfpence he has left behind him in his trouser
pockets.  If there is going to be a flood, let it be grand, typhoonic,
torrential; do not let others pass by us and say: "Really, my dear, what an
insalubrious odour!"
   The savage babe being born is taught the myths of his tribe, that
uncorrupted are beautiful enough; the civilised child the myths of his
nation, that corrupted are merely bestial, and are as rigid as the former
are elastic.  The savage youth passes through one great ordeal --- the
struggle with Nature: the civilised through another --- the struggle with
Reason.  The one is taught the hero tales of his forefathers, the other the
platitudes of the schools, which luckily are always a few decades behind
the ideas current at his birth.
   Few of us remember anything that happened during the first two years of
our existence, and very little during the next two; thus it comes about
that from two to four years of our {225} life are blank.  Perhaps during
these years of nothingness we see things as they are; however, civilisation
touches us on the lips and we speak and forget all about them.  Directly we
commence to chatter, our preparation to take life seriously begins.  Books
are given us, and the great wide road of wonderment becomes narrowed to a
straitened right-of-way down which it is a privilege and honour to pass.
If we are wild, it is naughty; if wanton --- immoral; in innocence we lisp
the ten commandments on our mothers' knees, only to break them when we
really know what they mean.  Then comes manhood and its responsibility,
marriage with its one pleasure and its forty thousand plagues, as Heine
says.
   Our birth is a matter of law or chance --- equivalent symbols for the
Unknown; once born, environment, circumstance, position, convention,
education, all in their turn come forward to claim us and smother us in
their bestial kisses.  Yet like the streams and the gutters, the drains and
the rivers, we all flow, roar, or trickle onwards to the same unknown sea
from which we came.  Sometimes Evolution flouts Ethics and we have floods,
earthquakes, and the spouting of volcanoes; sometimes Ethics flouts
Evolution and we are turned into artificial ponds and ornamental
Serpentines; yet upon other times it hastens our course and gives us good
Doulton-ware to flow through; all of us, nevertheless, whether we be
teardrop or Dead Sea, sooner or later get back to the ever-rolling ocean;
and there shall we once again be wooed by the bright beams of the Sun, that
relentless God who in his fierce embrace ever and again draws us up like
some earthly concubine to his heavenly couch, only once more to be divorced
by the malicious {226} winds and to weep through the storms of air.  So the
wheel of Time runs on through birth, death, and rebirth; and as we realise
this we sink down in despair; and through our tears more clouds arise still
further to obscure our path.
   What is the use then of doing anything if we are but as drops of water
which are splashed between the wanton hands of the Sun, the Wind, and the
Ocean? --- indeed the ways of God are inscrutable and past finding out.
Thus the Unobtainable tempts us, and the little segments of God that we see
become to us the fiercest and most terrible of the Dog-faced Demons which
seduce us from the path.  He is always at our elbow, whispering, tempting,
jeering, advising and helping us; He it is that casts despair upon us when
we have done nothing wrong, and elation when we have done nothing right; He
it is who is ever rising before us like a mist to obscure our path or to
magnify our goal; yet nevertheless He is not only the cloud but that
ultimate fire --- if we could only understand Him as He IS; Ah! my
brothers, this is THE GREAT WORK.
   Why does he do this and that, if he can do that and this? asks the
Doubter.  Because He chooses to, answers the Believer.  But the man after
God's own Heart thinks and reasons nothing, he feels there is neither doing
nor choosing, and, dimly though it be, he sees that both of these foolish
men, who think themselves so wise, possess but various little segments of
one great circle, and that each imagines his segment a perfect
circumference in itself.  Presently the Mystic himself discovers that his
circle which contained all their segments is but a segment of some greater
circle, and that eventually he is living in a great cloud-land formed of
myriads {227} and myriads of little spheres, which he feels are in Reality
one Great Ocean if he could only make them unite.
   Each stage above him is his Ultimate goal for the time being.
Possessing one little sphere, his one and only object is to unite it to
another, or another to it; not two others, not to the whole, but only to
that "One Other."  For the time being (let it appear as if it were for all
time to the initiate), that "One Other" is God and Very God --- the Omega of
his quest, and that "all others" are Devils that would tempt and seduce him.
Thus it happens that until you become God, God Himself is in Reality The
Tempter, Satan, and the Prince of Darkness, who, assuming the glittering
robes of Time and Space, whispers in our ears: "Millions and millions and
millions of eternities are as nothingness to me; then how canst thou, thou
little mote dancing in the beam of mine eye, hope to span me?"  Thus God at
the outset comes to us and like the old witch in "Cinderella" strews
innumerable lentils before us to count --- but begin! and soon you will
find that you have left the kitchen of the world behind you and have
entered the enchanted Palace "Beyond."
   It is all very difficult and complex at first; it is rather like a man
who, setting out by a strange road to visit the capital of his country,
comes to a great mountain and gazes up its all but endless slopes.
   "It is too high for me to climb," the little man will say; "it is indeed
very beautiful; but I will go back and find some other road."
   "I am sure it would be too long a journey," says a second; "I could not
afford it; I too will return."
   "There are no guides here," says a third; "how foolish for me to attempt
so high a peak." {228}
   "I am not strong enough," says a fourth.  "I have no chart." ... "My
business won't let me." ... "My wife is against it."
   Thus God enters the heart of man in a thousand forms and tempts man as
he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, and Abraham in the land of Moriah.
   But the strong man replenishing his wallet, and filling his flask, girds
a goat-skin about him, and taking his staff sets forth on his Great travel
to the Summit of the Mountain of God; and curious to relate, and terrible
to tell, the whole length of that wizard way Satan follows behind him in
the form of a sleuth-hound ever tempting him from the right path.
   Now he is overcome by a great loneliness, he is cold, he is hungry, he
thirsts; the skyline he had thought the summit is but a ridge, and from it
he sees ridge upon ridge in endless succession above him.  On he toils, at
length it is the summit --- no! but another ridge and a myriad more.  A
thousand fiends enter him, a thousand little sleuth-hounds that would tear
him back --- comfort, home, children, wife; then he says to himself: What a
fool am I!
   At this stage many turn back and crawling into the valley of illusions
reason how much more comfortable and interesting it is to read of mountain
ascents than to accomplish them.  These ones talk loudly and beat the drums
of their valour in the ears of all men.
   At the next stage few return, most perish on the way back; for the
higher you climb that great mountain the more difficult it becomes to
return.
   Plod on, and when your legs tremble and give way under you, crawl on,
crawl on if on all fours, and clench your teeth {229} and say "I WILL"; but
on! and on! and on!  And behind you tireless strides along that old grey
hound ever breathing forth temptations upon you; filled with crafts, and
subtleties, and guiles, ever eager to lead you astray, ever ready to guide
you back.  And presently so great grows the loneliness of the Mountain that
his very companionship becomes as a temptation to you, you feel a
friendliness in resisting him, a burning hope that he will continue to
tempt you, that his temptations and his mocking words are better than no
words at all.  This only happens far far up the mountain slope, some say
not so far from the summit; but take heed! for at this stage there is a
great precipice, and those who look round for the hound may perchance
stumble and fall --- and the foot of that precipice is the valley from
which they came.
   From here all is darkness, and there are no roads to guide the pilgrim,
and the sleuth-hound can no more be seen because of the shadows of the
night which obscure all things.  And how can one write further about these
matters? for those who have been so far and have returned, on account of
the darkness saw nothing, therefore they have held their tongues.  But
there is an old parable which relates how the hound that had tempted man
the whole length of his perilous journey, devoured him on the summit of
that Mystic Mountain; and how that Ancient DOG was indeed GOD Himself.


{230}







                           THE ACOLYTE

BEFORE we enter upon the events of the Great Journey of Frater P., during
which for six years he voyaged over the face of the globe in quest of the
mystic knowledge of all nations, it will be necessary here to recount,
briefly though it may be, the circumstances which let up to his entering
into communication with the Order of A.'. A.'.
   Born of an ancient family, but a few days after the fifty-sixth Equinox
before the Equinox of the Gods, he was reared and educated in the faith of
Christ as taught by one of the strictest sects of the many factions of the
Christian Church, and scarcely had he learnt to lisp the simplest syllables
of childhood than his martyrdom began.
   From infancy he struggled through the chill darkness of his surroundings
into boyhood, and as he grew and throve, so did the iniquity of that
unnatural treatment which with lavish and cruel hand was squandered on him.
Then youth came, and with it God's name had grown to be a curse, and the
form of Jesus stood forth in the gloom of Golgotha, a chill and hideous
horror which vampire-like had sucked dry the joy of his boyhood; when
suddenly one summer night he broke away from the ghouls that had tormented
him, casting aside the sordid conventions of life, defying the laws of his
{231} land, doubting the decaying religion of his childhood, he snapped,
like rotten twigs, the worm-eaten conventionalities of the effete and
hypocritical civilisation in which he had been nurtured, and sought refuge
for a space in the wild and beautiful country which lies tangled like a
head of tumbled hair to the north and north-west of England.  Here he
learnt from the whispering winds and the dreamy stars that life was not
altogether a curse, and that every night dies in the arms of dawn.
   His freedom, however, was of but short duration; yet, though he was
dragged back to the prison from which he had escaped, he had learnt his own
strength, a new life had flowed like a great sea dancing with foam upon
him, and had intoxicated him with the red wine of Freedom and Revolt ---
his gauntlet of youth had been cast down, henceforth he would battle for
his manhood, ay! and for the manhood of the World!
   Then the trumpet-blast resounded; the battle had indeed begun!
Struggling to his feet, he tore from him the shroud of a corrupted faith as
if it had been the rotten cerement of a mummy.  With quivering lip, and
voice choked with indignation at the injustice of the world, he cursed the
name of Christ and strode on to seek the gate of Hell and let loose the
fiends of the pit, so that mankind might yet learn that compassion was not
dead.
   Nevertheless, the madness passes, like a dark cloud before the breath of
awakening dawn; conscious of his own rightness, of the manhood which was
his, of his own strength, and the righteousness of his purpose, and filled
with the overflowing ambitions of youth, we find him unconsciously sheathe
{232} his blood-red sword, and blow flame and smoke from the tripod of
life, casting before the veiled and awful image of the Unknown the arrows
of his reason, and diligently seeking both omen and sign in the dusty
volumes of the past, and in the ancient wisdom of long-forgotten days.
   Deeply read in poetry, philosophy and science, gifted beyond the common
lot, and already a poet of brilliant promise; he suddenly hurries from out
the darkness like a wild prophetic star, and overturning the desks and the
stools of the schoolmen, and casting their pedagogic papilla from his lips,
escapes from the stuffy cloisters of mildewed learning, and the colleges of
dialectic dogmatics, and seeks, what as yet he cannot find in the freedom
which in his youthful ardour appears to him to live but a furlong or two
beyond the spires and gables of that city of hidebound pedants which had
been his school, his home, and his prison.
   Then came the great awakening.  Curious to say, it was towards the hour
of midnight on the last day of the year when the old slinks away from the
new, that he happened to be riding alone, wrapped in the dark cloak of
unutterable thoughts.  A distant bell chimed the last quarter of the dying
year, and the snow which lay fine and crisp on the roadway was being caught
up here and there by the puffs of sharp frosty wind that came snake-like
through the hedges and the trees, whirling it on spectre-like in the chill
and silver moonlight.  But dark were his thoughts, for the world had failed
him.  Freedom had he sought, but not the freedom that he had gained.  Blood
seemed to ooze from his eyelids and trickle down, drop by drop, upon the
white snow, writing on its pure surface the name of Christ.  Great bats
flitted by {233} him, and vultures whose bald heads were clotted with
rotten blood.  "Ah! the world, the world ... the failure of the world."
And then an amber light surged round him, the fearful tapestry of torturing
thought was rent asunder, the voices of many angels sang to him.  "Master!
Master!" he cried, "I have found Thee ... O silver Christ. ..."
   Then all was Nothingness ... nothing ... nothing ... nothing; and madly
his horse carried him into the night.
   Thus he set out on his mystic quest towards that goal which he had seen,
and which seemed so near; and yet, as we shall learn, proved to be so far
away.
   In the first volume of the diaries, we find him deep in the study of the
Alchemistic philosophers.  Poring over Paracelsus, Benedictus Figulus,
Eugenius and Eirenaeus Philalethes, he sought the Alchemical Azoth, the
Catholicon, the Sperm of the World, that Universal Medicine in which is
contained all other medicines and the first principle of all substances.
In agony and joy he sought to fix the volatile, and transmute the formless
human race into the dual child of the mystic Cross of Light, that is to
say, to solve the problem of the Perfect Man.  Fludd, Bonaventura, Lully,
Valentinus, Flamel, Geber, Plotinus, Ammonius, Iamblichus and Dionysius
were all devoured with the avidity and greed which youth alone possesses;
there was no halting here ---
                    "'Now, master, take a little rest!' --- not he!
                           (Caution redoubled,
                      Step two abreast, the way winds narrowly!)
                           Not a wit troubled
                      Back to his studies, fresher than at first,
                           Fierce as a dragon
                      He (soul-hydroptic with a sacred thirst)
                           Sucked at the flagon."

{234}

   Plunging into the "tenebrae" of transcendental physics, he sought the
great fulfilment, and unknowingly in the exuberance of his enthusiasm left
the broad road of the valley and struck out on the mountain-track towards
that ultimate summit which gleams with the stone of the Wise, and whose
secret lies in the opening of the "Closed Eye" --- the consuming of the
Darkness.
   He who dismisses Paracelsus with a twopenny clyster, or Raymond Lully
with a sixpenny reprint, is not a fool, no, no, nothing so exalted; but
merely a rabbit-brained louse, who, flattering himself that he is crawling
in the grey beard of Haeckel and the scanty locks of Spencer, sucks
pseudoscientific blood from the advertisement leaflets of our monthly
magazines, and declares all outside the rational muckheap of a "Pediculus" to
be both ridiculous and impossible.
   The Alchemist well knew the difference between the kitchen stove and the
Heraclitean furnace; and between the water in his hip-bath and "the water
which wetteth not the hands."  True, much "twaddle" was written concerning
balsams, and elixirs, and bloods, which, however, to the merest tyro in
alchemy can be sorted from the earnest works as easily as a "Bart's"
student can sort hair-restoring pamphlets and blackhead eradicators from
lectures and essays by Lister and Müller.
   Thus frenziedly, at the age of twenty-two, P. set out on the Quest of
the Philosopher's Stone.
   Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultam Lapidem Veram
Medicinam; this is indeed the true medicine of souls; and so P. sought the
universal solvent VITRIOLUM, and equated the seven letters in VITRIOL,
SULPHUR, {235} and MERCURY with the alchemical powers of the seven planets;
precipitating the SALT from the four elements --- Subtilis, Aqua, Lux,
Terra; and mingling Flatus, Ignis, Aqua, and Terra, smote them with the
cross of Hidden Mystery, and cried: "Fiat Lux!"
   Youth strides on with hasty step, and by summer of this year --- 1898
--- we find P. deep in consultation with the mystics, and drinking from the
white chalice of mystery with St. John, Boehme, Tauler, Eckart, Molinos,
Levi, and Blake:

                    "Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd
                    air,
                          Hungry clouds swag on the deep."

   Insatiable, he still pressed on, hungering for the knowledge of things
outside; and in his struggle for the million he misses the unit, and heaps
up chaos in the outer darkness of Illusion.  From the cloudless skies of
Mysticism he rushes down into the infernal darkness on winged thoughts:
"The fiery limbs, the flaming hair, shot like the sinking sun into the
western sea," and we find him now in the Goetic kingdoms of sorcery,
witchcraft, and infernal necromancy.  The bats flit by us as we listen to
his frenzied cries for light and knowledge: "The Spiritual Guide," and "The
Cherubic Wanderer" are set aside for "The Arbatel" and "The Seven
Mysterious Orisons."  A hurried turning of many pages, the burning of many
candles, and then --- the Key of Solomon for a time is put away, with the
Grimoires and the rituals, the talismans, and the Virgin parchments; the
ancient books of the Qabalah lie open before him; a flash of brilliant
fire, like a silver fish leaping from out the black waters of the sea into
{236} the starlight, bewilders him and is gone; for he has opened "The Book
of Concealed Mystery" and has read:
   "Before there was equilibrium countenance beheld not countenance."
   The words: "Yehi Aour" trembled on his lips; the very chaos of his being
seemed of a sudden to shake itself into form --- vast and terrible; but the
time had not been fulfilled, and the breath of the creation of a new world
caught them up from his half-opened mouth and carried them back into the
darkness whence they had all but been vibrated.1
   From midsummer until the commencement of the autumn the diaries are
silent except for one entry, "met a certain Mr. B --- an alchemist of
note"2 which though of no particular importance in itself, was destined to
lead to another meeting which changed the whole course of P.'s progress,
and accelerated his step towards that Temple, the black earth from the
foundations of which he had been, until the present, casting up in chaotic
heaps around him.
   Knorr von Rosenroth's immense storehouse of Qabalistic learning seems to
have kept P. fully employed until the autumnal equinox, when B ---, the
        1 At this time P. was leading a hermit's life on a Swiss glacier
          with one whom, though he knew it not at the time, was destined
          ever and anon to bring him wisdom from the Great White
          Brotherhood.  This one we shall meet again under the initials
          D.A.
        2 Afterwards known as Frater C.S.
alchemist of note, introduced him to a Mr. C --- (afterwards, as we shall
see,  Frater V.'. N.'. of the Order of the Golden Dawn).  This meeting
proved all-important, as will be set forth in the following chapter.
Through C ---, P. had for the time being laid aside von Rosenroth, and was
now deep in "The Book of the {237} Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage."  A
time of transition was at hand, a spiritual renaissance was about to take
place, so little wonder is it that we find P. much like St. Augustine
lamenting his outward search, and crying with him: "I, Lord, went wandering
like a strayed sheep, seeking Thee with anxious Reasoning without, whilst
Thou wast within me.  I wearied myself much in looking for Thee without,
and yet Thou hast Thy habitation within me, if only I desire Thee and pant
after Thee.  I went round the Streets and Squares of the City of this World
seeking Thee; and I found Thee not, because in vain I sought without for
Him who was within myself."



{238}






                           THE NEOPHYTE

IT was on November 18, 1898, that through the introduction of Fra. V.N.,
and under his guidance P. entered the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,
and became a Neophyte in the Grade of 0° = 0° in the Outer.
   It may be of some interest to the reader, and also it may in some ways
help to elucidate the present chapter, if a short account of the origin of
this order is first entered upon.  But it will be understood that the
following historical sketch, as well as the accounts we are about to give
of the rituals themselves, are very much abbreviated and summarised, when
we state that, the actual MSS. in our possession relating to the G.'.
D.'. occupy some twelve hundred pages and contain over a quarter of a
million words.
   The official account of the G.'. D.'. (probably fiction) known as
"The Historical Lecture," written and first delivered by Fra. Q.S.N., runs
as follows:
   "The order of the G.'. D.'. in the Outer is an Hermetic Society which
teaches Occult Science or the Magic of Hermes.  About 1850 several French
and English chiefs died and Temple work was interrupted.  Such chiefs were
Eliphas Levi, Ragon, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, and Fred Hockley.  These had
received their power from even greater predecessors, {239} who are traced
to the Fratres Rosa ("sic") Crucis of Germany.  Valentine Andrea ("opera" A.D.
1614) has given an esoteric account of the S.R., probably he also edited
the 'Fama Fraternitatis,'1 or 'History of the Society,' which must have
been derived from the old records of C. R.'s2 pupils. ...
   "The first order is a group of four grades: the second order is a group
of three grades of adeptship.
   "Highest of all are those great rulers who severally sustain and govern
the Third Order, which includes Three Magic Titles of honour and supremacy;
in case of a vacancy the most advanced 7° = 4°3 obtains by decree the
well-earned reward.  The grades of the first order are of Hebrew design; of
the Second, Christian.
   "The Rituals and Secrets are received from the Greatly Honoured Chiefs.
..."
   The account given in the first paragraph may or may not be correct; and
the following "History Lection" written by a brother of the Order of the
A.'. A.'. throws considerable light on the origin of the above Society;
and what is of still more interest to us mentions P. and his final rupture
with the Order of the Golden Dawn.  It runs as follows:
   "Some years ago a number of cipher MSS. were discovered and deciphered
by certain students.  They attracted much attention, as they purported to
derive from the Rosicrucians.  You will readily understand that the
genuineness of the claim matters no whit, such literature being judged by
itself, not by its reputed sources. {240}
   "Among the MSS. was one which gave the address of a certain person in
Germany, who is known to us as S.D.A.  Those who discovered the ciphers
wrote to S.D.A., and in accordance with instructions received, an Order was
founded which worked in a semi-secret manner.
   "After some time S.D.A. died: further requests for help were met with a
prompt refusal from the colleagues of S.D.A.  It was written by one of them
that S.D.A.'s scheme had always been regarded with disapproval.  But since
the absolute rule of the adepts is never to interfere with the judgment of
        1  "See" "The Real History of the Rosicrucians," by A. E. Waite.
        2  Viz., Christian Rosencreutz.
        3   "Vide" Diagram of the paths and Grades.
any other person whomsoever --- how much more, then, one of themselves, and
that one most highly revered! --- they had refrained from active
opposition.  The adept who wrote this added that the Order had already
quite enough knowledge to enable it or its members to formulate a magical
link with the adepts.
   "Shortly after this, one called S.R.M.D. announced that he had
formulated such a link, and that himself with two others was to govern the
Order.  New and revised rituals were issued, and fresh knowledge poured out
in streams.
   "We must pass over the unhappy juggleries which characterised the next
period.  It has throughout proved impossible to elucidate the complex
facts.
   "We content ourselves, then, with observing that the death of one of his
two colleagues, and the weakness of the other, secured to S.R.M.D. the sole
authority.  The rituals were elaborated, though scholarly enough, into
verbose and pretentious nonsense: the knowledge proved worthless, even
where it was correct: for it is in vain that pearls, be they never so clear
and precious, are given to the swine.
   "The ordeals were turned into contempt, it being impossible {241} for
any one to fail therein.  Unsuitable candidates were admitted for no better
reason than that of their worldly possessions.
   "In short, the Order failed to initiate.
   "Scandal arose, and with it schism.
   "In 1900 one P., a brother, instituted a rigorous test of S.R.M.D. on
the one side and the Order on the other. ..."
   Here we must leave the "Lection," returning to it in its proper place,
and after explaining "the Diagram of the Paths and the Grades," enter upon
the Ritual of the 0°=0° Grade of Neophyte.
   It will be at once apparent to the reader that the Diagram of the Paths
is simply the ordinary Sephirotic Tree of Life, combined with the Tarot
trumps, the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the thirty-two paths
of the Sepher Yetzirah, the signs of the Zodiac, and the signs of the
planets and the elements.
   The following account of it is taken from S.A.'s copy No. 2 of the
"Ritual of the 24th, 25th, and 26th Paths leading from the First Order of
the G.'. D.'. in the outer to the 5°=6°, Associate Adept speaking:
   "Before you upon the Altar is the diagram of the Sephiroth and Paths
with which you are already well acquainted, having marked thereon the grade
of the order corresponding to each Sephira, and the Tarot Trumps
appropriated to each Path.
   "You will further note that the First Order includes: Malkuth, answering
to Neophyte and Zelator, and the element of earth.  Yesod to Theoricus and
air.  Hod to Practicus and water.  And Netzach to Philosophus and fire.
   "Of these the last Three Grades alone communicate with the Second Order,
though cut off from it by a veil which may {242}


{Illustration goes here.  This is a Tree of life with the sephiroth as
circles, containing the information noted below on this approximation.  The
paths are straight lines, with the following data by number:
0. Air. HB:Aleph . Fool. 11th.
1. Mercury. HB:Bet . Magician. 12th.
2. Moon. HB:Gemel . High Priestess. 13th.
3. Venus. HB:Dalet . Empress. 14th.
4. Aries. HB:Heh . Emperor. 15th.
5. Taurus. HB:Vau . Hierophant. 16th.
6. Gemini. HB:Zain . Lovers. 17th.
7. Cancer. HB:Chet . Chariot. 18th.
11. Leo. HB:Tet . Strength. 19th.
9. Virgo. HB:Yod . Hermit. 20th.
10. Jupiter. HB:Koph . Wheel of Fortune. 21st.
8. Libra. HB:Lamed . Justice. 22nd.
12. Water. HB:Mem . Hanged Man. 23rd.
13. Scorpio. HB:Nun . Death. 24th.
14. Sagittarius. HB:Samekh . Temperance. 25th.
15. Capricorn. HB:Ayin . The Devil. 26th.
16. Mars. HB:Peh . The Tower. 27th.
17. Aquarius. HB:Tzaddi . The Star. 28th.
18. Pisces. HB:Qof . The Moon. 29th.
19. Sun. HB:Resh . The Sun. 30th.
20. Dee. HB:Shin . The Angel. 31st.
21. Saturn. HB:Taw . The Universe. 32nd.
The two veils are represented in the drawing by heavy horizontal lines, and
here by shaded lines, with the text included in the approximation below.

                            10°=1°
                             Kether
                          .Ipsissimus
                   12th        .        .11th
                   .           .            .
         8°=3°  .              .                 9°=2°
         Binah                 .     14th      Chokmah
        Magister................................Magus
         Templi                .                . .
           .  .                .               .  .
           .   .               .              .   .
         18th   .              .             .    .
           .     .             .            .    16th
           .      .            .           .      .
           .       .           .          .       .
           .        .          .         .        .
           .      The Veil of the Abyss .         .
         6°=5°░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░7°=4°
        Geburah        Babe of the Abyss       Chesed
        Adeptus.........................19th...Adeptus
         Major  .        .     .    .        .Exemptus
           .        .    17th  .  15th   .        .
           .           .   .  13th.   .           .
          23rd        22nd. 5°=6°..   20th       21st
           .               Tipheret               .
           .              .Adeptus.               .
           .       26th.    Minor    .24th        .
           .        .The Veil  . Paroketh .       .
         3°=8°░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░4°=7°
          Hod.Lord of the Paths.in the Portal- Netzach -of the Vault of-
        Practicus......................27th....Philosophus  -the Adepts
            Water  .               .               .  .Dee
              .   .           25th          .   .
              31st   .30th     .    28th.     .29th
                  .      .   2°=9°   .      .
                    .       .Yesod.       .
                      .    Theoricius   .
                        .      .Air     .
                          .   32nd  .
                            .  .  .
                              1°=10°
                             Malkuth
                              Zelator
                                Spirit

                            0°=0° Neophyte

              DIAGRAM 2. THE PATHS AND GRADES.}   {243}


only be drawn aside by invitation from the Second Order for the Philosophus
who has passed the five examinations symbolic of the five elements and the
five Paths leading from the First Order thereto, and who has been duly
approved of by the Higher Powers.
   "The Three grades of the Second Order are entitled: Adeptus Minor, or
Lesser Adept, 5°=6° answering to Tiphereth, the Reconciler, in the
midst of the Sephirotic Tree.  Adeptus Major, or Greater Adept, 6°=5°
answering to Geburah.  And Adeptus Exemptus, or Exempt Adept, 7°=4°
answering to Chesed."

                 THE RITUALS OF THE ORDER OF THE
                         GOLDEN DAWN

            RITUAL OF THE 0°=0° GRADE OF NEOPHYTE

   As the Ritual of the Grade of Neophyte is, with perhaps the exception of
the Ritual of the Grade of Adeptus Minor, the most important of all the
Rituals of the G.'. D.'., it will be necessary here to enter upon it
fully, so that the reader may in some sort initiate himself.
   But the pathway must be pointed out, and that clearly, so that the
pilgrim does not take at the very commencement of his mystic journey a
wrong turning, one of those many turnings which at the very start lead so
many into the drear and dismal lands of fear and doubt.
   The following description of the Temple and Officers in the 0°=0°
Grade is taken from one of the official books of the G.'. D.'. called
Z.1, and is as follows:  {244}

                         THE TEMPLE

   "The Temple as arranged in the 0°=0° Grade of Neophyte in the order
of the G.'. D.'. in the Outer is placed looking towards the HB:Heh HB:Yod  or
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod  (J.H.V.H.) in Malkuth of Assiah.  That is, that as HB:Yod
and HB:Heh  answer unto the Sephiroth Chokmah and Binah in the Tree,4 unto
Aba and Aima,5 through whose knowledge that of Kether may be obtained; even
so, the sacred rites of the Temple may gradually, and as it were in spite
of themselves, raise the Neophyte unto the knowledge of his Higher Self.6
   "Like the other Sephiroth Malkuth hath also its subsidiary Sephiroth and
paths.7  Of these ten Sephiroth the Temple as arranged in the 0°=0° of
Neophyte includeth only the four lower Sephiroth in the Tree of life, viz.:
Malkuth, Jesod, Hod, and Netzach, and the outer side of Paroketh,8 which
latter formeth the East of the Temple."
   The plan of the Temple as arranged in this grade is shown on the
adjoining diagram; therein it will be seen that it contains two pillars or
obelisks.  These two pillars, which are respectively in Netzach and Hod,
need careful explanation.
   They represent Mercy and Severity, the former being white and in
Netzach, the latter black and in Hod.  Their bases are cubical and black to
represent the Earth Element in Malkuth; the columns are respectively white
and black to manifest eternal Balance of the Scales of Justice. {245}
        4   HB:Yod  Stands for Chokmah, and HB:Heh  for Binah, HB:Vau  for the rest
          except Malkuth which is the final h.
        5   Father and (Glorified) Mother.
        6   The Theosophical term "Higher Self," is usually termed in the
          G.'. D.'. "Genius."  Abramelin calls it "Holy Guardian Angel,"
"          "vide" Preface.
        7   The Sephirotic Scheme, it will be remembered, is divided into
          four worlds: Atziloth; Briah; Yetzirah and Assiah.  Each world
          contains ten Sephiroth, and each of these Sephira again ten,
          making the total number four hundred.
        8   "Paroketh" is the Veil which separates Hod and Netzach from
          Tiphereth; and as we shall see later on, in the Portal Ritual,
          the First Order from the Second Order.

{Illustration on page 245 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                     THE VEIL OF THE SANCTUARY                       │
│                                                                     │
│                        Point of    Rending                         │
│__________________________________│__________________________________│
│                                 .│.                                 │
│                        .         │         .                        │
│               .                  │                 .                │
│      .  The Veil of Nephthys              The Veil of Isis  .       │
│┌___________┐ ┌___________┐ ┌___________┐ ┌___________┐ ┌___________┐│
││Imperator  │ │Cancellar- │ │Hierophant │ │  Past     │ │Premonstra-││
││Nephthys   │ │ius  Thoth │ │Osiris     │ │Hierophant │ │tor Isis   ││
││           │ │           │ │           │ │Aroueris   │ │           ││
│└___________┘ └___________┘ └___________┘ └___________┘ └___________┘│
│               |          /       |      \           |               │
│               HB:Mem         HB:Ayin          HB:Samekh        HB:Nun           HB:Koph
│
│               |       /          |         \        |               │
│┌__┐           |      /           |          \       |           ┌__┐│
││S │          .   . /             |            \  .   .          │ D││
││t │       .The Place.         Thmaist         .The Place.       │ a││
││o&│      .of the feet.      ┌_________┐      .of the feet.      │&d││
││lC│       of NEPHTHYS ------│ Hegemon │------ of ISIS           │Co││
││iu│      . Scale of  .      └_________┘      . Scale of  .      │eu││
││sp│       . Bilanx. .       Harpocrates       .Bilanx.  .       │nc││
││t │          .   .    \HB:Resh          |         HB:Tzaddi /    .   .
│sh││
││e │             \       \      . | .      /        /            │eo││
││s │                       \ . Place of. /                       │rs││
│└__┘               \        .Evil Triad .         /              └__┘│
│                             Apophrasz                               │
│                     \      .Satan Typh-.       /                    │
│                      HB:Shin       .on Besz  .       HB:Qof
│
│                       \        . HB:Taw  .         /                      │
│                                 ┌_┐                                 │
│                         \ Double└_┘Altar   /                        │
│                                . | .                                │
│                           \ .\       /.  /                          │
│                            .   \   /   .                            │
│                                  x                                  │
│                            .    /  \   .                            │
│                             . /Hiereus.                             │
│                                Horus                                │
│                        Kerux Anubis of E + W                        │
└__________________________________&__________________________________┘
                               Sentinel

                        DIAGRAM 3.
              Arrangement of the Temple in the
                     0° = 0° Ritual.}

Upon them should be represented in counterchanged colours any appropriate
Egyptian design emblematic of the soul.  The scarlet tetrahedronal capitals
represent the fire of Test and Trial, and between the Balance is the porch
way of the Immeasurable Region.
   The twin lights which flare on the summits are the "Declarers of Eternal
Truth."
   The pillars are really obelisks with tetrahedronal capitals slightly
flattened at the apices so as to bear each a lamp.
   At the Eastern part of Malkuth, at its junction-point with the path of
HB:Taw , is placed the altar in the form of a double cube.  Its colour is
black to represent to the Neophyte the colour of Malkuth; but to the adept
there lies hidden in the blackness the four colours of the Earth, in their
appropriate positions on the sides.  The base only is wholly black; whilst
the summit will be of a brilliant whiteness although invisible to the
material eye.
   "The symbols upon the altar represent the forces and manifestations of
Divine Light concentrated in the white triangle of the Three Supernals.
Wherefore upon this sacred and sublime symbol is the obligation of the
Neophyte taken as calling therein to witness the operations of the Divine
Light.  The red cross of Tiphereth representing 5°=6° is placed above
the white triangle; not as dominating it, but as bringing it down and
manifesting it unto the Outer Order: as though the Crucified One having
raised the symbol of Self-Sacrifice had thus touched and brought into
action in matter the Divine triad of Light.

{Illustration at this point.  An approximation follows:

           ████
           ████
        ██████████
        ██████████
           ████
           ████
           ████
            /\
           /  \
          /    \
         /      \
        /   /\   \
       /   /  \   \
      /   /    \   \
     /   /      \   \
    /   /        \   \
   /   /__________\   \
  /____________________\

     DIAGRAM 4.
  The Altar Symbol in
   the 0°=0° Ritual.      }

   "Around the cross are the symbols of the four letters of Tetragrammaton,
the HB:Shin  of Jeheshua being only implied and not "expressed" in the Outer.
And these are placed according to the winds."
   The door should be situated behind and to the West of the Throne of the
Hiereus; it is called "The Gate of the Declarers of Judgment," and its
symbolic form is that of a straight and narrow doorway between two mighty
pylons.

                         THE THREE CHIEFS

   At the East of the Temple before Paroketh sit the three Chiefs who
govern and rule all things and are the viceroys in the Temple of the Second
Order beyond.  They are the reflections therein of the 7°=4°, 6°=5°,
and 5°=6° Grades, and are neither comprehended in, nor understood by,
the Outer Order.  They represent, as it were, "Veiled Divinities," and their
seats are before the veil (Paroketh) which is divided into two parts at the
point of the rending, as though it answered unto the veils of Isis and
Nephthys impenetrable save to the initiate. {246}
   Now the Imperator governeth, because in Netzach --- which is the highest
grade of the First Order --- is the fire reflected from Geburah.
   The Praemonstrator is second, because in Hod is the water reflected from
Chesed.
   The Cancellarius is third, because in Yesod is the air reflected from
Tiphereth.
   But in each Temple these three chiefs are coeternal and coequal, thus
figuring the Triad in Unity, yet are their functions different:
   The Imperator to command
   The Praemonstrator to instruct.
   The Cancellarius to record.
   "Even as the Flaming Fire doth overcome, and the still Waters reflect
all images, and the all-wandering Air receiveth sound."
   The synthesis of the Three Chiefs may be said to be in the form of Thoth
who cometh from behind the veil.
   Yet also the Imperator may be referred unto the Goddess Nephthys from
his relationship unto Geburah.  The Praemonstrator unto Isis from Chesed.
And the Cancellarius unto Thoth in his position as recorder.

          OF THE STATIONS OF THE INVISIBLES.  THE GODS OF
                       THE ELEMENTS

   Their stations are at the four cardinal points of the Hall without, as
invisible guardians of the limits of the temple: and they are placed
according to the winds, viz.: behind the stations of the Hierophant,
Dadouchos, Hiereus and Stolistes.
   Between them are placed the stations of the four vicegerents of the
Elements; and they are situated at the four corners of the Temple, at the
places marked by the four rivers of Eden in the Warrant,9  which later
represents the Temple itself; of which the guardians are the Kerubim, and
the vicegerents in the palaces of the rulers Ameshet at the N.E.,
Thoumathph at the S.E., Ahephi or Ahapshi at the S.W., Kabetznuph at the
N.W.

                OF THE PLACE OF THE EVIL TRIAD

   This is the place of Yesod, it is termed the Place of the Evil One, of
the Slayer of Osiris.  He is the Tempter, Accuser and Punisher of the
Brethren.  Wherefore is he frequently represented in Egypt with the head of
a Water-Dragon, the body of a Lion or Leopard, and hindquarters of a Water-
Horse.  He is the administrator of the Evil Triad, whereof the members are:
   Apophrasz.  The Stooping Dragon.
   Satan-Typhon.  The Slayer of Osiris.
   Besz.  The brutal power of demoniac force. {247}

        9  A document which by some of the members of the G.'. D.'. was
          considered to be forged.  It purported to be signed by S.D.A. and
          others, and authorised the founding of the Temple.  "Vide" chapter
          called "The Magician."
         {WEH NOTE EXTENSION:  This document is reproduced as plate IV in
          Ellic Howe's book: "The Magicians of the Golden Dawn", Routledge &
          Kegan Paul, London, 1972.  There is a left-right inversion of the
          Kerubim on the borders of the document, possibly due to a mistake
          by the original artist.  This inversion was perpetuated
          throughout the Golden Dawn system, in the present ritual, in
          design of Tarot cards and generally.}
                  OF THE PLACE OF HARPOCRATES

   The next invisible station is in the path of HB:Samekh  between the place of
Thmaist and that of the Evil Triad: and it is the place of the Lotus-
throned Lord of Silence, even that Great God Harpocrates, the younger
brother of Horus.

                    OF ISIS AND NEPHTHYS

   The stations are the places of the Pillars in Netzach and Hod
respectively; wherefore these great goddesses are not otherwise shown in
this grade, save in connection with the Praemonstrator and Imperator.

                         OF AROUERIST

   His secret place is the last of the invisible stations and he standeth
with the Hierophant as though representing him unto the Outer Order.  For
while the Hierophant is 5°=6°, yet he is only shown as a Lord of the
Paths in the Portal of the Vault.  So that when he moveth from his place on
the throne of the East, the seat of Aeshuri, he is no longer Osiris but
Arouerist.  And the invisible station of Arouerist may therefore be said to
be that of the immediate past Hierophant.

             THE OFFICERS AND THE STATIONS OF THE OFFICERS.

   "The Hierophant."  The place of the Hierophant is in the East of the
Temple on the Outer side of Paroketh to rule the temple under the
presidency of the Chiefs.  He fills the place of the Lord of the Path,
acting as inductor into the sacred mysteries.  His symbols and insignia
are:
   The throne of the East in the path of HB:Samekh  without the Veil.  The
mantle of bright flame-red; the Crown-headed sceptre; the Banner of the
East; the Great Lamen.
   "Expounder of the Sacred Mysteries" is the name of the Hierophant: and
he is Aeshuri-st, "The Osiris in the Nether World."

{Illustration:  "DIAGRAM 5.  The Banner of the East10"

   This is a banner; top is aprox. 2/3 length of sides.   Sides converge
slightly as they approach the bottom.  Bottom is a downward pointing wedge,
with sides about 10° inclined from the horizontal.  In the center of the
banner is a calvary cross.  Superimposed on the central junction of the
calvary cross is a hexagram composed of two hollow triangles of contrasting
colors (independent sources give blue and red).  The bands that form each
triangle interlace with those of the alternate triangle.  The interlace is
in such wise as to leave a long uncovered section to counter-clockwise of
each point and a shorter uncovered section to clockwise of each point.  The
top point of the hexagram exactly touches the top edge of the calvary
cross, the other points being arrayed by nature of the center of the
hexagram being concentric with the intersection of the arms of the cross.
The note in the text indicates a defect in the illustration, that it should
contain a white Tau in its center.}

{Illustration: "DIAGRAM 6.  The Lamen of the Hierophant."

   This is a circular device.  Cross-hatching suggests that the different
parts have all of them different colors.  Inside the circular shape is a
space, then a narrow concentric ring.  Within this ring is a calvary cross
        10  The Banner of the East should contain a white Tau in its
          centre.
with a circular auriole ring concentric with the intersection of the limbs
of the cross and intercepting the arms in such a fashion as to suggest that
it would meet the centers of the upper and lateral arm ends if the
interception was visible instead of beneath the arms.}

{248}

   "The Hiereus."  The station of the Hiereus is at the extreme West of the
Temple at the lowest point of Malkuth, and in the black portion thereof,
representing a terrible and avenging God at the confines of Matter at the
borders of the Qliphoth.  He is throned upon Matter and robed in Darkness;
and about his feet are the thunder and the lightning, which two forces are
symbolised by the impact of the paths of HB:Shin  and HB:Qof  (Fire, Pisces),
terminating respectively in the russet and olive quarters of Malkuth.
There, therefore, is he placed as a mighty and avenging guardian unto the
Sacred Mysteries.  His symbols and insignia are:
   The throne of the West at the limits of Malkuth; the robe of Darkness;
the sword; the Banner of the West; the Lamen.
   "Avenger of the Gods," is the name of the Hiereus, and he is "Horus in
the City of Blindness" and of ignorance unto the Higher.

{Illustration:  "DIAGRAM 7.  The Banner of the West."

   This is a black banner; top is aprox. 7/8ths length of sides.   Sides
are parallel.  Bottom is a downward pointing wedge, with sides about 10°
inclined from the horizontal.  In the center of the banner is a calvary
cross superimposed upon a very slightly larger calvary cross of a different
color.  There is an equilateral triangle composed of white bands enclosing
the cross.  This upward-pointing triangle nearly touches the top and lower
limit of the sides of the banner.}

{Illustration: "DIAGRAM 8.  The Lamen of the Hiereus."

   This is a circular ring of white enclosing a black field with an
circumscribed equilateral triangle pointing upward.  The Triangle is
composed of white bands, and the black field is re-entrant in its center.}

{Illustration: "DIAGRAM 9.  The Lamen of the Hegemon."

   This is a circular ring of black enclosing a white field within which
floats a solid black calvary cross.}

   "The Hegemon."  The place of the Hegemon is between the two pillars, whose
bases are in Netzach and Hod at the intersection of the paths of HB:Peh  and
HB:Samekh  in the symbolic gateway of Occult Science: as it were at the beam of
the Balance at the equilibrium of the Scales of Justice, at the point of
the intersection of the lowest reciprocal path with that of HB:Samekh , which
latter forms a part of the Middle Column, being there placed as the
guardian of the threshold of Entrance, and the preparer of the ways for the
Enterer thereby.  Therefore the Reconciler between the Light and the
Darkness, and the Mediator between the stations of the Hierophant and the
Hiereus.  His symbols and insignia are:
   The robe of pure Whiteness; the Mitre-headed sceptre; the Lamen. {249}
   "Before the face of the Gods in the place of the Threshold" is the name
of the Hegemon; and she is the Goddess
                                           ┌ Thmais11
                   Thmaist of dual form as ┤
        11  More fiery.  S.R.M.D. says Thmais contains the letters of
          HB:Shin HB:Taw HB:Mem HB:Aleph  and probably is the origin of the Greek
          Theta epsilon mu iota sigma , the Justice-Goddess.
                                           └ Thmait.12

   "The Kerux." --- The Kerux is the principal form of Anubis.  The sentinel
being the subsidiary form.  The Kerux is the Anubis of the East, whilst the
Sentinel is the Anubis of the West.
   The Kerux is the herald, the guardian and watcher "within" the Temple; as
the sentinel is the watcher without.  And therefore is his charge the
proper disposition of the furniture of the Temple.  His peculiar insignia
of office are the red lamp and the wand.13
   "Watcher of the Gods" is his name, and he is Anubis the herald before
them.
   "The Stolistes." --- The station of the Stolistes is in the midst of the
Northern part of the Hall; without, and to the North-West of the Black
Pillar.  He has the care of robes and insignia of the Temple.  His peculiar
ensign is the Cup.
   "The Goddess at the Scale of the Balance at the Black Pillar" is the
name of the Stolistes; and  she is Auramooth, or the Light shining through
the waters upon the Earth.

{Illustration: "DIAGRAM 10.  The Cup of the Stolistes."

   This is a abstract of three black lineal figures superimposed on a
slightly modified tree of life.  Each Sephiroth is represented by a white
ring circumscribing a white disk, and no paths are drawn.  The Sephira are
slightly displaced to conform to the needs of the lineal figures:  Kether
is free-floating above a crescent which touches Chokmah and Binah from
below.  A ring grazes the bottom of the crescent and carries Chesed,
Geburah, Netzach, Hod and Yesod on its band.  Tipheret is free-floating
within the center of the ring.  An equilateral triangle made of black bands
touches Yesod and the ring with its apex and includes Malkut in the center
of its base.  The whole is suggestive of a horned cup superimposed on the
Tree of Life.}

   "The Dadouchos." --- The station of the Dadouchos is towards the midst of
the Southern part of the Hall, and to the South-West of the White Pillar.
He has the charge of the lights, the fire, and the incense of the Temple.
His ensign is the Svastika.14
   "Goddess of the Scale of the Balance at the White Pillar" is the name of
the Dadouchos, and she is Thoum-aesh-neith, or Perfection through Fire
manifesting upon the Earth.


                     THE GRADE OF NEOPHYTE

                       "THE OPENING"

   The Officers and members being assembled the Kerux proceeds to the right
of the Hierophant and facing West raises his wand, as a symbol of the ray
of Divine Light from the white Triangle of the Three Supernals, and cries:
                "HEKAS, HEKAS, ESTE, BEBELOI!"15 {250}
in order to warn the evil and uninitiated to retire so that the Triangle
may be formulated upon the Altar.
   The Hierophant then calls upon all present to assist him in opening the
Hall of the Neophytes, and bids the Kerux see that the Hall is properly
guarded.
        12  More fluidic.
        13  Or Caduceus.  "See" Diagram 24.
        14  Or Fylfat.  "See" Diagram 14.
        15  The same as "Eskato Bebeloi" used in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
   The Fratres and Sorores of the Order then give the sign of the Neophyte,
after which the Hiereus explains that the names of the three chief officers
commence with "the letter of breath" H.  But that in the name Osiris, the H
is silent, and concealed, as it were shrouded in O.  In the name Horus it
is manifested and violently aspirated; while in the name Themis it is
partly one and partly the other.
   The Hiereus having explained the meaning of the letter H, then
recapitulates the stations and duties of the officers, thus occultly
affirming the establishment of the temple so that the Divine Light may
shine into the Darkness.
   In explaining his own station the Hierophant says:
   "My place is on the throne of the East, which symbolises the rise of the
Sun of Life and Light.  My duty is to rule and govern this hall in
accordance with the laws of the Order.  The red colour of my robe
symbolises Light: my insignia are the sceptre and the Banner of the East,
which signify Power and Light, Mercy and Wisdom: and my office is that of
the Expounder of the Mysteries."
   Then follows the purification of the Hall and the members by water and
by fire, after which the Hierophant orders the Mystic Circumambulation to
take place in the Path of Light.
   The procession of officers and members is then formed in the North, in
readiness for the mystic Circumambulation in the Path of Light.  It is
formed in the North beginning from the station of the Stolistes, the symbol
of the waters of creation attracting the Divine Spirit, and therefore
alluding to the creation of the world.  Whilst the "Reverse
Circumambulation" has its rise from the station of the Dadouchos, symbolic
of the ending and judging of the world by fire.
   But also the Circumambulation commences with the Paths HB:Shin  and HB:Resh ,
as though bringing into action the solar fire; whilst the reverse commences
by those of HB:Qof  and HB:Tzaddi  as though bringing the watery reflux into
action.
   This is the Order of the Circumambulation; first cometh Anubis, the
watcher of the Gods; next Themis, the Goddess of the Hall of Truth; then
Horus; then the remaining members in order of precedence; and lastly, the
Goddesses of the Scales of the Balance, as though a vast wheel were
revolving, as it is said:
   "One wheel upon the Earth beside the Kerub."  And also note the Rashish
ha-Gilgalim.16
   Of this wheel the ascending side commenceth from below the pillar of
Nephthys, and the descending side from below the pillar of Isis, but in the
"Reverse Circumambulation" {251} this is contrary.  And the nave or axis of
the wheel will be about the invisible station of Harpocrates; as though
that God stood there with the sign of Silence, and affirmed the concealment
of that central atom of the wheel which alone revolveth not.
   The object of the Mystic Circumambulation is to attract and make
connection between the Divine Light above and the Temple, and therefore the
Hierophant quitteth his throne to take part therein, but remaineth there to
attract by his sceptre the Light from beyond the Veils.
   Each member in passing the Throne of the East gives the sign of the
enterer, projecting forwards the light which cometh from the sceptre of the
Hierophant.
   "But Horus passes only once, for he is the son of Osiris, and inheriteth
the Light, as it were by birthright from him; wherefore he goeth at once
unto the station of the Hiereus to fix the light there.  The Hegemon, the
Goddess of Truth, passeth twice because her rule is of the Balance of the
two Scales, and she retireth to her station there to complete the reflux of
the Middle Pillar.  But Anubis of the East and the others circumambulate
        16  The beginning of Whirling Motions, Primum Moble.
thrice as affirming the completion of the reflexion of the perfecting of
the white Triangle on the Altar."17
   The circumambulation being completed, the members and remaining officers
remain standing whilst the Hierophant repeats the Adoration:

    "HOLY ART THOU, LORD OF THE UNIVERSE!
     HOLY ART THOU, WHOM NATURE HATH NOT FORMED!
     HOLY ART THOU, THE VAST AND THE MIGHTY ONE!
     LORD OF THE LIGHT AND OF THE DARKNESS!"

(At each of these sentences all bow and give the sign, the officers raising
their banners, sceptres, sword and wand on high, and then sink them in
salutation.)
   The "Hierophant" then orders the Kerux to declare the Hall of the
Neophytes opened by him, which he does in the following words:
   "In the name of the Lord of the Universe, I declare that the Sun hath
arisen, and that the Light shineth in Darkness."
   After which the three chief officers repeat the mystic words:

    "KHABS AM PEKHT!"
    "KNOX OM PAX!"
    "LIGHT IN EXTENSION!"

   "THE OPENING" is then at an end, and the next ceremony is: "THE"
"ADMISSION."18
   The Candidate is in waiting without the Portal, under the care of the
sentinel, the "Watcher Without," that is, under the care of the form of
Anubis of the West. {252}
   The Hierophant informs the members assembled that he holds a
dispensation from the greatly honoured chiefs of the Second Order, for the
purpose of commencing the process of the initiation which shall ultimately
lead the Candidate to the knowledge of his Higher Self.  But he is first
admitted to the Grade of Neophyte which hath no number, concealing the
commencement of All-Things under the simulacrum of No-Thing.
   The Hegemon, the representative of the Gods of Truth and Justice, is
consequently sent to superintend the preparation, thus symbolizing that it
is the Presider of Equilibrium who is to administrate the process of
initiation by the commencement of the Equilibration of the forces in the
Candidate himself, by the symbols of Rectitude and Self-control.  But it is
the sentinel who actually prepares the Candidate; whose body is now
surrounded by a triple cord to show the restriction of the powers of
Nature; and it is triple to show the white Triangle of the Three Supernals.
His eyes are also bandaged, symbolising that the Light of the natural world
is but as darkness compared with the radiance of the Light Divine.
   The Ritual then continues:
   "Hedemon:" "Child of Earth! arise, and enter into the Path of Darkness!"
   The "Hierophant" then gives his permission, ordering the Stolistes and
Dadouchos to assist the Kerux in the reception; but the Kerux bars the way
saying:
   "Child of Earth! unpurified and unconsecrated!  Thou canst not enter our
Sacred Hall."
   Whereupon the Stolistes purifies the Candidate by Water, and the
Dadouchos consecrates him by Fire.
   Then the "Hierophant" speaks: he does so not as to an assembly of mortals,
but as a God before the assembly of the Gods.  "And let his voice be so
directed that it shall roll through the Universe to the confines of Space,
and let the Candidate represent unto him a world which he is beginning to
        17 Z. 1.
        18  The following explanatory remarks on the Admission and Ceremony
          of the Neophyte are taken from the MS. called Z. 3.
lead unto the knowledge of its governing angel.  As it is written: 'The
lightning lighteneth out of the East and flameth even unto the West, even
so shall be the coming of the Son of Man!'"
   The Candidate during the ceremony is addressed as "child of Earth" as
representing the earthly and material nature of the natural man: he who
cometh forward from the darkness of Malkuth to strive to regain knowledge
of the Light.  Therefore it is that the path of the initiate is called the
Path of Darkness; for it is but darkness and foolishness to the natural
man.
   The "Hierophant" giving his permission to the Kerux to admit the
Candidate, seals the Candidate with a motto as a new name.  This motto is
not a name given to the outer man's body, but an occult signifier of the
aspiration of his soul.
   "In affirmation of this motto, now doth Osiris send forward the
Goddesses of the Scales of the Balance to baptize the aspirant with water
and with fire.  Even as it is written: 'Except a man be born of water and
of the spirit: in no wise shall he enter unto the Kingdom of Heaven. {253}
   The "Kerux," however, at once bars the way, as the Candidate is still
unpurified.  Thereupon the Goddesses of the Scales purify and consecrate
him.  This is the first consecration.  "But even as there be four pillars
at the extremities of a sphere when the ten Sephiroth are projected
therein; so also are there four separate consecrations of the Candidate."
   The reception and consecration takes place in the black portion of
Malkuth; when it is finished the Candidate is conducted to the foot of the
altar, the citrine portion of Malkuth, and the part receiving the impact of
the Middle Pillar.
   The "Hierophant" then says to the Candidate: "Child of Earth! wherefore
hast thou come to request admission to this Order?"
   The "Hegemon" answers for the Candidate: "My soul is wandering in the
Darkness seeking for the light of Occult Knowledge, and I believe that in
this Order the Knowledge of that Light may be obtained."
   Whereupon the "Hierophant" asks the Candidate whether he is willing "in
the presence of this assembly to take a great and solemn obligation to keep
inviolate the secrets and mysteries of our Order?"
   To which the Candidate himself replies: "I am."
   The Hierophant now advances between the Pillars as if thus asserting
that the Judgment is concluded: "And he advanceth by the invisible station
of Harpocrates unto that of the Evil Triad; so that as Arouerist19 he
standeth upon the Opposer."  He thus cometh to the East of the Altar,
interposing between the place of the Evil Triad and that of the Candidate.
At the same time the Hiereus advanceth on the Candidate's left, and the
Hegemon standeth at his right, as formulating about him the symbol of the
Triad, before he be permitted to place his right hand in the centre of the
White Triangle of the Three Supernals on the Altar.  And he first kneeleth
in adoration of that symbol, as if the natural man abnegated his will
before that of the Divine consciousness.
   The "Hierophant" now orders the Candidate to kneel (in the midst of the
triad Arouerist, Horus and Themis), to place his left hand in that of the
initiator, and his right hand upon the white triangle as symbolising his
active aspiration towards his Higher Soul.  The Candidate then bows his
head, and the Hierophant gives one knock with his sceptre; affirming that
the symbol of submission into the Higher is now complete.
   Only at that moment doth the colossal image of Thoth20 Metatron cease
from the sign of the enterer: and giveth instead the sign of the silence:
permitting the first real descent of the Genius of the Candidate, who
descendeth into the invisible station of Harpocrates as witness unto the
obligation.
        19  He is Osiris when throned; when he moves he assumes the form of
          Arouerist.
        20  Thoth is one of the Invisible officers.
   All then rise and the Candidate repeats the Obligation after the
Hierophant.  In it {254} he pledges himself to keep secret the Order, its
name, and the names of the members, as well as the proceedings which take
place at its meetings.  To maintain kindly and benevolent relation with all
the Fratres and Sorores of the Order.  To prosecute with zeal and study the
occult sciences, &c. &c.  He then swears to observe the above under the
awful penalty of submitting "myself to a deadly and hostile current of will
set in motion by the chiefs of the Order, by which I should fall slain or
paralyzed without visible weapon, as if blasted by the lightning flash!21
(Hiereus here suddenly applies sword.)  So help me THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE
and my own Higher Soul."
   As the Candidate affirmeth his own penalty should he prove a traitor to
the Order, the evil triad riseth up in menace, and the avenger of the Gods,
Horus, layeth the blade of his sword on the point of the Daäth junction
("i.e.", of the brain with the spine) thus affirming the power of Life and
Death over the natural body: and the Form of the Higher Self advanceth and
layeth its hand on the Candidate's head for the first time, at the words:
"So help me the Lord of the Universe and my own Higher Soul."  And this is
the first assertion of the connecting-link between them.  Then after this
connection is established doth the Hierophant in the following words raise
the Candidate to his feet:
   "Rise, newly obligated Neophyte in the 0°=0° Grade of the Order of
the G.'. D.'. in the Outer.  Place the Candidate in the Northern part of
the Hall, the place of the greatest symbolic Darkness."
   The Candidate is then placed in the North, the place of the greatest
symbolic Darkness, the invisible station of Taaur the Bull of Earth.  But
therein dwelleth Ahapshi the rescuer of Matter, Osiris in the Sign of the
Spring.  That as the earth emergeth from the Darkness and the Barrenness of
Winter, so the Candidate may thus affirm the commencement of his
emancipation from the darkness of ignorance.
   The Hierophant and Hiereus return to their thrones, therefore it is not
Arouerist but Osiris himself that addresseth the Candidate in the words:
   "The voice of my Higher Soul said unto me: let me enter the path of
Darkness, peradventure thus shall I obtain the Light; I am the only Being
in the abyss of Darkness: from the Darkness came I forth ere my birth, from
the silence of a primal sleep!  And the Voice of Ages answered unto my
soul: I am he who formulates in Darkness, but the Darkness comprehendeth it
not."
   And this is to confirm the link established between the Neschamah and
the Genius by communicating the conception thereof unto the Ruach.  Thus,
therefore, Osiris speaketh in the Character of the Higher Soul, the
symbolic form of which is now standing between the pillars before him.
   The Second Circumambulation then takes place in the Path of Darkness,
the symbolic {255} Light of Occult Science leading the way.  This light of
the Kerux is to show that the Higher soul is not the only Divine Light, but
rather a spark from the Infinite Flame.
   After the Kerux comes the Hegemon, the translator of the Higher Self,
leading the Candidate, then the Stolistes and Dadouchos.  Once they pass
round the temple in solemn procession: it is the foundation in Darkness of
the Binah angle of the whole Triangle of the Ineffable Light.  The
Hierophant knocks once as then pass him, and the Hiereus does likewise, as
the affirmations of Mercy and Vengeance respectively.  A second time they
pass the Hierophant affirming the commencement of the formulation of the
angle of Chokmah.
   The "Kerux" then bars the Candidate's passage to the West, saying:
   "Child of Earth! unpurified and unconsecrated!  Thou canst not enter the
Path of the West!"
        21  A later edition of the Ritual, issued subsequent to the Horos
          scandals, reads "an awful and avenging punitive current," &c.
   Thus indicating that the natural man cannot even obtain the
understanding of the "Son" of Osiris, except by purification and equilibrium.
   The Candidate is then purified with water and consecrated by fire; after
which he is allowed to approach the Place of the Twilight of the Gods.  And
now only is the hoodwink slipped up for a moment to obtain a glimpse of the
Beyond.
   The "Hiereus" then challenges as follows:
   "Thou canst not pass by me, saith the Guardian of the West, unless thou
canst tell me my Name."
   In this challenge is signified the knowledge of the Formula; and that
without the formula of Horus being formulated in the Candidate, that of
Osiris cannot be grasped.
   To the Candidate this appears as the anger of God; for he cannot as yet
comprehend that before Mildness can be exercised rightly the Forces both of
Severity and Mercy must be known and wielded.
   Therefore the "Hegemon" answers for him:
   "Darkness is thy Name!  Thou art the Great One of the Path of the
Shades."
   The Hegemon then suddenly lifts the veil, and the Candidate sees before
him standing on the steps of the throne the Hiereus with sword pointed to
his Breast.
   Slowly sinking the blade the "Hiereus" says:
   "Child of Earth, fear is failure: be thou therefore without fear! for in
the heart of the coward Virtue abideth not!  Thou hast known me, so pass
thou on!"
   The Candidate is then re-veiled.
   Then the "Kerux" again bars his way, saying:
   "Child of Earth! unpurified and unconsecrated!  Thou canst not enter the
Path of the East."
   This Barring of the Path is an extension of the meaning of the previous
one, and the commencement of the formulation of the Angle of Kether.
   Once again is the Candidate purified with water and consecrated by fire;
and the {256} hoodwink is slipped up to give a glimpse of the Light as
dimly seen through Darkness yet heralding a Glory which is in the Beyond.
   The "Hierophant," then slowly lowering his sceptre, says:
   "Child of Earth! remember that Unbalanced Force is evil.  Unbalanced
Mercy is but weakness: Unbalanced Severity is but oppression.  Thou hast
known me; pass thou on unto the Cubical Altar of the Universe."
   Thus formulating the Force of the Hidden Central Pillar.  The Hierophant
then leaveth his throne and passeth between the pillars, halting at either
the station of Harpocrates, the place of the Evil Triad, or at the East of
the Altar.  The Hiereus standeth on the left of the Candidate, and the
Hegemon on his right.  Thus again completing the formulation of the Triad
of the Three Supernals.
   The Hierophant and Hiereus may hold their banners; anyhow it is done
astrally; and the Higher Self of the Candidate will be formulated once more
in the Invisible station of Harpocrates.
   The "Hierophant" than says:
   "Let the Candidate kneel, while I invoke the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE!"
   After the prayer has been solemnly repeated,the "Hierophant" says: "Let
the Candidate rise,"22 and then:
   "Child of Earth! long hast thou dwelt in Darkness!  Quit the Night, and
seek the day."
   Then only at the words: "Let the Candidate rise" is the hoodwink
definitely removed.  The Hierophant, Hiereus, and Hegemon join their
sceptres and sword above the Candidate's head, thus formulating the
Supernal Triad, and assert that they receive him into the Order of the
Golden Dawn, in the words:
   "Frater X Y Z, we receive thee into the Order of the Golden Dawn!"
        22  Meaning also: "Let the Light arise in the Candidate."
   They then recite the mystic words, "KHABS AM PEKHT," as sealing the
current of the Flaming Light.
   But the Higher Soul remaineth in the Invisible Station of Harpocrates,
and to the Spirit Vision, at this point, there should be a gleaming white
Triangle formulated above the forehead of the Candidate and touching it,
the symbol of the white Triangle of the Three Supernals.
   The "Hierophant" now calleth forward the Kerux, and turning towards the
Candidate says to him:
   "In all your wanderings through darkness, the lamp of the Kerux went
before you though you saw it not!  It is the symbol of the Hidden Light of
Occult Science."
   It here representeth to him a vague formulation of his ideal, which he
can neither grasp not analyse.  Yet this Light is not the symbol of his own
Higher Self, but rather a ray from the Gods to lead him there. {257}
   The "Hierophant" then continues:
   "Let the Candidate be conducted to the East of the Altar.  Honoured
Hiereus, I delegate to you the duty of entrusting the Candidate with the
secret signs, grip, grand word and present pass-word of the 0° = 0°
Grade of the Order of the Golden Dawn in the Outer, of placing him between
the mystic pillars, and of superintending his fourth and final
consecration."
   The East of the Altar is the place of the Evil Triad, and he is brought
there as though affirming that he will trample upon and cast out his evil
persona, which will then become a support unto him, but it must first be
cast down unto its right place.
   The Hiereus now confers the secret signs, &c., and during this part of
the ceremony the position of the three chief officers is as follows: The
Hierophant on the throne of the East; the Hiereus at the East of the Black
Pillar; and the Hegemon at the East of the White Pillar.  The three again
formulating the Triad and strengthening it.
   Thus the Higher Soul will be formulated between the Pillars in the place
of Equilibrium; the Candidate at the place of the Evil Triad.  The Hiereus
now advanceth between the Pillars unto the invisible station of
Harpocrates.
   The signs having been explained, the Hiereus draweth the Candidate
forward between the pillars, and for the second time in the ceremony the
Higher Soul standeth near and ready to touch him.  Then the Hiereus
returneth to the East of the Black Pillar so that the three chief officers
may draw down upon him the forces of the Supernal Triad.
   The Candidate now therefore is standing between the pillars bound with
the rope, like the mummied form of Osiris between Isis and Nephthys.  And
in this position doth the fourth and final consecration by the Goddesses of
the Balances take place; the Aspirant for the first time standing between
the pillars, at the point wherein are localized the equilibrated forces of
the Balances, and meanwhile the Kerux goeth to the North in readiness for
the Circumambulation, so as to link the latter with the final consecration
of the Candidate.
   The "Stolistes" then says: "Frater X Y Z, I finally consecrate thee by
water."
   And the "Dadouchos:"  "Frater X Y Z, I finally consecrate thee by fire."
   And the effect of this is to seal finally into the Sphere of Sensation
of the Candidate the Pillars in Balanced Formulation.  For in the natural
man the symbols are unbalanced in strength, some being weaker and some
stronger, and the effect of the ceremony is to strengthen the weak and
purify the strong, thus gradually commencing to equilibrate them, at the
same time making a link between them and their corresponding forces in the
Macrocosm.
   The "Hierophant" then says:
   "Honoured Hegemon, the final consecration of the Candidate having been
performed, I command you to remove the rope from his wast, the last
remaining symbol of Darkness; and to invest him with the distinguishing
badge of the grade." {258}
   The "Hegemon," executing the Hierophant's order, says:
   "By command of the Very Honoured Hierophant, I invest you with the
distinguishing badge of the grade.  It symbolizes Light dawning in
Darkness."
   The four pillars being thus established, now only is the Candidate
invested with the badge of the White Triangle of the Three Supernals
formulating in Darkness; and now only is the Higher soul able to formulate
a link with him if the human will of the natural man be in reality
consenting thereto.  For the free will of the Candidate as a natural man is
never obsessed, either by the Higher Soul, or by the ceremony.  But the
Will consenting, the whole of the ceremony is directed to the strengthening
of its action.
   And as this badge is place upon him, it is as though the two Great
Goddesses, Isis and Nephthys, in the places of the columns, stretched forth
their wings over the form of Osiris to restore him again unto life.
   The Mystic Circumambulation then followeth in the Path of Light to
represent the rising of the Light in the Candidate through the operation of
self-sacrifice; as he passeth the Throne of the East, the red Cavalry Cross
is astrally formulated above the astral White Triangle of the Three upon
his forehead; so that so long as he belongeth unto the Order he may have
that potent and sublime symbol as a link with his Higher Self, and as an
aid in his search for the Forces of the Light Divine for ever, if he only
"will it."
   But the Higher Soul or Genius returneth unto the Invisible Station of
Harpocrates, into the Place of the hidden centre, yet retaining the link
formulated with the Candidate.
   The address of the "Hierophant" then follows:
   "Frater X Y Z, I must congratulate you on your having passed with so
much fortitude through your ceremony of the admission to the 0° = 0°
Grade of the Order of the Golden Dawn in the Outer.  I will now direct your
attention to a brief explanation of the principal symbols of your grade."
   When these have been explained the Kerux, as the Watcher Anubis,
announceth in the following words that the Candidate has been admitted as
an initiate Neophyte:
   "In the name of the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE and by command of the
V.H.Hierophant, hear you all that I proclaim that A: B: who hereafter will
be known unto you by the motto X Y Z, has been admitted in due form to the
0° = 0° Grade of Neophyte of the Order of the Golden Dawn in the
Outer."
   The "Hiereus" then addresseth the Neophyte and congratulates him upon
being admitted a member of the Order, "whose professed object and end is
the practical study of Occult Science."  After which the "Hierophant" stateth
clearly the Principia which the Neophyte must now commence to study.
   This being at an end the "Kerux" conducteth the Neophyte to his table and
giveth {259} him a solution telling him to pour a few drops on the plate
before him.  As he does so the solution changes to a blood colour, and the
"Kerux" says:
   "As this pure, colourless, and limpid fluid is changed into the
semblance of blood, so mayest thou change and perish, if thou betrayest
thine oath of secrecy of this Order, by word or deed!"
   The "Hierophant" then says:
   "Resume your seat in the N.W., and remember that your admission to this
order give you no right to initiate any other person without dispensation
from the greatly honoured chiefs of the Second Order."
   Thus ends the Admission, after which the Closing takes place.

                         "THE CLOSING"

   The Closing Ceremony is opened by the cry:

                 "HEKAS, HEKAS, ESTE, BEBELOI!"

and the greater part of its symbolism is explained in the Opening.  The
reverse circumambulation is intended to formulate the withdrawal of the
Light of the Supernal Triad from the Altar.  The Adoration then takes
place, after which followeth the mystical repast, or communion in the body
of Osiris.  Its mystic name is "The Formula of the Justified One."23
   The "Hierophant" saying:
   "Nothing now remains but to partake in Silence the Mystic repast
composed of the {260} symbols of the Four elements, and to remember our
pledge of secrecy."  (The Kerux proceeds to the Altar and ignites the
spirit placed at the southern angle of the Cross.  The "Hierophant," quitting
his throne, goes to the West of the Altar, and facing East, salutes and
continues:)
   "I invite you to inhale with me the perfume of this rose as a symbol of
Air (smelling rose): To feel with me the warmth of this sacred Fire
(spreading hands over it): To eat with me this Bread and Salt as types of
earth (eats): and finally to drink with me this Wine, the consecrated
emblem of elemental Water (drinks from cup).
   The Hierophant then goes to the East of the Altar and faces West.  The
Hiereus comes to the West of the Altar, and salutes the Hierophant,
receiving the elements from him.  All then partake in order of rank:
Hegemon from Hiereus, Stolistes from Hegemon, Dadouchos from Stolistes,
Senior Members from Dadouchos, and the Kerux from the Candidate.
   But the "Kerux" says: "It is finished," inverting the cup, to show that
the symbols of Self-sacrifice and Regeneration are accomplished.  And this
proclamation is confirmed by the "Hierophant," and the three chief officers
give the three strokes emblematic of the Mystic Triad, and in the three
different languages repeat the three mystic words:

     "KHABS AM PEKHT!"
     "KONX OM PAX!"
     "LIGHT IN EXTENSION!"

   The "Hierophant" then finally closes the ceremony by saying:
        23  The "Formula of Osiris" is given in Z. 1, and is as follows:
           "For Osiris Onnophris hath said:
           He who is found perfect before the Gods hath said:
           These are the elements of my body, perfected through suffering,
          glorified through trial.
           For the secret of the Dying Rose is as the repressed sign of my
          suffering.
           And the flame-red fire as the energy of my undaunted will.
           And the cup of wine is the outpouring of the Blood of my heart
          sacrificed unto regeneration and the Newer Life.
           And the Bread and the Salt are as the Foundations of my Body.
           Which I destroy in order that they may be renewed.
           For I am Osiris Triumphant, even Osiris Onnophris the Justified.
           I am he who is clothed with the Body of Flesh:
           Yet in whom is the Spirit of the Mighty Gods.
           I am the Lord of Life triumphant over Death.
           He who partaketh with me shall rise with me.
           I am the manifester in Matter of those whose abode is in the
          Invisible.
           I am purified; I stand upon the Universe:
           I am the Reconciler with the Eternal Gods:
           I am the Perfecter of Matter:
           And without me the Universe is not!"
   "May what we have this day partaken of, sustain us in our search for the
Quintessence; the Stone of the Philosophers; the True Wisdom and Perfect
Happiness, and the Summum Bonum."
   All then disrobe and disperse.


   Undoubtedly the passing through the Ritual of the Neophyte had an
important influence on P.'s mind, and on his Spiritual Progress; for
shortly after its celebration, we find him experiencing some very
extraordinary visions, which we shall enter upon in due course.  Suffice it
to say that by December he had passed the easy examination necessary before
he could present himself as a candidate for the 1° = 10° grade of
Zelator. {261}


              RITUAL OF THE 1° = 10° GRADE OF ZELATOR1

   The opening in this ritual is very similar to that in the last; the
chief exception being that this grade is more particularly attributed to
the element of "earth".
   The Temple having been declared open, the "Hierophant" says:
   "Except Adonai build the House their labour is but lost that build it.
Except Adonai Keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!  Frater
Neophyte, by what aid do you seek admission to the 1° =10° Grade of
Zelator of the G.'. D.'.?"


{Illustration on page 262 approximated below:
        1  The following five Rituals are considerably abridged; chiefly to
          economise space and so allow the rituals of the Neophyte and
          Adeptus Minor to be dealt with more fully.  They are of little
          magical interest, value or importance.

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│          . __ .               . __ .               . __ .           │
│        ..  __  ..           ..  __  ..           ..  __  ..         │
│       ..        ..         ..        ..         ..        ..        │
│      ..   31st   ..       ..   32nd   ..       ..   29th   ..       │
│    ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐   ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐   ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐     │
│    └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘   └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘   └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘     │
│      ││    HB:Shin      ││       ││    HB:Taw      ││       ││    HB:Qof      ││
│
│      ││          ││       ││          ││       ││          ││       │
│      ││          ││       ││          ││       ││          ││       │
│      ┴┴          ┴┴       ┴┴          ┴┴       ┴┴          ┴┴       │
│                                                                     │
│                        ┌__________________┐                         │
│       __┴__            │    Hierophant    │             __┴__       │
│       \   /            └__________________┘             \   /       │
│        \ /              ┌________________┐               \ /        │
│         ┬               │ Red |\/\/|Lamp │                ┬         │
│         │               │       /\       │                │         │
│         │               │      //\\      │                │         │
│         │               │     //▄▄\\     │                │         │
│         │               │    //████\\    │                │         │
│       __┴__             │   //  ██  \\   │              __┴__       │
│ Banner of the West      │  //   ██   \\  │     Banner of the East   │
│                         │ /============\ │                          │
│                         └________________┘                          │
│      ┌__________________┐       ()       ┌__________________┐       │
│      │     Hiereus      │         X      │     Hegemon      │       │
│      └__________________┘     ()---()    └__________________┘       │
│                                 \                                   │
│                                   \                                 │
│                               ()---()                               │
│                                 \                                   │
│                                  ()                                 │
│                                    \                                │
│                               ()---()                               │
│          ┌______________┐       \        ┌______________┐           │
│╔---╗ /\  │   .  /\  .   │        ()      │   .  /\  .   │           │
│║ Spirit ║[||] │ .   /  \   . │         |      │ .   /  \   . │           │
│╚---╝Lamp │.   /    \   .│        ()      │.   /    \   .│           │
│          │.  /      \  .│                │.  /      \  .│           │
│     [Salt]  │ ./________\. │      Lights    │ ./________\. │           │
│     Salt │   .      .   │     Unshaded   │   .      .   │           │
│          └______________┘                └______________┘           │
│  ┌__________________┐  ┌__________________┐  ┌__________________┐   │
│  │    Stolistes     │  │      Kerux       │  │    Dadouchos     │   │
│  └__________________┘  └__________________┘  └__________________┘   │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 11.

                Arrangement of the Temple in the
                  1° = 10° Ritual (first part).}

   The "Hegemon," answering for him, says: "By the guidance of Adonai; by the
possession of the requisite knowledge; by the dispensation you hold; by the
secret signs and token of the 0° = 0° Grade, and by this symbol of the
Hermetic Cross."
   The Neophyte is then conducted to the West, and being placed between the
mystic pillars, pledges himself to secrecy.
   The "Hierophant," congratulating him, finally says: "Let the Neophyte
enter the path of Evil."  Then the following takes place.
   "Hiereus:" Whence comest thou?
   "Kerux" (for Neophyte): I am come from between the pillars and seek the
hidden knowledge in the Name of Adonai.
   "Hiereus:"  And the Angel Samael (Angel of Evil) answered an said: I am
the Prince of Darkness and of Night.  The wicked and rebellious man gazeth
upon the face of Nature and he findeth therein naught but terror and
obscurity; unto him it is but the Darkness of the Darkness; and he is but
as a drunken man groping in the dark.  Return, for thou canst not pass by.
   "Hierophant:" Let the Neophyte enter the path of Good.
   "Hegemon:" Whence comest thou?
   "Kerux" (for Neophute): I am come from between the pillars and seek for
the hidden Light of Occult Knowledge. {262}
   "Hegemon:" And the great Angel Metatron (Angel of Good) answered and said:
I am the Angel of the Presence Divine.  The Wise man gazeth upon the
Material Universe and he beholdeth therein the luminous Image of the
Creator.  Not as yet canst thou bear the dazzling radiance of that Light!
Return, for thou canst not pass by!
   "Hierophant:" Let the Neophyte now advance by the Straight and Narrow way
which inclineth neither to the right hand nor to the left.
   "Hiereus and Hegemon:" Whence comest thou?
   "Kerux" (for Neophyte): I am come from between the pillars and seek for
the hidden Light of Occult Science.
   "Hierophant:" But the great Angel Sandalphon answered and said: "I am the
Reconciler for the Earth and the Soul of the Celestial therein.  Equally is
form invisible in total Darkness and in Blinding Light. ..."
   The Hiereus and Hegemon return to their seats, whilst the Hierophant and
Neophyte remain, both facing the Altar.  Here the "Hierophant" confers on the
Neophyte the Secrets and Mysteries of the grade; and explains to him the
Symbolism of the Temple as follows:
   "The three portals facing from the East are the gates of the paths which
alone conduct to the Inner. ..."
   "The letters shin, tau, and qoph, make by metathesis HB:Taw HB:Shin HB:Qof
(Qesheth), which signifies a bow, the rainbow of promise stretched over our
earth.  This picture of the Flaming Sword of the Kerubim is a
representation of the guardians of the gate of Eden; just as the Hiereus
and the Hegemon symbolise the two paths of the Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil."
   "You will observe that in this grade the red cross is placed within the
white Triangle upon the altar, and this placed, it is identical with the
Banner of the West."
   "The triangle refers to the three above-mentioned paths connecting
Malkuth with the above Sephiroth, while the cross is the hidden wisdom of
the Divine nature which can be obtained by their aid.  The two construed
mean: LIFE IN LIGHT."

{Illustration, approximated below:

              ▄▄
             █  █
              ▀▀▄ ▄▀
                ▄▀▄
               ▀   ▀▄
      ▄▄             ▀▄▄
     █  █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█  █
      ▀▀▄             ▀▀
         ▀▄
           ▀▄
             ▀▄
               ▀▄
                 ▀▄
                   ▀▄
      ▄▄             ▀▄▄
     █  █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█  █
      ▀▀▄             ▀▀
         ▀▄
           ▀▄
             ▀▄▄
             █  █
              ▀▀▄
                 ▀▄
                   ▀▄
      ▄▄             ▀▄▄
     █  █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█  █
      ▀▀▄             ▀▀
         ▀▄
           ▀▄
             ▀▄▄
             █  █
              █▀
              █
              █
              █▄
             █  █
              ▀▀

         DIAGRAM 12.

  The Flaming Sword.}

{Illustration:  Approximated below:


              /\
             /  \
            /    \
           / ████ \
          /  ████  \
         /██████████\
        / ██████████ \
       /   / ████ \   \
      /   /  ████  \   \
     /   /---████---\   \
    /____________________\

        DIAGRAM 13.
     The Altar Symbol
          in the
      1° = 10° Ritual.}

   "This grade is especially referred to the Element Earth, and therefore,
one of its principal emblems is the Great Watch-tower on the Terrestrial
Tablet of the North. ..."
   "... You will observe that the Hermetic Cross, which is also called
Fylfat, .. is formed of seventeen squares taken from a square of twenty-
five lesser squares. {263}  These seventeen squares represent the Sun, the
Four Elements, and the Twelve Signs.  In this grade the lamps on the
Pillars are unshaded, showing that you have quitted the darkness of the
outer. ..."

{Illustration.  Approximated below:

 ┌____┬____┬____┬____┬____┐
 │████│    │████│████│████│
 │████│    │████│████│████│
 ├____┼____┼____┼____┼____┤
 │████│    │████│    │    │
 │████│    │████│    │    │
 ├____┼____┼____┼____┼____┤
 │████│████│████│████│████│
 │████│████│████│████│████│
 ├____┼____┼____┼____┼____┤
 │    │    │████│    │████│
 │    │    │████│    │████│
 ├____┼____┼____┼____┼____┤
 │████│████│████│    │████│
 │████│████│████│    │████│
 └____┴____┴____┴____┴____┘

        DIAGRAM 14.

    The Hermetic Cross.

   The Neophyte then retires for a short time before commencing the second
ritual of this grade, which consists chiefly of symbolic explanations:
   The "Hierophant" says:
   "While the 0° = 0° grade represents the portal of the Temple, the 1°
= 10° grade of Zelator will admit you into the Holy Place.  Without,
the altar of Burnt Offering symbolises the Qliphoth --- or evil demons.
Between the Altar and the entrance to the Holy Place stood the Laver of
Brass, as a symbol of the Waters of Creation."


{Illustration on page 264 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│          . __ .               . __ .               . __ .           │
│        ..  __  ..           ..  __  ..           ..  __  ..         │
│       ..        ..         ..        ..         ..        ..        │
│      ..   31st   ..       ..   32nd   ..       ..   29th   ..       │
│    ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐   ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐   ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐     │
│    └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘   └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘   └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘     │
│      ││    HB:Shin      ││       ││    HB:Taw      ││       ││    HB:Qof      ││
│
│      ││          ││       ││          ││       ││          ││       │
│      ││          ││       ││          ││       ││          ││       │
│      ┴┴          ┴┴       ┴┴          ┴┴       ┴┴          ┴┴       │
│                                                                     │
│                        ┌__________________┐                         │
│       __┴__            │    Hierophant    │             __┴__       │
│       \   /            └__________________┘             \   /       │
│        \ /              ┌________________┐               \ /        │
│         ┬               │ Red |\/\/|Lamp │                ┬         │
│         │               │       /\       │                │         │
│         │               │      //\\      │                │         │
│         │               │     //▄▄\\     │                │         │
│         │               │    //████\\    │                │         │
│       __┴__             │   //  ██  \\   │              __┴__       │
│ Banner of the West      │  //   ██   \\  │     Banner of the East   │
│                         │Water/============\Air│
│
│┌___┐                    └________________┘                          │
││T o│ ┌__________________┐                ┌__________________┐       │
││a f│ │    Stolistes     │                │    Dadouches     │       │
││b  │ └__________________┘                └__________________┘       │
││l E│                   ┌__________________┐                         │
││e a│                   │     Hegemon      │                         │
││t r│                   └__________________┘                         │
││  t│                       Facing East                              │
││  h│                                                                │
│└___┘ ┌__________________┐                ┌__________________┐       │
│      │    Table of      │                │    Seven         │       │
│      │   Shew Bread     │                │    Branched      │       │
│      │                  │                │    Candlestick   │       │
│      │                  │                │                  │       │
│      └__________________┘                └__________________┘       │
│┌___┐     ┌______________┐                ┌______________┐           │
││ K │     │   .  /\  .   │                │   .  /\  .   │           │
││ e │     │ .   /  \   . │                │ .   /  \   . │           │
││ r │     │.   /    \   .│                │.   /    \   .│           │
││ u │     │.  /      \  .│                │.  /      \  .│           │
││ x │     │ ./________\. │      Lights    │ ./________\. │           │
│└___┘     │   .      .   │     Unshaded   │   .      .   │           │
│          └______________┘                └______________┘           │
│                        ┌__________________┐                         │
│                        │     Hiereus      │                         │
│                        └__________________┘                         │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 15.

                Arrangement of the Temple in the
                  1° = 10° Ritual (second part).}

   The "Hegemon" then explains the symbolic drawing of the Zodiac, which is
most complicated, but consists mainly of twelve circles and a lamp in the
centre to represent the sun.  "The whole figure represents the Rose of
Creation, and is a synthesis of the Visible Universe.  Furthermore the
twelve circles represent the twelve foundations of the Holy City of the
Apocalypse, while in the Christian symbolism the Sun and the twelve signs
typify our Saviour and the twelve Apostles."2
   After which the Hiereus says: "At the Southern side of the Holy Place
stood the seven-branched candlestick.  The symbolic drawing before you
represents its occult meaning.  The seven circles which surround the
heptagram represents its occult meaning.  The seven circles which surround
the heptagram represent the seven planets and the seven Qabalistic Palaces
of Assiah, the material world which answer to the seven apocalyptic
churches of Asia Minor, and these again represent, on a higher plane, the
seven lamps before the throne."3 {264}

{Illustration described from page 265:

"DIAGRAM 16.  The Rose of Creation."

This is a twelve-pointed star made up of four line-drawn equilateral
triangles, effectively two hexagrams placed one on top of the other and
rotated to produce a symmetrical duo-decagram.  There are small circles
touching the outer tips of each of the twelve points.  Four identical
circles are placed tangent to the horizontal and vertical line elements in
the central portion of the figure.  In the exact center is an upright
pentagram, also lineal, with a smaller circle in its own center.}

{Illustration described from page 265:

"DIAGRAM 17.  The Seven-branched Candlestick."

This is a seven pointed star or heptagram with one point to top.  There is
a small circle in the center.  The points have the symbols of the planets
inside, clockwise starting from the top:  Saturn, Mars, Venus, Moon, Jupiter,
Sun, Mercury.
Touching the tip of each of the seven points from outside is a circle,
seven in all.  These seven circles each contain an equilateral triangle,
smaller than a circumscribed one would be.  These seven triangles each have
an apex radially outward from the center of the figure.  Each of the seven
triangles has a Hebrew letter in the center (planetary correspondence),
Hebrew names of the planets and archangels corresponding to the left and
right along and outside the edges, and Asiatic place names below the base.
Here are the inscriptions, left, right, bottom and center, for all
triangles, starting with the top and moving clockwise:
HB:Yod HB:Aleph HB:Taw HB:Bet HB:Shin , HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Yod HB:Qof HB:Peh HB:Tzaddi , Ephesus, HB:Taw .
HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Mem HB:Koph , HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Aleph HB:Mem , Pergamos, HB:Peh .  {SIC, left and
right reversed --- WEH Note}
HB:Heh HB:Gemel HB:Vau HB:Nun , HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Aleph HB:Heh , Thyatira, HB:Dalet .
HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Bet HB:Lamed , HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Yod HB:Resh HB:Bet HB:Gemel , Laodicea, HB:Gemel .
HB:Qof HB:Dalet HB:Tzaddi , HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Yod HB:Qof HB:Dalet HB:Tzaddi , Philadelphia, HB:Koph .
HB:Shin HB:Mem HB:Shin , HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Peh HB:Resh , Smyrna, HB:Resh .
HB:Bet HB:Koph HB:Vau HB:Koph , HB:Lamed HB:Aleph HB:Koph HB:Yod HB:Mem , Sardis, HB:Bet .}

        2  "See 777," Col. cxl., p. 27, "Twelve Banners of the Name," and
          Revelations, xxi., 19, 20.
        3  "See 777," Col. xxxvi., p. 11.

{Illustration described from page 265:

"DIAGRAM 18.  The Heptagram of Seven Days.

This is a seven pointed star or heptagram with one point to top.  The
points have the symbols of the planets outside, clockwise starting from the
top:  Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon.}


{Illustration described from page 265:

"DIAGRAM 19.  The Altar of Incense."

The diagram is in two parts, one above the other.  The upper part is shaped
thusly, but the numbers here are a key to the description below, not a part
of the diagram:

(not to scale)  .
               / \
              /   \
             /     \
            /       \
           /┌_______┐\
          / │   1   │ \
         /┌_┴___┬___┴_┐\
        / │  3  │  2  │ \
       /  ├_____┼_____┤  \
      /   │  5  │  4  │   \
     /┌___┴_┬___┴___┬_┴___┐\
    / │  8  │   6   │  7  │ \
   /__┴_____┼_______┼_____┴__\
            │   9   │
            ├_______┤
            │   10  │
            └_______┘
Content of the boxes in the above portion of the figure, top, center and
bottom in each box:
1. HB:Resh HB:Taw HB:Koph ; (no symbol); The Offering.
2. HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Koph HB:Chet ; a double line bottom arc; The Receptacle.
3. HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Yod HB:Bet ; approximate trapezoid with small top, inward arcking
sides and long bottom, symmetrical; The Base.
4. HB:Dalet HB:Samekh HB:Chet ; thin horizontal elongate rectangle; The Right Bay.
5. HB:Heh HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Bet HB:Gemel ; thin horizontal elongate rectangle; The Left Bay.
6. HB:Taw HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Peh HB:Taw ; horizontal elongate rectangle; The Body of the
Altar.
7. HB:Chet HB:Tzaddi HB:Nun ; two circles, one to left and one to right; Two Rings
right.
8. HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Heh ; two circles, one to left and one to right; Two Rings
left.
9. HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod ; horizontal elongate rectangle with crosshatching; The
Network or grille.
10. HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Koph HB:Lamed HB:Mem ; horizontal elongate rectangle; The Foundation.

The lower part of the illustration is a typical 19th century artist's
conception of the Biblical Altar of Incense, such as may be found in
illustrated Bibles of the time.  It shows the altar resting on a pediment
with a rectangular base and sloping side to left, six steps reaching up
from the base (which forms a seventh step on this side only) to the middle
of the altar at right.  The altar is rectangular, height half length, with
a horizontal carrying bar passing through two rings and extending on either
side.  The horns of the altar are represented (inaccurately) by two spiral
horns sloping upward and away from the top corners of the altar.  A fire is
depicted as rising from the top center of the altar.  The base and top of
the detachable altar are depicted with rectangular copings extending
slightly beyond the body, upper one thicker.}

   The Heptagram itself refers to the seven days of the week, and may also
be made to show how their order is derived from the planets when placed at
the angles of the Heptagram.
   "... The lamp within the centre represents the Astral Light of the
Universe concentrated into a focus by the Planets. ..."
   The "Hierophant" then resumes: "Within the mystic veil which separated the
Holy Place from the Holy of Holies stood the Ark of the Covenant.  Before
the veil stood the altar of Incense, of which this altar is a symbol.  It
was in the form of a double Cube, thus representing material form as the
reflection and the duplication of that which is spiritual.  The sides of
the altar, {265} together with the top and underside, consist of ten
squares, thus symbolising the Ten Sephiroth." ... "The altar of Incense was
overlaid with gold, to represent essential purity, but the altar before you
is black to typify the terrestrial earth.  Learn then to separate the pure
from the impure, the refined and spiritual gold of the Alchymist from the
Black Dragon of Putrefaction in Evil." ... "I now congratulate you on
having attained to the 1° = 10° grade of Zelator, and in recognition
thereof I confer on you the mystic title of PERECLINOS DE FAUSTIS, which
signifies that you are still far from the goal which has been reached by
the complete Initiates."
   Shortly after this the Closing takes place, and the prayer of the
spirits of the Earth is rehearsed, and the licence to depart pronounced,
and in the name of ADONAI HA ARETZ, the "Hierophant" declares the Temple
closed.

   By the end of January 1899, P. was sufficiently advanced to be admitted
to the grade of Theoricus.
   It was about this time also that he met Mr. D., a certain brother of the
G.'. D.'. known as Fra. I.A.  This meeting, as we shall eventually see,
ranks only second in importance to his meeting with Fra. V.N.


           RITUAL OF THE 2° = 9° GRADE OF THEORICUS

   This grade is particularly attributed to the element of Air; it refers
to the Moon, and is attached to the Thirty-second Path of Tau, which
alludes to the Universe as composed of the four elements, to the Kerubim,
the Qliphoth, the Astral Plane, and the reflection of the Sphere of Saturn.
After this has been explained, the Advancement of the Zelator takes place,
after which the Ritual of the Thirty-second Path is celebrated.
   "Hierophant," to Zelator: "Facing you are the Portals of the thirty-
second, thirty-first, and twenty-ninth Paths leading from the grade of
Zelator to the three other grades which are beyond.  The only path now open
to you, however, is the thirty-second, which leads to the 2° = 9° grade
of Theoricus, and which you must traverse before arriving at that degree.
Take in your right hand the Cubical Cross, and in your left hand the Banner
of Light, and follow your guide Anubis4 the Guardian: who leads you from
the Material to the Spiritual."
   "Kerux:" "Anubis the Guardian spake unto to Aspirant, saying: 'Let us
enter into the Presence of the Lords of Truth.'  Arise and follow me."
{266}
        4  It will be noticed that from here this ritual becomes
          unnecessarily complicated with Egyptian deities --- in fact, its
          mysteries become rather "forced."  Still more so will this be
          seen in the next ritual, which becomes ridiculously complex with
          Samothracian nonentities.  The symbols in themselves are not
          wrong; but it is the "mixed-biscuit" type of symbol which is so
          bad, especially where it is not necessary, but chosen so as to
          "show off" superficial knowledge.
   "Hiereus:"  "The Sphinx of Egypt spake and said: 'I am the synthesis of
the Elemental Forces: I am also the symbol of man: I am Life: and I am
Death: I am the Child of the night of Time.'"
   "Hierophant:"  "The priest with the mask of Osiris spake and said: 'Thou
canst not pass the gate of the Eastern Heaven: except thou canst tell me my
name.'"
   "Kerux," for Zelator: "Thou art Nu: The Goddess of the Firmament of Air.
Thou art Harmakhis, Lord of the Eastern Sun."
   "Hierophant:" "In what sign and symbol dost thou come?"
   "Kerux," for Zelator: "In the letter Aleph, with the Banner of Light, and
the symbol of equated forces."
   "Hierophant" (falling back and making with fan the sign of Aquarius,
Aquarius, before Zelator): "In the sign of the man, child of Air, art thou
purified --- pass thou on."

{Illustration on page 267 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                               . __ .                                │
│                             ..  __  ..                              │
│                            ..        ..                             │
│                           ..          ..                            │
│          . __ .         ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐         . __ .           │
│        ..  __  ..       └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘       ..  __  ..         │
│       ..        ..        ││    HB:Taw      ││        ..        ..        │
│      ..          ..       ││          ││       ..          ..       │
│    ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐     ││          ││     ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐     │
│    └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘     ┴┴          ┴┴     └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘     │
│      ││    HB:Shin      ││      ┌______________┐      ││    HB:Qof      ││
│
│      ││          ││      │  Tablet of   │      ││          ││       │
│      ││          ││      │     Air      │      ││          ││       │
│      ┴┴          ┴┴      └______________┘      ┴┴          ┴┴       │
│          __┴__                Lamp                  __┴__           │
│          \   /    ┌____________________________┐    \   /           │
│           \ /     │           |\/\/:           │     \ /            │
│            ┬      │ Dais            Pentacle   │      ┬             │
│            │      │        ┌__________┐        │      │             │
│            │      │        │    H     │ Fan    │      │             │
│            │      │        └__________┘        │      │             │
│            │      └____________________________┘      │             │
│          __┴__                                      __┴__           │
│          ┌______________┐                ┌______________┐           │
│          │   .  /\  .   │                │   .  /\  .   │           │
│          │ .   /  \   . │                │ .   /  \   . │           │
│          │.   /    \   .│ Lights Shaded  │.   /    \   .│           │
│          │.  /      \  .│                │.  /      \  .│           │
│          │ ./________\. │                │ ./________\. │           │
│          │   .      .   │                │   .      .   │           │
│          └______________┘                └______________┘           │
│                Black                           White                │
│                 ┌_____________┐    ┌_____________┐                  │
│                 │   Kerux     │    │   Hegemon   │                  │
│ ┌___________┐   └_____________┘    └_____________┘                  │
│ │ Tablet of │                                                       │
│ │   Earth   │                                                       │
│ └___________┘                                                       │
│               ┌_______┐        Fan         ┌_______┐                │
│               │ Hell  │ ┌________________┐ │ Eden  │                │
│               └_______┘ │      \|/       │ └_______┘                │
│                         │   _________    │                          │
│                         │   \   │.  /    │                          │
│                   Salt  │ Salt  \ _┼_ / \^/ │ Red Lamp                 │
│                         │     \ │ /      │                          │
│                         │      \ /       │                          │
│                         │      ( )       │                          │
│                         │       O        │                          │
│                         └________________┘                          │
│                                Cup                                  │
│                        ┌__________________┐                         │
│                        │     Hiereus      │                         │
│                        └__________________┘                         │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 20.

         Arrangement of the Temple for the 32nd Path in the
                        2° = 9° Ritual.}

   Similarly the Zelator passes the Lion, the Eagle, and the Bull.  The
"Hierophant" then explains to the Zelator the symbolism of the cubical cross,
as follows:
   "The cubical cross is a fitting emblem of the equilibrated and balanced
forces of the Elements.  It is composed of twenty-two squares externally,
which refer to the twenty-two letters placed thereon.  Twenty and two are
the letters of the Eternal Voice in the vault of Heaven; in the depths of
the Earth; in the abyss of the Waters, and in the all-presence of Fire:
Heaven cannot speak their fulness, Earth cannot utter it.  Yet hath the
Creator bound them in all things.  He hath mingled them through Water: He
hath whirled them aloft in Fire:  He hath sealed them in the Air of Heaven:
He hath distributed them through the Planets: He hath assigned unto them
the twelve constellations of the Zodiac."
   He then explains that to the Thirty-second Path of the Sepher Yetzirah
is attributed the seven Abodes of Assiah; to the four Elements, the
Kerubim, and the Qliphoth.5 {267} It represents the connecting-link between
Assiah and Yetzirah.  It is the rending of the Veil of the Tabernacle; and
it is the passing of the Gate of Eden.  After which he enters upon the
symbolisms of the twenty-first Key of the Tarot, the naked female form of
which represents the Bride of the Apocalypse, the Qabalistic Queen of the
Canticles, the Egyptian Isis of Nature.  Her two wands are the directing
forces of the Positive and Negative currents.  She is the synthesis of the
Thirty-second Path uniting Malkuth and Yesod.

{Illustration on page 268 approximated:

         ┌______
         │\      \
         │  ┌______┐
  ┌______┘  │      ├___
  │\      \ │      │    \
  │  ┌______┼______┼______┐
  │  │      │      │      │
   \ │      │      │      │
     └___┬__┼______┼______┘
         │  │      │
          \ │      │
            └______┘

         DIAGRAM 21.

 The Cubical Cross of Twenty-
       two Squares.}


        5  "See 777," cols. civ., cviii., pp. 20 and 23; and Revelations,
          chap. i.
{Illustration on page 268 described:

"DIAGRAM 22.  The Garden of Eden and the Holy City."

This is a circular device.  In the center is a simple Tree of Life with
circles and lines with the circle of Tipheret at the center point itself.
Four lines completely cross the circle through the center, forming a
symmetrical cross and "X".  Seven squares, composed of vertical and
horizontal lines, are nested each within the other such that the innermost
and next innermost intercept the top and bottom circles of the Tree of
Life.  The outermost is circumscribed by the inner of two concentric
circles which define the limits of the figure, a narrow ring being formed
between them.  Eight additional radials extend inward between the original
four lines from the outermost circle to the outer edge of the outermost
square, forming twelve equal divisions of the outer ring in all.}

   The "Hegemon" then explains his tablet, which contains the occult
symbolism of the Garden of Eden and the Holy City of the Apocalypse; and
the "Kerux" also his --- the seven Infernal Mansions and the four Seas.6
After which the "Hierophant" confers on the Zelator the title of the Thirty-
second Path; the Zelator then quits the Temple for a short time before
passing to the Grade of Theoricus.
   The Ceremony of Theoricus is opened by the "Hierophant," who says to the
Zelator: "Frater Pereclinos de Faustis: as in the grade of 1° = 10°
there were given the symbolical representations of the Tree of Knowledge of
the Good and Evil of the gate of Eden and of the Holy Place: so in the 2° =
9° of Theoricus the 'Sanctum Sanctorum' with the Ark and the Kerubim is
shown: as well as the garden of Eden, with which it coincides, while in the
thirty-second path leading thereunto, through which you have just passed,
the Kerubic Guardians are represented; and the Palm-trees, or trees of
Progression in the Garden of Eden.  Honoured "Hegemon," conduct the Zelator
to the West, and place him there before the portal of the thirty-second
path through which he has just entered."
   The Zelator then seeks entrance by the Caduceus of Hermes, the symbolism
of which the "Hegemon" explains to him. {268}

        6  "See 777," cols. cvi., cvii., p. 23.
{Illustration on page 269 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│          . __ .               . __ .               . __ .           │
│        ..  __  ..           ..  __  ..           ..  __  ..         │
│       ..        ..         ..        ..         ..        ..        │
│      ..          ..       ..          ..       ..          ..       │
│    ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐   ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐   ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐     │
│    └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘   └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘   └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘     │
│      ││    HB:Resh      ││       ││    HB:Samekh      ││       ││    HB:Tzaddi      ││
│
│      ││          ││       ││          ││       ││          ││       │
│      ┴┴          ┴┴       ┴┴          ┴┴       ┴┴          ┴┴       │
│                  __┴__     ┌__________┐                             │
│                  \   /     │  Tablet  │                             │
│                   \ /      │  of Air  │                             │
│                    ┬       └__________┘                             │
│                    │                                                │
│  ┌________┐    ┌___┼______________________________┐     ┌________┐  │
│  │ Kamea  │    │   │La   \/\/  Dais  () Pentacle  │     │ Moon   │  │
│  │  of    │    │   │mp    ┌____________┐          │     │on Tree │  │
│  │ Moon   │    │ __┴__    │ Hierophant │          │     │of Life │  │
│  └________┘    │          └____________┘          │     └________┘  │
│                └__________________________________┘                 │
│  ┌____________┐                                    ┌_____________┐  │
│  │ Tablet of  │ Salt Salt       {NB: here             │  Lineal     │  │
│  │   Earth    │              is placed             │    figures  │  │
│  └____________┘ \/\/ Lamp    a drawing             └_____________┘  │
│                              of the Tree                            │
│                              of Life                                │
│        Lights Unshaded       with serpent       Tree of Life        │
│                              & paths, but                           │
│                              no sephiroth.}                         │
│                        ┌__________________┐                         │
│       ┌______________┐ │ _______________  │ ┌______________┐        │
│       │   .  /\  .   │ │ \      │      /  │ │   .  /\  .   │        │
│       │ .   /  \   . │ │  \  ___┼___  /   │ │ .   /  \   . │        │
│       │.   /    \   .│ │   \    │    /    │ │.   /    \   .│        │
│       │.  /      \  .│ │ () \   │   /     │ │.  /      \  .│        │
│       │ ./________\. │ │ ()  \  │  /  /\  │ │ ./________\. │        │
│       │   .      .   │ │ /\   \ │ / \/__\/│ │   .      .   │        │
│       └______________┘ │ Cup   \│/   Lamp │ └______________┘        │
│                        └__________________┘                         │
│                      Kerubim of Flaming Sword                       │
│  ┌__________________┐  ┌__________________┐  ┌__________________┐   │
│  │      Kerux       │  │     Hiereus      │  │     Hegemon      │   │
│  └__________________┘  └__________________┘  └__________________┘   │
│                               . __ .                                │
│                             ..  __  ..                              │
│      ┌_________┐           ..        ..          ┌_________┐        │
│      │         │          ..          ..         │         │        │
│      │         │        ┌_┴┴_┐      ┌_┴┴_┐       │         │        │
│      │         │        └_┬┬_┘      └_┬┬_┘       │         │        │
│      │         │          ││    HB:Taw      ││         │         │        │
│      └_________┘          ││          ││         └_________┘        │
│   Geomantic Figures       ││          ││    Alchemical Sephiroth    │
│                           ┴┴          ┴┴                            │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 23.
            Arrangement of the Temple for the Ceremony of
                  Theoricus in the 2° = 9° Ritual.}

   The "Hierophant" then says: "The symbols before you represent alike the
Garden of Eden,7 and the Holy of Holies: Before you stands the Tree of Life
formed of the Sephiroth and their connecting paths. ... The connecting
paths are twenty-two in number, and are distinguished by the twenty-two
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, making with the ten Sephiroth themselves
the thirty-two paths of Wisdom of the Sepher Yetzirah."  The letters, he
then points out to him, form the symbol of the Serpent of Wisdom, and the
Sephiroth the Flaming Sword.  "The two pillars right and left of the Tree
are the symbols of the active and passive, male and female --- Adam and
Eve. ... The pillars further represent the two Kerubim of the Ark; the
right, male --- Metatron; and the left, female --- Sandalphon.  Above them
ever burn the lamps of their Spiritual Essence, the Higher Life, of which
they are the partakers in the Eternal Uncreated One."

{Illustration on page 269 described:

"DIAGRAM 24.  The Caduceus of Hermes."

This is composed of two figures, side by side.  On the left is a variation
on the Caduceus:  A winged Sun disk (Ba-Hadit) atop a stick.  Two serpents
twine the stick in stylized fashion with open loops.  The serpents face
each other at top, with the stick between.  Their bodies intersect three
times over the stick as they loop it back and forth.
The second figure, to the right, is composed of a stick at the top of which
is a letter Shin.  In the middle of this stick is a letter Aleph, and near
the bottom is a letter Mem.}

{Illustration on page 269 described:

"DIAGRAM 25.  The Altar Symbol in the 2° = 9° Ritual."

This is a downward pointing equilateral triangle.  Inside the triangle is a
calvary cross.  A smaller equilateral triangle emerges above the cross-arm
of the calvary cross, only the upper angles visible.}

   The Zelator is then instructed in the sign, grip, grand word, &c.: After
which the {269} "Hegemon" rises and conducts the Zelator to the "Hiereus," who
explains to him the tablet of "The Duplicate form of the Alchemical
Sephiroth."8  The "Hegemon" then explains to him "The Geometrical lineal
figures attributed to the planets";9 and the "Kerux" "the sixteen figures of
Geomancy."10  The "Hierophant" congratulates the newly initiated Theoricus,
and confers upon him the title of PORAIOS (or PORAIA) DE REJECTIS, which
hath the signification: "brought from among the rejected ones," and gives
unto him the symbol of Ruach, which is the Hebrew for Air.
   The Closing then takes place.  "Let us adore the Lord and King of Air!"
says the "Hierophant."  The prayer of the Sylphs follows; and in the Name of
SHADDAI EL CHAI the Temple is closed in the 2° = 9° Grade of Theoricus.

     The following month, February, P. passed through the next grade, that
of 3° = 8°.

          RITUAL OF THE 3° = 8° GRADE OF PRACTICUS

        7  "See" Diagram of the Paths and Grades.
        8   "See 777," cols. cxii., cxiii., p. 23.
        9  "See 777," col. xlix., p. 15.
        10 "See 777," col. xlix, p. 15 and note p. 41.
   This Grade is particularly attributed to the element of Water, and
especially refers to the planet Mercury and to the thirty-first and
thirtieth paths of HB:Shin  and HB:Resh .  It opens with the Adoration to the King
of the Waters, which is followed by the Advancement.  The Theoricus first
gives the necessary signs, and then, as before, solemnly pledges himself to
secrecy, after which he is conducted to the East and placed between the
Mystic Pillars.  The "Hierophant" then says to him:
   "Before you are the portals of the thirty-first, thirty-second and
twenty-ninth paths.  Of these, as you already know, the central one leads
from the 1° = 10° of Zelator to the 2° = 9° of Theoricus.  That on
the left hand, which is now open to you, is the thirty-first, which leads
from the 1° = 10° of Zelator to the 3° = 8° of Practicus.  Take in
your right hand the Pyramid of Flame, and follow your guide Axiokersa11 the
Kabir, who leads you through the path of fire.
   In this ritual the Three Cabiri are made to represent the triangle of
fire, thus: Axieros, the first Kabir, says: "I am the apex of the Triangle
of Flame: I am the Solar {270} Fire pouring forth its beams upon the lower
world: Life-giving, Life-producing."  Then Axiokersos, the second Kabir,
says: "I am the left-hand basal angle of the Triangle of Flame: I am Fire,
Volcanic and Terrestrial, flashing and flaming through the deep abysses of
Earth: Fire rending, fire penetrating, tearing asunder the curtains of
Matter; fire constrained; fire tormenting; raging and whirling in lurid
storm!"  And lastly, Axiokersa, the third Kabir, says: "I am the right-hand
basal angle of the Triangle of Flame.  I am Fire, Astral and Fluid, winding
through the Firmament of Air.  I am the life of Being, the vital heat of
Existence.
   The "Hierophant" then takes the solid triangular pyramid and explains:
   "The solid triangular Pyramid is an appropriate hieroglyph of fire.  It
is formed of four triangles, three visible and one concealed: which latter
is the synthesis of the rest.  The three visible triangles represent Fire,
Solar, Volcanic and Astral; while the fourth represents latent heat.  The
three words: HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Aleph  HB:Bet HB:Vau HB:Aleph  HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph  refer to three
conditions of heat: Aud, Active; Aub, Passive;12 Aur, the Equilibrated;
while HB:Shin HB:Aleph  (Ash) is the name of Fire."
   "The Thirty-first Path of the Sepher Yetzirah, which answereth to the
letter HB:Shin , is called the Perpetual Intelligence; and it is so called
because it regulateth the motions of the Sun and Moon in their proper
order; each in an orbit convenient for it.  It is, therefore, the
reflection of the sphere of Fire; and the path connecting the material
universe, as depicted in Malkuth, with the Pillar of Severity and the side
of Geburah through the Sephira Hod."

        11 This introduction of the Samothracian mysteries is evidently a
          straining after effect.  They were of a much lower order than the
          Eleusinian, and a great deal more obscure; in fact, even at the
          time, people could not define with anything like accuracy what
          the Kabiri really were.  The student will find more concerning
          these semi-mythical beings in Strabo, Diodorus and Varro.
          Döllinger says: "This much is undoubted on the joint testimony of
          Strabo and Mnaseas; the gods whose initiation people received
          here (Samothrace) were Axieros, "i.e.", Demeter; Axiokersos, "i.e.",
          Hades; and Axiokersa, "i.e.", Persephone." --- Döllinger, "The
          Gentile and the Jew," Eng. edition, 1906, vol. i., pp. 172-186.
        12 Hence: "Odic" force; and "Obi" or "Obeah," witchcraft.
{Illustration on page 271 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                .. == ..       .. == ..       .. == ..               │
│               ..      ..     ..      ..     ..      ..              │
│             ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐ ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐ ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐            │
│             └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘ └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘ └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘            │
│               ││   HB:Shin   ││     ││   HB:Taw   ││     ││   HB:Qof   ││
│
│               ││      ││     ││      ││     ││      ││              │
│               ┴┴      ┴┴     ┴┴      ┴┴     ┴┴      ┴┴              │
│                             ┌__________┐                            │
│                             │    Air     │                            │
│                             │          │    __┴__                   │
│                             │  Tablet  │    \   /                   │
│                             │  of Air  │     \ /                    │
│                             └__________┘      ┬                     │
│┌_________┐┌_________┐┌________________________┼________┐  ┌________┐│
││ . /\ .  ││ . /\ .  ││\/\/    Pan () tacle    │        │  │        ││
││. /  \ . ││. /  \ . ││      ┌__________┐      │        │  │ Seals  ││
││./____\. ││./____\. ││\/\/  │ Throne   │     _┴_       │  │        ││
││  .  .   ││  .  .   ││Lamps │ of East  │               │  └________┘│
│└_________┘└_________┘└______┴__________┴_______________┘ Incense () │
│  Black       White                     Banner of East               │
│    ┌_____________┐  Salt Salt                      ┌_____________┐     │
│    │     Spirit       │                              │  7 Heavens  │     │
│    │             │                              │  of Assiah  │     │
│    │   Tablet    │ \/\/  ┌_______________┐      │             │     │
│    │  of Earth   │ Lamp  │               │      │             │     │
│    │             │       │   ┌_______┐   │      │             │     │
│    └_____________┘       │   │20# Key│   │      └_____________┘     │
│                          │   │  of   │   │                          │
│    ┌_____________┐       │   │ Tarot │   │      ┌_____________┐     │
│    │  10 Averse  │       │   └_______┘   │      │  Seats for  │     │
│    │             │       │     Altar     │      │             │     │
│    │  Sephiroth  │       └_______________┘      │  Practicus  │     │
│    │             │                              │             │     │
│    │             │                              │             │     │
│    └_____________┘                              └_____________┘     │
│                    \/\/ Lamp                \/\/ Lamp               │
│              ┌__________┐                  ┌__________┐             │
│              │          │                  │          │             │
│   __┴__      │ Hiereus  │                  │ Hegemon  │             │
│   \   /      │          │                  │          │             │
│    \ /       │          │                  │          │             │
│     ┬        └__________┘                  └__________┘             │
│     │                Chalice (o)  \/\/ Lamp                         │
│     │        ┌__________┐   ┌__________┐   ┌__________┐             │
│     │        │ Sephiroth│   │    Water     │   │ Sephiroth│             │
│    _┴_       │    in    │   │          │   │          │             │
│ Banner       │  seven   │   │  Tablet  │   │   HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod    │
│
│ of West      │  Palaces │   │of Water  │   │          │             │
│              └__________┘   └__________┘   └__________┘             │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 26.
            Arrangement of the Temple for the 31st Path
                    in the 3° = 8° Ritual.}

   He then explains to the Theoricus the twentieth Key of the Tarot.  It is
a glyph of the powers of Fire.  The angel crowned with the Sun is Michael,
the ruler of Solar Fire.
   The serpents which leap in the rainbow are symbols of the fiery
Seraphim.  The trumpet represents the influence of the Spirit descending
upon Binah; and the banner with the cross refers to the four rivers of
Paradise.  Michael is also Axieros; the left-hand {271} figure Samael, the
ruler of Volcanic Fire --- he is also Axiokersos; the right-hand figure is
Axiokersa.  "These three principal figures form the Triangle of Fire; and
they further represent Fire operating in the other three elements of Earth,
Water and Air."  The central lower figure is Erd, the ruler of latent heat,
he is the candidate in the Samothracian mysteries, and rises from the Earth
as if to receive and absorb the properties of the other three.  The three
lower figures form the Hebrew Letter schin, to which Fire is especially
referred; the seven Hebrew Yodhs refer to the Sephiroth operating in each
of the seven planets, and also to the Schemhamphorasch."

{Illustration on page 272 described:

"DIAGRAM 27.  The Ten Sephiroth in the Seven Palaces."

WEH Note --- This is the traditional depiction of the moment of the opening
of the 50th Gate of Understanding, although there is little evidence that
the matter was understood by the G.'. D.'. as such.
Description:  The device is contained within a circle, concentrically
doubled to present a narrow outside ring.  Within are seven identical
circles, six tangent to the outer ring and a central seventh tangent to the
outer six.  The six circles are arranged such that there is one circle at
top, one at bottom and two to each side.  The following Hebrew words are in
the circles:  Central --- HB:Taw HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Peh HB:Taw .  The top circle --- three
tightly nested included circles with one to top and two to bottem: top ---
HB:Resh HB:Taw HB:Koph , right below --- HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Koph HB:Chet , left below ---
HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Yod HB:Bet .  The remaining of the seven intermediate circles,
proceeding from already described top in a clockwise direction: 2nd ---
HB:Dalet HB:Samekh HB:Chet .  3rd --- HB:Chet HB:Tzaddi HB:Nun .  4th(bottom) --- divided into two
smaller circles, top one has HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod , bottom one has
HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Koph HB:Lamed HB:Mem .  5th --- HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Heh .  6th ---
HB:Heh HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Bet HB:Gemel }

{Illustration on page 272 approximated below:

"DIAGRAM 28.  The Attributions of the Ten Sephiroth to the Four Letters."

(NB:  for "()", understand a circular ring in this diagram)

    Dee HB:Yod              ()
       _____________________________
    Water HB:Heh     ()                 ()
       _____________________________
           ()                 ()
                    ()
    Air HB:Vau     ()                 ()
                    ()
       _____________________________
    Spirit HB:Heh              ()
       _____________________________}

{Illustration on page 272 approximated below:

"DIAGRAM 29.  The Solar Greek Cross."

            ┌___┐
            │ Pisces │
            ├___┤
            │ Scorpio │
            ├___┤
            │ Cancer │
┌___┬___┬___┼___┼___┬___┬___┐
│ Gemini │ Aquarius │ Libra │ Sun │ Aries │ Leo │ Sagittarius │
└___┴___┴___┼___┼___┴___┴___┘
            │ Capricorn │
            ├___┤
            │ Taurus │
            ├___┤
            │ Virgo │
            └___┘            }

   The Hiereus then explains the two tablets: "The Ten Sephiroth in Seven
Palaces," and "The attribution of the Ten Sephiroth to the four letters of
the Holy Name."  And the "Hegemon:" "The Seven Heavens of Assiah,"13 and "The
Ten evil Sephiroth of the Qliphoth."14
   The "Hierophant" then confers on the Theoricus the title of the Thirty-
first Path, which ends the first part of the Ceremony of 3° = 8°.
   The second part consists of the ritual of the Thirtieth Path.  The
"Hierophant" explains the Solar Greek Cross, and then says:
   "The Thirtieth Path of the Sepher Yetzirah, which answereth unto the
letter 'Resch,' is called the collecting intelligence; and it is so called
because from it astrologers deduce the judgment of the stars, and of the
{272} celestial signs, and the perfections of their science, according to
the rules of their resolutions.  It is therefore the reflection of the
Sphere of the Sun; and the Path connecting Yesod with Hod, the Foundation
with Splendour."

        13 "See 777," cols. xciii., xciv., xcv., pp. 21, 20.
        14 "See 777," col. viii., p.2
{Illustration on page 273 approximated below:
┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                .. == ..       .. == ..       .. == ..               │
│               ..      ..     ..      ..     ..      ..              │
│             ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐ ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐ ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐            │
│             └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘ └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘ └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘            │
│               ││   HB:Resh   ││     ││   HB:Samekh   ││     ││   HB:Tzaddi   ││
│
│               ┴┴      ┴┴     ┴┴      ┴┴     ┴┴      ┴┴              │
│                                             __┴__                   │
│                                             \   /                   │
│                                              \ /                    │
│               ┌___________┬_____________┬_____┼________┐            │
│               │\/\/       │Hierophant's │  () │        │            │
│               │           │  Throne     │     │        │            │
│               │\/\/       └_____________┘    _┴_       │            │
│               │Lamps                     Pentacle      │            │
│               └________________________________________┘            │
│                                       Banner of  East               │
│   ┌_________┐┌_________┐                                            │
│   │ . /\ .  ││ . /\ .  │                      ()                    │
│   │. /  \ . ││. /  \ . │                    Incense.                │
│   │./____\. ││./____\. │                                            │
│   │  .  .   ││  .  .   │                                            │
│   └_________┘└_________┘                                            │
│     Black       White                                               │
│    ┌_____________┐  Salt Salt                                          │
│    │     Spirit       │                                                  │
│    │             │                                                  │
│    │   Tablet    │ \/\/  ┌_______________┐                          │
│    │  of Earth   │ Lamp  │     Altar     │                          │
│    │             │       │   ┌_______┐   │                          │
│    └_____________┘       │   │19thKey│   │                          │
│                          │   │  of   │   │                          │
│    ┌_____________┐       │   │ Tarot │   │      ┌_____________┐     │
│    │ Geomant(ic) │__┴__  │   └_______┘   │      │Names &      │     │
│    │ Figures     │\   /  │               │      │Sigels of    │     │
│    │ and         │ \ /   └_______________┘      │Olympic      │     │
│    │ Talismans   │  ┬                           │Planetary    │     │
│    │             │  │                           │Spirits      │     │
│    └_____________┘  │    ┌_______________┐      └_____________┘     │
│                     │    │   ()          │                          │
│                    _┴_   │   ()   \/\/   │                          │
│             ┌__________┐ │ Cup    Lamp   │    ┌__________┐          │
│             │ Hiereus  │ │               │    │ Hegemon  │          │
│             └__________┘ │      Water        │    └__________┘          │
│           Banner of West │    Tablet     │                          │
│                          │   of Water    │                          │
│                          └_______________┘                          │
│    ┌_____________┐           .. == ..          ┌_____________┐      │
│    │ Planetary   │          ..      ..         │ Tarot &     │      │
│    │ Symbols     │        ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐       │ Attributions│      │
│    │ Compounded  │        └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘       │             │      │
│    │             │          ││   HB:Taw   ││         │             │      │
│    │             │          ││      ││         │             │      │
│    └_____________┘          ┴┴      ┴┴         └_____________┘      │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 30.
            Arrangement of the Temple for the 30th Path
                    in the 3° = 8° Ritual.}

   And then enters upon the symbolism of the Nineteenth Key of the Tarot,
which resumes these ideas:  The Sun has twelve principal rays which
represent the Zodiac; these are divided into thirty-six rays to represent
the thirty-six Decantes; and then again into seventy-two Quinaries.  Thus
the Sun itself embraces the whole creation in its rays.  The seven Hebrew
Yodhs falling through the air refer to the Solar influence descending.
"The two children, standing respectively on Water and Earth, represent the
generating influences of both, brought into action by the rays of the Sun.
They are the two inferior and passive elements, as the Sun and the Air
above them are the superior and active elements of Fire and Air."
Furthermore, these two children resemble the sign Gemini (which the Greeks
and Romans referred to Castor and Pollux), which unites the Earthly sign of
Taurus and the Watery sign of Cancer.
   The "Hiereus" then shows the Theoricus the tablet of "The astrological
symbols of the Planets,"15 and explains to him the tablet of "The true and
genuine attribution of the Tarot Trumps to the Hebrew Alphabet."16  After
which the "Hegemon" leads him to "The Tablet of the Olympic, or aerial
planetary spirits,"17 and shows him "The Geomantic Figures" with the ruling
intelligences and genii, also the Talismanic symbols allotted to each
geomantic figure.18
   The "Hierophant" now confers upon the Theoricus the title of Lord of the
Thirteenth Path, who quits the Temple for a short time.
   By means of the symbol of the Stolistes --- the chalice of Lustral Water
--- the Theoricus {273} seeks entrance to the Temple.  The "Hierophant"
rises, and facing the altar, addresses the Theoricus thus:
   "Before you is represented the symbolism of the Garden of Eden, at the
summit is the Supernal Eden containing the three Supernal Sephiroth. ...
And in the garden were the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil, which latter is from Malkuth ... and a river Nahar went
forth out of Eden, namely, from the Supernal Triad, to water the garden ---
the rest of the Sephiroth.  And from thence it was divided into four heads,
in Daäth. ... The first head is Pison, which flows into Geburah. ... The
second head is Gihor ... flowing into Chesed.  The third is Hiddekel ...
flowing into Tiphereth.  And the Fourth ... is Phrath, Euphrates, which
floweth down upon Malkuth."  These four rivers form the Cross of the Great
Adam.  In Malkuth is Eve, the completion of All, the Mother of All.
   The "Hierophant" then gives the Theoricus the sign of this grade, and
explains the Altar symbol: "The Cross above the triangle represents the
power of the spirit of life rising above the triangle of waters; and
reflecting the triune therein, as further marked by the lamps at their
angles: while the chalice of water placed at the junction of the cross and
triangle represents the maternal letter Mem."  After which, the tablet
bearing the mystic seals and names drawn from the Kamea of Mercury19 is
shown the Theoricus, as well as the tablet of the seven planes of the Tree
of Life, answering to the seven planets, and the tablet showing the meaning
of the Alchemical Mercury on the Tree of Life; also the symbols of all the
planets resumed in a Mercurial Figure.

        15 "See 777," col. clxxvii., p. 35.
        16 "See 777," col. xiv., p. 4.
        17 "See 777," col. lxxx., p. 18
        18 "See" "Handbook of Geomancy," THE EQUINOX, vol. i., No. II.
        19 A Kamea is a Magic square.  "See" "Mathematical Recreations," by
          W. W. Rouse Ball.
{Illustration on page 274 approximated below:
┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                             .. == ..                                │
│                            ..      ..                               │
│                          ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐                             │
│                          └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘                     . .     │
│                            ││   HB:Mem   ││                    //    .    │
│                            ││      ││                   //  HB:Ayin   //   │
│                            ┴┴      ┴┴                  //     //    │
│                         ┌_____________┐                      //     │
│                         │     Air       │                     //      │
│          ┌_____________┐│             │┌_____________┐              │
│          │   Sigils    ││             ││ Mercury on Tree   │              │
│          │     of      ││   Tablet    ││  of Life    │              │
│          │     Mercury       ││  of Air     ││             │              │
│          │             ││             ││             │              │
│          │             │└_____________┘│             │              │
│ __┴__    │             │               │             │              │
│ \   /    └_____________┘               └_____________┘              │
│  \ /                                                        ┌┐      │
│   ┬         ┌________┬___________________┬___________┐ ├____┤├.     │
│   │         │        │   Throne of East  │   ()      │ ├____┤├. .   │
│   │         │\/\/    └___________________┘           │   HB:Peh   ┌┐. .   │
│   │         │Lamp          DAIS           Pentacle   │ ├____┤├ .    │
│  _┴_        └________________________________________┘ ├____┤├      │
│Kamea of Mercury on            ┌________________┐                  └┘      │
│Banner stand             │      _┼_       │                          │
│┌________┐   ┌________┐  │\/\/__(O)__\/\/ │  ┌________┐              │
││   Spirit    │   │        │  │Lamp\  -  /Lamp │  │        │              │
││ Tablet │   │Hiereus │  │     \   /      │  │Hegemon │              │
││of Earth│   │        │  │      \ /       │  │        │              │
│└________┘   └________┘  │     \/\/       │  └________┘              │
│                         │     Lamp       │                          │
│                         └________________┘                          │
│                               Altar                                 │
│             ┌_________┐   ┌____________┐    ┌_________┐     ┌┐      │
│             │ . /\ .  │   │ Hierophant │    │ . /\ .  │├____┤├.     │
│             │. /  \ . │   └____________┘    │. /  \ . │├____┤├. .   │
│             │./____\. │                     │./____\. │  HB:Resh   ┌┐. .   │
│             │  .  .   │                     │  .  .   │├____┤├ .    │
│             └_________┘                     └_________┘├____┤├      │
│               Black                            White        └┘      │
│             ┌__________┐                   ┌__________┐             │
│             │    Mercury     │                   │          │             │
│             └__________┘                   └__________┘             │
│        Tablet of Seven Pla-             Tablet of Alchemi-          │
│        nets in one Symbol               cal Sephiroth               │
│                          ┌_______________┐ ┌__________┐             │
│                          │ \/\/   ()     │ │4 planes  │             │
│                          │ Lamp   ()     │ │on Tree   │    \\       │
│                          │        Cup    │ └__________┘     \\      │
│             ┌_________┐  │               │             \\  HB:Shin  \\     │
│             │7 Planets│  │      Water        │              \\     .    │
│             │ on Tree │  │    Tablet     │               \\ . .     │
│             └_________┘  │   of Water    │                          │
│                          └_______________┘                          │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 31.
             Arrangement of the Temple for the Ceremony
                 of Practicus in the 3° = 8° Ritual.}


{Illustration on page 274 described:

"DIAGRAM 32.  The Altar Symbol in the 3° = 8° Ritual"

This is a calvary cross rising up from the base of an inverted equilateral
triangle.  A smaller inverted equilateral triangle is centered within the
larger.}

   The "Hierophant" then congratulates the newly made Practicus, and confers
upon him {274} the mystic title of "MONOKEROS DE ASTRIS,"20 which means
"The Unicorn from the Stars," and gives him the symbol of Maim --- water.
   The closing of the Temple now takes place, and the prayer to the Undines
is rehearsed, and in the name of ELOHIM TZABAOTH is the Dismissal
pronounced.

{Illustration on page 275 discussed (too complex for a full description).
WEH Note --- This figure represents a theory of Eden on the Tree of Life
that is very much different from the symbolism of traditional Qabalah, as
presented in the "Sepher Yetzirah" and other sources.  The same is true of
the particular method of division of this tree into the Trees of Life and
the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

"DIAGRAM 33.  The Garden of Eden."

This figure can be divided into three units, one atop the other.  At the
top is a large ring-circle.  It contains a depiction of the sun with the
name HB:Aleph HB:Bet HB:Yod HB:Aleph  inside.  There is a winged and crowned woman mostly
depicted above the sun, with wings extending far beyond the larger ring.
Five stars are above the points of her crown, her hands appear to either
side of the sun, and her lower gown and feet rest on a crescent moon (horns
upward).  To the left of her right hand is HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Lamed HB:Aleph .  To the
right of her left hand is HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod .  Written on the crescent below
her is "THE SUPERNAL EDEN."  Flames are seen about the crescent, and these
extend downward over the upper arm of the central unit of the figure.
   At the bottom of the figure is a seven-headed serpent, the heads crowned
and the body curled in a circle to define the unit.  The tail extends off
and downward to the lower left.  Each head is on one of the seven circles
of a miniature of diagram #27.
   The central portion is a calvary cross with upper arm disappearing
behind the top unit of the figure.  The lower arm does not quite touch the
bottom unit of the figure.  Near the ends of the cross arms are two large
vertical pillars.  HB:Resh HB:Taw HB:Koph  is written on the upper arm.  There is a
circle with HB:Taw HB:Ayin HB:Dalet  at the junction of the arms of the cross.  On the
left side, at the intersection with that pillar, there is a circle with
HB:Heh HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Bet HB:Gemel , on the right side in the corresponding place, the
word is HB:Dalet HB:Samekh HB:Chet .  At the extreme left of the cross arm is
HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Peh HB:Tzaddi .  At the extreme right of the cross arm is
        20 WEH NOTE:  These titles generally derive from Baron Ecker und
          Eckhoffen's book "Der Rosenkreutzer in Seiner Blosse", a work from
          1781 written as an attack against the Rosicrucianism of the time
          and published under the name "Magister Pianco".   The titles
          appear with the grade designations and names, in a slightly
          different fashion from that used by the Order of the Golden Dawn,
          in Mackenzie's "Royal Cyclopaedia of Freemasonry" as a chart
          translated by Mackenzie from Pianco.  It is interesting to note
          that these titles were to be changed frequently and that the
          Golden Dawn used passwords 200 years out of date! See "Codex Rosae"
          "Crucis", Manly Hall, Philosophers Press, Los Angeles, 1938, p. 13.
HB:Mem-final HB:Vau HB:Resh HB:Dalet .  Medial on the left arm is Dee HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Shin HB:Yod HB:Peh .
Medial on the right arm is HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Chet HB:Yod HB:Nun  Water.  Half way down on
the left pillar is a circle with HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Heh .  Half way down on the right
pillar is a circle with HB:Chet HB:Tzaddi HB:Nun .  All four circles on the pillars
have four tendrils each extending out like an "X" with three leaves at the
end of each.  There are three circles on the lower arm.  The top has
HB:Taw HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Peh HB:Taw .  The middle has HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod .  The bottom has
HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Koph HB:Lamed HB:Mem .  The top and middle circles have the same tendrils
found on the circles on the pillars, the bottom does not.  A crowned male
semi-nude has his head on the top circle and his feet on the middle --- his
arms are extended cruciform and the feet are one-behind-the-other.  He
wears a loin girdle or cloth.  A fully nude woman stands in the lower
circle, and her crowned head touches the bottom of the middle circle.  Her
arms are posed as though to hold up a ceiling level with her crown.  To the
left of the male on the lower cross arm is HB:Heh HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Mem , to the left
is Air HB:Lamed HB:Qof HB:Dalet HB:Heh .  The words "THE TREE OF LIFE" cross either side
of the male's heart in space off the lower arm of the cross.  The words
"THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD" are similarly situated in space at the height of
the female's crown.  The words "THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL"
extend in space across and just below the bases of the pillars.  Foliage
extends about the base of the cross:  Four tendrils arch upward to left and
three to right, six leaves each, topped by Moon Mercury Venus Sun
Mars Jupiter Saturn in order from left to right.  A similar spray extends
in arches downward, three to left and four to right with the planetary
symbols reversed in order.  There is a sort of thatch of tendrils extending
in a downward crescent from the base of the cross.  The words "THE
KNOWLEDGE OF EVIL" extend across the figure in space below the lower
tendril spray.}

   In May, 1899, three months after P. had passed through the ceremony of
3° = 8°, he was sufficiently prepared for the further advancement to
the grade of 4° = 7°.

            RITUAL OF THE 4° = 7° GRADE OF PHILOSOPHUS

                    "The First Part"

   This Ritual is particularly attributed to the Element of Fire, and
refers to the planet Venus, and the Twenty-ninth, Twenty-eighth, and
Twenty-seventy paths of Qoph, Tzaddi and Pé.
   The Adoration commences by the "Hierophant" saying: "TETRAGRAMMATON
TZEBAOTH!  BLESSED BE THOU!  THE LORD OF THE ARMIES IS THY NAME!"  To this
all answer "Amen."  The Hierophant then orders all present to adore their
Creator in the Name of Elohim, mighty and ruling, in the Name of
Tetragrammaton Tzebaoth, and in the Name of the Spirits of Fire.  Then in
the Name of TETRAGRAMMATON TZEBAOTH he declares the Temple open.
   After the Adoration has taken place, the Advancement ritual of the Path
of HB:Qof  is celebrated.  The "Hegemon" leads the Practicus through the
pillars and then circumambulates the Temple.  As they approach the
Hierophant, he rises, holding aloft the red lamp, and says: {275}
   "The Priest with the mask of Osiris spake and said: 'I am the water,
stagnant, and silent, and still; reflecting all, concealing all.  I am the
Past!  I am the inundation.  He that ariseth from the great waters is my
name.  Hail unto ye!  O dwellers in the land of Night.  Hail unto ye! for
the rending of the darkness is nigh!'"
   The "Hiereus" says:
   "The Priest with the mask of Horus spake and said: 'I am the Water,
turbid, and troubled, and deep.  I am the Banisher of Peace in the vast
abode of Waters!  None is so strong that can withstand the Strength of the
great Waters: the Vastness of their Terror: the Magnitude of their Fear:
the Roar of their thundering Voice.  I am the Future, mist-clad and
shrouded in gloom.  I am the recession of the torrent, the Storm veiled in
Terror is my Name.  Hail unto the mighty Powers of Nature and the chiefs of
the whirling Storm.'"

{Illustration on page 276 approximated:

         O
    O▄       ▄O
      ▀▄▄ ▄▄▀
      ▄▄▀▀▀▄▄
    ▄▀       ▀▄
    O         O
    ▀▄       ▄▀
      ▀▀▄O▄▀▀
         █
    O▄▄▄▄O▄▄▄▄O
         █
       ▀▄█▄▀
        ▀█▀
         O

    DIAGRAM 34
Attribution of the
Alchemical Mercury.}

{Illustration on page 276 approximated:

Saturn        ()
  -----------------
Jupiter    ()      ()
  -----------------
Mars    ()      ()
  -----------------
Sun        ()
  -----------------
Venus    ()      ()
  -----------------
Mercury        ()
  -----------------
Moon        ()

   DIAGRAM 35.
The Seven Planes of
the Tree of Life.}

{Illustration on page 276 approximated:

              /\
    ▄         █
     ▀▄▄   ▄▄▀
 Moon     ▀███▀    Mars
      ▄█▀▀▀█▄
    ▄▀       ▀▄
 Sun  █   ███   █ Venus
    ▀▄       ▄▀
 Jupiter  ▄▄▀█▄▄▄█▀   Saturn
   █  ▀▄ █
       █ █ ▄▄▄
     ▄█▄▄█▀   ▀▄
         █    ▄▀
         █  █▀ ▄
         █   ▀▀

  DIAGRAM 36.
The Unification of
the Planets in Mercury.}

   The "Hegemon" then says:
   "The priestess with the mask of Isis spake and said: 'The traveller
through the gates of Anubis is my Name.  I am the water perfect, and
limpid, and pure, ever flowing out towards the silver sea.  I am the
everpassing Present, which stands in the place of the Past; I am the
fertilized land.  Hail unto the dwellers of the wings of the Morning!'"
   The "Hierophant" then delivers the following oration:
   "I arise in the Place of the Gathering of the Waters through the rolled-
back clouds of Night.  From the Father of Waters went forth the Spirit
rending asunder the veils of the Darkness.  And there was but a vastness of
Silver and of Depth in the place of the Gathering of Waters. {276}
   "Terrible was the silence of an uncreated world.  Immeasurable the depth
of that Abyss.  And the Countenances of Darkness half-formed arose.
   "They abode not; they hasted away; and in the vastness of vacancy the
Spirit moved; and the light-bearers were for a space.
   "I have said: Darkness of the Darkness; are not the Countenances of
Darkness fallen with the kings that were?  Do the Sons of the Night of Time
endure for ever?  Not yet are they passed away.
   "Before all things are the waters; and the Darkness and the Gates of the
land of Night.
   "And the Chaos cried aloud for the unity of Form, and the Face of the
Eternal arose.
   "And before the Glory of That Countenance the Night rolled back, and the
Darkness hasted away.
   "In the Waters beneath was that Face reflected in the Formless Abyss of
the Void.
   "Forth from those eyes darted rays of terrible splendour which crossed
with the currents reflected.
   "That Brow and those Eyes formed the Triangle of the measureless
Heavens, and their reflection formed the Triangle of the measureless
waters.
   "And thus was formulated in Eternity the External Hexad; and this is the
number of the Dawning Creation!"
   The Hegemon having illuminated the Temple, the "Hierophant" then explains
to the Practicus the Calvary Cross of twelve squares:
   "The Calvary Cross of twelve squares fitly represents the Zodiac; which
embraces the Waters of Nu, as the Ancient Egyptians termed the Heavens, the
waters which be above the Firmament.  It also alludes to the Eternal River
of Eden, divided into four heads, which find their correlation in the four
triplicities of the Zodiac."

{Illustration on page 277 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│            .. == ..          .. == ..          .. == ..             │
│           ..      ..        ..      ..        ..      ..            │
│         ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐    ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐    ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐          │
│         └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘    └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘    └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘          │
│           ││   HB:Shin   ││        ││   HB:Taw   ││        ││   HB:Qof   ││
│
│           ││      ││        ││      ││        ││      ││            │
│           ┴┴      ┴┴        ┴┴      ┴┴        ┴┴      ┴┴            │
│             __┴__  \/\/   ┌____________┐    Salt                       │
│ ┌_______┐   \   /  Lamp   │ Air Tablet │  Salt                      │
│ │ Brass │    \ /          └____________┘                            │
│ │Serpent│     ┬    ┌________┬________┬_________┐                    │
│ │       │     │    │        │        │         │                    │
│ └_______┘     │    │        └________┘         │                    │
│               │    │                           │                    │
│              _┴_   └___________________________┘                    │
│        Banner of East                                               │
│            ┌________┐            ┌_________┐┌_________┐┌_________┐  │
│    \/\/    │Heiroph-│            │ . /\ .  ││ Hegemon ││ . /\ .  │  │
│    Lamp    │ant     │            │. /  \ . │└_________┘│. /  \ . │  │
│            │        │            │./____\. │           │./____\. │  │
│            └________┘            │  .  .   │           │  .  .   │  │
│                                  └_________┘           └_________┘  │
│                                    Black     \/\/         White     │
│                         ┌________________┐                          │
│┌________┐   () Incense  │  ┌__________┐  │  Incense () ┌________┐   │
││   Spirit    │               │  │ 18th Key │  │             │   Dee    │
│
││ Tablet │   \/\/ Lamp   │  │ of Tarot │  │  Lamp \/\/  │ Tablet │   │
││of Earth│               │  │          │  │             │ of Fire│   │
│└________┘               │  │          │  │    __┴__    └________┘   │
│┌________┐               │  └__________┘  │    \   /                 │
││Geomant-│               └________________┘     \ /     ┌________┐   │
││ic Tal- │                                       ┬      │   A    │   │
││ismans. │                  ┌__________┐         │      │Hexagram│   │
│└________┘                  │ Hiereus  │         │      │        │   │
│                            └__________┘         │      └________┘   │
│                           Lamp  Cup ()         _┴_   From Dee & Water on
│
│                           \/\/      ()  Banner of West  3 Pillars   │
│                           ┌__________┐                              │
│          ┌________┐       │          │            ┌________┐        │
│          │Qabalah │       │    Water     │            │Tree of │        │
│          │of nine │       │  Tablet  │            │Life in │        │
│          │Chambers│       │ of Water │            │Tarot   │        │
│          └________┘       └__________┘            └________┘        │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 37.
             Arrangement of the Temple for the 29th Path
                   in the 4° = 7° Ritual.}

   After which he explains to him the Eighteenth Key of the Tarot.  It
represents the Moon in its increase in the side of Gedulah; it has sixteen
principal, and sixteen secondary rays.  Four Hebrew Yodhs fall from it.
There are also two Watch-towers, two dogs, and a cray-fish.  "She is the
Moon at the feet of the Woman of the Revelations, ruling equally over the
cold and moist natures, and the passive elements of Water {277} and Earth."
The four Yodhs refer to the four letters of the Holy Name.  The dogs are
the jackals of Anubis guarding the gates of the East and the West
symbolised by the two Towers.  The cray-fish is the sign Cancer, the
Scarabaeus or God Kephera.  "The emblem of the Sun below the horizon, as he
ever is when the Moon is increasing above."
   The "Hierophant" then leads the Practicus to the Serpent of Brass, and
says:
   "This is the Serpent Nehushtan, which Moses made.  'And he set it upon a
Pole' --- that is, he twined it about the middle pillar of the Sephiroth,
because that is the reconciler between the fires of Geburah (Seraphim,
fiery serpents) or Severity, and the Waters of Chesed or Mercy.  This
serpent is also a type of Christ the Reconciler, also it is known as Nogah
amongst the Shells, and the Celestial Serpent of Wisdom.  'But the Serpent
of the Temptation was the Serpent of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
of Evil, and not the Serpent of the Tree of Life.'"

{Illustration on page 278 approximated below:

        ┌___┐
        │ Aries │
        ├___┤
        │ Gemini │
┌___┬___┼___┼___┬___┐
│ Taurus │ Aquarius │ Cancer │ Scorpio │ Leo │
└___┴___┼___┼___┴___┘
        │ Virgo │
        ├___┤
        │ Libra │
        ├___┤
        │ Sagittarius │
        ├___┤
        │ Capricorn │
        ├___┤
        │ Pisces │
        └___┘

     DIAGRAM 38.

The Calvary Cross
of Twelve Squares.


{Illustration on page 278 described:

"DIAGRAM 39.  The Serpent of Brass.

This is a stylized Tree of life.  All ten Sephiroth are represented by
small white holes in black rings, like iron.  The central pillar is the
only vertical, and all three horizontal paths are depicted alike, as solid
black strips connecting the Sephiroth.  The whole has the appearance of a
Grand Hierophant's cross or patriarchal cross with perforated circular
bosses.  Entwined mostly over and sometimes behind this cross is a serpent
in the usual configuration for tail on path 32, all paths crossed in order,
and head on path 11.  Only the paths represented by the cross are actually
shown.}

{Illustration on page 278 approximated below:

╔-------╤-------╤-------╗
║   HB:Chet    │   HB:Gemel    │   HB:Dalet    ║
║ HB:Peh   HB:Peh-final   │  HB:Lamed  HB:Shin   │  HB:Mem  HB:Taw   ║
║8.     │3.     │4.     ║
╟_______┼_______┼_______╢
║   HB:Aleph    │   HB:Heh    │   HB:Tet    ║
║ HB:Yod   HB:Qof   │  HB:Nun  HB:Koph-final   │  HB:Tzaddi  HB:Tzaddi-final   ║
║1.     │5.     │9.     ║
╟_______┼_______┼_______╢
║   HB:Vau    │   HB:Zain    │   HB:Bet    ║
║  HB:Samekh  HB:Mem-final   │  HB:Ayin  HB:Nun-final   │  HB:Koph  HB:Resh   ║
║6.     │7.     │2.     ║
╚-------╧-------╧-------╝

     DIAGRAM 40.
  The Qabalah of Nine
      Chambers.}

{Illustration on page 278 approximated below:

   HB:Shin        HB:Aleph        HB:Mem
 ┌___┐   ┌___┐   ┌___┐
 │   │   │(O)│   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │(O)│   │   │   │(O)│
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │(O)│   │ . │   │(O)│
 │ . │   │/ \│   │___│
 │/ \│   X(O)X   \   /
 /___\   │\./│   │\./│
 │(O)│   │   │   │(O)│
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │(O)│   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │   │   │   │
 │   │   │(O)│   │   │
 ╘---╛   ╘---╛   ╘---╛

      DIAGRAM 41.
   The Tablet of the
     Three Columns}

   After which the "Hiereus" shows the Practicus "The Qabalah of Nine
Numbers," and the tablet of the "Forming the Tree of Life in the Tarot."
And the "Hegemon:" The tablet representing the Formation of the Hexagram, and
known as "The tablet of the Three Columns"; and also explains to him the
mode of using the Talismanic Forms drawn from the Geomantic Figures.
   The "Hierophant" then confers upon the Practicus the title of "Lord of the
Twenty ninth Path," and the first part of the Ritual is ended. {278}

{Illustration on page 279 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│            .. == ..          .. == ..          .. == ..             │
│           ..      ..        ..      ..        ..      ..            │
│         ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐    ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐    ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐          │
│         └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘    └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘    └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘          │
│           ││   HB:Resh   ││        ││   HB:Samekh   ││        ││   HB:Tzaddi   ││
│
│           ││      ││        ││      ││        ││      ││            │
│           ┴┴      ┴┴        ┴┴      ┴┴        ┴┴      ┴┴            │
│ ┌_________┐               ┌____________┐               ┌_________┐  │
│ │ Names in│               │ Air Tablet │               │Yetzirat-│  │
│ │   the   │               └____________┘               │ic Attri-│  │
│ │ Four    │       Lamp \/\/       () Pentacle          │butions  │  │
│ │ Worlds  │        ┌________┬________┬_________┐       │         │  │
│ └_________┘        │        │        │         │       └_________┘  │
│             __┴__  │        └________┘         │                    │
│             \   /  │                           │                    │
│              \ /   └___________________________┘                    │
│               ┬                                                     │
│┌________┐     │                                           ┌________┐│
││Heiroph-│     │                                           │Hegemon ││
││ant     │     │                              Lamp \/\/    │        ││
││        │    _┴_                                          │        ││
│└________┘ Banner of                                       └________┘│
│           the East                                                  │
│                          ┌________________┐  ┌_________┐┌_________┐ │
│                          │  ┌__________┐  │  │ . /\ .  ││ . /\ .  │ │
│                          │  │ 17th Key │  │  │. /  \ . ││. /  \ . │ │
│                          │  │ of Tarot │  │  │./____\. ││./____\. │ │
│                          │  │          │  │  │  .  .   ││  .  .   │ │
│                          │  │          │  │  └_________┘└_________┘ │
│                          │  └__________┘  │    Black       White    │
│                          └________________┘   __┴__   ()            │
│┌________┐                                     \   /Incen-┌________┐ │
││   Spirit    │                   ┌__________┐       \ / se    │   Dee
│ │
││        │                   │ Hiereus  │        ┬        │        │ │
││ Earth  │                   └__________┘        │    \/\/│  Fire  │ │
│└________┘               ()               \/\/   │ Lamp   └________┘ │
│┌________┐               ()  ┌__________┐        │        ┌________┐ │
││Geomant-│                   │  Water   │       _┴_       │Yetzira-│ │
││ic Figu-│                   │    Water     │                 │tic Num-│ │
││res on  │              ┌_┐  │          │  ┌_┐            │bers    │ │
││ Tree   │              └_┘  │          │  └_┘            └________┘ │
│└________┘            Grams  └__________┘  Grams                     │
│                               .. == ..    & Gore                    │
│                              ..      ..                             │
│                            ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐                           │
│                            └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘                           │
│                              ││   HB:Taw   ││                             │
│                              ││      ││                             │
│                              ┴┴      ┴┴                             │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 42.
             Arrangement of the Temple for the 28th Path
                   in the 4° = 7° Ritual.}


                        "The Second Part"

   The Second Part, the passage of the Path of HB:Tzaddi  begins by the
"Hierophant" saying to the Practicus:
   "Frater Monokeros de Astris, the Path now open to you is the Twenty-
eighth, leading from the 2° = 9° of Theoricus to the 4° = 7° of
Philosophus.  Take in your right hand the Solid pyramid of the Elements and
follow your guide through the Path."
   Then, as before, the "Hierophant" raises his red lamp, and cries:
   "The Priestess with the Mask of Isis spake and said: 'I am the rain of
Heaven descending upon the Earth, bearing with it the fructifying and
germinating power.  I am the plenteous yielder of Harvest; I am the
cherisher of Life.'"
   .     .     .     .     .     .
   "The Priestess with the Mask of Nephthys spake and said: 'I am the dew
descending, viewless, and silent, gemming the Earth with countless Diamonds
of Dew, bearing down the influence from above in the solemn darkness of
Night.'"
   After which the "Hegemon" says:
   "The Priestess with the Mask of Athoor spake and said: 'I am the ruler
of mist and of cloud, wrapping the Earth as it were with a garment,
floating and hovering between Earth and Heaven.  I am the giver of the
mist-veil of Autumn: the Successor unto the dew-clad Night.'"

{Illustration on page 279 approximated below:

┌_____________________┐
│ \                /  │
│   \     HB:Shin HB:Aleph      /    │
│     \        /      │
│       \┌___┐        │
│ HB:Tzaddi-final HB:Resh HB:Aleph     │HB:Taw HB:Aleph  │ HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem     │
│        └___┘        │
│      /      \       │
│    /          \     │
│  /      HB:Chet HB:Vau HB:Resh      \   │
│/                  \ │
└_____________________┘

┌_____________________┐
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
│        HB:Mem-final HB:Lamed HB:Vau HB:Ayin          │
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
└_____________________┘

     DIAGRAM 43.
  The Pyramid of the
    Four Elements.}

   Shortly after this, the "Hierophant" explains to the Practicus the
truncated Pyramid:
   This pyramid is attributed to the four elements; on its apex is the word
HB:Taw HB:Aleph  (Ath) composed of the first and last letters of the Alphabet, it
signifies Essence.  The square base represents the material universe.
   And then the Seventeenth Key of the Tarot:
   This Key represents a Star with seven principal and fourteen secondary
rays, altogether twenty-one, the number of the divine name Eheieh.  In the
Egyptian sense it is Sirius, the Dog-Star, the star of Isis-Sothis.  Around
it are the seven planets.  The nude figure {279} is the synthesis of Isis,
Nephthys, and Hathoor.  She is Aima, Binah, and Tebunah, the great Supernal
Mother Aima Elohim pouring upon Earth the Waters of Creation.  In This Key
she is completely unveiled, whilst in the twenty-first she was only
partially so.  The two urns contain the influences of Chokhmah and Binah.
On the right springs the Tree of Life, and on the left the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and of Evil, whereon the bird of Hermes alights;
therefore this Key represents the restored World.

{Illustration on page 280 described:

"THE LINEAL FIGURES"

This is a double column of regular figures.  The odd numbered are to the
left and the even to the right.  In each case the regular figure of the
requisite number of points (all circumscribable) is composed of lines
connecting all vertices.  The figures with number of points are:
Triangle(3), Square(4), Pentangel(5), Hexangle(6), Heptangle(7),
Octangle(8), Enneangle(9), Dekangle(10), Endekangle(11), Dodekangle(12).}

   This finished, the "Hierophant" shows him the method of writing the Holy
Name in each of the four Worlds;21 and also explains to him the method of
writing Hebrew words by Yetziratic attribution of the Alphabet.  The
"Hiereus" unveils "The Lineal Figures attributed to the Planets," showing
dekagrams, hendekagrams, and dodekagrams; and explains to him the number of
possible modes of tracing the lineal figures.  The "Hegemon" informs him that
the Sepher Yetzirah divides the ten numbers into a tetrad and hexad; also
he explains the Geomantic Figures arranged according to their planetary
attribution on the Tree of Life.22
   This finishes the second part of this ritual, and the "Hierophant" confers
upon the Practicus the title of: "Lord of the Twenty-eighth Path."


                          "The Third Part"

   At the beginning of the Third Part the "Hierophant" says: "Frater
Monokeros {280} de Astris, the Path now open to you is the Twenty-seventh,
which leads from the 3° = 8° degree of Practicus to the 4° = 7°
degree of Philosophus.  Take in your right hand the Calvary Cross of ten
squares and follow your guide through the Path of Mars."

        21 "See 777," cols. lxiii., lxiv., lxv., lxvi., pp. 16 and 17.
        22 "See 777," col. xlix. and note, also "Handbook of Geomancy."
{Illustration on page 281 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                             .. == ..                                │
│                            ..      ..                               │
│                          ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐                             │
│                          └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘                     . .     │
│                            ││   HB:Mem   ││                    //    .    │
│                            ││      ││                   //  HB:Ayin   //   │
│                            ┴┴      ┴┴                  //     //    │
│      ┌__________┐         ┌__________┐         ┌__________┐  //     │
│      │    Sulphur     │         │    Air     │         │    Salt     │ //
│
│      │          │         │          │         │          │         │
│      │ Sulphur  │         │   Air    │         │  Salt    │         │
│      │          │         │          │         │          │         │
│      └__________┘         └__________┘         └__________┘         │
│             __┴__                                __┴__              │
│             \   /                                \   /              │
│              \ /    Lamp \/\/     (o) Pantacle    \ /               │
│               ┬                                    ┬                │
│             ┌_┼__┬________┬_┬________┬_┬________┬__┼_┐              │
│ Banner of   │ │  │Hiereus │ │Hieroph-│ │Hegemon │  │ │  Banner of   │
│ the West    │ │  │        │ │ant     │ │        │  │ │  the East    │
│             │_┴_ └________┘ └________┘ └________┘ _┴_│              │
│             │       \/\/       \/\/       \/\/       │              │
│             │                                        │              │
│             └________________________________________┘              │
│                                       ┌_________┐                   │
│                     ┌________________┐│ . /\ .  │              ┌┐   │
│                     │  ┌__________┐  ││. /  \ . │         ├____┤├.  │
│  ┌_____┐            │  │ 16th Key │  ││./____\. │  ┌_____┐├____┤├. .│
│  │  Spirit  │ ()         │  │ of Tarot │  ││  .  .   │()│  Dee  │  HB:Peh
┌┐. .│
│  │Earth│            │  │          │  │└_________┘  │Fire │├____┤├ . │
│  └_____┘ \/\/       │  │          │  │  Black  \/\/└_____┘├____┤├   │
│                     │  └__________┘  │                         └┘   │
│  ┌_____┐            └________________┘┌_________┐              ┌┐   │
│  │Qlip-│                              │ . /\ .  │         ├____┤├.  │
│  │hoth │                              │. /  \ . │  ┌_____┐├____┤├. .│
│  └_____┘                              │./____\. │  │Yetz.│  HB:Resh   ┌┐. .│
│                                       │  .  .   │  │Palac│├____┤├ . │
│                                       └_________┘  └_____┘├____┤├   │
│                                          White                 └┘   │
│                      Salt     \/\/                                     │
│                                                                     │
│                    ┌_______________┐                                │
│                    │               │                                │
│      ┌_________┐   │      Spirit        │  ┌_________┐          \\       │
│      │Triangles│   │               │  │Daniels  │           \\      │
│      │Reflected│   │   Tablet of   │  │Statue   │      \\  HB:Shin  \\     │
│      │         │   │     Earth     │  │         │       \\     .    │
│      └_________┘   │               │  └_________┘        \\ . .     │
│                    └_______________┘                                │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 44.
              Arrangement of the Temple the 27th Path
                    in the 4° = 7° Ritual.}

   After which the "Hierophant" explains the Calvary Cross of ten squares:
"The Calvary Cross of ten squares refers to the ten Sephiroth in balanced
disposition; before which the formless and the void rolled back.  It is
also the opened-out form of the double cube, and of the Altar of Incense."
   And the Sixteenth Key of the Tarot:
   It represents a Tower struck by a lightning-flash proceeding from a
rayed circle and terminating in a triangle.  It is the Tower of Babel.  The
flash exactly forms the Astronomical symbol of Mars.  It is the Power of
the Triad rushing down and destroying the Column of Darkness.  The men
falling from the tower represent the fall of the kings of Edom.  "On the
right-hand side of the Tower is Light, and the representation of the Tree
of Life by Ten Circles.  On the left-hand side is Darkness, and Eleven
Circles symbolically representing the Qliphoth."

{Illustration on page 281 approximated:

        ┌___┐
        │ 1 │
┌___┬___┼___┼___┬___┐
│ 5 │ 3 │ 6 │ 2 │ 4 │
└___┴___┼___┼___┴___┘
        │ 7 │
        ├___┤
        │ 8 │
        ├___┤
        │ 9 │
        ├___┤
        │10 │
        └___┘

     DIAGRAM 45.

The Calvary Cross
of Ten Squares.}

{Illustration on page 281 described:

"DIAGRAM 46.  The Symbol of Salt on the Tree of Life."

This is a black ring with a horizontal bar integrated on a diameter.  There
are eight small white rings evenly spaced on the large ring, top, bottom,
ends of bar and between each.  There is a small white ring in the center of
the bar.  There is a small white ring directly below the center of the
figure.}

{Illustration on page 281 approximated:

          /\
         /O \
        / /\ \
       /O/  \O\
      / /----\ \
     /O___O____O\
         | |
     ____. .____
    |O    O    O|
     ----. .----
         |O|
         ---

     DIAGRAM 47.
The Symbol of Sulphur
 on the Tree of Life.}

   The Alchemical Symbols of Sulphur and of Salt on the Tree of Life are
then shown.  After which the "Hiereus" explains the tablet of the Trinity
operating through the Sephiroth; and the "Hegemon" that of the seven
Yetziratic palaces23 containing the ten Sephiroth; and {281} the Qliphoth24
with their twelve princes, who are the heads of the Evil of the twelve
months of the year.  The "Hierophant" then confers upon the Practicus the
title of "Lord of the Twenty-seventy Path," and the third part of the
Ritual comes to an end.

{Illustration on page 282 Described:

"DIAGRAM 48.  The Trinity Operating through the Sephiroth."

This is a standard Tree of Life, with the Sephiroth represented as white
rings and all twenty-two paths represented as lines.  Sephiroth one through
three are enclosed within an upward pointing triangle.  Sephiroth four
through six are enclosed within a downward pointing triangle.  Sephiroth
seven through nine are enclosed within a downward pointing triangle.  There
are three triangles in all.}

                       "The Fourth Part"

   In the Advancement Ceremony the Practicus seeks admission by the sign of
the Calvary Cross of six squares within a circle.  The "Hierophant" tells
him:
   "This cross embraces, as you will see, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod and
Yesod, resting upon Malkuth.  Also the Calvary Cross of six squares forms
the Cube unfolded, and is thus referred to the six Sephiroth of
Microprosopus, which are: Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Hod, Netzach and
Yesod."

        23 "See 777," col. xc., p. 18.
        24 "See 777," col. viii., p.2.
{Illustration on page 282 approximated below:

┌_____________________________________________________________________┐
│                                        .. == ..                     │
│                                       ..      ..                    │
│                                     ┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐                  │
│                                     └_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘                  │
│                                       ││   HB:Koph   ││                    │
│                                       ││      ││                    │
│                                       ┴┴      ┴┴                    │
│                      ┌__________┐ ┌__________┐ ┌__________┐         │
│                      │  Sigils  │ │  Tablet  │ │  Venus  on   │         │
│   ┌┐                 │  of Venus    │ │   of     │ │   Tree   │         │
│ . ┤├___┤             │          │ │   Air    │ │          │         │
│.. ┤├___┤             │          │ │          │ │          │         │
│.  └┘                 └__________┘ └__________┘ └__________┘         │
│.  ┌┐ HB:Nun                 Lamp \/\/     () Pantacle  __┴__              │
│.. ┤├___┤                                         \   /              │
│ . ┤├___┤               ┌__┬______________┬__┐     \ /               │
│   └┘                   │  │  Hierophant  │  │      ┬                │
│                        │  └______________┘  │      │                │
│                        └____________________┘      │                │
│                                  │                 │                │
│                               ┌__┴__┐             _┴_               │
│   ┌┐                          │Fall │        Kamea of Venus             │
│ . ┤├___┤                      └__┬__┘                               │
│.. ┤├___┤                         │                                  │
│.  └┘                             │                                  │
│.  ┌┐ HB:Peh                            ┴                                  │
│.. ┤├___┤                ┌________________┐                          │
│ . ┤├___┤     ┌_________┐│      \/\/      │┌_________┐               │
│   └┘         │         ││      / \       ││         │               │
│     ┌___┐    │ Hiereus ││\/\/ /   \  \/\/││ Hegemon │    ┌___┐      │
│     │T o│    │         ││   /_______\    ││         │    │T o│      │
│     │a f│    └_________┘│       │        │└_________┘    │a f│      │
│     │b  │\/\/           │      _┼_       │            () │b  │      │
│     │l E│    ┌_________┐└________________┘┌_________┐    │l F│      │
│     │e a│ () │ . /\ .  │                  │ . /\ .  │\/\/│e i│      │
│     │  r│    │. /  \ . │                  │. /  \ . │    │  r│      │
│     │  t│    │./____\. │                  │./____\. │    │  e│      │
│     │  h│    │  .  .   │                  │  .  .   │    │   │      │
│     └___┘    └_________┘                  └_________┘    └___┘      │
│   ┌┐            Black                        White                  │
│ . ┤├___┤     ┌_________┐                  ┌_________┐               │
│.. ┤├___┤     │ Brazen  │                  │Altar of │               │
│.  └┘         │  Sea    │┌________________┐│Burnt Of.│               │
│.  ┌┐ HB:Tzaddi        └_________┘│  ()   \/\/     │└_________┘               │
│.. ┤├___┤                │  ()            │                          │
│ . ┤├___┤     ┌_________┐│       Water        │┌_________┐               │
│   └┘         │ Path    ││                ││Sephiroth│               │
│      //      │ with    ││     Tablet     ││on 4     │               │
│     //       │ HB:Taw HB:Ayin HB:Dalet      ││     Water      ││Worlds   │
│
│    // HB:Qof   //  │         │└________________┘│         │               │
│   .     //   └_________┘                  └_________┘               │
│    . . //                                                           │
└_____________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 49.
            Arrangement of the Temple for the Ceremony of
                 Philosophus in the 4° = 7° Ritual.}

{Illustration on page 282 approximated:

        ┌___┐
        │ Air │
    ┌___┼___┼___┐
    │ Dee │ < │ Water │
    └___┼___┼___┘
        │ Hexagram │
        ├___┤
        │ Spirit │
        └___┘

     DIAGRAM 50.

The Calvary Cross
 of Six Squares.}

   And then explains to him the symbolic representation of the fall:
   "The Great Goddess, who in the 3° = 8° degree, was supporting the
Columns of the Sephiroth in the form of the sign of Theoricus ("i.e.", of
Atlas supporting the World) being tempted by the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge, stooped down to the Qliphoth ... the Columns were unsupported,
and the Sephirotic Scheme was shattered; and with it fell Adam the
Microprosopus.  Then arose the Great Dragon with seven heads and ten horns,
cutting by his folds Malkuth from the Sephiroth, and linking it to the
Kingdom of the Shells.  The Seven lower Sephiroth were cut off from the
Three Supernals in Daäth, at the feet of Aima Elohim.  And on the head of
the Dragon are the names of the eight Edomite kings, and on the horns the
names of the eleven dukes of Edom.  And because in Daäth was the utmost
rise of the Great Serpent of Evil; therefore there is as it were another
Sephira, making eight heads according to the number of the eight Kings; and
for the Infernal and Averse Sephiroth eleven instead of ten, according to
the number of the eleven dukes of Edom.  The infernal waters of Däath
rushed from the mouth of the Dragon --- and this is the Leviathan.
Tetragrammaton Elohim placed four letters of the Holy Name, and also the
flaming sword, that the uppermost part of the Tree of Life might not be
involved in the Fall of Adam."

{Illustration on page 283 partly described:

"DIAGRAM 51.  The Fall."

This is a development from Diagram #33 on page 235.  It is composed of a
circle above, containing three smaller, slightly overlapping circles, one
above two.  The top circle contains a crown of three points and a wing
extending from the lower left circle.  The right circle is surmounted by
four visible points and contains a bearded male face obscured on the left
by a wing extending from the left circle.  The left circle contains a
turned-away profile of a female with a crown of at least eight points, the
points topped by diamond crosses.  There is a glory about the left outer
half of this circle, and wings extend as noted.
   Below the top circle is a calvary cross.  The top arm of this cross
shows the sword that defines the sephiroth on usual depictions of the Tree
of Life.  To the left of this top arm are two large heads topped by Hebrew
letters, and there is another pair to the right.  Left to right these are:
Bull(HB:Heh ), Man(HB:Vau ), Eagle(HB:Heh ) and Lion(HB:Yod ).  All these face left.
The cross arm is bare, except for the serpent described below.  The lower
arm is obscured by drawings: top to bottom; a circle, a male head and torso
leaning forward with arms hanging, a circle, a female head and arms
clasping the next element to be described.
   In the hands of the female figure there is a large ringed circle.  This
circle contains the smaller circles described in Diagram #27.
   Beginning with tail at the intersection point of the cross, an eight
headed serpent loops the female figure in the lower third of the drawing.
The tail continues clockwise around the lower circle, and stands out to the
left to form the vertical body of the serpent.  From this body eight necks
and heads extend.  Two go to each extreme arm of the cross.  Two go to the
on the lower arm of the cross above and below of the male head and torso.
One rests on the top of the head of the woman on the lower arm of the
cross.  Two heads reach to points just a bit below the extreme ends of the
cross piece, and one head bites the tail tip at the center of the cross.
The head that bites the tail has three horns, that immediately below the
man two and the rest one each.  This illustration is marked "A.O.S." for
Austin Osmond Spare, the artist.}

{Illustration on page 283 described:

"DIAGRAM 52.  The Altar Symbol in the 4° = 9° Ritual."

This is a calvary cross hanging down from an upright equilateral triangle.
There is a smaller equilateral triangle centered within the larger one.}

   The Hierophant then explains the symbolism of the Temple, and says:
   "I now congratulate you on having passed through the ceremony of the 4°
= 7° of Philosophus and in the recognition thereof, I confer upon you
the mystic title of 'PHAROS ILLUMINANS' which signifies --- the
Illuminating Tower of Light, and I give you the symbol of HB:Shin HB:Aleph  (Ash),
which is the Hebrew name for fire.
   Having passed through this grade, the newly made Philosophus earns the
title of Honoured Frater and is eligible for the post of Hiereus.
   The closing then takes place, the adoration of the King of Fire is made,
and the Prayer of the Salamanders is rehearsed, and in the name of
TETRAGRAMMATON TZEBAOTH the Temple is closed in the grade of 4° = 7°.

   In the space of seven months from a mere student in the Mysteries, P.
had risen to the grade of Philosophus in the Order of the Golden Dawn.  A
light had indeed been {283} winnowed from the husks of darkness, and now as
an eye of silver it glided over the dark face of the waters.  Chaos was
taking form --- red, vague and immense.
   He had passed through the Ritual of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, and now
it was left to him to pass through the Ritual of the Portal, or the Ritual
which completes the four elemental rituals by a fifth, the Ritual of the
Spirit, before he could pass from the First Order to the Second.
   This ritual is an important one, as it is the connecting-link between
the first two orders, and in an abridged form is as follows:

          THE RITUAL OF THE 24TH, 25TH, AND 26TH PATHS
"Leading from the First Order of the G".'." D".'." in the Outer to the 5° ="
"6")"
"     Officers: V. H. Hierophant Inductor; V. H. Associate Adept."

"                           OPENING"

   The Hierophant Inductor first asks the Fratres and Sorores present to
assist him to open the Portal of the Vault of the Adepts.  The Fratres and
Sorores then give the signs of the various grades from 0° = 0° to 4° =
7°.
   The "Hierophant Inductor" then says to the Associate Adept:
   V. H. Associate Adept, what is the additional mystic title bestowed upon
a Philosophus, as a link with the Second Order?
   "Associate Adept:" Phrath.
   "Hierophant Inductor:" To what does it allude?
   "Associate Adept:" To the fourth River of Eden.
   "Hierophant Inductor:" What is this Sign?
   "Associate Adept:" The Sign of the rending of the Veil (gives it).25
   "Hierophant Inductor:" What is the answering sign?
   "Associate Adept:" The Sign of the closing of the Veil (gives it).26
   "Hierophant Inductor:" What is the Word?
   "Associate Adept:" Pe. HB:Peh .
   "Hierophant Inductor:" Resh. HB:Resh .
   "Associate Adept:" Kaph. HB:Koph .
   "Hierophant Inductor:" Tau. HB:Taw .
   "Associate Adept:" The whole word is Paroketh HB:Taw HB:Koph HB:Resh HB:Peh , meaning
the Veil of the Tabernacle. {284}
   In and by this word the Hierophant Inductor declares the Portal of the
Vault of the Adepts duly opened.

        25 For these signs "see" Liber O, No. II., vol. i., THE EQUINOX.
        26 For these signs "see" Liber O, No. II., vol. i., THE EQUINOX.
{Illustration on page 282 approximated below:

┌______________________________________________________________________┐
│   .. == ..      .. == ..      .. == ..      .. == ..      .. == ..   │
│  .. 23th ..    .. 26th ..    .. 25th ..    .. 24th ..    .. 21st ..  │
│┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐┌_┴┴_┐  ┌_┴┴_┐│
│└_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘└_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘└_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘└_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘└_┬┬_┘  └_┬┬_┘│
│  ││   HB:Mem   ││    ││   HB:Ayin   ││    ││   HB:Samekh   ││    ││   HB:Nun   ││    ││
HB:Koph   ││  │
│  ││      ││    ││      ││    ││      ││    ││      ││    ││      ││  │
│  ┴┴      ┴┴    ┴┴      ┴┴    ┴┴      ┴┴    ┴┴      ┴┴    ┴┴      ┴┴  │
│┌_____┐┌______┐┌________┐┌_______┐┌_______┐┌_______┐┌_______┐┌_______┐│
││ Pan ││Devil ││Hermetic││Later  ││Older  ││Imageof││Death  ││Typhon ││
││     ││      ││Symbol  ││Form   ││Form   ││Daniel ││       ││       ││
│└_____┘└______┘└________┘└_______┘└_______┘└_______┘└_______┘└_______┘│
│        15 Key  f Liber       14th Key      asedin   13th Key         │
│┌________________┐AL. 36┌__________________┐4°=7°
┌_________________┐│
││Associate Adept │      │Hierophant Ind'r. │       │Associate Adept  ││
│└________________┘      └__________________┘ __┴__ └_________________┘│
│                                             \   /                    │
│        ┌_________┐ ┌_______________________┐ \ /                     │
│        │ . /\ .  │ │C                    R │  ┬                      │
│        │. /  \ . │ │u      Incense       e │  │                      │
│        │./____\. │ │p         ()         d │  │                      │
│        │  .  .   │ │()                     │  │                      │
│        └_________┘ │of    Diagram       \^/│ _┴_                     │
│      White Pillar  │W        of          L │ Banner of East          │
│                    │a      Paths         a │                         │
│                    │t    & Grades        m │                         │
│                    │e                    p │                         │
│                    │r                      │                         │
│                    └_______________________┘                         │
│                                                                      │
│      ┌__________┐                                  ┌__________┐      │
│      │Seraphim  │                                  │Seven     │      │
│      │Kerubim   │            ┌_______┐             │Palaces   │      │
│North │  etc.    │            │   Air   │             │ of       │South
│
│      │          │            │       │             │Briah     │      │
│      └__________┘            │  Air  │             └__________┘      │
│                   ┌_______┐  └_______┘  ┌_______┐                    │
│                   │   Spirit   │  ┌_______┐  │   Dee   │
│
│                   │       │  │Central│  │       │                    │
│                   │ Earth │  │ Tablet│  │ Fire  │                    │
│                   └_______┘  └_______┘  └_______┘                    │
│                    __┴__     ┌_______┐                               │
│                    \   /     │   Water   │     Black Pillar
│
│                     \ /      │       │     ┌_________┐               │
│                      ┬       │ Water │     │ . /\ .  │               │
│             Banner   │       └_______┘     │. /  \ . │               │
│             of West. │  ┌________________┐ │./____\. │               │
│                      │  │Associate Adept │ │  .  .   │               │
│                     _┴_ └________________┘ └_________┘               │
│                     ┌________________________┐                       │
│                     │Names of Principles etc.│                       │
│                     └________________________┘                       │
└______________________________________________________________________┘
                           DIAGRAM 53.
            Arrangement of the Temple for the 24th, 25th
                 and 26th Paths in the Portal Ritual}

                        "THE CEREMONY"

   At the bidding the the Hierophant Inductor the Associate Adept places
the Candidate in the West between the Banner and the Black Pillar, before
the Elemental Tablets, but facing the West.  After which he presents him to
the Hierophant Inductor.
   The Hierophant Inductor then addresses the Philosophus and points out to
him that if in the previous grades much information was imparted to him; it
was done as a test of his trustworthiness.  Continuing he says: "I
therefore now ask you before proceeding further in the Order, to pledge
yourself to the following, laying your hand upon the Central Tablet in the
midst of the four Elemental Tablets."
   The Philosophus then promises never to reveal the Secrets of this
Ritual; never to use his practical Occult Knowledge for Evil; to use his
influence only for the honour of God, not to stir up strife; and to uphold
the authority of the Chiefs of the Order.
   After which he confirms his obligation by saying, "I undertake to
maintain the Veil between the First and Second Orders and may the powers of
the elements bear witness to my pledge."
   The Associate Adept then explains to the Philosophus the admission
badge, which is the peculiar emblem of the Hiereus of a Temple of the first
Order.  And the Hierophant Inductor explains the Hierophant's Lamen and the
Banner of the East, thus completing his knowledge of the Emblems
appropriate to the Officers of a Temple of the First Order.
   The Diagram of the Paths is then explained to the Candidate, after which
the Hierophant Inductor says:
   "Before you in the East are represented the Five Portals of the 21st,
24th, 25th, 26th and 23rd Paths; thus shadowing forth by their number the
Eternal Symbol of the Pentagram; for five will divide without remainder the
number of the letter of each of these Paths, that is, its numerical value,
as it will those of all the paths from HB:Yod , the 20th, to HB:Taw , the 32nd,
inclusive; and also the sum of their numbers. {285}
   "Regarding these five Paths, I will now ask you to observe that the
Tarot Keys attached to four of them, viz., The Wheel of Fortune, Death, the
Devil, and the Hanged Man, are of more or less sinister and terrible
import, and that only the symbol of Temperance appears to promise aid.
Therefore by this straight and narrow Path of HB:Samekh  let the Philosophus
advance like the arrow from the centre of HB:Taw HB:Shin HB:Qof  (Qsheth) the Bow of
Promise; for by this hieroglyphic of the arrow hath Sagittarius ever been
represented.  And as this sign of Sagittarius lieth between the signs
Scorpio (Death) and Capricornus (the Devil) so hath Jesus to pass through
the wilderness tempted by Satan. But Sagittarius the Archer is a Bi-
corporate sign, the Centaur, the Man and the Horse combined.  Recall what
was said unto thee in the passage of the 31st Path of Fire leading into the
3° = 8° of Practicus.  'Also there is the vision of the Fire-flashing
Courser of Light, or also a child borne aloft on the shoulders of the
Celestial Steed, fiery and clothed with Gold, or naked, and shooting from
the Bow shafts of Light, and standing on the shoulders of the horse.  But
if thy meditation prolongeth itself thou shalt unite all these symbols into
the form of the Lion.'27  For thus wilt thou cleave upwards by the Path of
HB:Samekh , through the sixth Sephira unto the Path of HB:Tet  answering unto Leo,
the Lion, the Reconciling Path between Mercy and Severity, Chesed and
Geburah; beneath whose centre hangs the Glorious Sun of Tiphereth.
   "V.H. Associate Adept, will you explain to the Philosophus the 13th Key
of the Tarot."
        27 "See" Preface.
   "Associate Adept:"  The 13th Key of the Tarot represents the figure of a
skeleton.  The five extremities of the Body, delineated by head, hands and
feet, allude to the powers of the Number five, the letter HB:Heh , the
Pentagram comprehending the concealed Spirit of Life and the four Elements,
the originators of all living forms.
   The sign Scorpio especially alludes to stagnant and fetid water; and to
that property of the moist nature which initiates putrefaction and
corruption.
   The eternal change from Life to Death, and through Death to Life, is
symbolised in the grass which springs from and is nourished by putrefying
and corrupting carcasses.  The top of the scythe forms the T, Tau-Cross of
Life, showing that what destroys also renews.
   The Scorpion, Serpent and Eagle delineated before the figure of Death in
the more ancient form of the Key, refer to the mixed transforming
(therefore deceptive) nature of this emblem.
   The Scorpion is the emblem of ruthless destruction, the Snake is the
mixed and deceptive nature, serving alike for good and evil, and the Eagle
is the Higher and Divine nature yet to be found herein, the alchemical
Eagle of Distillation, the Renewer of Life.  As it is said: "Thy youth
shall be renewed like the Eagle's."  Great indeed and many are the
Mysteries of this Terrible Key!
   After explaining a symbol of Typhon the Associate Adept turns to the
15th Key of the Tarot.
   The 15th Key of the Tarot represents a goat-headed Satyr-like demon
standing upon {286} a cubical altar.  In his left hand, which points
downwards, he holds a lighted torch, and in his right hand, which is
elevated, a horn of water.
   The cubical Altar represents the Universe.  The whole figure shows the
gross generating powers of nature on the material plane, and is analogous
to the Pan of the Greeks and the Egyptian Goat of Mendes.
   As his hands bear the torch and the horn, the symbols of Fire and Water,
so does his form unite the Earth in his hairy and bestial aspect, and the
Air in his bat-like wings.  The whole would be an evil symbol were it not
for the Pentagram of Light above his head which regulates and guides his
movements.
   The figure of Pan is then explained, after which the Hierophant Inductor
shows the Philosophus the 14th Key of the Tarot.
   The more ancient form shows us a female figure crowned with a crown of
five rays symbolising the five Principles of Nature, the Concealed Spirit
and the four Elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  About her head is a
halo of Light.  On her breast is the Sun of Tiphereth.  The five-rayed
crown further alludes to the five Sephiroth of Kether, Chokmah, Binah,
Chesed and Geburah.  Chained to her waist are a lion and an eagle, between
which is a large cauldron whence arise steam and smoke.  The Lion
represents the Fire of Netzach, the Blood of the Lion; and the Eagle
represents the Water of Hod, the Gluten of the Eagle; whose reconcilement
is made by the Air in Yesod uniting with the volatised Water rising from
the cauldron though the influence of the Fire beneath it.  The chains which
link the Lion and the Eagle to her waist are symbolic of the paths of HB:Nun
and HB:Ayin , Scorpio and Capricornus as shown by the Scorpion and the Goat in
the background.  In her right hand she bears the torch of solar fire,
elevating and volatizing the Water in Hod by the fiery influence of
Geburah; while with her left hand she pours from a vase the waters of
Chesed to temperate and calm the fire of Netzach.

{Illustration on page 287 approximated:

┌____________________________________┐
│Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando│
│                                    │
│    Invenies Occultam Lapidem,      │
│                                    │
│          Veram Medicinam           │
│                                    │
│         V.I.T.R.I.O.L.U.M.         │
│                                    │
│           1.2.3.4.5.6.7.           │
│                                    │
│           V.I.T.R.I.O.L.           │
│                                    │
│           S.U.L.P.H.U.R.           │
│                                    │
│           M.E.R.C.U.R.Y.           │
│                                    │
│              Air Water Dee Spirit               │
│                                    │
│      Subtilis Aqua Lux Terrae      │
│                                    │
│                SALT                │
│                                    │
│              FIAT LUX              │
│                                    │
│      Flatus Ignis Aqua Terra       │
│                                    │
│   /\      /\     Dee  \----/ \----/  │
│  /--\    /  \    │   \  /   \--/   │
│ /____\  /____\   │    \/     \/    │
│          Air ______┼______ Water         │
│                  │                 │
│                  │                 │
│                  Spirit                 │
└____________________________________┘
              DIAGRAM 54.
     The Symbolic Latin Names.}


   This explanation being ended, the Associate Adept places the red lamp,
from the altar, in the right hand of the Philosophus and the cup of water
in his left, and says:
   "Let this remind you once more that only in and by the reconciliation of
opposing {287} forces is the pathway made to true occult knowledge and
practical power.  Good alone is mighty, and Truth alone shall prevail; Evil
is but weakness, and the power of evil; magic exists but in the contest of
unbalanced forces, which in the end will destroy and ruin him who hath
subjugated himself thereto.  As it is said: "stoop not down, for a
precipice lieth beneath the Earth; a descent of Seven steps; and therein is
established the throne of an Evil and Fatal force.  Stoop not down unto
that dark and lurid world, defile not thy brilliant flame with the earthy
dross of Matter.  Stoop not down, for its splendour is but seeming, it is
but the habitation of the sons of the unhappy."
   The lamp and cup are then replaced, after which the following symbols
are explained to the Philosophus: The Image of Nebuchadnezzar's Vision; The
Symbol of the Great Hermetic Arcanum; The Tablet of Union between the four
Elements; The tablet of the Symbolic Latin Names; The Seven Palaces of the
Briatic World; and the Kerubim in the Visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel and St.
John.
   The Hierophant Inductor now congratulates the Philosophus on the
progress he has made, and proclaims him Master of the 24th, 25th, and 26th
Paths in the Portal of the Vault of the Adepts.  After which the Closing of
the Portal takes place, the Hierophant Inductor saying:
   "In and by that word Paroketh I declare the Portal of the Vault of the
Adepts duly closed.  Unto thee O Tetragrammaton be ascribed Malkuth,
Geburah, and Gedulah unto the Ages.  Amen.
   So finishes the Ritual of the Portal of the Vault of the Adepts, the
connecting ritual between the grades of Philosophus and Adeptus Minor,
between the First and the Second Order.  But before we close this chapter,
it will be necessary, briefly though it may be, to trace out the effect
these six rituals and the mass of occult knowledge which appertains to
them, had upon P., and further might be expected to have on the ordinary
seeker in the mysteries of Truth.
   To even the most casual student it must be apparent, once he has
finished reading these rituals, that though they contain much that is
scholarly and erudite, besides much that is essential and true, they,
however, are bloated and swollen with much that is silly and pedantic,
affected and misplaced, so much so that wilful obscurity taking the place
of a lucid simplicity, the pilgrim, ignorant as he must be in most cases,
{288} is spontaneously plunged into a surging mill-race of classical
deities and heroes, many of whom thrust themselves boisterously upon him
without rhyme or reason.
   Ushered as it were into a Judgment Hall in which the law expounded to
him is not only entirely unknown but is written in a language which he
cannot even read, he is cross-questioned in a foreign tongue and judged in
words which at present convey not a symptom of sense to him.  As the
Rituals proceed it might be expected that these difficulties would
gradually lessen, but this is far from being the case; for, as we have
seen, the complexities already involved by the introduction of Ancient
Egyptian deities, concerning whom it is probable the candidate has but
little knowledge, are further heightened by a general intrusion on the part
of Hebrew, Christian, Macedonian and Phrygian gods, angels and demons, and
a profuse scattering of symbols; which, unitedly, are apt either so to
bewilder the candidate that he leaves the temple with an impression that
the whole ritual is a huge joke, a kind of buffoonish carnival of Gods
which in the sane can only provoke laughter; or, on account of it being so
utterly incomprehensible to him, his ignorance makes him feel that it is so
vastly beyond him and above his own simple standard of knowledge, that all
that he can do is to bow down before those who possess such an exalted
language, concerning even the words and alphabet of which he can get no
grasp or measure.
   The result of this obscurity naturally is that in both cases the Rituals
fail to initiate --- in the first case they, not being understood, are
jeered at; in the second they, though equally incomprehensible, are however
revered.  Instead of teaching the Alphabet by means of simple characters
they teach it by grotesque and all but impossible hieroglyphics, and in the
{289} place of giving the infant adept a simple magic rag doll to play
with, intrust to his care, with dire prognostication and portent of
disaster, a gargoyle torn from the very roof of that temple on the floor of
which he, as a little child, is as yet but learning to crawl.  The result
being, as it proved in most cases, as disastrous as it was lamentable.
   There is a time and a place for everything, and there is a right use for
the affectation of knowledge just as there is a wrong one.  When a child
has learnt the simple rules of addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division; it is legitimate to ask it to solve some simple little problem;
but it is sheer waste of time to ask it: "If twenty-four sprats cost a
shilling, and one sprat will make a meal for two children, how many
children can you feed for twopence halfpenny?" before it knows that one
plus one equals two.  If a child is never taught to add one to one it is
possible that even when grown up, the man to his dying day will look upon
the setter of the twopenny-halfpenny sprat question as an advanced
mathematician, perhaps even as an "advanced occultist."  But when he has
learnt the meaning of one plus one equals two, he will find this vast
unthinkable problem to be after all but as simple as adding one to one or
two to two.
   The affectation of knowledge and the piling on of symbols is only
legitimate to the ignorant when the purpose is to bewilder by a flashing
image and not to instruct.  In the present case the seeker after Truth is
called the Child of Earth and Darkness, and instead of being shown the
beautiful garment of light he will one day be called upon to wear, is at
once rolled in a heap of tinselled draperies, in mummy wrappings, outgrown
togas and the discarded underwear of {290} Olympus and Sinai, the result
being that unless his understanding is as clear as these rituals are
obscure, all he obtains is a theatrical impression of "make-up" and "make-
believe," and a general detachment from the realities of Consciousness.
The words obsess him; he cannot see that Typhon is as necessary in the
Egyptian Scheme as Osiris; in the Christian, that Satan is but the twin of
Christ.  They fetter the freedom which they are supposed to unbind,
producing not only a duality but a multiplicity of illusions; so that, in
the end, the chances are, instead of conversing face to face with Adonai,
he becomes a prig addressing a mass meeting in the Albert Hall,
rationalising about irrational qualities.
   Fortunately in the case of P. the result was somewhat different; already
master of a vast storehouse of knowledge and learning he was less likely to
gasp "Oh my!" at the display of Egyptian pyrotechnics than many of the
others; he was in fact enabled by their help to weld to his knowledge a
catalogue of disruptive learning, and from it add many words to the great
dictionary of magical language he was at this time eagerly attempting to
construct.
   This construction of a language should be the object of all rituals;
they should bring the seeker step by step nearer to his quest, that is to
say, to perfect him in the tongue he one day hopes to speak.  Each Ritual,
be it a letter, a word, a sentence, or a volume, should contain a lesson
clear and precise, it should leave behind it so bright and dazzling a
picture that the very thought of it will at once conjure up the power
dressed in its simple yet luminous symbols.
   In the 0° = 0° Ritual this is much more clearly carried out than in
the following four.  The candidate, the would-be {291} Neophyte, is led up
to the Portal of the First Grade, the Grade of Neophyte, and is momentarily
revealed a flashing vision of Adonai, as it were a tongue of blinding flame
out of the depths of darkness, to show him that there is light even in this
dreadful night through which he has to journey.  He learns that though
Adonai is in Kether, Kether also is in Malkuth; but the Rituals which
follow the 0° = 0°, excepting the Portal, which consists more of
symbols and their explanations than of rites and ceremonials, are more
inclined to obsess than to illuminate.  Of course it may be urged that as
they constitute four great trials, it is after all a greater test to be
placed under a false guide than an honest one.  But indeed, if this be so,
then most certainly should the Neophyte, Zelator, Theoricus or Practicus
travel his own road unhelped by others; further, he should not be tempted
by others, and when he is hopelessly entangled be relieved of his trials
like the reader of a fairy-tale who invariably finds that after the most
monstrous difficulties the hero and heroine always marry and live happily
ever afterwards.  It is a better trial of the powers of a swimmer to let
him swim without a cork jacket, notwithstanding the fact that it is a
greater trial by far if you order him to leap into the water with a
millstone round his neck; but this is scarcely "cricket," even if at the
last moment you pull him out of the water and restore life by artificial
respiration.  Further, it is not teaching him how to swim, or how to
improve his powers of swimming.
   In the 1° = 10° Ritual the Neophyte enters the first sphere of the
Elements, the Element of Earth, and is at once liable to fall prey to the
terrible worldly obsessions of the path of HB:Taw .  This dark path he
journeys up only to become child of the {292} fickle element of Air whose
sign is the ever-changing moon.  The next step brings him under the
unstable condition of Water and the seemingly unbalanced influences of
Mercury.  But if he has passed through the paths of HB:Shin  and HB:Resh  with
cunning and earnestness he will understand why it is necessary to enter the
grade of the Element of Water by the paths of the Sun and of Fire, as he
will in his next step understand why it is that the paths of HB:Qof  and
HB:Tzaddi , that is, of Pisces and Aquarius, lead him to the fire of Netzach and
not to the Water of Hod.
   The path which connects Hod with Netzach is the 27th path of the Sepher
Yetzirah which answers to the letter HB:Peh .  It is the reflection of the
Sphere of Mars and is the lowermost of the reciprocal paths.  The Tarot Key
attributed to this path is very rightly the 16th Key --- the Tower; which
we have seen in the 4° = 7° Ritual represents a tower struck by a flash
of lightning, symbolising the Tower of Babel struck by the wrath of Heaven,
and also the Power of the Triad rushing down and destroying the columns of
darkness, the light of Adonai glimmering through the veils and consuming
the elementary Rituals of the 1° = 10°, 2° = 9°, 3° = 8°, and 4°
= 7° grades.
   In many cases the candidate, it is to be feared, can never have realised
the necessity of this destruction of superficial knowledge, and the
harnessing of the Bull, Eagle, Man and Lion under the dazzling lash of the
Spirit.  And we find that though these rituals enabled P. to master a
language, they in many ways hindered his otherwise natural progress by
helping largely to obsess his Nephesh by the Qliphoth --- his passions and
emotions being stirred up by a continuous pageant of {293} naked Gods; his
Ruach by the phantom of dead words --- by the duality of the shell and of
the fruit of things; and his Neschamah by Tetragrammaton, "i.e.", he aspired
chiefly to magic powers, not so that they might light him like the flame of
a lamp along his road, but that they might consume, like the fire on the
altar, his propitiations and sacrifices to a personal God.
   Thus we find him, as it were, figuring before him a Pentagram and
saying: "It is not complete without its top point."  This is undoubtedly
correct, but at this time he still failed to realise that when once the
Supernal Triad has descended and is resting on the topmost point of the
Pentagram, this being now the point of juncture becomes the most important
of all points, and that the lower four are little better than supports,
legs and arms to the body whose head now wears the Crown.
   When the pilgrim realises that the four characteristics of the Sphinx,
the four elements, the four letters of the Name, are only answerable in the
fifth; then may it be said that the Ritual has succeeded in its purpose and
has initiated him, otherwise that it has failed.  It is no good (even if
you are the Hierophant himself) pretending to represent HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod
before you have realised what is meant by HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Shin HB:Heh HB:Yod .
   The real knowledge acquired by P. at this time, as we shall find in a
subsequent chapter, was gained by his workings with Fras. C.S., V.N. and
I.A.; and so ardent was he in his search after knowledge that he even went
so far as to invoke Mercury by obtaining access to and copying the 5° =
6° Rituals and Knowledges belonging to Fra. F.L., saying to himself:
"All for Knowledge, even life, even honour, All!"
{294}





                          THE SEER

IT is not to be wondered that the magic strain to which P. had been placed
during the last seven months should have long since blossomed into flowers
of weird and wonderful beauty.  And so we find, as far back as the
beginning of November 1899, the commencement of a series of extraordinary
visions as wild and involved as many of those of Blake or St. Francis.
   But before entering upon these visions, it will be necessary to explain
that by a vision we mean as definite a psychological state and as certain
and actual a fact to the mental eye, as the view of a landscape is
considered to be to the physical eye itself.  And so when we have occasion
to write "he saw an angel," it is to be taken that we mean by it as
absolute a fact as if we had written "he saw a mountain," or "he saw a
cow."  It, however, is not to be accepted that by this we lay down that
either angels or cows exist apart from ourselves, they may or they may not;
but it is to be taken that angels, and mountains and cows are ideas of
equal value in their own specific spheres: the astral and the material; and
that they have their proper place in existence, whatever existence may be,
and that every experience, normal, abnormal, subnormal or supernormal,
whether treated as an illusion or a fact, is of equal value so {295} long
as it is conditioned in Time; and that a dream is of as real a nature as
awakenment, but on a different plane in existence, the conditions of which
can alone be judged and measured by experimental science.
   Science advances by means of accumulating facts and consolidating them,
the grand generalisation of which merges into a theory when it has been
accepted by universal inference.  Thus, I infer that catching a ball is not
a necessary sequitur to throwing a ball up in the air; however, if I had
never thrown a ball up in my life, and suddenly commenced doing so, and
invariably caught it, probably after the nine hundred and ninety-nine
billionth time I might be excused if I considered that catching balls was a
necessary law of nature.28  Yet nevertheless if I did arrive at such a
conclusion without being fully conscious that at any moment I might have to
recast the whole of these laws, I should be but a bat-headed dogmatist
instead of the hawk-eyed man of science who is ever ready to re-see and to
reform."29 {296}
        28 Why is it more probable that all men must die; that lead cannot
          of itself remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood
          and is extinguished by water; unless it be that these events are
          found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a
          violation of these laws, or in other words a miracle, to prevent
          them?" --- Hume, iv., p. 133.
           "It is a miracle that a dead man should come to life, because
          that has never been observed in any age or country." --- Hume,
          iv., p. 134.
        29 If a piece of lead were to remain suspended of itself in the
          air, the occurrence would be a 'miracle,' in the sense of a
          wonderful event, indeed; but no one trained in the methods of
          science would imagine that any law of nature was really violated
          thereby.  He would simply set to work to investigate the
          conditions under which so highly unexpected an occurrence took
          place; and thereby enlarge his experience and modify his hitherto
          unduly narrow conception of the laws of nature." --- Huxley,
          "Essay on Hume," p. 155.
           "A philosopher has declared that he would discredit universal
          testimony rather than believe in the resurrection of a dead
          person, but his speech was rash, for it is on the faith of
   Before the birth of Copernicus the sun was universally considered to be
a body moving round the earth; it was a FACT, and probably whilst it lasted
the most universal fact the mind of man has ever accepted; but since that
illuminated sage arose, it has been shown to be a simple fable, a child-
like error, a puny optical illusion --- so much for pseudo-scientific
dogmatics.
   To a child who has never seen a monkey, monkey is outside the
circumference of its knowledge; but when once it has seen one it is mere
foolishness for other children to say: "Oh no, you didn't really see a
monkey; such things as monkeys do not exist, and what proves it beyond all
doubt is that we have never seen one ourselves!"  This, it will be seen, is
the Freethinkers'30 old, old conclusive argument: There is not a God
because "we" have no experience of a God."31 ... "There is not a South Pole
because we have not trudged round it six times and cut our names on it with
our pocket-knives!"
   Now what is knowledge?
   Something is! --- Call it Existence.
   What exists?
   "I exist!" answers the Idealist, "I and I alone!" {297}
   "Oh no, you do not!" cries the Materialist, "you certainly do exist; but
not alone, for I am talking to you!"
   "Fool!" says the Idealist, "cannot you grasp the simple idea that you
and your foolish argument are in fact part of me?"
   "But surely," replies the Materialist, "you do not doubt that the world
exists, that the Evolution of Man exists, that Judas McCabbage exists and
is an actual fact.
   "Granted they do exist," sighs the Idealist, "so do the reflections of
an ape's face in a looking-glass, yes, they do exist, but not apart from my
own mind."
   "Yet the world of a blind man," says the Mystic, "is a very different
place to the world a deaf man lives in, and both these worlds vary
considerably from the world normally constituted man inhabits.  Likewise
animals, whose sense-organs vary from ours, live in altogether a different
world from us.  To give an eyeless worm eyes is only comparable to endowing
us with a sixth sense.  The world to us therefore depends wholly upon the
development of our senses; and as they grow and decay so does the world
with them, how much more then does the world of those who have out stepped
the prison-house of their senses differ from the world of those who have
outstepped the prison-house of their senses differ from the world of those
who still lie bound therein.  It is possible to conceive of a child being
born blind (in a race of blind people) obtaining the use of its eyes when
an old man, and thereupon entering a new world; why, therefore, should it
be impossible to conceive of a man with all his senses perfect obtaining
another sense or entering into another dimension.32  The blind man, if a
          universal testimony that he believed in the impossibility of the
          resurrection.  Supposing such an occurrence was proved, what
          would follow?  Must we deny evidence, or renounce reason?  It
          would be absurd to say so.  We should simply infer that we were
          wrong in supposing resurrection to be impossible." --- E. Lévi,
          "The Doctrine of Transcendent Magic," pp. 121, 158, also p. 192.
           "Also see" Capt. J. F. C. Fuller, "The Star in the West," pp. 273-
          284.
        30 As opposed to "free thinker."
        31 Not "There is not a God "for us," because we have no experience of
          a God," which, so long as they had no such experience, would be
          correct.
        32 Whatever is intelligible and can be distinctly conceived implies
          no contradiction, and can never be proved false by any
          demonstration, argument, or abstract reasoning "a priori." ---
          Hume, iv., p. 44.
few minutes after he had {298} obtained possession of his sight were
suddenly to return to a state of blindness, would have great difficulty in
explaining to his blind brothers the sights he had seen, in fact none would
believe him, and his difficulty in explaining in the language of blind-land
the wonders of the land of sight would probably be so great that he would
find more consolation in silence than in an attempted explanation: this has
generally been the case with the true adepts; and those who have tried to
explain themselves have been called mad by the "canaille."
   "The truth is," continues the Mystic, "both of you have been talking
foolishness through your material and idealistic hats.  For:
   "In the Material World Matter is Existence.
   "In the Sensible World Sense is Existence.
   "In the Spiritual World Spirit is Existence.
   "And though in the Sensible World a cow or an angel exists solely as an
idea to us, this does not preclude the possibility of a cow existing as
beef in the Material World, or an angel as a spirit in the Spiritual
World."
   "The fact is," interrupts the Sceptic, "I doubt all three of you; for
from the above you all three infer a chain of events --- whether material,
sensual, or spiritual, thus postulating the Existence of Causality as a
common property of these three worlds.  Let us strike out Matter, Sense and
Spirit, and what is left?  Surely not Time and Space, that twin inference
conceived by that Matter, Sense and Spirit we have just put to bed."
   "Don't you think," says the Scientific Illuminist, "that instead of
dreaming all your lives it would be a good thing to wake up and do a little
work?  There are four of you, and the {299} Kerubim of Ezekiel might
perhaps engage your individual attention."
   The truth is, it does not matter one rap by what name you christen the
illusions of this life, call them substance, or ideas, or hallucinations,
it makes not the slightest difference, for you are in them and they in you
whatever you like to call them, and you must get out of them and they out
of you, and the less you consider their names the better; for name-changing
only creates unnecessary confusion and is a waste of time.
   Let us therefore call the world a series of existences and have done
with it, for it does not matter a jot what we mean by it so long as we
work; very well then; Science is a part of this series, and so is Magic,
and so are cows and angels, and so are landscapes, and so are visions; and
the difference between these existences is the difference which lies
between a cheesemonger and a poet, between a blind man and one who can see.
The clearer the view the more perfect the view; the clearer the vision the
more perfect the vision.  The eyes of a hawk are keener than those of an
owl, and so are a poet's keener than those of a cheesemonger, for he can
see beauty in a ripe Stilton whilst the latter can only see two-and-
sixpence a pound.
   A true vision is to awakenment as awakenment is to a dream; and a
perfectly clear co-ordinate vision is so nearly perfect a Reality that
words cannot be found in which to translate it, yet it must not be
forgotten that its truth ceases on the return of the seer to the Material
plane.
   The Seer is therefore the only judge of his visions, for they belong to
a world in which he is absolute King, and to {300} describe them to one who
lives in another world is like talking Dutch to a Spaniard.  Our business
then is, to construct if possible a universal language.  This the rituals
of the Golden Dawn and the study of the Qabalah did for P., and when we
talk of quadrating the circle, of blinding darkness, of silent voices, &c.
&c., those who have learned the alphabet of any magical language will
understand; and those who have not, if they wish to read any further with
profit, had better do so, as it will help them to master the new magical
language and doctrines we here offer them.
   The vision of the adept is so much truer than ordinary vision that when
once it has been attained to its effect is never relinquished, for it
changes the whole life.  Blake would have as soon doubted the existence of
his wife, his mother or of himself, as that of Urizen, Los, or Luvah.
   Dreams are real, hallucinations are real, delirium is real, and so is
madness; but for the most part these are Qliphothic realities, unstable,
unbalanced, dangerous.
   Visions are real, inspirations are real, revelation is real, and so is
genius; but these are from Kether, and the highest climber on the mystic
mountain is he who will obtain the finest view, and from its summit all
things will be shown unto him.
   A child learning to play on the violin will not at the outset be
mistaken for Sarasate or Paganini; for there will be discord and confusion
of sound.  So now, as we start upon the first visions of P. we find chaos
piled on chaos, much struggling and noise, a roaring of wild waters in the
night, and then finally, melody, silence and the communication of the
mystic books of V.V.V.V.V. {301}
   Let us now trace his progress in search of the Stone of the
Philosophers, which is hidden in the Mountain of Abiegnus.
   There are eighteen recorded visions33 between the commencement of
November and the end of December 1898, but as there is not sufficient space
to include them all, only six of the most interesting will be given.  Being
all written in his private hieroglyphic cipher by Frater P., we have been
obliged to re-write them completely, and elaborate them.
   No. 5.34  "After fervent prayer I was carried up above the circle35
which I had drawn, through a heavy and foggy atmosphere.  Soon, however,
the air grew purer, and after a little I found myself in a beautifully
clear sky.
   "On gazing up into the depths of the blue, I saw dawn immediately above
me a great circle; then of a sudden, as I looked away from its centre,
there swept out towards me at intolerable speed the form of a shepherd;
trembling and not knowing what to say, with faltering voice I asked, 'Why
speed ye?'  Whereupon the answer came: 'There is haste!'  Then a great
gloom closed mine eyes, and a horror of defilement encompassed me, and all
melted in twilight and became cloaked in the uttermost darkness.  And out
of the darkness there came a man clothed in blue, whose skin was of the
colour of sapphire, and around him glowed a phosphor light, and in his hand
he held a sword.
   "And on seeing him approach I fell down and besought him to guide me,
which without further word he did. {302}
   "On turning to the left I saw that near me was a rock door, and then for
the first time I became aware that I was clothed in my robes of white.36
Passing through the door, I found myself on the face of a high cliff that
sank away into the abysms of space below me; and my foot slipping on the
slippery stone, I stumbled forward, and would of a certainty have been
dashed into that endless gulf, had not the shepherd caught me and held me
back.
   "Then wings were given me, and diving off from that great rocky cliff
like a sea-bird, I winged my course through the still air and was filled
with a great joy.
   "Now, I had travelled thus but for a short time, when in the distance
there appeared before me a silver-moss rugged hill.  And on its summit was
there built a circular temple, fashioned of burnished silver, domed and
surmounted with a crescent.  And for some reason unknown to me, the sight
        33 Many of these visions were carried out with Frater C. S.
        34 WEH Note: This was experienced on Monday, Nov. 15th, 1889 e.v.
        35 A circle was first drawn, as in many invocations, in the centre
          of which the seer stood.
        36 The robes of the Neophyte in the 0° = 0° Ritual of the G.'.
          D.'..
of the crescent made me tremble so that I durst not enter; and when my
guide, who was still with me, saw that I was seized with a great fear, he
comforted me, bidding me be of good courage, so with him I entered.  Before
us in the very centre of the temple there sat a woman whose countenance was
bright as the essence of many moons; and as I beheld her, fear left me, so
I stepped towards her and knelt reverently at her feet.
   "Then, as I knelt before her, she gave me a branch of olive and myrtle,
which I folded to my heart; and as I did so, of a sudden a great pillar of
smoke rose from the ground before me and carried her away through the dome
of the temple.
   "Slowly the pillar loosened itself, and spiral puffs of smoke, creeping
away from the mighty column, began to circle round {303} me, at which I
stepped back to where my guide was still standing.  Then he advanced, and
beckoning me to follow him, we entered the great pillar of smoke and were
carried through the bright dome of the temple.
   "On, on we soared, through regions of cloud and air; on, on, past the
stars and many myriads of burning specks of fire, till at length our
journey led us to a vast blue sea, upon which was resting like a white swan
a ship of silver.  And without staying our flight, we made towards the
ship, and descending upon it, rested awhile.
   "On awaking, we found that we had arrived at a fair island, upon which
stood a vast temple built of blocks of silver, square in form, and
surrounded by a mighty colonnade.  Outside it was there set up an altar
upon which a branch had been sacrificed.
   "On seeing the altar, I stepped towards it and climbed upon it, and
there I sacrificed myself, and the blood that had been my life bubbled from
my breast, and trickling over the rough stone, was sucked up by the parched
lips of the white sand. ... And behold, as I rose from that altar, I was
alone standing upon the flat top of the square temple, and those who had
been with me, the shepherd and my guide, had vanished; --- I was alone ...
alone.
   "And as I stood there, the east became as an amethyst clasped in the
arms of the sard, and a great thrill rushed through me; and as I watched,
the sard became as a fawn; and as I watched again, the east quivered and
the great lion of day crept over the horizon, and seizing the fawn betwixt
his gleaming teeth, shook him till the fleecy clouds above were as a ram's
skin flecked with blood. {304}
   "Then thrill upon thrill rushed through me, and I fell down and knelt
upon the flat roof of the temple.  And presently as I knelt, I perceived
other suns rising around me, one in the North, and one in the South, and
one in the West.  And the one in the North was as a great bull blowing
blood and flame from its nostrils; and the one in the South was as an eagle
plucking forth the entrails of a Nubian slave; and the one in the West was
as a man swallowing the ocean.
   "And whilst I watched these suns rising around me, behold, though I knew
it not, a fifth sun had arisen beneath where I was standing, and it was as
a great wheel of revolving lightnings.  And gazing at the Wonder that
flamed at my feet, I partook of its glory and became brilliantly golden,
and great wings of flame descended upon me, and as they enrolled me I grew
thirty cubits in height --- perhaps more.
   "Then the sun upon which I was standing rose above the four other suns,
and as it did so I found myself standing before an ancient man with snow-
white beard, whose countenance was a-fired with benevolence.  And as I
looked upon him, a great desire possessed me to stretch forth my hand and
touch his beard; and as the desire grew strong, a voice said unto me,
'Touch, it is granted thee.'
   "So I stretched forth my hand and gently placed my fingers upon the
venerable beard.  And as I did so, the ancient man bent forward, and
placing his lips to my forehead kissed me.  And so sweet was that kiss that
I would have lingered; but I was dismissed, for the other four suns had
risen to a height equal to mine own.
   "And seeing this I stretched out my wings and flew, sinking through
innumerable sheets of blinding silver.  And presently {305} I opened mine
eyes, and all around me was as a dense fog; thus I returned into my body."
   The vision being at an end, a thanksgiving was offered.
   No. 7.  This vision was undertaken by P. for strength to aid his cousin,
who was in distress.  As in No. 5, it commenced with a prayer, a circle
being drawn around the Skryer.
   "As I prayed, a feeling of drowsiness possessed me, and I found myself
swinging backwards and forwards; then after a little while I grew steady,
and speedily ascended.  As I soared up through the air, I saw above me a
great circle; this I passed through, only to behold another one greater
still.  As I approached it I perceived an angel coming towards me;
therefore I entered the circle and knelt down.
   "The angel, seeing me kneeling before him, approached me, and taking me
by the hand, raised me up, kissing me as he did so.  And having thus
greeted me, he bade me tell him what I sought; this I did.  And when I had
finished speaking, he took me by the right hand and flew obliquely upwards.
And as I was carried through the air, I looked down, and felt reluctant at
leaving the great circle, which had now become as a point below me.  And as
I thought of it, of a sudden I found myself standing upon a marble floor,
from out of which rushed up into the heavens a great pillar of fire.  And
as I gazed wonderingly at it, though on account of its brightness I could
see no one, I became conscious that many people were worshipping around me.
Then slowly, as my eyes became accustomed to the light, I saw that the
great pillar of fire was in truth the right leg of an immense figure.
   "On becoming aware of this, a great awe filled me, and {306} then did
bewilderment possess me, for I found that I was robed in red garments in
place of the white in which I had dressed myself.  And as I wondered, the
angel said to me: 'They have been given thee'; therefore again I knelt, and
was endued with a great power.
   "And as the great strength coursed through me I stood up and the angel
gave me a white wand, placing it in my right hand; then fiery rain fell
upon me, bursting into little flames as it touched me.
   "Taller and taller did I grow, striving up and upwards to reach the face
of the great figure.  And as I strove, I emerged from the centre of the
crown of mine own head like a white bird; and so great had been my desire
that I shot upwards past my skull like an arrow from a bended bow.  And
swerving down, I played around the head of the great image and kissed it on
the lips.  But through for many minutes did I fly about that immense head,
the countenance thereof was ever cloudy as a mountain seen through a storm
of snow; yet nevertheless could I distinguish that the head was like an
Assyrian clean-shaven, like a bull, a hawk, an Egyptian and myself.
   "Intoxicated with rapture, I fluttered about the lips and then entered
the great mouth.
   "Up! up! I rise.  I am in a chamber with two square pillars and an eye
... I bathe in the light of this eye and the intense brilliancy of the
whole room, which swallows me up.
   "Bigger and bigger do I grow ... I fill the room ... I emerge from the
top of the mighty head, and kissing once again the lips, swerve downwards
and unite with the red figure below me. {307)
   "I grow great, and my white wand becomes a wand of living fire.  Then I
perceived that the angel had left me, and that once again fiery rain was
falling around me.
   "After this I departed, and in the air was surrounded by dark forms,
whom I commanded to lead me back to the circle.  Then I sank amid a flock
of eagles, and, descending, prayed and rejoined my body.
   "My body was intensely strengthened; I was filled with a feeling of
power and glory.  I gave thanks.'
   No. 10.  "Queen's Hall.  During the "andante" of Beethoven's Symphony in C
(No. 5) I assume white astral, and fill the entire hall.  Then I looked up
to God, and impulses of praise and prayer possessed me.  Presently I shrink
forcibly and re-enter my body."
   No. 14.  "I draw the circle and recite the 'Lesser Banishing Ritual';37
but performed it badly, omitting an important section.38
   "At first there appeared to me a brightness in the West, and a darkening
of the East; and whilst perplexed by this matter, I find I have entered a
dirty street, and see near me a young child sitting on the doorstep of a
very squalid house.
   "I approached the house, and seeing me, the child scrambled to his feet
and beckoned me to follow him.  Pushing open the rickety door, he pointed
out to me a rotten wooden staircase.  This I mounted, and entered a room
which apparently belonged to a student.
   "In the room I found a little old man, but could not see him distinctly,
as the blinds were down. {308}
   "He asked me my business.
   "And I answer I had come to seek of him certain formulae.
   "Thereupon he opened a book which was lying on the table before him, and
showed me a sigil.  After I had looked at it carefully, he explained to me
how I should make it, and finished by telling me that it was used to summon
'things of earth.'

 {Illustration on page 309 partly described.

"DIAGRAM 55.  Sigil in Book."

This is a device composed of four straight lines and one line curved like
the blade of a sickle.  The "sickle" blade is at bottom, with the point
free and curving upward to the left.  Where the "sickle" blade curves
upward to the right, as though to meet a handle, a straight line departs
from it toward the left and at an upward slope about eight degrees from the
horizontal.  At the left tip of this line, a shorter line begins, extending
about five degrees upward from the horizontal to the right.  A short line
then drops downward and to the right from this second line, about ten
degrees from the vertical and crossing the first line but not reaching the
"sickle".  From this third line end, a fourth line extends at about 45
degrees from vertical to the upper left.  This fourth line crosses lines
one and two, and ends above the center of the figure.  The whole carries an
impression like that made by a pentagram partly rotated off the vertical
and composed of lines of differing length.  If the "sickle" were straight
and properly connected, it would complete the figure.  As it is, the sigil
could be called a defective and broken pentagram.}

   "As I looked incredulously at him, he took hold of the sigil, and no
sooner had he done so than from out of every crack and seam in the floor
there wriggled forth a multitude of rats and other vermin.
   "After this, he led me upstairs to another floor, and into a room which
in the dim light appeared to be an attic.

        37 "See" Liber O.
        38 WEH Note: Crowley's original vision record identifies the
          omission as being the central part dealing with the Archangels,
          "Before ...".
{Illustration on page 309 approximated:
                 E
            Fire-Place
          ┌____-----____┐
          │     _┼_     │
     N    │      │      │  S
    Door &│   Crucifix  │
Low Stairs│             │
          /             │
         /       X      │
         \    ┌_____┐   │ Opaim{?}
    Door &│   └_____┘   │ Table
    Stairs├__\  ________┤
          │   \/        ┼
          │             ┼ Window
          │     THE     │
          │    ATTIC    │
          │             │
          └_____________┘
                 W

            DIAGRAM 56.

Plan of the Adept's
  room and the attic
  above.}


   "At the west end of this room, lying upon her back, I saw a naked woman.
Turning, I challenged the Adept, who at once gave me the 0° = 0° and 1°
= 10° signs; but he would not give me 2° = 9°.39
   "The Adept then turned from me and said: 'She is in a trance; she is
dead; she has been dead long.'  And immediately her flesh becoming rotten,
fell from her bones.
   "Hurriedly I asked for an explanation, but scarcely had my words left my
lips than I saw that she was recovering, and that her bones were becoming
once again clothed with flesh.  Slowly she rose up, and then suddenly
rolled round and fell heavily upon her face.  For a moment she remained
still, and {309} then her glistening skin writhed about her bones as she
wriggled over the filthy boards towards the Adept.  Having reached him, she
embraced his feet and then lewdly climbed and writhed up him.
   "'Get to your stye,' he said in a low, commanding voice.  At which I
felt intensely sorry for her.
   "The Adept, noticing my sympathy, turned to me and said: 'She is lust,
fresh-fleshed and lovely, but rotten.  She would clog the power of a man.'
   "I thereupon thanked the Adept.  But he, taking no notice of my thanks,
pointed out to me a distant star through a hole in the roof, and then said,
'Journey there.'
   "This I did, streaming up towards it like a comet, dressed in long white
robes, with a flashing scimitar in my hand.
   "After much peril, on account of suns and things very hot and glowing,
through which I sped, I arrived there safely, on the shore of a lake, upon
which was floating a boat in which stood a man.
   "On seeing me, he cried out: 'Who art thou?'
   "And having explained to him, he brought his boat close enough to the
shore to enable me to spring into it.  This I did, whereupon he seized the
oars and rowed speedily into the darkness beyond.
        39 These signs are given in Liber O.
   "'Shall I soon see thy master?'  I said to him.  At which he glared
round at me, so that his eyes looked like beads of glowing amber in the
night; then he answered:
   "'I who stand in the boat am great; I have a star upon my forehead.'
   "I did not reply, not understanding what he meant, and soon we reached
the shore and entered a cave, in the mouth {310} of which stood a man-like
figure covered with brazen scales, horned and horrible.  His colour was of
verdigris; but his face was of a blackish tint.  In his hand he held a
club.
   "'What is your name?'  I cried, advancing towards him.
   "'Joakam,' he answered sullenly.
   "'Your sign?'  (I here repeated the omitted part of the ritual).  He
winced, and I could see that he was a coward; nevertheless, though it
displeased him, he gave me his sigil.

{Illustration on page 311 partly described:

"DIAGRAM 57.  Jokam's Sigil."

This is a lineal drawing of a continuous curved line with one sharp turn.
It has the appearance of a crudely flourished "J" monogram.  The "J" part
is a capital letter, very narrow and inclined to the right 45 degrees from
the vertical.  The "J" has a top bar, continuous with the rest and created
by a slight clockwise loop to the right and a drawing back to the left on
exit from that loop.  At the left end of the top bar there is a sharp
upward pip continuing as a large counter clockwise downward flourish loop.
This flourish loop centers on the hook end of the "J" and crosses back over
the lower 1/3 of the body of the "J" to cross itself directly above the
hook and extend to the upper left of the space occupied by the drawing.}

   "His name is spelt: HB:Mem-final HB:Koph HB:Yod .  Having no further question to ask
him, I left him, bidding him sink.
   "At the further end of the cave a man whom I had not seen as yet came
rushing into my arms; at once I saw that he was being pursued by Jokam.  I
thereupon interposed, ordering him to make the sign of the Qabalistic
Cross, which, however, he could not do.
   "'What God do you worship?'  I asked.
   "'Alas!  I have no God.' he answered.  Thereupon I allowed Jokam to
seize him, and re-entering the cave they sank, uttering most heart-rending
yells of agony.
   "As I once again approached the lake, a great albatross rose from the
water, and as she did so, the star fell away from me, and a multitude of
birds surrounded me and took me back to the garret which I first visited.
   "For this I was very grateful, and on seeing that I had returned, the
Adept came forward and took my hand, saying: 'Go on,' at which words I felt
that a great strength had been imparted to me.
   "I then asked him about 'Abramelin,' of whose Operation {311} I at this
time contemplated the performance; but all he answered was: 'Go on!'
   "'Shall I succeed?' I asked.
   "'No man can tell another that!' he answered with a smile.
   "'Is anything wanting in that book that is necessary to success?' I
asked.
   "'No!' he answered.
   "Then I took my leave of him, and after witnessing a strange fight,
returned."
   No. 15.  This vision was undertaken to obtain rest.  It took place in
the actual temple built by P., and, as was generally the case, it was
commenced by the "Lesser Banishing Ritual."
   "Slowly the actual temple in which I was standing became wonderfully
beautified, and a white shining film floated in feathers over the surface
of the floor on which I was standing, and winding itself about me, formed a
great column which carried me up through the roof to a great height.  Then
I found, as the cloud fell away from me, that I was standing in a fair
green field, and by me in great solemnity stood a shining steel-grey-silver
figure, unarmed.
   "'Welcome,' said the stranger with a cold dignity.
   "Then he led me to a blue pool of water, and bade me plunge into it,
which I did, half diving and half swimming, sending a million sparkling
sapphires of water dancing in the light.
   "The water was deliciously cool and refreshing, and as I struck out in
it, I soon saw that I must have made a mistake, for the far shore was a
great distance from me, and on it I could see shining a silvery palace.
{312}
   "As I neared it I leapt to the shore, and there I found, as I approached
the wonderful building, many beautiful creatures playing about it.  But my
haste in leaving the blue waters had been ill-advised; for suddenly a great
cloud of water enveloped me, and catching me up, carried me to a great
height.  Then I discovered that I had been changed into a lily, whose white
petals were unfolded, and that I was growing in a garden, white with a
multitude of the same wonderful flowers.
   "Not over long had I been there, when the form of man was again given to
me, and I threw my arms above my head and then extended them, forming a
cross.
   "I was standing in silver-grey garments, and before me was a great white
marble temple.  At once I prostrated myself, and then entered.  Before me I
saw that all was white and fine within, and that in the temple stood a
cubical altar of silver.
   "I knelt before the altar; and as I did so a coldness and moisture
seemed to descend upon me, which thrilled me with a delicious freshness
like the falling dew.  From it a cool stream arose, in the limpid waters of
which I bathed my hands.  Whilst in this position an angel descended with a
green garment and gave it me.  At first I was unwilling to wear it, but
presently I did so, and after I had worn it a little while, I sacrificed it
before me, when at once it became a crown of fire.
   "Then a voice said to me: 'Wilt thou be of the guard?' and before I
could answer yea, or nay, most lovely maidens surrounded me and armed me in
silver armour and a red tabard. {313}
  "From where I had been standing I was led to the Northern entrance, where
crowded a great concourse of people, and as I approached them they gave way
before me.  Then a voice whispered to me 'Smite'; thereupon, drawing my
sword with fury I smote three times, upon which a great wailing arose.
   "Having smitten down many with those three blows, I descended among
them, but left my sword behind me.  Thinking I had forgotten it, in vain I
tried to return, and in my strivings was of a sudden armed with many potent
lightnings; then at my feet there fell away a great hollow column of
rolling smoke.  Seeing it, I approached it and gazing down it, beheld at
its furthermost extremity the earth, dark and strong.  As I watched it
rolling below me, a great desire possessed me to expand my consciousness
and include All.  This took me a vast time to accomplish, and even then my
success was but moderate.
   "From the column of smoke I returned to the outside of the temple and
re-entered it by the Western door.  Finding a gold crown upon my head, I
held it up, and in the white vapour it glowed like a white light.  Then an
angel approached me and pressed it on to my brow, and as this was done, a
feeling possessed me as if a cold shower of gold was falling through me.
Then of a sudden was I carried upwards, and found myself in a second
temple.  Here I was conducted to the south, where stood a glittering
shrine, and the light which flashed from it pierced me through and through.
Blinded by the effulgence, I was led to the North to another shrine (Binah)
where my eyes were anointed with cold molten silver, and immediately I saw
vaguely before me a female form. {314}
   "After this I returned to the central altar, where everything fell from
me, and then I returned to earth, assuming my sword and red robe to
dominate the astrals.  Thus did I return."
   No. 18.  To see Sappho.
   "With bewildering speed I was carried upwards, and in the midst of my
flight an angel approached me apparently to aid me, yet I tarried not, but
still ascended.  On, on I flew, until at length I became surprised at the
great distance of my journey.
   "Eventually I arrived in a strange land, and after some perplexity
assumed a divine figure, which I believe to be that of Diana.  Then I
called Sappho, and immediately she appeared before me, a small dark woman
with a wonderful skin and a copper sheen on her dark hair.  Her face was
very lovely, but her expression was ablaze with intense desire, and through
her wild floating hair could be seen her eyes, in which glittered madness.
   "On seeing me, she knelt down before me, and I, trying to comfort her,
extended my hands to her, which she in turn kissed.  Behind her stood the
white astrals of weeping women --- these were her many lovers.
   "After a while I brought her into the circle in which I was standing,
and raising her up, caressed her upon the forehead.  Then I changed to my
usual shape, at which she was exceedingly amazed, and only comforted when I
told her of my great love for her.  Thereupon we rose together, embracing,
to a place where angels greeted us.  Here we were told to go between the
pillars into the temple; which we did, and saw in front of us an immense
kneeling figure of some Oriental Deity.{315}
   "Before us glared a human face above a human body with arms and feet;
but behind it, it was as the body of a lion.
   "Sappho then gave me the 0° = 0° sign, which I returned, whereupon
the great figure rose and blessed us, and we embraced.  Then I knelt before
Sappho and said:
   "'You have given me of your strength and brought me into this place of
blessing; I will now give you of mine.'
   "For answer she held my hands in hers, and wonderful tinglings of glory
and passion flowed into me like live fire.  I raised my head to her bosom,
and kissed her passionately, and then I notice that I too was a woman!
   "An angel approached me and advised restraint, and so with a great
calmness I passed within her body, and at once felt all her passion and
longings.  A mighty joy and glory encompassed me, and we became a great
brown bird taking part in a mystic ceremony, the priest being the great
man-lion; then again we rose and re-assumed human shape, but larger than
before.
   "Now we saw standing before us a venerable, beautiful and kingly figure
(Tiphereth), holding a flaming sword of dazzling whiteness.  This he
extended to us, whilst his attendants, who were angelic figures, sang a
low, melodious tune.  Then he placed it in our mouth, when at once there
rushed from our lips an infinite and intolerable song, which presently
ceased, when the sword was returned to the king.
   "Then I noticed that the sun was burning below us, so once again
assuming the form of the brown bird, we flitted round the sun, bathing in
its fiery flames and molten substance.
   "Presently I wished to return; but could not separate myself from her,
for I was absorbed in Sappho.  Becoming {316} desperate, I called thrice
unto Acheirah, who soon appeared; whereupon I explained to him my trouble.
Seizing his sword, he smote at us, and we were again two human beings, just
as when we met, I on the left of Sappho, whose hands were stretched out.
We received the influx, and then I noticed our positions, and complained
that they were wrong; for I would have been divided, so that Sappho in
departing took of my left side.  I left my love with her, but my strength
belonged to God.
   "This I explained to Acheirah, but he told me my idea was wrong, and
that we were so divided that I might receive the influx of strength, and
she that of mercy.
   "So we returned into the temple, conversing, I saying to her: 'Enter
with me the temple of the living God!'
   "This she did, following me, and then knelt down at the altar, and
waving a censer adored the Lord of the Universe.
   "After this was at an end, we clasped our hands (1° = 10° grip),
kissed, and parted; she promising me that she would dwell in the temple
sometimes, and hover about me, and watch me work, and aid me when I called
her.
   "Then I knelt before the altar, in adoration of the Lord of the
Universe; but watched her upward and eastward flight, whilst she looked
amorously back at me over her right shoulder, waving her hand to me.  Once
only did I call her, and then, once again turning to the Lord of the
Universe with the sign of the Qabalistic Cross, returned to the body."
   Such are some of the early visions of Frater P.  They commence as we see
in a series of rapidly changing and for the most part unconnected pictures,
flying past the observer as the houses of a town seen through the windows
of a quickly moving train.  The streets which connect them are not noticed,
{317} neither always the entire buildings themselves, nor the ground on
which then stand, nor the substance of which they are built; and to one who
had not travelled in a train before, say a bushman who never wandered far
from his native kraal, wonder and astonishment would be his as he watched
the extraordinary disorder of the fast-flying view.  At first he might be
excused if he actually doubted his senses, so suddenly do the apparently
moving buildings come, change and vanish --- now a roof, some chimneys ---
then a gap --- a tree --- a spire --- a glimpse down a long street --- it
is gone; now a high bank --- a cutting --- a tunnel and darkness; and then
once again the light and the continual whirling past of countless houses.
   Yet the city clerk does not wonder; for he knows well enough --- too
well ever to notice it --- that the houses he is speeding by are built of
brick and mortar, constructed on geometric and architectural plans,
connected by streets and roads, by gas and water pipes, and by drains; each
a microcosm in itself, regulated, ruled and ordered by codes, customs and
laws, an organized unit only wanting the breath of life for it to rise up
complete, and like some colossal giant stride away from before our terror-
stricken eyes.
   Similarly, the adept will see in these visions a great ordered kingdom,
and behind all their apparent chaos rule and law; for he will understand
that the sudden changing, the leaping from blue seas to silver temples, and
the rushing past fiery pillars, people worshipping, red garments, hawks;
and then square pillars, an eye, or a flock of eagles, is not due to
disorder in the realm of the vision, but to the want of paraphrase in the
mind of the beholder when he, on his return, attempts to interpret what he
has seen in rational symbols and words. {318}
   A chain of thought is simply a series of vibrations arising from the
contact of a sense with a symbol or a series of symbols.  "If controlled by
the Reasoning Power, and licensed by the Will, such vibrations will be
balanced and of equal length.  But if uncontrolled by the Lower Will and
the Reason they will be unbalanced and inharmonious --- that is, of uneven
length."  This we find explained in a G.'. D.'. manuscript entitled:
"The Secret Wisdom of the Lesser World, or Microcosm which is Man."
Further we learn form this manuscript that:

   In the case of the drunkard, the equilibrium of the Sphere of
Sensations, and consequently of the Nephesch, is disturbed, and the Thought
Rays in consequence are shaken at each vibration; so that the sphere of the
sensation of the Nephesch is caused to rock and waver at the extremities of
the Physical Body, where the Ruach's action is bounded.  The thought
therefore is dazzled by the Symbols of the Sphere of Sensations in the same
way as the eye may be dazzled in front of a mirror if the latter be shaken
or waved.  The sensation, therefore, then conveyed by the thought is that
of the Sphere of sensations oscillating and almost revolving about the
physical body, that which translated to the physical body bringeth
giddiness, sickness, vertigo, and loss of idea, of place, and position.

   The fault as we see therefore lies in the preponderance of the Nephesch
over the Ruach, in other words, the Emotion outbalancing the Reason.
   In the last vision, NO. 18, we find more exertion on the part of the
Ruach than in any of the others, and this is undoubtedly accounted for by
the fact that P., in this vision, set out with a definite object before
him, namely, to see Sappho.  The same might be said of Vision No. 7, but on
consideration this will be found not to be the case, for, in No. 7, P. asks
for strength to help his cousin, the very asking of which points to
weakness; besides it is to be expected that a concrete idea will {319} take
a much more definite form than an abstract one.  In the former case when
Sappho has once appeared, except for a break here and there, the vision is
rational enough --- if we can use so bastard a term to express ourselves
in; not so the latter, which is particularly vague.
   In considering these visions and future ones, it must be remembered that
through we now insist on a continuous chain of ideas as proof of their
validity, and equally so with such as we may deal with later on, we at
present find, above all else, that simplicity is our most certain guide;
for we are as yet solely dealing with the visions of a student, who, as
such, like a school-boy, is expected to work out all his visions in full as
if they were mathematical problems.  The master may use algebraical and
logarithmic short cuts, if he likes, in the solution of his intricate
problems, and we shall also find many of these masterly rights of way are
quite as baffling, I am afraid, as the curious mistaken byways of the
beginner.  Further, it must ever be borne in mind that the deeper we dive
into the occult sciences, although the simpler our language often becomes,
the less we find our ability to express ourselves in mere words and
ordinary phrases; from complex terms we sink to simple paradoxes, and from
philosophic and scientific symbols we rise into a land of purely linguistic
heiroglyphics --- and thence silence.
   The task of consciously classifying and interpreting the phenomena in
the Spirit Vision (in contradistinction to optical vision) is one of the
chief duties undertaken by the Adeptus Minor, that is to say, of an
individual who has passed through the grade of 5° = 6°.  P. had not as
yet accomplished this.  And in another part of the manuscript already
referred to it is {320} entitled "The Task undertaken by the Adeptus
Minor," and is lucidly summarized as follows:

   This then is the task undertaken by the Adeptus Minor:
   To expel from the Sephiroth of the Nephesch the usurpation of the Evil
Sephiroth.
   To equally balance the action of the Sephiroth of the Ruach and those of
the Nephesch.
   To prevent the Lower Will and Human Consciousness from falling into and
usurping the place of the Automatic Consciousness.
   To render the King of the Body (the Lower Will) obedient and anxious to
execute the commands of the Higher Will; so that he be neither a usurper of
the faculties of the Higher, nor a Sensual Despot, but an initiated ruler
and an anointed King, the Vice-Roy and representative of the Higher Will
(because inspired thereby in his Kingdom which is the Man.)
   Then shall it happen that the Higher Will, "i.e.," the Lower Genius, shall
descend into the Royal Habitation, so that the Higher Will and the Lower
Will shall be as one, and the Higher Genius shall descend into the Kether
of the Man, bringing with him the tremendous illumination of his Angelic
Nature; and the man shall become what was said of Enoch: "And Chanokh made
himself to walk for ever close with the essence of the Elohim, and he
existed not apart, seeing that the Elohim took possession of his being."
        .     .     .     .     .     .     .
   This is also a great mystery which the Adeptus Minor must know:
   How the Spiritual Consciousness can act around and beyond the Sphere of
Sensation.
   "Thought" is a mighty force when projected with all the strength of the
Lower Will, under the Guidance of the Reasoning Faculty, and illuminated by
the "Higher Will."
   Therefore, it is, that in thine occult working thou art advised to
invoke the Divine and Angelic Names, so that thy Lower Will may "willingly"
receive the influx of the Higher Will, which is also the Lower Genius,
behind which are all potent forces.
   This, therefore, is the magical manner of operation of the initiate,
when "Skrying in the Spirit Vision."
   He knowing "thoroughly" through his Arcane Wisdom the disposition and
correspondences of the Force of the Microcosmus, selecting not any, but a
certain symbol and that balanced with its correlatives, then sendeth he, as
before said, a Thought-Ray from his Spiritual Consciousness, illuminated by
his Higher Will, directly unto the part of his Sphere of Sensation or M. M.
of the U.40 which is consonant with the symbol employed.  There, as in a
mirror, doth he perceive its properties as reflected from the Macrocosmus
shining forth into the Infinite Abyss of the Heavens; thence can he follow
the Ray of {321} Reflection therefrom, and while "concentrating his united"
"consciousness" at that point of his Sphere of Sensation, can receive the
"Direct reflection" of the Ray from the Macrocosmus.
   But if instead of concentrating at that actual point of the Sphere of
Sensation, and thus receiving the "Direct Ray," as then reflected into his
thought, and uniting himself with the Ray of his thought, so as to make one
continuous ray from the corresponding point of the Macrocosmus unto the
centre of his consciousness: if instead of this he shall "retain" the
thought-ray only "touching" the Sphere of Sensation at that point, he shall,
it is true, perceive the "reflection" of the Macrocosmic ray, answering to
that symbol in the Sphere of his consciousness; but he shall receive this
reflection, tinctured much by his own nature; and therefore to an extent
"untrue."  Because his united consciousnesses have not been able to focus
along the thought-ray at the circumference of the Sphere of Sensation or M.
M. of the U.  And this is the reason why there are so many and multifarious
errors in untrained Spirit Visions: for the untrained Skryer ("i.e.", Seer)
--- even supposing him free from the delusions of Obsession,41 doth not
know or understand how to unite his consciousness: still less what are the
correspondences and harmonies between his Sphere of Sensation and the
Universe --- the Macrocosmus. ...

   The Art of Skrying is further explained in a G.'. D.'. manuscript
entitled "Of Travelling in the Spirit Vision," in which this particular
form of gaining contact, so to speak, with the Higher Will is explained as
follows:

   The symbol, place, direction or plane being known whereon it is desired
to act, a thought-ray is sent unto the corresponding part of the Sphere of
Sensations, and thence by drawing a basis of action from the refined Astral
Light of the Sphere of Sensations of the Nephesch, the thought-ray is sent
like an arrow from a bow right through the circumference of the Sphere of
Sensations direct into the place desired.  Arriving here a Sphere of Astral
Light is formed by the agency of the Lower Will illuminated by the Higher
Will, and, acting through the Spiritual Consciousness, by reflection along
        40 Magical mirror of the Universe.
        41 Or a cutting off of the Higher from the Lower Will.
the thought-ray, the Sphere of Astral Light is partly drawn from the
Nephesch, and partly from the surrounding atmosphere.
   This Sphere being formed, a "Simulacrum" of the person of the Skryer is
"reflected" into it along the thought-ray, and the united consciousness is
then projected therein.
   This sphere is therefore a duplicate reflection of the Sphere of
Sensations.  As it is said:

          "Believe thyself to be in a place, and thou art there."

   In this Astral projection, however, a certain part of the consciousness
must remain {322} in the body to protect the thought-ray beyond the limits
of the Sphere of Sensations (as well as the Sphere itself at that point of
departure of the thought-ray) from attack by any hostile force, so that the
Consciousness in this Projection is not quite so strong as the
consciousness when concentrated in the natural body in ordinary life.
   The return taketh place by a reversal of this process; and, save to
persons whose Nephesch and physical body are exceptionally strong and
healthy, the whole operation of "skrying" and travelling in the Spirit
Vision is, of course, fatiguing.
   Also there is another mode of Astral Projection, which can be used by
the more practised and advanced Adept.  This consisteth in forming first a
Sphere from his own Sphere of Sensations, casting his reflection therein,
and then projecting this whole Sphere to the desired place as in the
previous method.  But this is not easy to be done by any but the practised
operator."

   In fact if this projection of the Sphere to the desired place can be
carried out successfully, the highest illumination may be obtained thereby,
supposing the desired place to be God or Kether.
   To a beginner this particular method of Attainment will appear very
vague and unbalanced, for his astral journeys will consist of a chain of
alarms and surprises; and the reason for this is that in almost every case
he sets out with no clear idea of the place he is struggling to journey to,
or the route he has chosen to adopt.  He is like an explorer who sets out
on a journey of discovery; the further he travels from his own native land,
the more strange and uncommon do the lands appear to him through which he
is journeying.  Little by little the language of his country changes,
melting as it were into another not unlike it but yet different; this in
time also changes, and so by degrees do all his surroundings, until he
finds himself in a strange country, as different from the one from which he
started as an equatorial forest is from the ice-incrusted lands of the
Pole.
   Sometimes the change of scenery is slight, sometimes vast, {323}
according to the powers of attainment, but in all cases these journeys
would be of little use unless method were brought into the extraordinary
chaos which they at first reveal.  And, as in Geography, little information
could be obtained of the configuration of the Earth's surface unless
explorers set out with a definite object in view, such as Columbus had when
he set out on his great journey of discovery, and equipped with definite
instruments; so in these Astral journeys, little or no spiritual
information can be obtained unless the Skryer project, or at least set out
with the intention of projecting, his Sphere to a certain and definite
place.  This, when applied to travelling to certain paths or places on the
Tree of Life, is termed Rising on the Planes, and may lead, as above
stated, should the place desired to arrive at be Kether, to the very
highest Attainment.
   This Rising on the Planes is a definite mystical process, and two
initiates setting out to attain the same goal would find the journey, in
its essentials, as similar as two ordinary individuals would find a journey
from London to Paris.
   Karma and environment have in these Risings on the Planes to be reckoned
with, just as they would have to be taken into account in the case of the
two men journeying to Paris.  The one might be travelling third class, and
the other first; the one might be travelling by a slow train, the other by
an express; the one might see great beauty in the journey, the other
little; yet both would know when they got to Dover, both would know when
they were on the Channel, and both would in some way, different in detail
through it might be, recognise Paris as Paris when they arrived at their
destination. {324}
   This particular method of Rising on the Planes is an exceptionally
interesting one to study, not only because it is most intimately connected
with the Eastern methods of Yoga,42 but because we have many practical
results to hand, many actual facts from which we can generalise and
construct a theory.  Two of such examples we will give here, the first a
poem by Mr. Aleister Crowley called "The Ladder," in which the projection
is vertical, that is to say, directed along the central column of the Tree
of Life; and in the second, which is called "The Ascent unto Daäth," by V.
H. Frater I. A.  In the first of these "Risings" the goal of attainment is
Kether, and the various headings of the poem point out clearly enough the
different stages the Skryer has to pass through.  From the darkness of
Malkuth he passes the various symbolic colours, which will be discussed in
a future chapter, as well as many of the symbols we have described, to
arrive eventually at Kether.  In the second, Fra. I. A. leads us as far as
Daäth, the head of the Old Serpent, the Knower of Good and of Evil. {325}

                    THE LADDER

           "I will arise and go unto my Father."

                     MALKUTH

Dark, dark, all dark!  I cower, I cringe.
Only above me is a citron tinge
As if some echo of red, gold, and blue
Chimed on the night and let its shadow through.
Yet I who am thus prisoned and exiled
Am the right heir of glory, the crowned child.

     I match my might against my Fate's.
       I gird myself to reach the ultimate shores,
         I arm myself the war to win: ---
     Lift up your heads, O mighty gates!
       Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!
        42 The whole theory and practice of Raja Yoga is the awakening of a
          power named the Kundalini, which is coiled up in what is called
          the sacral plexus, and then forcing this awakened power up a
          canal called the Sushumna, which runs through the centre of the
          spinal column.  "When the Kundalini is aroused, and enters the
          canal of the Sushumna, all the perceptions are in the mental
          space or Chittakasa.  When it has reached that end of the canal
          which opens out into the brain, the objectless perception is in
          the knowledge space, or Chidakasa."  As in the Ascent of the
          Central Column of the Tree of Life, there are certain centres,
          such as Malkuth, the Path of Tau, Yesod, the Path of Samech,
          Tiphereth, the Path of Gimel, Daäth, and Kether; so in the
          Sushumna are there certain centres or Chakkras, viz., Muladhara,
          Svadistthana, Manipura, Anahaba, Visuddhi, Ajna, and Sahasara.
          For further attributions "See 777."
         The King of Glory shall come in.

                       TAU

I pass from the citrine; deep indigo
Is this tall column.  Snakes and vultures bend
Their hooded hate on him that would ascend.
O may the Four avail me!  Ageless woe,
Fear, torture throng the threshold.  Lo!  The end
Of matter!  The Immensity of things
Let loose --- new laws, new beings, new conditions: ---
Dire chaos; see! these new-fledged wings
Fail in its vaguenesses and inanitions.
Only my circle saves me from the hate
Of all these monsters dead yet animate.

     I match, &c.
{326}

                      YESOD

Hail, thou full moon, O flame of amethyst!
Stupendous mountain on whose shoulders rest
The Eight Above.  More stable is my crest
Than thine --- and now I pierce thee, veil of mist!
Even as an arrow from the war-bow springs
I leap --- my life is set with loftier things.

     I match, &c.

         SAMECH (and the crossing of the path of Pe)
Now swift, thou azure shaft of fading fire,
Pierce through the rainbow!  Swift, O swift! how streams
The world by!  Let Sandalphon and his quire
Of Angels ward me!
                   No! what planet beams
This angry ray?  Thy swords, thy shields, thy spears!
Thy chariots and thy horsemen, Lord!  Showered spheres
Of meteors war and blaze; but I am I,
Horus himself, the Torrent of the sky
Aflame --- I sweep the stormy seas of air
Towards that great globe that hangs so golden fair.

     I match, &c.

                   TIPHERETH

Hail, hail, thou sun of harmony,
Of beauty and of ecstasy!
Thou radiance brilliant and bold!
Thou ruby rose, thou cross of gold!
Hail, centre of the cosmic plan!               {327}
Hail, mystic image of the Man!
I give the sign of slain Asar.
I give the sign of Asi towering.
I give the sign of Apep, star
Of black Destruction all-devouring.
I give thy sign, Asar re-risen: ---
Break, O my spirit, from thy prison!

     I match, &c.

         GIMEL (with the crossing of the path of Teth)
Hail, virgin Moon, bright Moon of Her
That is God's thought and minister!
Snow-pure, sky-blue, immaculate
Hecate, in Thy book of Fate
Read thou my name, the soaring soul
That seeks the supreme, sunless goal!

     And thou, great Sekhet, roar!  Arise
     Confront the lion in the way!
     Thy calm indomitable eyes
     Lift once, and look, and pierce, and slay!

I am past.  Hail, Hecate!  Untrod
Thy steep ascent to God, to God!
Lo! what unnamed, unnameable
Sphere hangs above inscrutable?
There is no virtue in thy kiss
To affront that soulless swart abyss.

     I match, &c.                         {328}

                 DAÄTH

I am insane. My reason tumbles;
The tower of my being crumbles.
Here all is doubt, distress, despair:
There is no force in strength or prayer.
If pass I may, it is by might
Of the momentum of my flight.

     I match, &c.

        GIMEL (and the crossing of Daleth)
Free from that curse, loosed from that prison;
From all that ruin am I risen!
Pure still, the virgin moon beguiles
My azure passage with her smiles.

     Now! O what love divine redeems
     My death, and bathes it in her beams!
     What sacring transubstantiates
     My flesh and blood, and incarnates
     The quintessential Pan?  What shore
     Stretches beyond this secret door?
     Hail!  O thou sevenfold star of green,
     Thou fourfold glory --- all this teen
     Caught up in ecstasy --- a boon
     To pass me singing through the moon!

Nay!  I knew not what glory shone
Gold from the breathless bliss beyond:
But this I know that I am gone
To the heart of God's great diamond!

     I match, &c.                       {329}

                 KETHER

I am passed through the abyss of flame.
Hear ye that I am that I am!

                THE RETURN

Behold!  I clothe mine awful light
In yonder body born of night.
Its mind be open to he higher!
Its heart be lucid-luminous!
The Temple of its own desire
The Temple of the Rosy Cross!

As Horus sped the flame, Harpocrates
Receive the flame, and set the soul at ease.
I who was One am One, all light
Balanced within me, ordered right,
As it was ever to the initiate's ken,
Is now, and shall be evermore.  Amen.


           THE ASCENT UNTO DAÄTH

Come unto Me, ye, the Divine Lords of the Forces of Intelligence:  Whose
     Abode is in the Place of the Gathering of the Waters.
Come unto Me, ye in whom the Secrets of Truth have their Abiding.
Come unto Me, O Tzaphqial, Aralim, Qashial, by the white Threefold Star,
     and in the Name of IHVH ELOHIM. {330}
Cause ye the Paths of Wrath to be opened unto me; that I may advance over
     the Tree of Life unto the Place of the River.

I stand upon the Northern Quarter of the Universe of Matter, and around me
     glows the Ruddy Flame of Earth.
Before me is the Portal of the Path of the Spirit of the Primal Flame:
     Thence gleameth the Red Glory into the World of Assiah.

          Lift up your Heads O ye Gates!
          And be ye lifted up, ye Everlasting Doors!
          And the King of Glory shall come in.

I am come forth from the Gates of Matter:
I advance over the Path of Primal Flame:
And about me the Glory of the Fire is established.
Vast before me in the distance looms the Portal of the Glory.
I am come before the Gates of the Glory of God:
I cry against them in the Name of Elohim Tzebaoth.

          Lift up your Heads O ye gates, &c.

Behind me is the Portal of the Primal Fire:
Behind me is the Golden Path of Sol:
At my right hand is the Ruddy Light of Mars:
And before me is the Gateway of the Waters of the Primal Sea.

In the Vast Name of AL the All Enduring
Let me pass through the gate of the Waters of the Primal Sea.

          Lift up your Heads, O ye Gates, &c. {331}

I am come forth from the Gates of the Glory;
Around me are breaking the waters of the Primal Sea:
My path is in the Deep Waters,
And my footsteps are in the Unknown.

Vast before me is the Portal of Geburah:
Behind it is gleaming the Fire of the Wrath of God:
I cry against Thee in the name of Elohim Gibor:
Open unto me, Gateway of God the Mighty!

          Lift up your Heads O ye Gates, &c.

I am come forth from the Path of the Waters:
I stand in the World of the Power of God:
I turn my face to the Right, and the Gate of the Lion is before me ---
Gate of the Path of the Lion, in the Sign of the Lion do thou open before
     my face.
          Lift up your Heads O ye Gates, &c.

I advance over the Path of the Leader of the Lion,
By the Power of the Daughter of the Flaming Sword.
About me the Lions are roaring for their prey;
But I am Sekhet, of the Flaming Eyes.
Turned is my face to the left,
And the Priestess of the Silver Star is my guide.
Now am I come forth upon the Path of the Lion,
And my thought in the Place of the gathering of the Waters.
I am the Established one in Daäth!
In me is the Knowledge of Good and of Evil!
In me is the Knowledge of the Light Supernal!
And my face is turned downward unto Malkuth.  {332}

   Like all other methods, these, Travelling in the Spirit Vision and
Rising on the Planes, are only to be judged by their success.  It is
impossible to lay down a single task for each individual; one may suit one,
and another another; nevertheless it must be pointed out here that though
these two methods, or rather two phases of one method, are in most cases
fruitful in result, it is generally but a slight step forward, and very
seldom does supreme illumination follow.  However, as appetisers they are
excellent, the student attaining to just that hunger for the Beyond, that
appetite for the Unobtainable, which will carry him over many a gloomy
mood, many a whispering of the impossibility of his task.  Yet that they
can accomplish more than this is also certain: to a few they have unlocked
the Portal, to the many the Postern; but in all cases it is best that the
student should place himself under the guidance of one who has actually
travelled, and not trust to his own intuitions in an unknown land, for, if
he do so, he will almost of a certainty be led astray, and Obsession may
take the place of Illumination, and failure that of success.
   Between the grades 4° = 7° and 5° = 6° seven months had to
elapse, and during this time we find P. busily travelling the British Isles
searching for a suitable house wherein to perform the Operation of
Abramelin the Mage, which ever since the previous autumn had engaged his
attention.  In the month of May he had met D. D. C. F. 7° = 4°,
official head of the Order of the Golden Dawn.  But he was still bent on
carrying out the Operation of Abramelin, and journeyed to and fro all over
the country endeavouring to discover a suitable dwelling for the necessary
Retirement.  Thus it came about that in {333} October of this year we find
him settled in a remote and desolate district, a tumbled chaos of lake and
mountain, in an ancient manor-house, making all necessary arrangements for
this great operation in Ceremonial Magic.





[The continuation of Book, II. will appear in Nos., III. and IV.
                        of THE EQUINOX.]






{334}