2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries/2,000 Greater and Lesser Mysteries.iso/equinox/mys00586.txt

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THE EQUINOX  Vol. I.   No. V   1st part

June 17, 1990 e.v. key entry by Bill Heidrick, T.G. of O.T.O.  with co-entry
of the second part by Rusty Sporer
--- needs proof reading
(c) O.T.O.   disk 1 of 2

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)


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

{Illustration to this page described:

The top 1/5th of this page has a black and white rendering of the Keheprah
scarab beetle.  It shows a scarab beetle holding a sun disk between its hind
legs at top and a smaller moon disk between its front legs at the bottom.  The
body of the scarab is upside-down, even though the legs are as described.
Horizontally to left and right are two wings, very stylized, with primaries,
secondaries and coverlet feathers depicted.}


                              THE WINGED BEETLE

                             By ALEISTER CROWLEY

              PRIVATELY PRINTED: TO BE HAD THROUGH "THE EQUINOX"

                             300 copies, 10"s." net

           50 copies on handmade paper, specially bound, "£"1 1"s." net

                                    __┼__

                                   CONTENTS

ROSA Coeli --- Abjad-i-al'ain --- The Hermit --- The Wizard Way --- The Wings
--- The Garden of Janus --- The Two Secrets --- The Priestess of Panormita ---
The Hawk and the Babe --- The Duellists --- Athor and Asar --- After Judgment
--- The Five Adorations -- Telepathy --- The Swimmer --- The Muse --- The God
and the Girl --- Rosemary --- Au Bal --- Disappointment --- The Octopus ---
The Eyes of Dorothy --- Bathyllus --- The Mantra-Yogi --- The Poet and his
Muse --- Lilith --- Sport and Marriage --- The Twins --- The Convert --- The
Sorceress --- The Child --- Clytie --- A Slim Gilt Soul --- The Silence of
Columbine --- The Archaeologist --- The Ladder --- Belladonna --- The Poet at
Bay --- Ut --- Rosa Decidua --- The Circle and the Point --- In Memoriam ---
Ad Fidelem Infidelem --- The Sphinx --- The Jew of Fez --- The Pentagram ---
Song --- An Hymn --- Prologue to Rodin in Rime --- The Camp Fire --- Ave
Adonai --- The Wild Ass --- The Opium-Smoker --- In Manu Dominae.
   Mr. Todd: a Morality.
   TRANSLATIONS: L'Amour et le Crâne --- L'Alchimie de Douleur --- Le Vampire
--- Le Balcon --- Le Gout de L'Infini --- L'Héautontimoroumenos --- Le vin de
L'Assassin --- Woman --- Tout Entière --- Le vin des Amants --- Le Revenant
--- Lola de Valence --- Le Beau Navire --- L'Invitation au Voyage --- Epilogue
to "Petits Poèms en Prose" --- Colloque Sentimental --- En Sourdine --- The
Magician



                      MR. NEUBURG'S NEW VOLUME OF POEMS.

"                            "Imperial" 16mo, pp. 200

                               ________________

"                 "Now ready.  Order through" The Equinox, "or of"
                               ""any Bookseller."

                             THE TRIUMPH OF PAN.

                         POEMS By VICTOR B. NEUBURG.

   This volume, containing many poems, --- nearly all of them hitherto
unpublished --- besides THE TRIUMPH OF PAN, includes THE ROMANCE OF OLIBA
VANE.
   The First Edition is limited to Two Hundred and Fifty copies: Two Hundred
and Twenty on ordinary paper, whereof less than Two Hundred are for sale; and
thirty on Japanese vellum, of which Twenty-five are for sale.  These latter
copies are numbered, and signed by the Author.  The binding is half-parchment
with crimson sides; the ordinary copies are bound in crimson boards, half
holland.
   The price of ordinary copies is Five Shillings net; of the special copies,
One Guinea net.

                      EXTRACTS FROM FIRST NOTICES.

   "Not everyone will care for Mr. Neuburg's tone in all the pieces, but he is
undoubtedly a poet to be reckoned with, and a volume so original as this is
should create no small stir.  It is superbly produced by the publishers." ---
"Sussex Daily News."
   "When one comes to the poems ... it is evident that they are written in
English.... In a certain oblique and sub-sensible sense, eloquent and
musical....Distinctly Wagnerian in their effects...." --- "Scotsman."
   "It is full of 'the murmurous monotones of whispering lust,' 'the song of
young desire,' and that kind of poppycock." --- "London Opinion."
   "A competent master of words and rhythms. ... His esoteric style is
unreasonably obscure from an intelligent plain poetry-lover's standpoint."
--- "Morning Leader."
   "A charming volume of poems... Pagan glamour ... passion and vigour. ...
'Sigurd's Songs' are commendable for dealing with the all too largely
neglected Scandinavian Theology. ... A scholarly disciple. ... The entire
volume is eminently recommendable." --- "Jewish Chronicle."
   "A gorgeous rhapsody. ... Fortunately, there are the police. ... On the
whole, we cannot help regretting that such splendid powers of imagination and
expression are flung away in such literary rioting." --- "Light."
   "Sometimes of much beauty of rhythm and phrase. ..." ---"Times."
   "Poets who have any originality deserve to be judged by their own standard.
... A Neo-mystic or semi-astrological pantheist. ..." --- "Liverpool Echo."
   "Love-making appears to have an added halo in his eyes if it is associated
with delirium or bloodshed. ... Mr. Neuburg has a 'careless rapture' all his
own; the carelessness, indeed, is just the trouble.  His versification is
remarkable, and there is something impressive in its mere fluency. ... So
luxurious, so rampant, a decadence quickly palls. ... On the whole, this book
must be pronounced a quite grievous exhibition of recklessness and folly." ---
"Manchester Guardian."
   "...We began to be suspicious of him. ... Hardly the sort of person we
should care to meet on a dark night with a knobby stick in his hand. ... This
clever book." --- "Academy."
   "A vivid imagination fostered by a keen and loving insight of nature, and
this allied to a command of richly adorned language ... have already assured
for the author a prominent place amongst present-day poets. ... An
enthusiastic devotion to classic song ... sustained metrical charm.  From the
first to last the poet's work is an important contribution to the century's
literature." --- "Publishers' Circular."
   "This [book] contains the answer to a very well-known riddle propounded by
the late Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  You remember she asked in one of her
poems, 'What was he doing to Great God Pan: Down in the reeds by the River?'
Well, Mr. Victor Neuburg has discovered the answer, for he was obviously
wandering near the river if he was not hidden in the reeds. ..." --- "Robert
Ross in "The Bystander."
   "There is no question about the poetic quality of much of Mr. Neuburg's
verse. ... We are given visions of love which open new amorous possibilities."
--- "Daily Chronicle."


                    Demy 8vo.  Cloth gilt.  4s.  6d.  net
                              __________________
                         ALCHEMY: Ancient and Modern.
Being a brief account of the Alchemistic Doctrines, and their relations to
Mysticism on the one hand, and to recent discoveries in Physical Science on
the other hand; together with some particulars regarding the lives and
teachings of the most noted Alchemists.
                           BY H. STANLEY REDGROVE.
                             B.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S
         AUTHOR OF "ON THE CALCULATION OF THERMO-CHEMICAL CONSTANTS,"
                    "MATTER, SPIRIT, AND THE COSMOS," ETC.
"                     "WITH SIXTEEN FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS"
"           "(including Portraits of the most celebrated Alchemists)."
                              __________________
 CONTENTS: THE MEANING OF ALCHEMY --- THE THEORY OF PHYSICAL ALCHEMY --- THE
    ALCHEMISTS --- THE OUTCOME OF ALCHEMY --- THE AGE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY
                             --- MODERN ALCHEMY.
"                         ""Some Opinions of the Press."
   "A thoroughly well-informed study of the subject, which has the merit of
being more sympathetic than such studies often are, and not less learned." ---
"The Scotsman."
   "This book is worth reading as a study in parallelism, and it has the merit
of being written by one who is thoroughly well acquainted with both sides of
his subject." --- "The Observer."
   "Mr. Redgrove gives a careful and unbiassed account of alchemy, and traces
its progress until it is absorbed by scientific chemistry.  he also gives,
from the layman's point of view, perhaps the most lucid account that has yet
been rendered of the modern theories of matter and the ether." --- "The Outlook"
   "This remarkable book." --- "T.P.'s Weekly."
   "Exceedingly interesting book." --- "Modern Society."
   "This unexpectedly arresting book. ... Some of the author's accounts of
what was done and believed by the masters in alchemy are most instructive. ...
Highly suggestive comparisons between the old men and the latter-day trend of
science." --- "Manchester City News."

_____________________________________________________________________________

"               "Ready early in March. " 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 "in." 560 "pp."
                                _____________
                       DEATH: Its Causes and Phenomena.

                    WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO IMMORTALITY.
                            BY HEREWARD CARRINGTON
Late Member of the Council of the American Institute for Scientific Research.
  Author of "Vitality, Fasting, and Nutrition," "The Coming Science," "The
                Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism," etc. etc.
                                     AND
                                JOHN R. MEADER
                               ("GRAHAM HOOD")
 Member of the American Statistical Society and of the Society for Psychical
               Research, Author of "The Laws of Success," etc.
                                ______________
                                  CONTENTS.
   PREFACE.  PART I. "Physiological." --- I. The Scientific Aspect of Life and
Death.  II. The Signs of Death.  III. Trance, Catalepsy, Suspended Animation,
etc.  IV. Premature Burial.  V. Burial, Cremation, Mummification.  VI. The
Causes of Death.  VII. Old Age; its Scientific Study.  By Hereward Carrington.
VIII. My Own Theory of Death.  By Hereward Carrington.  IX. My Own Theory of
Death.  By John R. Meader.  X. On the Possible Unification of our Theories.
XI. The "Questionnaire" on Death.  Answers.  XII. General Conclusions.
   PART II. "Historic Speculations on Death." --- I. Man's Theories about
Immortality.  II. The Philosophical Aspect of Death and Immortality.  III. The
Theological Aspect of Death and Immortality.  IV. The Common Arguments for
Immortality.
   PART III. "Scientific Attempts to Solve the Problem." --- Introductory.  I.
The Moment of Death.  II. Visions of the Dying.  III. Death Described from
Beyond the Veil.  IV. Experiments in Photographing and Weighting the Soul.  V.
Death Coincidences.  VI. The Testimony of Science --- Psychical Research.
VII. On the Intra-Cosmic Difficulties of Communication.  VIII. Conclusions.
                      Appendices.  Bibliography.  Index.
                        _____________________________




                       The Star in the West

                               BY

                     CAPTAIN J. F. C. FULLER

            "FOURTH LARGE EDITION NOW IN PREPARATION"

             THROUGH THE EQUINOX AND ALL BOOKSELLERS

                        SIX SHILLINGS NET

              -------------------------------------

              A highly original study of morals and
              religion by a new writer, who is as
              entertaining as the average novelist is
              dull.  Nowadays human thought has
              taken a brighter place in the creation:
              our emotions are weary of bad baronets
              and stolen wills; they are now only
              excited by spiritual crises, catastrophes of
              the reason, triumphs of the intelligence.
              In these fields Captain Fuller is a master
              dramatist.

              -------------------------------------




"This page is reserved for Official Pronouncements by the Chancellor"
"       of the A".'." A".'.]


   Persons wishing for information, assistance, further

interpretation, etc., are requested to communicate with

            THE CHANCELLOR OF THE A.'. A.'.

                   c/o THE EQUINOX,

                             124 Victoria Street,

                                              S.W.
      Telephone 3210 VICTORIA,

or to call at that address by appointment.  A representative

will be there to meet them.


                ----------------------


   Probationers are reminded that the object of Probations

and Ordeals is one: namely, to select Adepts.  But the

method appears twofold: (i) to fortify the fit; (ii) to

eliminate the unfit.


                ----------------------


   The Chancellor of the A.'. A.'. views without satisfaction

the practice of Probationers working together.  A Probationer

should work with his Neophyte, or alone.  Breach of this rule

may prove a bar to advancement.





                         THE EQUINOX










"                    "The Editor will be glad to consider"
                    "contributions and to return such as"
                    "are unacceptable if stamps are enclosed"
                    "           for the purpose"




                            THE EQUINOX
                 THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE A.'. A.'.
                THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC ILLUMINISM

An. VII                   VOL. I. NO. V.               Sun in Aries


                          MARCH MCMXI

                               O.S.


            "THE METHOD OF SCIENCE---THE AIM OF RELIGION"












                           CONTENTS

                                                                    PAGE
EDITORIAL                                                              1

LIBER HHH                                                              5

THE BLIND PROPHET.  BY ALEISTER CROWLEY                               15

THE TRAINING OF THE MIND.  BY ANANDA METTEYA                          28

THE SABBATH.  BY ETHEL RAMSAY                                         60

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING                                        65

A NOCTURNE.  BY VICTOR B. NEUBURG                                    121

THE VIXEN.  BY FRANCIS BENDICK                                       125

THE PILGRIM.  BY ALEISTER CROWLEY                                    130

MY CRAPULOUS CONTEMPORARIES, NO. IV. --- WISDOM WHILE
    YOU WAITE.  BY ALEISTER CROWLEY                                  133

X-RAYS ON EX-PROBATIONERS.  BY PERDURABO                             142

THE VAMPIRE.  BY ETHEL ARCHER                                        143

THE BIG STICK                                                        144

CORRESPONDENCE                                                       158

                    "SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT"

LIBER CCCCXVIII (XXX AERUM)                                            1

STOP PRESS REVIEWS                                                   177







                                  EDITORIAL

THE price of this Magazine is now six shillings, and the size reduced.  If the
whole edition is sold immediately, there should be a matter of eighteenpence
left to pay those who have toiled day and night, six months, to bring it to
perfection.
                 *        *        *        *        *

   Readers can help us: firstly, by buying the Edition de Luxe; secondly, by
buying copies for their friends; and thirdly, by advertising with us, or
inducing others to do so.
                 *        *        *        *        *

   After the 21st of April 1911, copies of No. II. of THE EQUINOX, of which
only a few remain, will be sold at ten shillings, instead of five as hitherto.
   I should like to call attention to the immense amount of important material
that awaits publication.  There is the Sepher Sephiroth, referred to in this
section of the Temple of Solomon the King; the complete writings of Dr Dee and
Sir Edward Kelly; a tremendous volume on the Tarot; du Potet's "Magic
Unveiled," translated by John Yarker, the venerable Grand Master General of
the A. and P. rite of Masonry; the Key of the Greater Mysteries, by Eliphas
{1} Levi, and many other important MSS.  All this has cost untold labour to me
and my colleagues; but the difficulties of editing and publishing still
confront us.
   I am therefore appealing for helpers among those who are interested in the
clear and scholarly statement of what the famous adepts of the past have
thought and handed down, either by word or pen.
                 *        *        *        *        *

   777 is almost out of print.  Less than 100 copies remain.1  A new edition
is in preparation, but will not be issued in all probability for two years at
least.  Verb. sap.
                 *        *        *        *        *

   I have been asked by Authority to say a few words on the relations which
should subsist between a Neophyte and his Probationers.  Though a Neophyte is
obliged to show "zeal in service" towards his probationers, it is no part of
his duty to be continually beating the tattoo.  He has his own work to do ___
very serious and important work ___ and he cannot be expected to spend all his
time in making silk purses out of pigs' ears.  He is not expected to set
definite tasks, nor has he authority to do so.  The Probationer is purposely
left to himself, as the object of probation is principally that those in
authority may discover the nature of the raw material.  It is the duty of the
Probationer to perform the exercises recommended in his text-books, and to
submit the record of his results for criticism.  If he hinds himself in a
difficulty, or if any unforeseen result occurs, he should communicate with his
Neophyte, and he should {2} remember that although he is permitted to select
the practices which appeal to him, he is expected to show considerable
acquaintance with all of them.  More than acquaintance, it should be
experience; otherwise what is he to do when as a Neophyte he is consulted by
his Probationers?  It is important that he should be armed at all points, and
        1  WEH NOTE:  This false statement by George Raffalovich led to
          Crowley withdrawing the large remainder from sales and breaking
          with Raffalovich.
I am authorised to say that no one will be admitted as a Neophyte unless his
year's work gives evidence of considerable attainment in the fundamental
practices, Asana, Pranayama, assumption of God-formns, vibration of divine
names, rituals of banishing and invoking, and the practices set out in
sections 5 and 6 of Liber O.  Although he is not examined in any of these, the
elementary experience is necessary in order that he may intelligently assist
those who will be under him.
   But let no one imagine that those in authority will urge probationers to
work hard.  Those who are incapable of hard work may indeed be pushed along,
but the moment that the pressure is removed they will fall back, and it is not
the purpose of the A. A. to do anything else than to make its students
independent and free.  Full instruction has been placed within the reach of
everybody; let them see to it that they make full use of that instruction.





{3}











                                  LIBER HHH

                                  SVB FIGVRA

                                    CCCXLI






                                 A.'. A.'.
                           Publication in Class D.
                                 Imprimatur:
                             N. Fra A.'. A.'.










                                  LIBER HHH

   "Sunt duo modi per quos homo fit Deus: Tohu et Bohu.
   "Mens quasi flamma surgat, aut quasi puteus aquae quiescat.
   "Alteri modi sunt tres exempli, qui illis extra limine collegii sancti dati
sunt.
   "In hoc primo libro sunt Aquae Contemplationis."
   "Two are the methods of becoming God: the Upright and the Averse.  Let the"
"Mind become as a flame, or as a well of still water."
"   Of each method are three principal examples given to them that are without"
"the Threshold."
"   In this first book are written the Reflexions"

   "Sunt tres contemplationes quasi halitus in mente humana abysso inferni.
Prima, Nu epsilon kappa rho omicron sigma ; secunds, Pi upsilon rho alpha mu iota sigma ;
tertia Phi alpha lambda lambda omicron sigma  vocatur.  Et hae reflexiones aquaticae sunt
trium enthusiasmorum, Apollonis, Dionysi, Veneris.
   "Tota stella est Nechesh et Messiach, nomen HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph  cum
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod  conjunctum."
   "There are three contemplations as it were breaths in the human mind, that"
"is the Abyss of Hell: the first is called" Nu epsilon kappa rho omicron sigma ", the"
"second" Pi upsilon rho alpha mu iota sigma ", and the third"
"Phi alpha lambda lambda omicron sigma "."
"   These are the watery reflexions of the three enthusiasms; those of Apollo,"
"Dionysys, and Aphrodite."
"   The whole star is Nechesh and Messiach, the name" HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph " joined"
"with "HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod "."  {7}






                                  LIBER HHH

                              SUB FIGURA CCCXLI.

                  CONTINET CAPITULA TRES: MMM, AAA, ET SSS.

                                      I

                                    M M M

   "I remember a certain holy day in the dusk of the Year, in the dusk of the
Equinox of Osiris, when first I beheld thee visibly; when first the dreadful
issue was fought out; when the Ibis-headed One charmed away the strife.  I
remember thy first kiss, even as a maiden should.  Nor in the dark byways was
there another: thy kisses abide."  --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI. VII. 15, 16.

   0. Be seated in thine Asana, wearing the robe of a Neophyte, the hood
drawn.
   1. It is night, heavy and hot; there are no stars.  Not one breath of wind
stirs the surface of the sea, that is thou.  No fish play in thy depths.
   2. Let a Breath rise and ruffle the waters.  This also thou shalt feel
playing upon thy skin.  It will disturb thy meditation twice or thrice, after
which thou shouldst have conquered this distraction.  But unless thou first
feel it, that Breath hath not arisen.
   3. Next, the night is riven by the lightning flash.  This also shalt thou
feel in thy body, which shall shiver and leap with the shock, and that also
must both be suffered and overcome.  {8}
   4. After the lightning flash, resteth in the zenith a minute point of
light.  And this light shall radiate until a right cone be established upon
the sea, and it is day.
   With this thy body shall be rigid, automatically; and this shalt thou let
endure, withdrawing thyself into thine heart in the form of an upright Egg of
blackness; and therein shalt thou abide for a space.
   5. When all this is perfectly and easily performed at will, let the
aspirant figure to himself a struggle with the whole force of the Universe.
In this he is only saved by his minuteness.
   But in the end he is overthrown by Death, who covers him with a black
cross.
   6. So lying, let him aspire fervently unto the Holy Guardian Angel.
   7. Now let him resume his former posture.
   Two and twenty times shall he figure to himself that he is bitten by a
serpent, feeling even in his body the poison thereof.  And let each bite be
healed by an eagle or hawk, spreading its wings above his head, and dropping
thereupon a healing dew.  But let the last bite be so terrible a pang at the
nape of the neck that he seemeth to die, and let the healing dew be of such
virtue that he leapeth to his feet.
   8. Let there be now placed within his egg a red cross, then a green cross,
then a golden cross, then a silver cross; or those things which these shadow
forth.  Herein is silence; for he that hath rightly performed the meditation
will understand the inner meaning hereof, and it shall serve as a test of
himself and his fellows.  {9}
   9. Let him now remain in the Pyramid or Cone of Light, as an Egg, but no
more of blackness.
  10. Then let his body be in the position of the Hanged Man, and let him
aspire with all his force unto the Holy Guardian Angel.
  11. The grace having been granted unto him, let him partake mystically of
the Eucharist of the Five Elements and let him proclaim Light in Extension;
yea, let him proclaim Light in Extension.


                                      II

                                    A A A

   "These loosen the swathings of the corpse; these unbind the feet of Osiris,
so that the flaming God may rage through the firmament with his fantastic
spear."   --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI. VII. III.

   0. Be seated in thine Asana, or recumbent in Shavasana, or in the position
of the dying Buddha.
   1. Think of thy death; imagine the various diseases that may attack thee,
or accidents overtake thee.  Picture the process of death, applying always to
thyself.
   (A useful preliminary practice is to read textbooks of Pathology, and to
visit museums and dissecting-rooms.)
   2. Continue this practice until death is complete; follow the corpse
through the stages of embalming, wrapping and burial.
   3. Now imagine a divine breath entering thy nostrils.
   4. Next, imagine a divine light enlightening the eyes.
   5. Next, imagine the divine voice awakening the ears.
   6. Next, imagine a divine kiss imprinted on the lips.
   7. Next, imagine the divine energy informing the nerves {10} and muscles of
the body, and concentrate on the phenomenon which will already have been
observed in 3, the restoring of the circulation.
   8. Last, imagine the return of the reproductive power, and employ this to
the impregnation of the Egg of light in which man is bathed.
   9. Now represent to thyself that this Egg is the Disk of the Sun, setting
in the west.
  10. Let it sink into blackness, borne in the bark of heaven, upon the back
of the holy cow Hathor.  And it may be that thou shalt hear the moaning
thereof.
  11. Let it become blacker than all blackness.  And in this meditation thou
shalt be utterly without fear, for that the blankness that will appear unto
thee is a thing dreadful beyond all thy comprehension.
   And it shall come to pass that if thou hast well and properly performed
this meditation that on a sudden thou shalt hear the drone and booming of a
Beetle.
  12. Now then shall the Blackness pass, and with rose and gold shalt thou
arise in the East, with the cry of an Hawk resounding in thine ear.  Shrill
shall it be and harsh.
  13. At the end shalt thou rise and stand in the mid-heaven, a globe of
glory.  And therewith shall arise the mighty Sound that holy men have likened
unto the roaring of a Lion.
  14. Then shalt thou withdraw thyself from the Vision, gathering thyself into
the divine form of Osiris upon his throne.
  15. Then shalt thou repeat audibly the cry of triumph of {11} the god
rearisen, as it shall have been given unto thee by thy Superior.
  16. And this being accomplished, thou mayest enter again into the Vision,
that thereby shall be perfected in Thee.
  17. After this shalt thou return into the body, and give thanks unto the
Most High God IAIDA, yea unto the Most High God IAIDA.
  18. Mark well that this operation should be performed if it be possible in a
place set apart and consecrated to the Works of the Magick of Light.  Also
that the Temple should be ceremonially open as thou hast knowledge and skill
to perform, and that at the end thereof the closing should be most carefully
accomplished.  But in the preliminary practice it is enough to cleanse thyself
by ablution, by robing, and by the rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram.
   0-2 should be practised at first, until some realisation is obtained; and
the practice should always be followed by a divine invocation of Apollo or of
Isis or of Jupiter or of Serapis.
   Next, after a swift summary of 0-2, practise 3-7.
   This being mastered, add 8.
   Then add 9-13.
   Then being prepared and fortified, well fitted for the work, perform the
whole meditation at one time.  And let this be continued until perfect success
be attained therein.  For this is a mighty meditation and holy, having power
even upon Death; yea, having power even upon Death.

   (Note by Fra. O.M.  At any time during this meditation, the concentration
may bring about Samadhi.  This is to be feared and shunned, more than any
other breaking of control, for that it is the most tremendous of the forces
which threaten to obsess.  There is also some danger of acute delirious
melancholia at point 1.) {12}


                                     III

                                    S S S

   "Thou art a beautiful thing, whiter than a woman in the column of this
vibration.
   "I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
   "But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.
   "Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my Soul!  Thy God is like the cold
emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou radiatest thy little light.
   "When Thou shalt know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in Thy
great N.O.X."   --- LIBER LAPIDIS LAZULI. I. 36-40.

   0. Be seated in thine Asana, preferably the Thunderbolt.
   It is essential that the spine be vertical.
   1. In this practice the cavity of the brain is the Yoni; the spinal cord is
the Lingam.
   2. Concentrate thy thought of adoration in the brain.
   3. Now begin to awaken the spine in this manner.  Concentrate thy thought
of thyself in the base of the spine, and move it gradually up a little at a
time.
   By this means thou wilt become conscious of the spine, feeling each
vertebra as a separate entity.  This must be achieved most fully and perfectly
before the further practice is begun.
   4. Next, adore the brain as before, but figure to thyself its content as
infinite.  Deem it to be the womb of Isis, or the body of Nuit.
   5. Next, identify thyself with the base of the spine as before, but figure
to thyself its energy as infinite.  Deem it to be the phallus of Osiris or the
being of Hadit.
   6. These two concentrations 4 and 5 may be pushed to the point of Samadhi.
Yet lose not control of the will; let not Samadhi be thy master herein.
   7. Now then, being conscious both of the brain and the spine, and
unconscious of all else, do thou imagine the {13} hunger of the one for the
other; the emptiness of the brain, the ache of the spine, even as the
emptiness of space and the aimlessness of Matter.
   And if thou hast experience of the Eucharist in both kinds, it shall aid
thine imagination herein.
   8. Let this agony grow until it be insupportable, resisting by will every
temptation.  Not until thine whole body is bathed in sweat, or it may be in
sweat of blood, and until a cry of intolerable anguish is forced from thy
closed lips, shalt thou proceed.
   9. Now let a current of light, deep azure flecked with scarlet, pass up and
down the spine, striking as it were upon thyself that art coiled at the base
as a serpent.
   Let this be exceedingly slow and subtle; and though it be accompanied with
pleasure, resist; and though it be accompanied with pain, resist.
  10. This shalt thou continue until thou art exhausted, never relaxing the
control.  Until thou canst perform this one section 9 during a whole hour,
proceed not.  And withdraw from the meditation by an act of will, passing into
a gentle Pranayama without Kumbhakham, and meditating on Harpocrates, the
silent and virginal God.
   11. Then at last, being well-fitted in body and mind, fixed in peace,
beneath a favourable heaven of stars, at night, in calm and warm weather,
mayst thou quicken the movement of the light until it be taken up by the brain
and the spine, independently of thy will.
   12. If in this hour thou shouldst die, is it not written: "Blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord"?  Yea, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord!

{14}







                              THE BLIND PROPHET

                                   A BALLET


                                      BY

                               ALEISTER CROWLEY





                              THE BLIND PROPHET

                                   A BALLET

"
"The scene is an ancient Egyptian temple, supported by two mighty pillars.  Two"
     "rows of marble seats form a semi-circle, cut by a gap covered by a veil"
     "in the East.  On the upper seats are the musicians, flutes and violins;"
     "on the lower are singers and dancers.  There are doors also at the North"
     "and South."

"       "The Prophet."  Lead me to the holy place!
             Trace the circle widdershins!
           Light the incense!  Set the pace
             To the flutes and violins!

"       "The Musicians."  Kill! kill!  Life is shrill!
           Still!  Still! word and will!
       Flame! flame! speak the name!
       Trill! trill!  Thrill! thrill!
       I acclaim the shame!
       I have heard the word!
       Fulfil the will!

"       "The Prophet."  Bid the virgins veil the bride!
             Lead her forth, a shower of spray, {17}
           A flower of foam upon the tide,
             A fleece of cloud upon the day!

           So my sightless eyes may see
             In the transcendental trance
           The virgin of eternity
             Lead the demi-gods to dance.

           Has the Tree of Life its root
             In the soul or in the skin?
           Is it God, or is it brute,
             That comes mystically in
           For the doves within the flute,
             The eagles on the violin?

           Ah!  The perfume's coiling tresses
             Curl like veils upon the limbs
           Of the dancer that caresses
             With her flying feet the hymns
           That flow and ripple in the air,
             Bathing all the doves of prayer!

"       "The Musicians."  Lingering, low, fingering slow,
           The tingling bows of the violins go.
           Trembling, twittering, dissembling,
           The lips of the flute-players wander
           Over the stops, fiercer and fonder
           Than scorpions that writhe and curl
           In the fiery breast of an Arab girl!
                      ["The dancers issue from beyond the veil."  {18}

"       "The Prophet."  Sway like the lilies, gentle girls!
             Like lilies glimmer!
           Furl yourselves as he lily furls
             Its radiance dimmer!
           Curl as the lily-petal curls,
             Subtler and slimmer!

           Unfold your ranks and waft yourselves apart,
           That I may guess what pearl is at the heart,
           What dew-drop glistens on the crown gold-wrought
           Within the chalice of your coiled cohort!

"       "The Musicians."  the flutes coo.
           It is the voice
           Of love in spring,
           At dawn, in dew;
           And piercing through
           Those low loves that rejoice,
           Wails in the violin that supreme string
           Of passion, that is more akin
           To death than love, that shrieking sin
           Whose teeth tear passion's tortured skin
           And drink love's blood, and rage within
           Black bowels of lust to win, to win
           Some crown of thorns incarnadine,
           Some cross whereof to fashion
           Some newer, truer passion
           Than even the agony of the violin!

"       "The Prophet."  Yes! like a careless breeze, the close caress
           Expands with a sob; the virgins wheel; there glows {19}
           In the midst a mystical rose!

                      ["The dancers unfold, and their Queen appears."

           O musical ministress
           Of the dancing violin!
           In an emerald spangled skin,
           Hooded with harvest hair
           Close-coiled, her serpent eyes
           Hold ineffable sorceries!
           Slender, and full, and straight is she
          As an almond tree
           Blest by an hermit!  Her serpent eyes
           Hold ineffable sorceries!
           Slow she sways; her white arms ripple
           From rosy finger to rosy nipple,
           Ripple and flow like the melody
           Of the flutes and the violins.
           And!  I see!  I see --- she smiles on me
           The heart of a million sins,
           Each keener than death!  Her serpent eyes
           Hold ineffable sorceries.

"       "The Musicians."  Hush!  Hush! the young feet flush,
           The marble's ablush.
           The music moves trilling,
           Like wolves at the killing,
           Moaning and shrilling,
           And clear as the throb in the throat of a thrush!
           Rustling they sway
           Like a forest of rush
           In the storm, and away!  {20}
           Away!  Blow the blossoms
           Of virgin bosoms
           On the sob of the wind
           Of the violins,
           That bind and unbind
           Their scarlet sins
           On the brows of the world.
           Hush! they are curled
           In the rapture of reaping
           The flowers that unfurled
           When the gardeners were sleeping
           In the breeze-swayed bowers
           Of the Lord of the flowers!
           Hush!  Hush! the young feet flush
           The marble!  The temple's ablaze and ablush.
           Hush!  Hush! softer crush
           The grape on the palate, the flower on the blossom,
           The dream on the sleeper, the bride on the bosom!

"       "The Prophet."  Will she not deign, being drawn
           Into the blush of dawn,
           To yield the promise, to unveil
           The Lady of bliss and bale?

           I am old and blind; my vision
           Hath the seer in derision.
           I would set my lips between
             Those rose-tipped moons, just there
           Where the deciduous green
             Leaves the pearly rapture bare, {21}
           With its blue veins like rivulets
           Jewelled with gentians and violets,
           Wandering through fields of corn,
           Under the first kiss of the morn
             In still and shimmering air!

"       "The Queen of the Dancers."  No!  No! the weird is woe.
           The law is this, most surely this!
           That who hath seen may never kiss.
           The soul is at war with the flesh and the mind.
           Life is dumb, and love is blind.

"       "The Prophet."  I am the Prophet of the Gods.
           I have put these eyes out to attain
           To the crown of the pallid periods
           That pulse in the Almighty brain!
           I have striven all my life for this;
           That I might see, and still might kiss!

"       "The Musicians."  Vain!  Vain!  Time is sane.
           Fain!  Fain!  Space is plain.
           Time passes once, and is not found.
           Space divides once, not heals the wound.
           Knell!  Knell! the shattered shell
           That could not break the word of Hell.
           Whirl!  Whirl! the wanton girl
           (Curve, and coil, and close, and curl!)
           Slips the grip as the swallow avoids
           The leaps of the dog; or the moon, that sails
           Abeam to God's invisible gales,
           The clumsy caress of the asteroids!
           Love her in memory, love her in dream,  {22}
           Love her in hope, or love her in faith;
           But all these loves are loves that seem;
           The worst is a ghoul, the best is a wraith;
           For to birth
           On the earth
           There is no power under, within, or above,
           That can give thee love in truth and love.

"       "The Prophet."  Yet will I strive!
             There is nothing but this
           While I am alive
             But the cancer's kiss.
           If I fail in that
             Let the temple be broken,
           The pillars fall flat,
             The word by unspoken,
           The lights be extinct,
             The music be dumb,
           The circle unlinked,
             The acolytes numb,
           The altar defiled,
             The sacrament trod
           Under foot by the wild
             Despisers of god!

"       "The Musicians."  No!  No!  Life is woe.
           Thou dost not know
           How ineffably great
           Is the weight of Fate.
           Uncreate!
           Ultimate!     {23}
           Born of Hate!
           Brother of Woe!
           Despair its mate!
           Thou dost not know
           How giant great
           Is the grasp of Fate.

"       "The Dancers,"  Vainly Pursuing
           Impossible things,
           The swamp-adder wooing
           The lark with her wings!

"       "The Queen of the Dancers."  See how I glide ---
           Canst thou not hold me?
           In thine arms, at thy side ---
           Why not enfold me?

           Wisdom, awaken!
           Never, oh never,
           By wile or endeavour
           Am I to be taken.

           Will a wish or a word
           Charm the hawk from the air?
           And am I a bird
           To be caught in a snare?

           Will a word or a wish
           Bring the trout from the brook?
           And am I a fish
           To snap at an hook?

"       "The Prophet."  Ye let me to the holy place.
           All ye have mocked me to my face. {24}
           Now ends the age of living breath;
           I am sworn henchman unto death.
           Lead me to the obelisks
           That support the holy Disks!
           I am here; my grasp is firm,
           We are come unto the term.
           Temple, dancers, girls, musicians,
           Augurs, acolytes, magicians ---
           Ruin, ruin whelm us all!
           Fall!
                       ["He pulls down the pillars; but the temple"
       "                    was not supported on them as in his"
       "                    blindness he supposed; and he is himself"
       "                    his only victim."

"       "The Dancers,"  Twine! twine! rose and vine.
           Whirl! whirl! boy and girl.
           Mine! mine! maid divine.
           Curl! curl! peach and pearl.
           Twist! twist! the towering trances
           Are not sun-kissed
           Like our delicate dances.
           Expanses
           Of fancies,
           The turn of the ankle! the wave of the wrist
           Enhances
           Romances!
           Twine! twine! tread me a measure!
           The dotard is dead that disturbed our pleasure
           With his doubt
           About  {25}
           Souls and skins,
           And the quickened shoots
           Of pain that he tore
           From the heart's core
           Of the dreadful flutes
           And the terrible violins.
           Joy! joy! girl and boy!
           He is dead! let us laugh! let us dance! let us love!
           Leave the corpse there as it lies! we shall measure
           A new true dance around and above,
           And taste of the treasure,
           The torrent of pleasure!
           Curl! curl! peach and pearl!
           Mine! mine! maid divine!
           Whirl! whirl! boy and girl!
           Twine! twine! rose and vine.

"       "The Musicians."  Hush! hush! the young feet flush,
           The marble's ablush,
           The music moves trilling ---
           Like wolves at the killing,
           Moaning and shrilling,
           And clear as the throb in the throat of a thrush!
           Rustling they sway
           Like a forest of rush
           In the storm, and away!
           Away! blow the blossoms
           Of virgin bosoms
           On the sob of the wind
           Of the violins {26}
           That bind and unbind
           Their scarlet sins
           On the brows of the world.
           Hush! they are curled
           In the rapture of reaping
           The flowers that unfurled
           When the gardeners were sleeping
           In the breeze-swayed bowers
           Of the Lord of the Flowers!
           Hush!  Hush! the young feet flush
           The marble.  The temple's ablaze and ablush.
           Hush! hush! softer crush
           The grape on the palate, the bloom on the blossom,
           The dream on the sleeper, the bride on the blosom!

           "The Queen of the Dancers, in her prime pose."
       "        (Spoken without inflection or emphasis.)"
           Now do you understand the tragedy of life?





{27}







                           THE TRAINING OF THE MIND

THE Religion of the Buddhas is, in the most eminent sense of the word, a
Practical Philosophy.  It is not a collection of dogmas which are to be
accepted and believed with an unquestioning and unintelligent faith: but a
series of statements and propositions which, in the first place, are to be
intellectually grasped and comprehended; in the second, to be applied to every
action of our daily lives, to be practised, to be lived, up to the fullest
extent of our powers.  This fact of the essentially practical nature of our
Religion is again and again insisted upon in the Holy Books.  Though one man
should know by heart a thousand stanzas of the Law, and not practise it, he
has not understood the Dhamma.  That man who knows and "practises" one stanza of
the Law, he has understood the Dhamma, he is the true follower of the Buddha.
It is the practice of the Dhamma that constitutes the true Buddhist, not the
mere knowledge of its tenets; it is the carrying out of the Five Precepts, and
not their repetition in the Pali tongue; ti is the bringing home into our
daily lives of the Great Laws of Love and Righteousness that marks a man as
"Samma-ditthi;" and not the mere appreciation of the truth of that Dhamma as a
beautiful and poetic statement of Laws which are too hard to follow.  This
Dhamma has to be lived, to be {28} acted up to, to be felt as the supreme idol
in our hearts, as the supreme motive of our lives; and he who does this to the
best of his ability is the right follower of the Master; --- not he who calls
himself "Buddhist," but whose life is empty of the love the Buddha taught.
   And because our lives are very painful, because to follow the Good Law in
all our ways is very difficult, therefore we should not despair of ever being
able to walk in the way we have learned, and resign ourselves to living a life
full only of worldly desires and ways.  For has not the Master said, "Let no
man think lightly of good, saying 'it will not come nigh me' --- for even by
the falling of drops, the water-jar is filled.  The wise man becomes full of
Good, even if he gather it little by little"?  He who does his best, he who
strives, albeit failingly, to follow what is good, to eschew what is evil,
that man will grow daily the more powerful for his striving; and every wrong
desire overcome, each loving and good impulse acted up to, will mightily
increase our power to resist evil, will ever magnify our power of living the
life that is right.
   Now, the whole of this practice of Buddhism, the whole of the Good Law
which we who call ourselves "Buddhists" should strive to follow, has been
summed up by the Tathagata in one single stanza: ---
   "Avoiding the performance of evil actions, gaining merit by the performance
of good acts: and he purification of all our thoughts; --- this is the
Teaching of all the Buddhas."
   Therefore we that call ourselves Buddhists have so to live that we may
carry out the three rules here laid down.  We all know what it is to avoid
doing evil; --- we detail the acts {29} that are ill each time we take "Panca"
"Sila."  The taking of life, the taking of what does not rightly belong to us,
living a life of impurity, speaking what is not true, or what is cruel and
unkind, and indulging in drugs and drinks that undermine the mental and moral
faculties --- these are the evil actions that we must avoid.  Living in peace
and love, returning good for evil, having reverence and patience and humility
--- these are some part of what we know to be good.  And so we can all
understand, can all try to live up to, the first two clauses of this stanza;
we can all endeavour to put them into practice in our daily lives.  But the
way to purify the thought, the way to cultivate the thoughts that are good, to
suppress and overcome the thoughts that are evil, the practices by which the
mind is to be trained and cultivated; of these things less is known; they are
less practised, and less understood.
   And so the object of this paper is to set forth what is written in the
books of these methods of cultivating and purifying the mind; --- to set forth
how this third rule can be followed and lived up to; for in one way it is the
most important of all, it really includes the other two rules, and is their
crown and fruition.  the avoidance of evil, the performance of good: these
things will but increase the merits of our destinies, will lead but to new
lives, happier, and so more full of temptation, than that we now enjoy.  And
after that merit, thus gained, is spent and gone, the whirling of the great
Wheel of Life will bring us again to evil, and unhappy lives; --- for not by
the mere storing of merit can freedom be attained, it is not by mere merit
that we can come to the Great Peace.  This merit-gaining is secondary in
importance to the purification and culture of our thought, but it is
essential, because only by {30} the practice of "Sila" comes the power of Mental
Concentration that makes us free.1
   In order that we may understand how this final and principal aim of our
Buddhist Faith is to be attained, before we can see why particular practices
should thus purify the mind, it is necessary that we should first comprehend
the nature of this mind itself --- this thought that we seek to purify and to
liberate.
   In the marvellous system of psychology which has been declared to us by our
Teacher, the "Citta" or thought-stuff is shewn to consist of innumerable
elements which are called "Dhamma" or "Sankhára."  If we translate "Dhamma" or
"Sankhára" as used in this context as "Tendencies," we shall probably come
nearest to the English meaning of the word.  When a given act has been
performed a number of times; when a given thought has arisen in our minds a
number of times, there is a definite tendency to the repetition of that act; a
definite tendency to the recurrence of that thought.  Thus each mental Damma,
each Sankhára, tends to produce constantly its like, and be in turn
reproduced; and so at first sight it would seem as though there were no
possibility of augmenting the states that are good.  But, whilst our Master
has taught us of this tendency to reproduce that is so characteristic of all
mental states, he has also shewn us how this reproductive energy of the
Sankháras may itself be employed to the suppression of evil states, and to the
culture {31} of the states that are good.  For if a man has many and powerful
Sankháras in his nature, which tend to make him angry or cruel, we are taught
that he can definitely overcome those evil Sankháras by the practice of mental
concentration on Sankháras of an opposite nature; --- in practice by devoting
a definite time each day to meditating on thoughts of pity and of love.  Thus
he increases the Sankháras in his mind that tend to make men loving and
pitiful, and because "Hatred ceaseth not by hatred at any time, hatred ceaseth
by Love alone," therefore do those evil Sankháras of his nature, those
tendencies to anger and to cruelty, disappear before the rise of new good
tendencies of live and of pit, even as the darkness of the night fades in the
glory of the dawn.  Thus we see that one way --- and the best way --- of
overcoming bad Sankháras is the systematic cultivation, by dint of meditation,
of such qualities as are opposed to the evil tendencies we desire to
eliminate; and in the central and practical feature of the instance adduced,
the practice of definite meditation or mental concentration upon the good
Sankháras, we have the key to the entire system of the Purification and
Culture of the mind, which constitutes the practical working basis of the
Buddhist Religion.
   If we consider the action of a great and complex engine --- such a machine
as drives a steamship through the water --- we will see that there is, first
and foremost, one central and all-operationg source of energy; in this case
the steam which is generated in the boilers.  This energy in itself is neither
        1  Sila must then be defined as the discipline essential to Mental
          Concentration, and this will vary with Race, Climate,
          Individuality, etc. etc. --- A.C.
good nor bad --- it is simply "Power;" and whether that power does the useful
work of moving he ship, or the bad work of breaking loose, and destroying and
spoiling the ship, and {32} scalding men to death, and so on; all depends upon
the correct and co-ordinated operation of all the various parts of that
complex machinery.  If the slide-valves of the great cylinders open a little
too soon and so admit the steam before the proper time, much power will be
lost in overcoming the resistance of the steam itself.  If they remain open
too long, the expansive force of the steam will be wasted, and so again power
will be lost; and if they open too late, much of the momentum of the engine
will be used up in moving uselessly the great mass of the machinery.  And so
it is with every part of the engine.  In every part of the prime mover is that
concentrated expansive energy of the steam; but that energy must be applied in
each diverse piece of mechanism in exactly the right way, at exactly the right
time; otherwise, either the machine will not work at all, or much of the
energy of the steam will be wasted in overcoming its own opposing force.
   so it is with this subtle machinery of the mind, --- a mechanism infinitely
more complex, capable of far more power for good or for evil, than the most
marvellous of man's mechanical achievements, than the most powerful engine
ever made by human hands.  One great engine, at its worst, exploding, may
destroy a few hundred lives; at its best may carry a few thousand men, may
promote trade, and the comfort of some few hundred lives; but who can estimate
the power of one human mind, whether for good or for evil?  One such mind, the
mind of a man like Jesus Christ, may bring about the tortured death of many
million men, may wreck states and religions and dynasties, and cause untold
misery and suffering; another mind, employing the same manner of energy, but
rightly using that energy for the {33} benefit of others, may, like the
Buddha, bring hope into the hopeless lives of crores upon crores of human
beings, may increase by a thousandfold the pity and love of a third of
humanity, may aid innumerable lakhs of beings to come to that Peace for which
we all crave --- that Peace the way to which is so difficult to find.
   But the energy which these two minds employed is one and the same.  That
energy lies hidden in every human brain, it is generated with every pulsation
of every human heart, it is the prerogative of every being, and the sole mover
in the world of men.  There is no idea or thought, there is no deed, whether
good or gad, accomplished in this world, but that supreme energy, that steam-
power of our mental mechanism, is the mover and the cause.  It is by use of
this energy that the child learns how to speak; it is by its power that Christ
could bring sorrow into thousands of lives; it is by this power that the
Buddha conquered the hearts of one-third of men; it is by that force that so
many have followed him on the way which he declared --- the Nirvàna Marga, the
way to the Unutterable Peace.  The name of that power is Mental Concentration,
and there is nothing in this world, whether for good or for evil, but is
wrought by its application.  It weaves upon the loom of Time the fabric of
men's characters and destinies.  Name and Form are the twin threads with which
it blends the quick-flying shuttles of that Loom, men's good and evil thoughts
and deeds; and the pattern of that fabric is the outcome of innumerable lives.
   It is by the power of this Samadhi that the baby learns to walk, it is by
its power that Newton weighed these suns {34} and worlds.  It is the steam
power of this human organism, and what it does to make us great or little,
good or bad, is the result of the way in which the powers of the mind, all
these complex Sankháras, apply and use that energy.  If the Sankháras act well
together, if their varying functions are well co-ordinated, then that man has
great power, either for good or for evil; and when you see one of weak mind
and will, you may be sure that his Sankháras are working one against another;
and so the central power, this power of Samadhi, is wasted in one part of the
mind in overcoming its own energy in another.
   If a skilful engineer, knowing well the functions of each separate part of
an engine, were to have to deal with a machine whose parts did not work in
unison, and which thus frittered away the energy supplied to it, he would take
his engine part by part, adjusting here a valve and there an eccentric; he
would observe the effect of his alterations with every subsequent movement of
the whole engine, and so, little by little, would set all that machinery to
work together, till the engine was using to the full the energy supplied to
it.  And this is what we have to do with this mechanism of our minds --- each
one for himself.  First, earnestly to investigate our component Sankháras, to
see wherein we are lacking, to see wherein our mental energy is well used and
where it runs to waste; and then to keep adjusting, little by little, all
these working parts of our mind-engine, till each is brought to work in the
way that is desired, till the whole vast complex machinery of our being is all
working to one end, --- the end for which we are working, the goal which now
lies so far away, {35} yet not so far but that we may yet work for and attain
it.
   But how are we thus to adjust and to alter the Sankh'aras of our natures?
If a part of our mental machinery "will" use up our energy wrongly, "will" let our
energy leak into wrong channels, how are we to cure it?  Let us take another
example from the world of mechanics.  There is a certain part of a locomotive
which is called the slide-valve.  It is a most important part, because its
duty is to admit the steam to the working parts of the engine: and upon its
accurate performance of this work the whole efficiency of the locomotive
depends.  The great difficulty with this slide-valve consists in he fact that
its face must be perfectly, almost mathematically, smooth; and no machine has
yet been devised that can cut this valve-face smooth enough.  so what they do
is this: they make use of the very force of the steam itself, the very violent
action of steam, to plane down that valve-face to the necessary smoothness.
The valve, made as smooth as machinery can make it, is put in its place, and
steam is admitted; so that the valve is made to work under very great
pressure, and very quickly for a time.  As it races backwards and forwards,
under this unusually heavy pressure of steam, the mere friction against the
port-face of the cylinder upon which it moves suffices to wear down the little
unevennesses that would otherwise have proved so fertile a source of leakage.
so we must do with our minds.  We must take our good and useful Sankh'aras one
by one, and put them under extra and unusual pressure by special mental
concentration.  And by this means those good Sankháras will be made ten times
as {36} efficient; there will be no more leakage of energy; and out mental
mechanism will daily work more and more harmoniously and powerfully.  From the
moment that the Mental Reflex2 is attained, the hindrances ("i.e.", the action
of opposing Sankháras) are checked, the leakages (Asavas, a word commonly
translated corruptions, means literally leakages, --- "i.e.", leakages though
wrong channels of the energy of the being) are assuaged, and the mind
concentrates itself by the concentration of the neighbourhood degree.3
   Now let us see how these Sankháras, these working parts of our mental
mechanism, first come into being.  Look at a child leaning how to talk.  The
child hears a sound, and this sound the child learns to connect by association
with a definite idea.  By the power of its mental concentration the child
seizes on that sound, by its imitative group of Sankháras it repeats that
sound, and by another effort of concentration it impresses the idea of that
sound on some cortical cell of its brain, where it remains as a faint
Sankhára, ready to be called up when required.  Then, one time, occasion
arises which recalls the idea that sound represents --- it has need to make
that sound in order to get some desired object.  The child concentrates its
mind with all its power on the memorising cortex of its brain, until that
faint Sankhára, that manner of mind-echo of the sound that lurks in the little
brain-cell is discovered, and, like a stretched string played upon by the
wind, the cell yields up to the mind {37} a faint repetition of the sound-idea
        2  The Mental Reflex or Nimitta, is the result of the practice of
          certain forms of Samadhi.  For a detailed account see Uisuddhi
          Magga.
        3  Visuddhi Magga, iv.  There are two degrees of mental
          concentration, termed "Neighbourhood-concentration" and
          "Attainment-concentration" respectively.
which caused it. By another effort of concentration, now removed from the
memorising area and shifted to the speaking centre in the brain, the child's
vocal chords tighten in the particular way requisite to the production of that
sound; the muscles of lips and throat and tongue perform the necessary
movements; the breathing apparatus is controlled, so that just the right
quantity of air passes over the vocal chords; and as the child speaks it
repeats the word it had formerly learnt to associate  with the object of its
present desire.  Such is the process of the formation of a Sankhára.  The more
frequently that idea recurs to the child, the more often does it have to go
through the processes involved --- the more often, in a word, has the mind of
the child to perform mental concentration,or Samadhi, upon that particular
series of mental and muscular movements, the more powerful does the set of
Sankh'aras involved become, till the child will recall the necessary sound-
diea, will go through all those complex movements of the organs of speech,
without any appreciable new effort of mental concentration; --- in effect,
that chain of associations, that particular co-ordinated functioning of memory
and speech, will have established itself by virtue of the past mental
concentrations as a powerful Sankhára in the being of the child, and that
Sankhára will tend to recur whenever the needs which let to the original
Samadhi are present, so that the words will be reproduced automatically, and
without fresh special effort.
   Thus we see that Sankháras arise from any act of mental concentration.  The
more powerful, or the more often repeated, is the act of Samadhi, the more
powerful the {38} Sankháras produced; thus a word in a new language, for
instance, may become a Sankhára, may be perfectly remembered without further
effort, either by one very considerable effort of mental concentration, or by
many repetitions of the word, with slight mental concentration.
   The practical methods, then, for the culture and purification of the mind,
according to the method indicated for us by our Master, are two; first,
"Sammásati," which is the accurate reflection upon things in order to ascertain
their nature --- an investigation or analysis of the Dhammas of our own nature
in this case; and, secondly, "Sammásamádhi," or the bringing to bear upon the
mind of the powers of concentration, to the end that the good states, the good
Dhammas, may become powerful Sankháras in our being.  As to the bad states,
they are to be regarded as mere leakages of the central power; and the remedy
for them, as for the leaky locomotive slide-valve, is the powerful practice
upon the good states which are of an opposite nature.  So we have first very
accurately to analyse and observe the states that are present in us by the
power of Sammásati, and then practise concentration upon the good states,
especially those that tend to overcome our particular failings.  By mental
concentration is meant an intentness of the thoughts, the thinking for a
definite time of only one thought at a time.  This will be found at first to
be very difficult.  You sit down to meditate on love, for instance; and in
half a minute or so you find you are thinking about what someone said the day
before yesterday.  so it always is at first.  The Buddha likened the mind of
the man who was beginning this practice of Samadhi to a calf which had been
used to running hither and thither in the fields, {39} without any let or
hindrance, which has now been tied with a rope to a post.  The rope is the
practice of meditation; the post is the particular subject selected for
meditation.  At first the calf tries to break loose, he runs hither and
thither in every direction; but is always brought up sharp at a certain
distance from the post, by the rope to which he is tied.  For a long time, if
he is a restless calf, this process goes on; but at last the calf becomes more
calm, he sees the futility of struggling, and lies down by the side of the
post.  So it is with the mind.  At first, subjected to this discipline of
concentration, the mind tries to break away, ti runs in this or that
direction; and if it is an average restless mind, it takes a long time to
realize the uselessness of trying to break away.  But always, having gone a
certain distance from the post, having got a certain distance from the object
selected for meditation, the fact that you have sat down with the definite
object of meditating acts as the rope, and the mind realizes that the post was
its object, and so comes back to it.  When the mind, becoming concentrated and
steady, at last lies down by the post, and no longer tries to break away from
the object of meditation,then concentration is obtained.  But this takes a
long time to attain, and very hard practice; and in order that we may make
this, the most trying part of the practice, easier, various methods are
suggested.  One is, that we can avail ourselves of the action of certain
Sankháras themselves.  You know how we get into "habits" of doing things,
particularly habits of doing things at a definite time of day.  Thus we get
into the habit of waking up at a definite time of the morning, and we always
tend to wake up at that same hour of the day.  We {40} get into a habit of
eating our dinner at seven o'clock, and we do not feel hungry till about that
time; and if we change the times of our meals, at first we always feel hungry
at seven, then, when we get no dinner, a little after seven that hunger
vanishes, and we presently get used to the new state of things.  In effect the
practice of any act, the persistence of any given set of ideas, regularly
occurring at a set time of the day, forms within us a very powerful tendency
to the recurrence of those ideas, or to the practice of that act, at the same
time every day.
   Now we can make use of this time-habit of the mind to assist us in our
practice of meditation.  Choose a given time of day; always practise in that
same time, even if it is only for ten minutes, but always at exactly the same
time of day.  In a little while the mind will have established a habit in this
respect, and you will find it much easier to concentrate the mind at your
usual time than at any other.  We should also consider the effect of our
bodily actions on the mind.  When we have just eaten a meal, the major part of
the spare energy in us goes to assist in the work of digestion; so at those
times the mind is sleepy and sluggish, and under these circumstances we cannot
use all our energies to concentrate with.  so choose a time when the stomach
is empty --- of course the best time from this point of view is when we wake
up in the morning.  Another thing that you will find very upsetting to your
concentration at first is sound --- any sudden, unexpected sound particularly.
so it is best to choose your time when people are not moving about --- when
there is as little noise as possible.  Here again the early morning is
indicated, or else late at night, and, generally speaking, you {41} will find
it easiest to concentrate either just after rising, or else at night, just
before going to sleep.
   Another thing very much affects these Sankháras, and that is "place."  If you
think a little, you will see how tremendously place affects the mind.  The
merchant's mind may be full of trouble; but no sooner does he get to his
office or place of business, than his trouble goes, and he is all alert --- a
keen, capable business-man.  The doctor may be utterly tired out, and half
asleep when he is called up at night to attend an urgent case; but no sooner
is he come to his place, the place where he is wont to exercise his
profession, the bedside of his patient, than the powerful association of the
place overcome his weariness and mental torpor, and he is very wide awake ---
all his faculties on the alert, his mind working to the full limits demanded
by his very difficult profession.  So it is in all things: the merchant at his
desk, the captain on the bridge of his ship, the engineer in his engine-room,
the chemist in his laboratory --- the effect of "place" upon the mind is always
to awaken a particular set of Sankháras, the Sankháras associated in the mind
with place.  Also there is perhaps a certain intangible yet operative
atmosphere of thought which clings to place sin which definite acts have been
done, definite thoughts constantly repeated.  It is for this reason that we
have a great sense of quiet and peace when we go to a monastery.  The
monastery is a place where life is protected, where men think deeply of the
great mysteries of Life and Death; it is the home of those who are devoted to
the practice of this meditation, it is the centre of the religious life of the
people.  When the people want to make merry, they have "pwes" and things in
their own houses, {42} in the village; but when they feel religiously
inclined, then they go to their monastery.  So the great bulk of the thoughts
which arise in a monastery are peaceful, and calm, and holy; and this
atmosphere of peach and calm and holiness seems to penetrate and suffuse the
whole place, till the walls and roof and flooring --- nay, more, the very
ground of the sacred enclosure --- seem soaked with this atmosphere of
holiness, like some faint distant perfume that can hardly be scented, and yet
that one can feel.  It may be that some impalpable yet grosser portion of the
thought-stuff thus clings to the very walls of a place: we cannot tell, but
certain it is that if you blindfold a sensitive man and take him to a temple,
he will tell you that it is a peaceful and holy place; whilst if you take him
to the shambles, he will feel uncomfortable or fearful.
   And so we should choose for our practice of meditation a place which is
suited to the work we have to do.  It is a great aid, of course, owing to the
very specialised set of place Sankháras so obtained, if we can have a special
place in which nothing but these practices are done, and where no one but
oneself goes; but, for a layman especially, this is very difficult to secure.
Instructions are given on this point in "Visuddhi Magga" how the priest who is
practising "Kammatthana" is to select some place a little way from the
monastery, where people do not come and walk about --- either a cave, or else
he is to make or get made a little hut, which he alone uses.  But as this
perfect retirement is not easy to a layman, he must choose whatever place is
most suitable --- some place where, at the time of his practice, he will be as
little disturbed as possible, and, if he is able, this place should not be the
place where he sleeps, as the Sankháras of such a place would tend, {43} so
soon as her tried to reduce the number of his thoughts down to one, to make
him go to sleep, which is one of the chief things to be guarded against.
   Time and place being once chosen, it is important, until the faculty of
concentration is strongly established, not to alter them.  Then bodily posture
is to be considered.  If we stand up to meditate, then a good deal of energy
goes to maintain the standing posture.  Lying down is also not good, because
it is associated in our minds with going to sleep.  Therefore the sitting
posture is best.  If you can sit cross-legged as Buddharupas sit, that is
best; because this position has many good Sankháras associated with in the
minds of Buddhist people.
   Now comes the all-impoortant question of what we are to meditate upon.  The
subjects of meditation are classified in the books under forty heads; and in
the old days a man wishing to practise "Kammatthana" would go to some great man
who had practised long, and had so attained to great spiritual knowledge, and
by virtue of his spiritual knowledge that Arahat could tell which of the forty
categories would best suit the aspirant.  Now-a-days this is hardly possible,
as so few practise this Kammatthana; and so it is next to impossible to find
anyone with this spiritual insight.  So the best thing to do will be to
practise those forms of meditation which will most certainly increase the
highest qualities in us, the qualities of Love, and Pity, and Sympathy, and
Indifference to worldly life and cares; those forms of Sammásati which will
give us an accurate perception of our own nature, and the Sorrow,
Transitoriness, and soullessness of all things in the Samsara Cakka; and those
forms which {44} will best calm our minds by making us think of holy and
beautiful things, such as the Life of the Buddha, the liberating nature of the
Dhamma He taught, and the pure life which is followed by His Bhikkhus.
   We have seen how a powerful Sankhára is to be formed in one of two ways:
either by one tremendous effort of concentration, or by many slight ones.  As
it is difficult for a beginner to make a tremendous effort, it will be found
simplest to take one idea which can be expressed in a few words, and repeat
those words silently over and over again.  The reason for the use of a formula
of words is that, owing to the complexity of the brain-actions involved in the
production of words, very powerful Sankháras are formed by this habit of
silent repetition: the words serve as a very powerful mechanical aid in
constantly evoking the idea they represent.  In order to keep count of the
number of times the formula has been repeated, Buddhist people use a rosary of
a hundred and eight beads, and thus will be found a very convenient aid.  Thus
one formulates to oneself the ideal of the Great Teacher: one reflects upon
His Love and Compassion, on all that great life of His devoted to the
spiritual assistance of all beings; one formulates in the mind the image of
the Master, trying to imagine Him as He taught that Dhamma which has brought
liberation to so many; and every time the mental image fades, one murmurs
"Buddhanussati" --- "he reflects upon the Buddha" --- each time of repetition
passing over one of the beads of the rosary.  And so with the Dhamma, and the
Sangha; --- whichever one prefers to reflect upon.
   But perhaps the best of all the various meditations upon the idea, are what
is known as the Four Sublime States --- {45} Cattro Brahavihara.  These
meditations calm and concentrate The Citta in a very powerful and effective
way; and besides this they tend to increase in us those very qualities of the
mind which are the best.  One sits down facing East, preferably; and after
reflection on the virtues of the Tri Ratna, as set forth in the formulas, "Iti
pi so Bhagava," etc., one concentrates one's thought upon ideas of Love; one
imagines a ray of Love going out from one's heart, and embracing all beings in
the Eastern Quarter of the World, and one repeats this formula: "And he lets
his mind pervade the Eastern Quarter of the World with thoughts of Love ---
with Heart of Love grown great, and mighty, and beyond all measure --- till
there is not one being in all the Eastern Quarter of the world whom he has
passed over, whom he has not suffused with thoughts of Love, with Heart of
Love grown great, and mighty,and far-reaching beyond all measure."  And as you
say these words you imagine your Love going forth to the East, like a great
spreading ray of light; and first you think of all your friends, those whom
you love, and suffuse them with your thoughts of love; and then you reflect
upon all those innumerable beings in that Eastern Quarter whom you know not,
to whom you are indifferent, but whom you should love, and you suffuse them
also with the ray of your Love; and lastly you reflect upon all those who are
opposed to you, who are your enemies, who have done you wrongs, and these too,
by an effort of will you suffuse with your Love "till there is not one being
in all that Eastern Quarter of the Earth whom you have passed over, whom you
have not suffused with thoughts of Love with Heart of Love grown great, and
mighty, and beyond all measure."  And then you imagine a similar {46} ray of
Love issuing from your heart in the direction of your right hand; and you
mentally repeat the same formula, substituting the word "Southern" for
"Eastern," and you go through the same series of reflections in that
direction.  And so to the West, and so to the North, till all around you, in
the four directions, you have penetrated all beings with these thoughts of
Love.  And then you imagine your thought as striking downwards, and embracing
and including all beings beneath you, repeating the same formula, and lastly
as going upwards, and suffusing with the warmth of your Love all beings in the
worlds above.  Thus you will have meditated upon all beings with thoughts of
Love, in all the six directions of space: and you have finished the Meditation
on Love.
   In the same way, using the same formula, do you proceed with the other
three Sublime States.  Thinking of all beings who are involved in the Samsara
Cakka, involved in the endless sorrow of existence --- thinking especially of
those in whom at this moment sorrow is especially manifested, thinking of the
weak, the unhappy, the sick, and those who are fallen; you send out a ray of
Pity and Compassion towards them in all six directions of Space.  And so
suffusing all beings with thoughts of Compassion, you pass on to the
meditation on Happiness.  You meditate on all beings who are happy, from the
lowest happiness of earthly love to the highest, the Happiness of those who
are freed from all sin, the unutterable Happiness of those who have attained
the Nirvàna Dhamma.  You seek to feel with all those happy ones in their
happiness, to enter into the bliss of their hearts and lives, and to augment
it; and so you pervade all six directions with thoughts of {47} happiness,
with this feeling of sympathy with all that is happy and fair and good.
   Then, finally, reflecting on all that is evil and cruel and bad in the
world, reflecting on the things which tempt men away from the holy life, you
assume to all evil beings thoughts of indifference --- understanding that all
the evil in those beings arises from ignorance; from the Asavas, the leakages
of mental power into wrong channels; you understand concerning them that is is
not your duty to condemn, or revile, but only to be indifferent to them, and
when you have finished this meditation in Indifference, you have completed the
meditation on the Four Sublime States --- on Love, and Pity, and Happiness,
and Indifference.  The meditation on love will overcome in you all hatred and
wrath; the meditation on Pity will overcome your Sankh'aras of cruelty and
unkindness; the meditation on Happiness will do away with all feelings of envy
and malice; and the meditation on Indifference will take from you all sympathy
with evil ways and thoughts.  And if you diligently practise these four
Sublime States, you will find yourself becoming daily more and more loving,
and pitiful, and happy with the highest happiness, and indifferent to personal
misfortune and to evil.  So very powerful is this method of meditation, that a
very short practice will give results --- results that you will find working
in your life and thoughts, bringing peace and happiness to you, and to all
around you.
   Then there is the very important work of Sammásati, the analysis of the
nature of things that leads men to realize how all in the Samsara Cakka is
characterised by the three characteristics of Sorrow, and Transitoriness, and
Soullessness: how there is nought that is free from these three
characteristics; and how only right reflection and right meditation can free
you from them, and can open for you the way to peace.  And because men are
very much involved in the affairs of the world, because so much of our lives
is made of our little hates and loves and fears; because we think so much of
our wealth, and those we love with earthly love, and of our enemies, and of
all the little concerns of our daily life, therefore is this right perception
very difficult to come by, very difficult to realise as absolute truth in the
depth of our hearts.  We think we have but one life and one body; so these we
guard with very great attention and care, wasting useful mental energy upon
these ephemeral things.  We think we have but one state in life; and so we
think very much of how to better our positions, how to increase our fortune.
   "I have these sons, mine is this wealth" --- thus the foolish man is
thinking: "he himself hath not a self, how sons, how wealth?"  But if we could
look back over the vast stairway of our innumerable lives, if we could see how
formerly we had held all various positions, had had countless fortunes,
countless children, innumerable loves and wives; if we could so look back, and
see the constant and inevitable misery of all those lives, could understand
our every-changing minds and wills, and the whole mighty phantasmagoria of the
illusion that we deem so real; if we could do this, then indeed we might
realise the utter misery and futility of all this earthly life, might
understand and grasp those three characteristics of all existent things; then
indeed would our desire to escape from this perpetual round of sorrow be
augmented, augmented so that we would work with all our power unto liberation.
{49}
   To the gaining of this knowledge of past births there is a way, a practice
of meditation by which that knowledge may be obtained.  This at first may seem
startling; but there is nothing really unnatural or miraculous about it: it is
simply a method of most perfectly cultivating the memory.  Now, memory is
primarily a function of the material brain: we remember things because they
are stored up like little mind-pictures, in the minute nerve-cells of the grey
cortex of the brain, principally on the left frontal lobe.  so it may
naturally be asked: "If memory, as is certainly the case, be stored up in the
material brain, how is it possible that we should remember, without some
miraculous faculty, things that happened before that brain existed?"  The
answer is this: our brains, it is true, have not existed before this birth,
and so all our normal memories are memories of things that have happened in
this life.  but what is the "cause" of the particular brain-structure that now
characterises us?  Past Sankháras.  The particular and specific nature of a
given brain; that, namely, which differentiates one brain from another, which
makes one child capable of learning one thing and another child another; the
great difference of aptitude, and so on, which gives to each one of us a
different set of desires, capacities, and thought.  What force has caused this
great difference between brain and brain?  We say that the action of our past
Sankháras, the whole course of the Sankháras of our past lives, determined,
ere our birth in this life, whilst yet the brain was in process of formation,
these specific and characteristic features.  And if the higher thinking levels
of our brains have thus been specialised by the acquired tendencies of all our
line of lives, {50} then every thought that we have had, every idea and wish
that has gone to help to specialise that thinking stuff, must have left its
record stamped ineffaceably, though faintly, on the structure of this present
brain, till that marvellous structure is like some ancient palimpsest --- a
piece of paper on which, as old writing faded out, another and yet another
written screen has been superimposed.  By our purblind eyes only the last
record can be read, but there are ways by which all those ancient faded
writings can be made to appear; and this is how it is done.  To read those
faded writings we use an eye whose sensitivity to minute shades of colour and
texture is far greater than our own; a photograph is taken of the paper, on
plates prepared so as to be specially sensitive to minute shades of colour,
and, according to the exposure given, the time the eye of the camera gazed
upon that sheet of paper, another and another writing is impressed upon the
sensitive plate used, and the sheet of paper, which to the untrained eye of
man bears but one script, yields up to successive plates those lost, ancient,
faded writings, till all are made clear and legible.
   So it must be, if we think, with this memory of man; with all the multiple
attributes of that infinitely complex brain-structure.
   All that the normal mental vision of man can read there is the last plain
writing, the record of this present life.  But every record of each thought
and act of all our karmic ancestry, the records upon whose model this later
life, this specialised brain-structure, has been built, must lie there,
visible to the trained vision; so that, had we but this more sensitive mental
vision, that wondrous palimpsest, the tale of the innumerable {51} ages that
have gone to the composing of that marvellous document, the record of a brain,
would stand forth clear and separate, like the various pictures on the colour-
sensitive plates.  Often, indeed, it happens that one, perchance the last of
all those ancient records, is given now so clearly and legibly that a child
can read some part of what was written; and so we have those strange instances
of sporadic, uninherited genius that are the puzzle and the despair of Western
Psychologists?  A little child, before he can hardly walk, before he can
clearly talk, will see a piano, and crawl to it, and, untaught, his baby
fingers will begin to play; and, in a few years' time, with a very little
teaching and practice, that child will be able to execute the most difficult
pieces --- pieces of music which baffle any but the most expert players.
There have been many such children whose powers have been exhibited over the
length and breadth of Europe.  There was Smeaton, again, one of our greatest
engineers.  When a child (he was the son of uneducated peasant people) he
would build baby bridges over the streams in his country --- untaught --- and
his bridges would bear men and cattle.  There was a child, some ten years ago,
in Japan, who, when a baby, saw one day the ink and brush with which the
Chinese and Japanese write, and, crawling with pleasure, reached out his
chubby hand for them, and began to write.  By the time he was five years old
that baby, scarce able to speak correctly, could write in the Chinese
character perfectly --- that wonderful and complex script that takes an
ordinary man ten to fifteen years to master --- and this baby of five wrote it
perfectly.  This child's power was exhibited all over the country, and before
the Emperor of Japan; and the question that arises is, how did all these
children get their powers?  Surely, because {52} for them the last writing on
the book of their minds was yet clear and legible; because in their last birth
that one particular set of Sankháras was so powerful that its record could
still be read.
   And thus we all have, here in our present brains,the faded records of all
our interminable series of lives; a thousand, tens of thousands, crores upon
crores of records, one superimposed over another, waiting only for the eye
that can see, the eye of the trained and perfected memory to read them to
distinguish one from another as the photographic plate distinguished, and the
way so to train that mental vision is as follows: ---
   You sit down in your place of meditation, and you think of yourself seated
there.  Then you begin to "think backwards."  You think the act of coming into
the room.  You think the act of walking towards the room, and so you go on,
thinking backwards on all the acts that you have done that day.  You then come
to yourself, waking up in the morning,. and perhaps you remember a few dreams,
and then there is a blank, and you remember your last thoughts as you went to
sleep the night before, what you did before retiring, and so on, back to the
time of your last meditation.
   This is a very difficult practice; and so at first you must not attempt to
go beyond one day: else you will not do it well, and will omit remembering a
lot of important things.  When you have practised for a little, you will find
your memory of events becoming rapidly more and more perfect; and this
practice will help you in worldly life as well, for it vastly increases the
power of memory in general.  When doing a day becomes easy, then slowly
increase the time meditated upon. {53}  Get into the way of doing a week at a
sitting --- here taking only the more important events --- then a month, then
a year, and so on.  You will find yourself remembering all sorts of things
about your past life that you had quite forgotten; you will find yourself
penetrating further and further into the period of deep sleep; you will find
that you remember your dreams even far more accurately than you ever did
before.  And so you go on, going again and again over long periods of your
life, and each time you will remember more and more of things you had
forgotten.  You will remember little incidents of your child-life, remember
the tears you shed over the difficult tasks of learning how to walk and speak:
and at last, after long and hard practice, you will remember a little, right
back to the time of your birth.
   If you never get any further than this, you will have done yourself an
enormous deal of good by this practice.  You will have marvellously increased
your memory in every respect; and you will have gained a very clear perception
of the changing nature of your desires and mind and will, even in the few
years of this life.  But to get beyond this point of birth is very difficult,
because, you see, you are no longer reading the relatively clear record of
this life, but are trying to read one of those fainter, under written records
the Sankháras have left on your brain.  All this practice has been with the
purpose of making clear your mental vision; and, as I have said, this will
without doubt be clearer far than before; but the question is, whether it is
clear enough.  Time after time retracing in their order the more important
events of this life, at last, one day you will bridge over  that dark space
between death and birth, when all the Sankháras are, like the seed in the
earth, {54} breaking up to build up a new life; and one day you will suddenly
find yourself remembering your death "in your last life."  This will be very
painful, but it is important to get to that stage several times, because at
the moment when a man comes very near to death, the mind automatically goes
through the very process of remembering backwards you have been practising so
long, and so you can then gather clues to all the events of hat last life.
   Once this difficult point of passing from birth to death is got over, the
rest is said in the books to be easy.  You can then, daily, with more and more
facility, remember the deeds and thoughts of your past lives; one after
another will open before your mental vision.  You will see yourself living a
thousand lives, you will feel yourself dying a thousand deaths, you will
suffer with the suffering of a myriad existences, you will see how fleeting
were their little joys, what price you had again and again to pay for a little
happiness; --- how real and terrible were the sufferings you had to endure.
You will watch how for years you toiled to amass a little fortune, and how
bitter death was that time, because you could not take your treasure with you;
you will see the innumerable women you have thought of as the only being you
could ever love, and lakh upon lakh of beings caught like yourself in the
whirling Wheel of Life and Death; some now your father, mother, children, some
again your friends, and now your bitter enemies.  You will see the good deed,
the loving thought and act, bearing rich harvest life after life, and the sad
gathering of ill weeds, the harvest of ancient wrongs.  You will see the
beninningless fabric of your lives, with its every-changing pattern stretching
back, back, back into interminable vistas of past time, {55} and then at last
you will know, and will understand.  You will understand how this happy life
for which we crave is never to be gained; you will realise, as no books or
monks could teach you, the sorrow and impermanence and soullessness of all
lives; and you will then be very much stirred up to make a mighty effort, now
that human birth and this knowledge is yours; --- a supreme effort to wake up
out of all this ill dream of life as a man wakes himself out of a fearful
nightmare.  And this intense aspiration will, say the Holy Books, go very far
towards effecting your liberation.
   There is another form of meditation which is very helpful, the more so as
it is not necessarily confined to any one particular time of the day, but can
be done always, whenever we have a moment in which our mind is not engaged.
This is the "mahasatipatthana," or great reflection.  Whatever you are doing,
just observe and make a mental note of it, being careful to understand of what
you see that it is possessed of the Three Characteristics of Sorrow,
Impermanence and lack of an Immortal Principle of soul.  Thin of the action
your are preforming,the thought you are thinking, the sensation you are
feeling, as relating to some exterior person;,take care not to think "I" am
doing so-and-so" but "there exists such-and-such a state of action."  Thus,
take bodily actions.  When you go walking, just concentrate the whole of your
attention upon what you are doing, in an impersonal kind of way.  Think "now
he is raising his left foot," or, better, "there is an action of the lifting
of a left foot."  "Now there is a raising of the right foot, now the body
leans a little forwards, and so advances, now it turns to the right, and now
it stands still."  In this way, just practise concentrating the mind in
observing {56} all the actions that you perform, all the sensations that arise
in your body, all the thoughts that arise in your mind, and always analyse
each concentration object thus (as in the case cited above, of the bodily
action of waling).  "what is it that walks?" and by accurate analysis you
reflect that there is no person or soul within the body that walks, but that
there is a particular collection of chemical elements, united and held
together by the result of certain categories of forces, as cohesion, chemical
attraction, and the like: that these acting in unison, owing to a definite
state of co-ordination, appear to walk, move this way and that, and so on,
owing to and concurrent with the occurrence of certain chemical decompositions
going on in brain and nerve and muscle and blood, etc., that this state of co-
ordination which renders such complex actions possible is the resultant of the
forces of innumerable similar states of co-ordination; that the resultant of
all these past states of co-ordination acting together constitute what is
called a living human being; that owing to certain other decompositions and
movements of the fine particles composing the brain, the idea arises, "I am
walking," but really there is no "I" to walk or go, but only an ever-changing
mass of decomposing chemical compounds;4 that such a decomposing mass of
chemical compounds has in it nothing that is permanent, but is, on the other
hand, subject to pain and grief and weariness of body and mind; that its
principal tendency is to form new sets of co-ordinated forces of a similar
nature --- new Sankháras which in their turn will cause new similar
        4  The student should remember that this is only one (illusory)
          point of view.  The idealistic ego-centric position is just as
          true and as false. --- A.C.
combinations of chemical elements to arise, {57} thus making an endless chain
of beings subject to the miseries of birth, disease, decay, old age and death;
and that the only way of escape from the perpetual round of existences is the
following of the Noble Eightfold Path declared by the Sámmasambuddha, and that
it is only by diligent practice of His Precepts that we can obtain the
necessary energy of the performance of Concentration; and that by Sammásati
and Sammásamándi alone the final release from all this suffering is to be
obtained; and that by practising earnestly these reflections and meditations
the way to liberation will be opened for us --- even the way which leads to
Nirvàna, the State of Changeless Peace to which the Master has declared the
way.  Thus do you constantly reflect, alike on the Body, Sensations, Ideas,
Sankháras, and the Consciousness.
   Such is a little part of the way of Meditation, the way whereby the mind
and heart may be purified and cultivated.  And now for a few final remarks.
   It must first be remembered that no amount of reading or talking about
these things is worth a single moment's practice of them.  These are things to
be "done," not speculated upon; and only he who practises can obtain the fruits
of meditation.
   There is one other thing to be said, and that is concerning the importance
of Sila.  It has been said the Sila alone cannot conduct to the Nirvàna
Dharma; but, nevertheless, this Sila is of the most vital importance, for
there is no Samadhi without Sila.  And why?  Because, reverting to our simile
of the steam-engine, whilst Samadhi, mental concentration, is the steam power
of this human machine, the fire that heats the water, the fire that makes that
steam and maintains it at high pressure is the power of Sila.  A {58} man who
breaks Sila is putting out his fires; and sooner or later, according to his
reserve stock of Sila fuel, he will have little or no more energy at his
disposal.  And so, this Sila is of eminent importance; we must avoid evil, we
must fulfil all good, for only in this way can we obtain energy to practise
and apply our Buddhist philosophy; only in this way can we carry into effect
that third Rule of the Stanza which has been our text; only thus can we really
follow in our Master's Footsteps, and carry into effect His Rule for the
Purification of the mind.  Only by this way, and by constantly bearing in mind
and living up to his final utterance --- "Athakho, Bhikkhave, amentayami vo;
Vayadhmama Sankhara, Appamadena Sampadetha."
   "Lo! now, Oh Brothers, I exhort ye!  Decay is inherent in all the
Tendencies, therefore deliver ye yourselves by earnest effort."
                                       ANANDA METTEYA.



{59}






                                 THE SABBATH

"                                 ""To A. E. W."

               OCCULT, forbidden lights
               Move in the royal rites.
               Diaphanous, they dance
               Above the souls in trance
               That have attained to their untold inheritance.

               Above the mystic masque,
               Like plumes upon a casque,
               They wave their purple and red
               Above each haggard head.
               Thy are like gems snake-rooted, basilisks' bed.

               Here were the tables set
               For Baal and Baphomet:
               Her was the altar drest
               With fire and Alkahest
               For many a holy host, for many a goodly guest.

               Here was the veil, and here
               The sword and dagger of fear.
               Here was the circle traced,
               And here the pillar placed
               For Him the utterly unfathomably chaste.   {60}

               Here grew the murmur grim
               Of the low-muttered hymn;
               Here sound itself caught flame
               From the dark drone of shame ---
               The world reverberated the unutterable Name!

               Astarte from her trance
               Leapt loving to the dance,
               Greeting as fire greets firs
               Her whirling worshippers.
               And all her joy was theirs, and all their madness hers!

               Yea! thou and I that strove
               For mastery in love,
               Circling the altar stone
               Maze-like, with magic moan,
               Forthwith made that divinest destiny our own.

               Throughout that violent vigil
               We wove the stormy sigil,
               Our faces ashen-lipped
               From our heart's blood that dripped
               On the armed talismans of that moon-vaulted crypt.

               Then came the sombre spectre
               From the abyss of nectar;
               Yea, from the icy North
               Came the great vision forth,
               A giant breaking through the weary web of wrath.  {61}

               Then, in the midst, behold
               That blaze of burnished gold
               Imperishable, set
               With adamant and jet;
               And by the obscene head we hailed him Baphomet.

               Hail to the Master, hail!
               Lord of the Sabbath!  Baal!
               I kiss thy feet, I kiss
               Thy knees --- and this --- and this ---
               Till I am lifted up to the incorporeal Byss.

               Till here alone exalted
               I gaze beneath the vaulted
               Forehead, within the eyes
               Wherein such wonder lies,
               The incommensurable gain, the pagan prize.

               We are thy moons an suns,
               Thy loyal knights and nuns,
               Who tread the dance around
               Thine altar, with the sound
               Of death-sobs echoing through the immemorial ground.

               O glee! the price to pay!
               Swear but our souls away!
               And we may gain the goal
               That all the wise extol ---
               The world, the flesh, the devil, weighed against a soul.  {62}

               The wind blows from the south!
               Crushed to that burning mouth,
               Lured by that lurid law,
               We melt within that maw;
               And all he fiends loose hold, and all the gods withdraw!

               Upon the altar-stone
               We are alone --- alone!
               In vivid blackness curled
               With livid lightings pearled ---
               Sweat-drops upon God's brow when He creates a world!

               Sister, the word is spoken!
               Sister, the spell is broken.
               The Sabbath torches flicker;
               The Sabbath heart beats quicker;
               We have drained the Sabbath cup of its austerest liquor.

               Forsaken is the hall;
               Finished the festival.
               My witch and I are thrown
               Dead on the altar stone
               By the contemptuous god that made our soul his own.

               Come!  Come! we must begone.
               Hiss the last orison!
               Intone the last lament!
               Take the last sacrament,
               The extreme unction, Saviour when the soul is spent!  {63}

               Come! hurry through the night,
               A trail of tortured flight!
               Eagle and pelican
               Become mere maid and man
               Till the next Sabbath --- days each like leviathan!

               Nay! lift the languid head!
               Take of this wine and bread!
               The vision is withdrawn;
               The lake calls, and the lawn;
               Our love shall walk abroad in the grey hours of dawn!
                                                  ETHEL RAMSAY.

               {64}








                            THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

                                   THE KING






                                 A.'. a.'.
                           Publication in Class B.
                                 Imprimatur:
                             N. Fra A.'. A.'.




{Chart approximated}
┌____┬___________________┬_______________┬_________________┬___________┬_____┐
│ VI.│                   │               │                 │           │     │
│Mys-│      V            │      IV.      │     III.        │    II.    │  I. │
│itc │ English of Col.IV.│ The Heavens   │English of Col.II│HebrewNames│ Key │
│# of│                   │   of Assiah   │                 │ of Numbers│Scale│
│Seph│                   │               │                 │and Letters│     │
┼____┼___________________┼_______________┼_________________┼___________┼_____┤
│   ┌│                   │               │Nothing.         │
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph │┐    │
│  0┤│                   │               │No Limit.        │    HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Samekh
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph │├ 0  │
│   └│                   │               │Limitless L.V.X. │HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph
HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Samekh  HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph │┘    │
│  1 │S. of Primum Mobile│  HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Lamed HB:Gemel HB:Lamed HB:Gemel HB:Heh
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Shin HB:Aleph HB:Resh │Crown.           │        HB:Resh HB:Taw HB:Koph │  1  │
│  3 │S. of the Zodiac   │          HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Lamed HB:Samekh HB:Mem │Wisdom.          │
HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Koph HB:Chet │  2  │
│  6 │S. of Saturn       │          HB:Yod HB:Aleph HB:Taw HB:Bet HB:Shin │Understanding.   │
HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Yod HB:Bet │  3  │
│ 10 │S. of Jupiter      │            HB:Qof HB:Dalet HB:Tzaddi │Mercy.           │
HB:Dalet HB:Samekh HB:Chet │  4  │
│ 15 │S. of Mars         │          HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Aleph HB:Mem │Strength.        │
HB:Heh HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Bet HB:Gemel │  5  │
│ 21 │S. of Sol          │            HB:Shin HB:Mem HB:Shin │Beauty.          │
HB:Taw HB:Resh HB:Aleph HB:Peh HB:Taw │  6  │
│ 28 │S. of Venus        │           HB:Heh HB:Gemel HB:Vau HB:Nun │Victory.         │
 HB:Chet HB:Tzaddi HB:Nun │  7  │
│ 36 │S. of Mercury      │           HB:Bet HB:Koph HB:Vau HB:Koph │Splendour.       │
  HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Heh │  8  │
│ 45 │S. of Luna         │           HB:Heh HB:Nun HB:Bet HB:Lamed │Foundation.      │
HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod │  9  │
│ 55 │S. of the Elements │     HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Samekh HB:Yod
HB:Mem-final HB:Lamed HB:Chet │Kingdom.         │      HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Koph HB:Lamed HB:Mem │ 10  │
│ 66 │Air                │            HB:Chet HB:Vau HB:Resh │Ox.              │
HB:Peh-final HB:Lamed HB:Aleph │11   │
│ 78 │Mercury            │(Planets follow│House.           │
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Bet │ 12  │
│ 91 │Luna               │Sephiroth      │Camel.           │
HB:Lamed HB:Mem HB:Gemel │ 13  │
│105 │Venus              │corresponding.)│Door.            │
HB:Taw HB:Lamed HB:Dalet │ 14  │
│120 │Aries              │            HB:Heh HB:Lamed HB:Tet │Window.          │
HB:Heh HB:Heh │   15│
│136 │Taurus             │            HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Shin │Nail.            │
HB:Vau HB:Vau │   16│
│153 │Gemini             │         HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem HB:Vau HB:Aleph HB:Taw │Sword.
│        HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Zain │   17│
│171 │Cancer             │           HB:Nun-final HB:Tet HB:Resh HB:Samekh │Fence.           │
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Chet │   18│
│190 │Leo                │           HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Resh HB:Aleph │Serpent.         │
HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Tet │   19│
│210 │Virgo              │          HB:Heh HB:Lamed HB:Vau HB:Taw HB:Bet │Hand.            │
HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Yod │   20│
│231 │Jupiter            │               │Palm.            │
HB:Peh-final HB:Koph │ 21  │
│253 │Libra              │         HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Nun HB:Zain HB:Aleph HB:Mem │Ox Goad.
│        HB:Dalet HB:Mem HB:Lamed │   22│
│276 │Water              │            HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem │Water.           │
HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Mem │23   │
│300 │Scorpio            │           HB:Bet HB:Resh HB:Qof HB:Ayin │Fish.            │
HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Nun │   24│
│325 │Sagittarius        │            HB:Taw HB:Shin HB:Qof │Prop.            │
HB:Koph-final HB:Mem HB:Samekh │   25│
│351 │Capricornus        │            HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Gemel │Eye.             │
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Ayin │   26│
│378 │Mars               │               │Mouth.           │
HB:Heh HB:Peh │ 27  │
│406 │Aquarius           │            HB:Yod HB:Lamed HB:Dalet │Fish-hook.       │
HB:Yod HB:Dalet HB:Tzaddi │   28│
│435 │Pisces             │           HB:Mem-final HB:Yod HB:Gemel HB:Dalet │Back of Head.    │
HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Qof │   29│
│465 │Sol                │               │Head.            │
HB:Shin HB:Yod HB:Resh │ 30  │
│496 │Fire               │             HB:Shin HB:Aleph │Tooth.           │
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Shin │31   │
│528 │Saturn             │               │Tau(as Egyptian).│
HB:Vau HB:Taw │ 32  │
│    │Earth              │            HB:Tzaddi-final HB:Resh HB:Aleph │ ---             │
HB:Vau HB:Taw │32bis│
│    │Spirit             │             HB:Taw HB:Aleph │ ---             │
HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Shin │31bis│
└____┴___________________┴_______________┴_________________┴___________┴_____┘



{Chart approximated}
┌______┬____________________┬________┬_______┬_________________┬_______┬_____┐
│  XV. │        XIV.        │  XIII. │  XII. │       XI.       │   X.  │     │
│Secret│  The Four Worlds   │Parts of│Secret │The Elements and │Letters│     │
│Names │                    │the Soul│Numbers│    Senses.      │of the │     │
│the 4 │                    │        │corres-│                 │ Name. │     │
│Worlds│                    │        │spond'g│                 │       │     │
├______┼____________________┼________┼_______┼_________________┼_______┼_____┤
│  HB:Heh HB:Mem   │Yetrirah, Formative │    HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Resh  │   45  │Air
Air, Smell     │   HB:Vau    │ 11  │
│  HB:Gemel HB:Samekh   │Briah, Creative     │   HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Shin HB:Nun  │   63
│Water Water, Taste   │   HB:Heh    │ 23  │
│  HB:Bet HB:Ayin   │Atziluth, Archetypal│    HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Chet  │   72  │Dee
Fire, Sight    │   HB:Yod    │ 31  │
│  HB:Nun-final HB:Bet   │Assiah, Material    │    HB:Shin HB:Peh HB:Nun  │   52  │Spirit
Earth, Touch   │   h   │32bis│
│      │                    │  HB:Heh HB:Dalet HB:Yod HB:Chet HB:Yod  │       │< Spirit,
Hearing│   HB:Shin    │31bis│
├______┴_________________┬__┼________┴______┬┴_______┬_________┴_______┼_____┤
│          XVI.          │  │      IX.      │  VIII. │       VII.      │     │
│ The Planets and their  │  │Numbers printed│Value of│Hebrew Letters & │     │
│       Numbers.         │  │on Tarot Trumps│Col.VII.│English Equiv.   │     │
│                        │  │               │        │Symbols used in  │     │
│                        │  │               │        │  this Article.  │     │
├________________________┼__┼_______________┼________┼_________________┼_____┤
│         Mercury 8            │12│      0        │   1    │  A       HB:Aleph
│11   │
│         Moon 9            │13│      I        │   2    │  B       HB:Bet
│  12 │
│         Venus 7            │14│     II        │   3    │  G       HB:Gemel
    │  13 │
│         Jupiter 4            │21│     III       │   4    │  D       HB:Dalet
│  14 │
│         Mars 5            │27│     IV        │   5    │  H       HB:Heh
│   15│
│         Sun 6            │30│      V        │   6    │  V       HB:Vau
│   16│
│         Saturn 3            │32│     VI        │   7    │  Z       HB:Zain
│   17│
├_______________┬________┼__┤     VII       │   8    │  Ch      HB:Chet       │
18│
│    XVIII.     │  XVII. │  │     XI        │   9    │  T       HB:Tet       │
19│
│English of Col.│Parts of│  │     IX        │  10    │  I       HB:Yod       │
20│
│     XVII.     │the Soul│  │      X        │20, 500 │  K       HB:Koph , HB:Koph-final
│  21 │
├_______________┼________┼__┤    VIII       │  30    │  L       HB:Lamed       │
22│
│The Self       │   HB:Heh HB:Dalet HB:Yod HB:Chet HB:Yod │ 1│     XII       │40, 600 │  M
HB:Mem , HB:Mem-final    │23   │
│The Life Force │     HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Chet │ 2│    XIII       │50, 700 │  N
HB:Nun , HB:Nun-final    │   24│
│The Intuition  │    HB:Heh HB:Mem HB:Shin HB:Nun │ 3│     XIV       │  60    │  S
HB:Samekh       │   25│
│              ┐│       ┌│ 4│     XV        │  70    │  O       HB:Ayin       │
26│
│              ││       ││ 5│     XVI       │80, 800 │  P       HB:Peh , HB:Peh-final
│  27 │
│The Intellect ├│    HB:Chet HB:Yod HB:Resh ┤│ 6│    XVII       │90, 900 │  Tz
HB:Tzaddi , HB:Tzaddi-final    │   28│
│              ││       ││ 7│    XVIII      │  100   │  Q       HB:Qof       │
29│
│              ││       ││ 8│     XIX       │  200   │  R       HB:Resh       │
30 │
│              ┘│       └│ 9│     XX        │  300   │  Sh      HB:Shin       │31
│
│The Animal Soul│     HB:Shin HB:Peh HB:Nun │10│     XXI       │  400   │  Th      HB:Taw
│  32 │
│                           │               │  400   │       HB:Taw
│32bis│
│                           │               │  300   │       HB:Shin
│31bis│
└___________________________┴_______________┴________┴_________________┴_____┘
{WEH NOTE: In the above, col XVIII. head has been corrected and col. XVII.,
item 2 has been corrected --- all typo's in original.  Note additionally that
col. XVIII., item 1, "The Self" is not the separate self, but the Universal
Self, not distinct in traditional Qabalah from the single divinity.}}






                          THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE

                             KING ___ (Continued)

GREAT as were Frater P.'s accomplishments in the ancient sciences of the East,
swiftly and securely as he had passed in a bare year the arduous road which so
many fail to traverse in a lifetime, satisfied as himself was ___ in a sense
___ with his own progress, it was yet not by these paths that he was destined
to reach the Sublime Threshold of the Mystic Temple.  For thought it is
written, "To the persevering mortal the blessed immortals are swift," yet,
were it otherwise, no mortal however persevering could attain the immortal
shore.  As it is written in the Fifteenth Chapter of St Luke's Gospel, "And
when he was yet afar off, his Father saw him and ran."  Had it not been so,
the weary Prodigal, exhausted by his early debauches (astral visions and
magic) and his later mental toil (yoga) would never have had the strength to
reach the House of his Father.
   One little point St Luke unaccountably omitted.  When a man is as hungry
and weary as was the Prodigal, he is apt to see phantoms.  He is apt to clasp
shadows to him and cry: "Father!"  And, the devil being subtle, capable of
disguising himself as an angel of light, it behoves the Prodigal to have some
test of truth. {69}
   Some great mystics have laid down the law, "Accept no messenger of God,"
banish all, until at last the Father himself comes forth.  A counsel of
perfection.  The Father does send messengers, as we learn in St Mark xii.; and
if we stone them, we may perhaps in our blindness stone the son himself when
he is sent.
   So that is no vain counsel of "St John" (1 John iv. 1), "Try the spirits,
whether they be of God," no mistake when "St Paul" claims the discernment of
Spirits to be a principal point of the armour of salvation (1 Cor. xii. 10).
   Now how should Frater P. or another test the truth of any message
purporting to come from the Most High?  On the astral plane, its phantoms are
easily governed by the Pentagram, the Elemental Weapons, the Robes, the God-
forms, and such childish toys.  We set phantoms to chase phantoms.  We make
our Scin-Laeca pure and hard and glittering, all glorious within, like the
veritable daughter of the King; yet she is but the King's daughter, the
Nephesch adorned: she is not the King himself, the Holy Ruach or mind of man.
And as we have seen in our chapter on Yoga, this mind is a very aspen; and as
we may see in the last chapter of Captain Fuller's "Star in the West," this
mind is a very cockpit of contradiction.
   What then is the standard of truth?  What tests shall we apply to
revelation, when our tests of experience are found wanting?  If I must doubt
my eyes that have served me (well, on the whole) for so many years, must I not
much more doubt my spiritual vision, my vision just open like a babe's, my
vision untested by comparison and uncriticized by reason? {70}
   Fortunately, there is one science that can aid us, a science that, properly
understood by the initiated mind, is as absolute as mathematics, more self-
supporting than philosophy, a science of the spirit itself, whose teacher is
god, whose method is simple as the divine Light, and subtle as the divine
Fire,  Whose results are limpid as the divine Water, all-embracing as the
divine Air, and solid as the divine Earth.  Truth is the source, and Economy
the course, of that marvellous stream that pours its living waters into the
Ocean of apodeictic certainty, the Truth that is infinite in its infinity as
the primal Truth with which it is identical is infinite in its Unity.
   Need we say that we speak of the Holy Qabalah?  O science secret, subtle,
and sublime, who shall name thee without veneration, without prostration of
soul, spirit, and body before thy divine Author, without exaltation of soul,
spirit, and body as by His favour they bathe in His lustral and illimitable
Light?

   It must first here be spoken of the Exoteric Qabalah to be found in books,
a shell of that perfect fruit of the Tree of Life.  Next we will deal with the
esoteric teachings of it, as Frater P. was able to understand them.  And of
these we shall give examples, showing the falsity and absurdity of the
uninitiated path, the pure truth and reasonableness of the hidden Way.
   For the student unacquainted with the rudiments of the Qabalah we recommend
the study of S. L. Mathers' "Introduction"1 to his translation of the three
principal books of the Zohar,2 and Westcott's "Introduction to the Study of
the Qabalah."  We venture to append a few quotations from the {71} former
document, which will show the elementary principles of calculation.  Dr
Westcott's little book is principally valuable for its able defence of the
Qabalah as against exotericism and literalism.


   The literal Qabalah ... is divided into three parts: GMTRIA, Gematria;
NVTRIQVN, Notariqon; and ThMVRH, Temura.
   Gematria is a metathesis of the Greek word
gamma rho alpha mu mu alpha tau epsilon iota alpha .  It is based on the relative
numerical values of words.  Words of similar numerical values are considered
to be explanatory of each other, and this theory is extended to phrases.  Thus
the letter Shin, Sh, is 300, and is equivalent to the number obtained by
adding up the numerical values of the letters of the words RVCh ALHIM, Ruach
Elohim, the spirit of Elohim; and it is there fore a symbol of the spirit of
Elohim.  For % = 200, V = 6, Ch = 8, A = 1, L = 30, H = 5, I = 10, M = 40;
total = 300.  Similarly, the words AChD, Achad, Unity, One, and AHBH, Ahebah,
love, each = 13; for A =1, Ch = 8, D = 4, total = 13; and A = 1, H = 5, B = 2,
H = 5, total = 13.  Again, the name of the angel MTTRVN, Metatron or
Methraton, and the name of the Deity, ShDI, Shaddai, each make 314;3 so the
one is taken as symbolical of the other.  The angel Metatron is said to have
been the conductor of the children of Israel through the wilderness, of whom
God says, "My name is in him."  With regard to Gematria of phases (Gen. xlix.
10), IBA ShILH, Yeba Shiloh, "Sjhiloh shall come" = 358, which is the
numeration of the word MShICh, Messiah.  Thus also the passage, Gen. xviii. 2,
VHNH ShLShH, Vehenna Shalisha, "And lo, three men," equals in numerical value
ALV MIKAL GBRIAL VRPAL, Elo Mikhale Gabriel Ve-Raphael, "These are Mikhael,
Gabriel and Raphael"; for each phrase = 701.  I think these instance will
suffice to make clear the nature of Gematria.
   Notariqon is derived from the Latin word notarius, a shorthand writer.  Of
Notariqon there are two forms.  In the first every letter of a word is taken
from the initial or abbreviation of another word, so that from the letters of
a word a sentence may be formed.  Thus every letter of the word BRAShITH,
Berashith, the first word in Genesis, is made the initial of a word, and we
obtain BRAShITh RAH ALHIM ShIQBLV IShRAL ThVRH, Berashith Rahi Elohim
Sheyequebelo Israel Torah; "In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would
accept the law."  In this connection I may give six very interesting specimens
of Notariqon formed from this same word BRAShITh by Solomon Meir Ben Moses, a
Jewish Qabalist, who embraced the Christian faith in 1665, and took the name
of Prosper Rugere.  These have all a Christian tendency, {72} and by their
means Prosper converted another Jew, who had previously been bitterly opposed
        1  WEH NOTE: Plagiarized entire from Ginsburg's "The Kabbalah".
        2  WEH NOTE:  Better: His purported translation of three of the
          more obscure books of the Zohar.
        3  WEH NOTE:  This observation led Mathers to miss-identify a
          picture of Moses as Metatron in his edition (not translation, the
          MSS were in English!) of "The Greater Key of Solomon."
to Christianity.  The first is, BN RVCh AB ShLVShThM IChD ThMIM, Ben, Ruach,
Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Thaubodo: "The Son, the Spirit, the Father, ye shall
equally worship Their Trinity."  The third is BKVRI RAShVNI AShR ShMV IShVO
ThOBVDV, Bekori Rashuni Asher Shamo Yeshuah Thaubodo: "Ye shall worship My
first-born, My first, Whose name is Jesus."  The fourth is, BBVA RBN AShR ShMV
IShVO ThOBVDV, Beboa Rabban Asher Shamo Yeshuah Thaubodo: "When the Master
shall come Whose Name is Jesus ye shall worship."  The fifth is, BThVLH RAVIH
ABChR ShthLD ISh VO THAShRVH, Bethulh Raviah Abachar Shethaled Yeshuah
Thashroah: "I will choose a virgin worthy to bring forth Jesus, and ye shall
call her belssed."  The sixth is, BOVGTh RTzPIM ASThThR ShGVPI IShVO ThAKLV,
Beaugoth Ratzephim Asattar Shgopi Yeshuah Thakelo: "I will hid myself in cake
(baked with) coals, for ye shall eat Jesus, My Body."
   The Qabalistical importance of these sentences as bearing upon the
doctrines of Christianity can hardly be overrated.
   The second form of the Notariqon is the exact reverse of the first.  By
this the initials or finals, or both, or the medials, of a sentence, are taken
to form a word or words.  Thus the Qabalah is called ChKMH NSThRH, Chokhmah
Nesthrah, "the secret wisdom"; and if we take the initials of these two words
Ch and N, we form by the second king of Notariqon the word ChN, Chen,
"gracce."  Similarly, from the initials and finals of the words MI IOLH LNV
HShMIMH, Mi Iaulah Leno Ha-Shamayimah, "Who shall go up for us to heaven?"
(Deut. xxx. 120, are formed MILH, Milah, "circumcision," and IHVH, the
Tetragrammaton, implying that God hath ordained circumcision as the way to
heaven.
   Temura is permutation.4  According to certain rules, one letter is
substituted for another letter preceding or following it in the alphabet, and
thus from one word another word of totally different orthography may be
formed.  Thus the alphabet is bent exactly in half, in the middle, and one
half is put over the other; and then by changing alternately the first letter
or the first two letters at the beginning of the second line, twenty-two
commutations are produced.  These are called the "Table of the Combinations of
TzIRVP," Tzirup.  For example's sake, I will give the method called ALBTh,
Albath, thus: ---

       11   10    9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1
       K    I     T    Ch   Z    V    H    D    G    B    A
       M    N     S    O    P    Tz   Q    R    Sh   Th   L

Each method takes its name from he first two pairs composing it, the system
{73} of pairs of letters being the groundwork of the the whole, as either
letter in a pair is substituted for the other letter.  Thus, by Albath, from
RVCh, Ruach, is formed DTzO, Detzau.  The names of the other twenty-one
methods are: ABGTh, AGDTh, ADBG, AHBD, AVBH, AZBY, AChBZ, ATBCh, AIBT, AKBI,
ALBK, AMBL, ANBM, ASBN, AOBS, APBO, ATzBP, AQSTz, ARBQ, AShBR, AND AThBSh.  To
these must be added the modes ABGD and ALBM.  Then comes the "Rational Table
of Tziruph," another set of twenty-two combination.  There are also three
"Tables of the commutations," known respectively as the Right, the Averse, and
the Irregular.  To make any of these, a square, containing 484 squares, should
be made,and the letters written in.  For the "Right Table" write the alphabet
across from right to left; in the second row of squares do the same, but begin
with B and end with A; in the third begin with G and end with B; and so on.
For the "Averse Table" write the alphabet from right to left backwards,
beginning with Th and ending with A; in the second row begin with Sh and end
with Th, &c.  The "Irregular Table" would take too long to describe.  Besides
all these, there is the method called ThShRQ, Thashraq, which is simply
writing a word backwards.  There is one more very important form called the
"Qabalah of the Nine Chambers" or AIQ BKR, Aiq Bekar.  It is thus formed:
        4  WEH NOTE: Strictly speaking, no.  Temura is substitution code,
          with 24 principal tables.  Crowley tended to use simple
          permutation of the letters in some instances, calling it Temura.

   ┌___________________┬____________________┬____________________┐
   │  300    30    3   │  200    20     2   │   100    10    1   │
   │   Sh    L     G   │   R     K      B   │    Q     I     A   │
   ├___________________┼____________________┼____________________┤
   │  600    60    6   │  500    50     5   │   400    40    4   │
   │ M final S     V   │ K final N      H   │    Th    M     D   │
   ├___________________┼____________________┼____________________┤
   │  900    90    9   │  800    80     8   │   700    70    7   │
   │Tz final Tz    T   │ P final P      Ch  │  N final O     Z   │
   └___________________┴____________________┴____________________┘

I have put the numeration of each letter above to show the affinity between
the letters in each chamber.  ?sometimes this is used as a cipher, by taking
the portions of the figure to show the letters they contain, putting one point
for the first letter, two for the second, &c.  Thus the right angle,
containing AIQ, will answer for the letter Q if it have three dots or points
within it.  Again a square will answer for H, H, or K final, according to
whether it has one, two, or three points respectively placed within it.  so
also with regard to the other letters.  But there are many other ways of
employing the Qabalah of the Nine Chambers, which I have not space to
describe.  I will merely mention as an example, that by the mode of Temura
called {74} AThBsH, Athbash, it is found that in Jeremiah xxv. 26, the word
ShShK, Sheshakh, symbolises BBL, Babel.
   Besides all these rules,there are certain meanings hidden in the shape of
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; in the form of a particular letter at the
end of a word being different from that which it generally bears when it is a
final letter, or in a letter being written in the middle of a word in a
character generally used only at the end; in any letters or letter being
written in a size smaller or larger than the rest of the manuscript, or in a
letter being written upside down; in the variations found in the spelling of
certain words, which have a letter more in some places than they have in
others; in peculiarities observed in the position of any of the points or
accents, and in certain expressions supposed to be elliptic or redundant.
   For example the shape of the Hebrew letter Aleph, A, is said to symbolize a
Vau, V, between a Yod, I, and a Daleth, D; and thus the letter itself
represents the word IVD, Yod.  Similarly the shape of the letter He, H,
represents a Daleth, D, with a Yod, I, written at the lower left-hand corner,
&c.
   In Isaiah ix. 6, 7, the word LMRBH, Lemarbah, "for multiplying," is written
with the character for M final in the middle of the word, instead of with the
ordinary initial and medial M.  The consequence of this is that the total
numerical value of the word, instead of being 30 + 40 + 200 + 2 + 5 = 277, is
30 + 600 + 200 + 2 + 5 = 837 = by Gematria ThTh ZL, Tet Zal, the profuse
Giver.  Thus by writing the M final instead of the ordinary character, the
word is made to bear a different qabalistical meaning.

           .      .     .     .     .      .      .      .      .

   It is to be further noted with regard to the first word in the Bible,
BRAShITH, that the first three letters, BRA, are the initial letters of the
names of the three persons of the Trinity: BN, Ben the Son; RVCh, Ruach, the
Spirit; and AB, Ab the Father.  Furthermore the first letter of the Bible is
B, which is the initial letter of BRKH, Berakhah, blessing; and not A, which
is that of ARR, Arar, cursing.  Again, the letters of Berashith, taking their
numerical powers, express the number of the years between the Creation and the
birth of Christ, thus: B = 2,000, R = 200, A - 1,000, Sh = 300, I = 10, and Th
= 400; total = 3910 years, being the time in round numbers.  Picus de
Mirandola gives the following working out of BRAShITh, Berashith: --- By
joining the third letter, A, to the first, B, AB, Ab = Father, is obtained.
If to the first letter B, doubled, the second letter, R, be added, it makes
BBR, Bebar - in or through the Son.  If all the letters be read except the
first, it makes RAShITh, Rashith = the beginning.  If the fourth letter, Sh,
the first B and the last Th be connected, it makes ShBTh, Shebeth = the end or
rest.  {75} If the first three letters be taken, they make BRA, Bera =
created.  If, omitting the first, the three following be taken, they make
RASh, Rash = head.  If the fourth and the last be joined, they give ShTh,
Sheth = foundation.  Again if the second letter be put before the first, it
makes RB, Rab = great.  If after the third be placed the fifth and the fourth,
it gives AISh, Aish = man.  If to the two first be joined the two last, they
give BRITh, Berith = covenant.  And if the first be added to the last, it
gives ThB, Theb, which is sometimes used for TVB, Thob = good.

           .      .     .     .     .      .      .      .      .

   There are three qabalistical veils of the negative existence, and in
themselves they formulate the hidden ideas of the Sephiroth not yet called
into being, and they are concentrated in Kether, which in this sense is the
Malkuth of hidden ideas of the Sephiroth.  I will explain this.  The first
veil of the negative existence is the AIN, Ain, Negativity.  This word
consists of three letters, which thus shadow forth the first three Sephiroth
or numbers.  The second veil is the AIN SVP, the limitless.  This title
consists of six letters, and shadows forth the idea of the first six Sephiroth
or numbers.  The third veil is the AIN SVP AVR, Ain Soph Aur, the Limitless
Light.  This again consists of nine letters, and suymbolises the first nine
Sephiroth, but of course in their hidden idea only.  But when we reach the
number nine we cannot progress farther without returning to the unity, or the
number one, for the number ten is but a repetition of unity freshly derived
from the negative, as is evident from a glance at its ordinary representation
in Arabic numerals, where the circle O represents the Negative and the I the
Unity.  Thus, then, the limitless ocean of negative light does not proceed
from a centre, for it is centreless, but it concentrates a centre, which is
the number one of of the Sephiroth, Kether, the Crown, the First Sephira;
which therefore may be said to be the Malkuth or the number ten of the hidden
Sephiroth.  Thus "Kether is in Malkuth and Malkuth is in Kether."  Or as an
alchemical author of great repute (Thomas Vaughan, better known as Eugenius
Philalethes) says, apparently quoting from Proclus; "That the heaven is in the
earth, but after an earthly manner; and that the earth is in the heaven, but
after a heavenly manner."  But inasmuch as negative existence is the subject
incapable of definition, as I have before shown, it is rather considered by
the Qabalists as depending back from the number of unity than as a separate
consideration therefrom; therefore they frequently apply the same terms and
epithets indiscriminately to either.  Such epithets are "The concealed of the
Concealed," "The Ancient of the Ancient Ones," the "Most Holy Ancient One,"
etc. {76}
   I must now explain the real meaning of the terms Sephira and Sephiroth.
The first is singular, the second is plural.  The best rendering of the word
is "numerical emanation."  There are ten Sephiroth, which are the most
abstract forms of the ten numbers of the decimal scale --- "i.e.", the numbers
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.  Therefore, as in the higher mathematics we
reason of numbers in their abstract sense, so in the Qabalah we reason of the
Deity by the abstract forms of the numbers in other words, by the SPIRVTh,
Sephiroth.  it was from this ancient Oriental theory that Pythagoras derived
his numerical symbolic ideas.
   Among the Sephiroth, jointly and severally, we find the development of the
persons and attributes of God.  Of these some are male and some female.  Now,
for some reason or other best known to themselves, the translators of the
Bible have carefully crowded out of existence and smothered up every reference
to the fact that the Deity is both masculine and feminine.  They have
translated a feminine plural by a masculine singular in the case of the word
Elohim.  They have, however, left an inadvertent admission of their knowledge
that it was plural in Genesis iv, 26: "And Elohim said: Let Us make man."
Again (v. 27), who could Adam be made in the image of Elohim, male and female,
unless the Elohim were male and female also?  The word Elohim is a plural
formed from the feminine singular ALH, Eloh, by adding IM to word.  But
inasmuch as IM is usually a termination of the masculine plural and is here
added to a feminine noun, it gives to the word Elohim the sense of a female
potency united to a masculine idea, and thereby capable of producing an
offspring.  How, we hear much of the Father and the Son, but we hear nothing
of the Mother in the ordinary religions of the day.  But in the Qabalah we
find that the Ancient of Days conforms Himself simultaneously into the Father
and the Mother, and thus begets the son.  Now, this Mother is Elohim.  Again,
we are usually told that the Holy Spirit is masculine.  But the word RVCh,
Ruach, Spirit, is feminine, as appears from the following passage of the
Sepher Yetzirah: "AChTh RVCh ALHIM ChIIM, Achath (feminine, not Achad,
masculine) Ruach Elohim Chimm: One is She the Spirit of the Elohim of Life."
   Now, we find that before he Deity conformed Himself thus --- "i.e.", as male
and female --- that the worlds of the universe could not subsist, or, in the
words of Genesis, "The earth was formless and void."  These prior worlds are
considered to be symbolised by the "kings who reigned in Edom before there
reigned a king in Israel," and they are therefore spoken of in the Qabalah as
the "Edomite kings."  This will be found fully explained in various parts of
this work.
   we now come to the consideration of the first Sephira, or the Number One,
the Monad of Pythagoras.  In this number are the other nine hidden.  It is
{77} indivisible, it is also incapable of multiplication; divide 1 by itself
and it still remains 1, multiply 1 by itself and it is still 1 and unchanged.
Thus it is a fitting representative of the unchangeable Father of all.  Now
this number of unity has a twofold nature, and thus forms, as it were, the
link between the negative and the positive.  In its unchangeable one-ness it
is scarcely a number; but in its property of capability of addition it may be
called the first number of a numerical series.  Now, the zero, 0, is incapable
even of addition, just as also is negative existence.  How, then, if 1 can
neither be multiplied nor divided, is another 1 to be obtained to add to it;
in other words how is the number 2 to be found?  By reflection of itself.  For
thought 0 be incapable of definition, 1 is definable.  And the effect of a
definition is to form an Eidolon, duplicate, or image, of the thing defined.
Thus, then, we obtain a duad composed of 1 and its reflection.  Now also we
have the commencement of a vibration established, for the number 1 vibrates
alternately from changelessness to definition, and back to changelessness
again.  Thus, then, it is the father of all numbers, and a fitting type of the
Father of all things.
   The name of the first Sephira is KThR, Kether, the Crown.  The Divine Name
attributed to it is the Name of the Father given in Exod. iii. 4: AHIH,
Eheieh, I am.  It signifies Existence.

           .      .     .     .     .      .      .      .      .

   The first Sephira contains nine, and produces them in succession thus: ---
   The number 2 or the Duad.  The name of the second Sephira is ChKMHm,
Chokmah, Wisdom, a masculine active potency reflected from Kether, as I have
before explained.  this Sephira is the active and evident Father, to whom the
Mother is united, who is the number 3.  This second Sephira is represented by
the Divine Names, IH, Yah, and IHVHY; and the angelic hosts by AVPNIM,
Auphanim, the Wheels (Ezek. i.).  It is also called AB, Ab, the Father.
   The third Sephira, or triad, is a feminine passive potency, called BINH,
Binah, the Understanding, who is co-equal with Chokmah.  For Chokmah, the
number 2, is like two straight lines which can never enclose a space, and
therefore it is powerless till the number 3 forms a triangle.  Thus this
Sephira completes and makes evident the supernal Trinity.  It is also called
AMA, Ama, Mother, and AIMA, Mima, the great productive Mother, who is
eternally conjoined with AB, the Father, for the maintenance of the universe
in order.  There fore is she the most evident form in whom we can know the
Father, and therefore is she worthy of all honour.  She is the supernal
Mother, co-equal with Chokmah, and the great feminine form of god, the Elohim,
in whose image man and woman are created, according to the teaching of the
Qabalah, equal before God.  Woman is equal with man, and certainly not {78}
inferior to him, as it has been the persistent endeavour of so-called
Christians to make her.  Aima is the woman described in the Apocalypse (chap.
xii.).  This third Sephira is also sometimes called the Great Sea.  To her are
attribute the Divine names, ALHIM, Elohim, and IHVH ALHIM; and the angelic
order, ARALIM, Aralim, the Thrones.  She is the Supernal Mother as
distinguished from Malkuth, the inferior Mother, Bride, and Queen.
   The number 4.  This union of the second and third Sephiroth produced ChSD,
Chesed, Mercy or Love, also called GDVLH, Gedulah, Greatness or Magnificence;
a masculine potency represented by the Divine Name AL, EL, the Mighty One, and
the angelic name, ChShMLIM, Chashmalim, Scintillating Flames (Ezek. iv. 4).
   The number 5.  From this emanated the feminine passive potency GBVRH,
Geburah, strength or fortitude; or DIN, Deen, Justice; represented by the
Divine Names, ALHIM GBVR, and ALH, Eloh, and the angelic name ShRPIM, Seraphim
(Isa. vi. 6).  This Sephira is also called PChD, Pachad, Fear.
   The number 6.  And from these two issued the uniting Sephira, ThPARTh,
Tiphereth, Beauty or Mildness, represented by the Divine Name ALVH VDOTh,
Eloah Va-Daath, and the angelic names, Shinanim, ShNANIM (Ps. lxviii. 18), or
MLKIM, Melakim, kings.  Thus by the union of justice and mercy we obtain
beauty or clemency, and the second trinity of the Sephiroth is complete.  This
Sephira, or "Path," or "Numeration" --- for by these latter appellations the
emanations are sometimes called --- together with the fourth, fifth, seventh
eighth, and ninth Sephiroth, is spoken of as ZOIR ANPIN, Zaur Anpin, the
Lesser Countenance, Microprosopus, by way of antithesis to Macroprosopus, or
the Vast Countenance, which is one of the names of Kether, the first Sephira.
The six Sephiroth of which Zauir Anpin is composed, are then called His six
members.  He is also called MLK, Melekh the King.
   The number 7.  The seventh Sephira is NTzCh, Netzach, or Firmness and
Victory, corresponding to he Divine Name Jehovah Tzabaoth, IHVH TzBAVTh, the
Lord of Armies, and the angelic names ALHIM, Elohim, gods, and ThRShIShIM,
Tharshishim, the brilliant ones (Dan. x. 6)5.
   The number 8.  Thence proceeded the feminine passive potency HVD, Hod,
Splendour, answering to the Divine Name ALHIM TzBAVTh, Elohim Tzabaoth, the
God of Armies, and among the angels to BNI ALHIM, Beni Elohim, the sons of the
Gods (Gen. vi. 4).
   The number 9.  These two produced ISVD, Yesod, the Foundation or Basis,
represented by AL ChI, El Chai, the Mighty Living One, and ShDI, Shaddai; and
among the angels by AShIM, Aishim, the Flames (Ps. civ. 5), yielding the third
Trinity of the Sephiroth. {79}
   The number 10.  From this ninth Sephira came the tenth and last, thus
completing the decad of the numbers.  It is called MLVth, Malkuth, the
Kingdom, and also the Queen, Matrona, the inferior Mother, the Bride of
Microprosopus; and ShKINH, Shekinah, represented by the Divine Name Adonai,
ADNI, and among the angel hosts by the kerubim, KRVBIM.  Now, each of these
        5  WEH NOTE: Tharshisim.  Literally the "ships of Tarshish".
          Isaiah, II, 16:  "And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon
          all delightful imagery." See also Isaiah XXIII, 1.  Mathers
          copies Ginsburg's "The Kabbalah" with a reference to Daniel X,6 for
          this angelic order, but all that is found there is a description
          of an angel.  The figuration of "Brass" in the description is all
          that can be directly found to unite to Netzach --- in as much as
          Brass contains Copper, the metal commonly attributed to Netzach.
          One could just as well attribute to Hod, Brass being a mixed
          metal.
Sephiroth will be in a certain degree androgynous, for it will be feminine or
receptive with regard to the Sephira which immediately precedes it in the
sephirotic scale, and masculine or transmissive with regard to the Sephira
which immediately follows it.  But there is no Sephira anterior to Kether, nor
is there a Sephira which succeeds Malkuth.  By these remarks it will be
understood how Chokmah is a feminine noun, though marking a masculine Sephira.
the connecting-link of the Sephiroth is the Ruach, spirit, Mezla, the hidden
influence.
   I will how add a few more remarks on the qabalistical meaning of the term
MThQLA, Metheqla, balance.  In each of the three trinities or triads of the
Sephiroth is a duad of opposite sexes, and a uniting intelligence which is the
result.  In this, the masculine and feminine potencies are regarded as the two
scales of the balance, and the uniting Sephira as the beam that joins them.
Thus, then, the term balance maybe said to symbolise the Triune, Trinity in
Unity, and the Unity represented by the central point of the beam.  But,
again, in the Sephiroth there is a triple Trinity, the upper, lower, and
middle.  Now, these three are represented thus: the supernal, or highest, by
the Crown, Kether; the middle by the King, and the inferior by the Queen;
which will be the greatest trinity.  And the earthy correlatives of these will
be the primum mobile, the sun and the moon.  Here we at once find alchemical
symbolism.

           .      .     .     .     .      .      .      .      .

   The Sephiroth are futher divided into three pillars --- the right-hand
Pillar of Mercy, consisting of the second, fourth, and seventh emanations; the
left-hand Pillar of Judgment, consisting of the third, fifth, and eighth; and
the middle Pillar of Mildness, consisting of the first, sixth, ninth, and
tenth emanations.
   In their totality and unity the ten Sephiroth represent the archetypal man,
ADM QDMVN, Adam Qadmon, the Protogonos.  In looking at the Sephiroth
constituting the first triad, it is evident that they represent the intellect;
and hence this triad is called the intellectual world, OVLM MVShKL, Olahm
Mevshekal.  The second triad corresponds to the moral world, OVLM MVRGSh,
Olahm Morgash.  The third represents power and stability, and is therefore
called the material world, OLVM HMVTHBO, Olahm Ha-Mevethau.  These three
aspect are called the faces, ANPIN, Anpin.  Thus is the tree of life, OTz
ChIIM, Otz Chaiim, formed; the first triad being placed above, the {80}
second and third below, in such a manner that the three masculine Sephiroth
are on the right, the three feminine on the left, whilst the four uniting
Sephiroth occupy the centre.  This is the qabalistical "tree of life," on
which all things depend.  There is considerable analogy between this and the
tree Yggdrasil of the Scandinavians.  I have already remarked that there is
one trinity which comprises all the Sephiroth, and that it consists of the
crown, the king, and the queen.  (In some senses this is the Christian Trinity
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which in their highest Divine nature are
symbolised by the first three Sephiroth, Kether, Chokmah, and Binah.)  It is
the Trinity which created the world; or, in qabalistical language, the
universe was born from the union of the crowned king and queen.  But according
to the Qabalah, before the complete form of the heavenly man (the ten
Sephiroth) was produced, there were certain primordial world created, but
these could not subsist, as the equilibrium of balance was not yet perfect,
and they were convulsed by the unbalanced force and destroyed.  These
primordial worlds are called the "kings of ancient time" and the "kings of
Edom who reigned before the monarchs of Israel."  In this sense, Edom is the
world of unbalanced force, and Israel is the balanced Sephiroth (Gen. xxxvi.
31.).  This important fact, that worlds were created and destroyed prior to
the present creation, is again and again reiterated in the Zohar.
   Now the Sephiroth are also called the World of Emanations, or the
Atziluthic World, or the archetypal world, OVLM ATzILUTh, Olahm Atziloth; and
this world gave birth to three other worlds each containing a repetition of
the Sephiroth, but in a descending scale of brightness.
   The second world is the Briatic world, OVLM HBRIAH, Olahm Ha-Briah, the
world of creation, also called KVRSIA, Khorsia, the throne.  It is an
immediate emanation from the world of Atziloth, whose ten Sephiroth are
reflected herein, and are consequently more limited, though they are still of
the purest nature, and without any admixture of matter.
   The third is the Jetziratic world, OVLM HITzIRAH, Olahm Ha-Yetzirah, or
world of formation and of angels, which proceeds from Briah, and, though less
refined in substance, is still without matter.  It is in this angelic world
that reside those intelligent and incorporeal beings who are wrapped in a
luminous garment, and who assume a form when they appear unto man.
   The fourth is the Asiatic world, OVLM HOShIH, Olahm Ha-Asiah, the world of
action, called also the world of shells, OVLM HQLIPVTh, Olahm Ha-Qliphoth,
which is this world of matter, made up of the grosser elements of the other
three.  In it is also the abode of the evil spirits, which are called "the
shells" by the Qabalah, QLIPVTh, Qliphoth, material shells.  The devils are
also divided into ten classes, and have suitable habitations.  (See Tables in
"777.")  {81}
   The demons are the grossest and most deficient of all forms.  Their ten
degrees answer to the decad of the Sephiroth, but in inverse ratio, as
darkness and impurity increase with the descent of each degree.  The two first
are nothing but absence of visible form and organisation.  The third is the
abode of darkness.  Next follow seven Hells occupied by those demons which
represent incarnate human vices, and those who have given themselves up to
such vices in earth-life.  Their prince is Samael, SMAL, the angel of poison
and death..  His wife is the harlot, or woman of whoredom, AShTh ZNVNIM,
Isheth Zennuim; and united they are called the beast, CHIVA, Chioa.  Thus the
infernal trinity is completed which is, so to speak,the averse and caricature
of the supernal Creative One.  Samael is considered to be identical with
Satan.
   The name of the Deity, which we call Jehovah, is in Hebrew ad name of four
letters, IHVH; and the true pronunciation of it is known to very few.  I
myself know some score of different mystical pronunciations of it.  The true
pronunciation of it is a most secret arcanum, and is a secret of secrets.  "He
who can rightly pronounce it, causeth heaven and earth to tremble, for it is
the name which rusheth through the universe."  Therefore when a devout Jew
comes upon it in reading the Scripture, he either does not attempt to
pronounce it, but instead makes a short pause, or else he substitutes for it
the name Adonai, ADNI, Lord.  The radical meaning of the word is "to be," and
it is thus, like AHIH, Eheieh, a glyph of existence.  It is capable of twelve
transpositions, which all convey the meaning of "to be"; it is the only word
that will bear so many transpositions without its meaning being altered.  They
are called the "twelve banners of the mighty name," and are said by some to
rule the twelve signs of the Zodiac.  These are the twelve banners: --- IHVH,
IHHV, IVHH, HVHI, HVIH, HHIV, VHHI, VIHH, VHIH, HIHV, HIVH, HHVI.  There are
three other tetragrammatic names, which are AHIH, Eheieh, existence; ADNI,
Adonai, Lord; and AGLA.  This last is not properly speaking, a word, but is a
notariqon of the sentence, AThH GBVR LOVLM ADNI, Steh Gebor Le0Olahm Adonai:
"Thou art might, for ever, O Lord!"  A brief explanation of Agla is this; A,
the one first; A, the one last; G, the Trinity in Unity; L, the completion of
the great work.

           .      .     .     .     .      .      .      .      .

   But IHVH, the Tetragrammaton, as we shall presently see, contains all the
Sephiroth with the exception of Kether, and specially signifies the Lesser
Countenance, Microprosopus, the King of the qabalistical Sephirotic greatest
Trinity,and the Son in His human incarnation, in the Christian acceptation of
the Trinity.  Therefore, as the Son reveals the Father, so does IHVH, Jehovah,
reveal AHIH, Eheieh.  And ADNI is the Queen, by whom alone Tetragrammaton {82}
can be grasped, whose exaltation into Binah is found in the Christian
assumption of the Virgin.
   The Tetragrammaton IHVH is referred to the Sephiroth, thus: the upper-most
point of the letter Yod, I, is said to refer to Kether; the letter I itself to
Chokmah, the father of Microprosopus; the letter H, or "the supernal He," to
Binah, the supernal Mother; the letter V to the next six Sephiroth, which are
called the six members of Microprosopus (and six is the numerical value of V,
the Hebrew Vau); lastly, the letter H, the "inferior He," to Malkuth, the
tenth Sephira, the bride of Microprosopus.

   Advanced students should then go to the fountain head, Knorr von
Rosenroth's "Kabbala denudata," and study for themselves.  It should not prove
easy; Frater P., after years of study, confessed: "I cannot get much out of
Rosenroth"; and we may add that only the best minds are likely to obtain more
than an academic knowledge of a system which we suspect von Rosenroth himself
never understood in any deeper sense.  As a book of reference to the
hierarchical correspondences of the Qabalah, of course "777" stands alone an
unrivalled.
   The graphic Qabalah has been already fully illustrated in this treatise.
See Illustrations 2, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, 38,
39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71, 72, 73, 74,
75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 82.
   By far the best and most concise account of the method of the Qabalah is
that by an unknown author, which Mr. Aleister Crowley has printed at the end
of the first volume of his Collected Works, and which we here reprint in full.

                           QABALISTIC DOGMA

   The Evolution of Things is thus described by the Qabalists.
   First is Nothing, or the Absence of Things, HB:Nun-final HB:Yod HB:Aleph , which does not
and cannot mean Negatively Existing (if such an Idea can be said to mean
anything), as S. Liddell Macgregor Mathers, who misread the Text and
stultified the {83} Commentary by the Light of his own Ignorance of Hebrew and
Philosophy, pretends in his Translation of v. Rosenroth.
   Second is Without Limit HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Samekh  HB:Nun-final HB:Yod a {WEH NOTE:
Corrected, original text had HB:Peh-final HB:Vau HB:Mem }, "i.e.", Infinite Space.
   This is the primal Dualism of Infinity; the infinitely small and the
infinitely great.  The Clash of these produces a finite positive Idea which
happens (see HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Shin HB:Aleph HB:Resh HB:Bet , in "The Sword of song," for a more
careful study, though I must not be understood to indorse every Word in our
Poet-Philosopher's Thesis) to be Light, HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph .  This word HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph
is most important.  It symbolises the Universe immediately after Chaos, the
confusion or Clash of the infinite Opposites.  HB:Aleph  is the Egg of Matter;
HB:Yod  is Taurus, the Bull, or Energy-Motion; and HB:Resh  is the Sun, or organised
and moving System of Orbs.  The three Letters of HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph  thus repeat the
three Ideas.  The Nature of HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph  is thus analysed, under the figure
of the ten Numbers and the 22 Letters which together compose what the
Rosicrucians have diagrammatised under the name of Minutum Mundom.  It will be
noticed that every Number and Letter has its "Correspondence" in Ideas of
every Sort; so that any given Object can be analysed in Terms of the 32.  If I
see a blue Star, I should regard it as a Manifestation of Chesed, Water, the
Moon, Salt the Alchemical Principle, Sagittarius or What not, in respect of
its Blueness ---- one would have to decide which from other Data --- and refer
it to the XVIIth Key of the Taro in Respect of its Starriness.
   The Use of these Attributions is lengthy and various: I cannot dwell upon
it: but I will give one Example.
   If I wish to visit the Sphere of Geburah, I use the Colours and Forces
appropriate: I go there: if the Objects which then appear to my spiritual
Vision are harmonious therewith, it is one Test of their Truth.
   so also, to construct a Talisman, or to invoke a Spirit.
   The methods of discovering Dogma from sacred Words are also numerous and
important: I may mention: ---
   ("a)" The Doctrine of Sympathies: drawn from the total Numeration of a Word,
when identical with, or a Multiple of Submultiple of, or a Metathesis of, that
of another Word.
   ("b)" The Method of finding the Least Number of a Word, by adding (and re-
adding) the Digits of its total Number, and taking the corresponding Key of
the Taro as a Key to the Meaning of the Word.
   ("c") The Method of Analogies drawn from the Shape of the Letters.
   ("d") The Method of Deductions drawn from the Meanings and Correspondences of
the letters.
   ("e") The Method of Acrostics drawn from the Letters.  This Mode is only
valid for Adepts of the highest Grades, and then under quite exceptional and
rare Conditions. {84}
   ("f") The Method of Transpositions and Transmutations of the Letters, which
suggest Analogies, even when they fail to explain in direct Fashion.
   All these and their Varieties and Combinations, with some other more
abstruse or less important Methods, may be used to unlock the Secret of a
Word.
   Of course with Powers so wide it is easy for the Partisan to find his
favourite Meaning in any Word.  Even the formal Proof 0 = 1 = 2 = 3 = 4 = 5 =
....... = n is possible.
   But the Adept who worked out this Theorem, with the very Intent to
discredit the Qabalistic Mode of Research, was suddenly dumfounded by the Fact
that he had actually stumbled upon the Qabalistic Proof of Pantheism or
Monism.
   What really happens is that the Adept sits down and performs many useless
Tricks with the Figures, without Result.
   Suddenly the Lux dawns, and the Problem is solved.
   The Rationalist explains this by Inspiration, the superstitious Man by
Mathematics.
   I give an Example of the Way in which one works.  Let us take IAO, one of
the "Barbarous Names of Evocation," of which those who have wished to conceal
their own Glory by adopting the Authority of Zarathustra have said that in the
holy Ceremonies it has ineffable Power.
   But what Kind of Power?  By the Qabalah we can found out the Force of the
Name IAO.
   We can spell it in Hebrew HB:Vau HB:Aleph HB:Yod  or HB:Ayin HB:Aleph HB:Yod .  The Qabalah will
even tell us which is the true Way.  Let us however suppose that it is spelt
HB:Vau HB:Aleph HB:Yod .  This adds up to 17.
   But first of all it strikes us that I, A, and O are the three Letters
associated with the three Letters HB:Heh  in the great Name of Six Letters,
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph , which combines HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Aleph  and
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod  {WEH NOTE: sic.  Should be: HB:Heh HB:Yod HB:Heh HB:Aleph  and
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod }, Macroprosopus and Microprosopus.  Now these feminine
Letters HB:Heh  conceal the "Three Mothers" of the Alphabet, HB:Aleph , HB:Mem , and
HB:Shin .  Replace these, and we get HB:Aleph HB:Vau HB:Mem HB:Yod HB:Shin HB:Aleph , which adds up to
358, the Number alike of HB:Shin HB:Chet HB:Nun , the Serpent of Genesis, and the
Messiah.  We thus look for redeeming Power in IAO, and for the Masculine
Aspect of that Poser.
   Now we will see how that Power works.  We have a curious Dictionary, which
was made by a very learned Man, in which the Numbers 1 to 10,000 fill the left
hand Column, in Order, and opposite them are written all the sacred or
important Words which add up to each Number.
   We take this Book, and look at 17.  We find that 17 is the number of
Squares in the Swastika, which is the Whirling Disc or Thunderbolt.  Also
there is HB:Nun HB:Vau HB:Chet , a Circle or Orbit; HB:Dalet HB:Vau HB:Zain , to seethe or boil;
and some other Words, {85} which we will neglect in this Example, thought we
should not dart to do so if we were really trying to find out a Thing we none
of us knew.  To help our Deduction about Redemption, too, we find
HB:Heh HB:Dalet HB:Heh  {WEH NOTE: sic, should be: HB:Heh HB:Dalet HB:Chet }, to brighten or make
glad.
   We also work in another Way.  I is the Straight Line or Central Pillar of
the Temple of Life; also it stands for Unity, and for the Generative Force.  A
Circle from which everything came, also Nothingness, and the Female, who
absorbs the Male.  The Progress of the Name shows then the Way from Life to
Nirvana by means of the Will: and is a Hieroglyph of the Great Work.
   Look at all our Meanings!  Every one shows that the Name, if it has any
Power at all, and that we must try, has the Power to redeem us from the Love
of Life which is the Cause of Life, by its masculine Whirlings, and to gladden
us and to being us to the bosom of the Great Mother, Death.
   Before what is known a the Equinox of the Gods, a little While ago, there
was an initiated Formula which expressed these Ideas to the Wise.  As these
Formulas are done with, it is of no Consequence if I reveal them.  Truth is
not eternal, any more than God; and it would be but a poor God that could not
and did not alter his Ways at his Pleasure.
   This Formula was used to pen the Vault of the Mystic Mountain of Abiegnus,
within which lay (so the Ceremony of Initiation supposed) the body of our
Father Christian Rosen Creutz, to be discovered by the Brethren with the
Postulant as said in the Book called Fama Fraternitatis.
   There are three Officers, and they repeat the Analysis of the Word as
follows: ---

   Chief.  Let us analyse the Key Word --- I.
   2nd.  N.
   3rd.  R.
   All.  I.
   Chief.  Yod. HB:Yod .
   2nd.  Nun. HB:Nun .
   3rd.  Resh. HB:Resh .
   All.  Yod, HB:Yod .
   Chief.  Virgo (Virgo) Isis, Mighty Mother.
   2nd.  Scorpio (Scorpio) Apophis, Destroyer.
   3rd.  Sol (Sun) Osiris, slain and risen.
   All.  Isis, Apophis, Osiris, IAO.

   All spread Arms as if on a cross, and say: ---

                           The Sign of Osiris slain!         {86}

   Chief bows his Head to the Left, rises his Right Arm, and lowers his Left
keeping the Elbow at right Angles,thus forming the letter L (also the
Swastika).

                        The Sign of the Mourning of Isis.

   2nd.  With erect Head, rises his Arms to form a V (but really to form the
triple tongue of Flame, the Spirit), and says: ---

                         The Sign of Apophis and Typhon.

   3rd.  Bows his Head and crosses his Arms on his Breast (to form the
Pentagram).

                          The Sign of Osiris risen.

   All give the Sign of the Cross, and say: ---

                                   L.V.X.

Then the Sign of Osiris risen, and say: ---

                       Lux, the Light of the Cross.

   This formula, on which one may meditate for Years without exhausting its
wonderful Harmonies, gives an excellent Idea of the Way in which Qabalistic
Analysis is conducted.
   First, the Letters have been written in Hebrew Characters.
   Then the Attributions of them to the Zodiac an to Planets are substituted,
and the Names of Egyptian Gods belonging to these are invoked.
   The Christian Idea of I.N.R.I. is confirmed by these, while their Initials
form the sacred Word of the Gnostics.  That is, IAO.  From the Character of
the Deities and their Functions are deduced their Signs, and these are found
to signal (as it were) the Word Lux (HB:Resh HB:Vau HB:Aleph ), which itself is contained
in the Cross.
   A careful Study of these Ideas,and of the Table of Correspondences, which
one of our English Brethren is making, will enable him to discover a very
great Deal of Matter for Thought in these Poems which an untutored Person
would pass by.
   To return to the general Dogma of the Qabalists.
   The Figure of Minutum Mundum will show how they suppose one Quality to
proceed from the last, first in the pure God-World Atziluth, then in the
Angel-World Briah, and so on down to the Demon-Worlds, which are however not
thus organised.  They are rather Material that was shed off in the Course of
Evolution, like theSloughs of a Serpent, from which comes their Name of
Shells, or Husks.
   Apart from silly Questions as to whether the Order of the Emanations is
{87} confirmed by Palaeontology, a Question it is quite impertinent to
discuss, there is no Doubt that the Sephiroth are types of Evolution as
opposed to Catastrophe and Creation.
   The great Charge against this Philosophy is founded on its alleged
Affinities with Scholastic Realism.  But the Charge is not very true.  No
Doubt but they did suppose vast Storehouses of "Things of one Kind: from
which, pure or mingled, all other Things did proceed.
   Since HB:Gemel , a Camel, refers to the moon, they did say that a Camel and the
Moon were sympathetic, and came, that Part of them, from a common Principole:
and that a Camel being yellow brown, it partook of the Earth Nature, to which
that Colour is given.
   Thence they said that by taking all the Natures involved, and by blending
them in the just Proportions, on might have a Camel.
   But this is no more than is said by the Upholders of the Atomic Theory.
   They have their Storehouses of Carbon, Oxygen, and such (not in one Place,
but no more is Geburah in one Place), and what is Organic Chemistry but the
Production of useful Compounds whose Nature is deduced absolutely from
theoretical Considerations long before it is ever produced in the Laboratory?
   The difference, you will say, is that the Qabalists maintain a Mind of each
Kind behind each Class of Things on one Kind; but so did Berkeley, and his
Argument in that Respect is, as the great Huxley showed, irrefragable.  For by
the Universe I mean the Sensible; any other is not to be Known; and the
Sensible is dependent upon Mind.  Nay, though the Sensible is said to be an
Argument of a Universe Insensible, the latter becomes sensible to Mind as soon
as the Argument is accepted, and disappears with its Rejection.
   Nor is the Qabalah dependent upon its Realism, and its Application to the
Works magical --- but I am defending a Philosophy which I was asked to
describe, and this is not lawful.
   A great Deal may be learned from the Translation of the Zohar by S. Liddell
Macgregor Mathers, and his Introduction thereto, though for those who have
Latin and some acquaintance with Hebrew it is better to study the Kabbala
Denudata of Knoor von Rosenroth, in Despite of the heavy Price; for the
Translator has distorted the Text and its Comment to suit his belief in a
supreme Personal God, and in that degraded Form of the Doctrine of Feminism
which is so popular with the Emasculate.
   The Sephiroth are grouped in various Ways.  There is a Superior Triad or
Trinity; a Hexad; and Malkuth: the Crown, the Father, and the Mother; the Son
or King; and the Bride.
   Also, a Division into seven Palaces, seven Planes, three Pillars or
Columns, and the like. {88}
   The Flashing Sword follows the Course of the Numbers; and the Serpent
Nechushtan or of Wisdom crawls up the Paths which join them upon the Tree of
Life, namely the Letters.
   It is important to explain the Position of Daath or Knowledge upon the
Tree.  It is called the Child of Chokmah and Binah, but it hath no Place.  But
it is really the Apex of a Pyramid of which the three first Numbers for the
Base.
   Now the Tree, or Minutum Mundum, is a Figure in a Plane of a solid
Universe.  Daath, being above the Plane, is therefore a Figure of a Force in
four Dimensions, and thus it is the Object of the Magnum Opus.  The three
Paths which connect it with the First Trinity are the three lost Letters or
Fathers of the Hebrew Alphabet.
   In Daath is said to be the Head of the great Serpent Nechesh or Leviathan,
called Evil to conceal its Holiness.  (HB:Shin HB:Chet HB:Nun  = 358 =
HB:Chet HB:Yod HB:Shin HB:Mem , the Messiah or Redeemer, and HB:Koph-final HB:Taw HB:Yod HB:Vau HB:Lamed  = 496 =
HB:Taw HB:Vau HB:Koph HB:Lamed HB:Mem , the Bride.)  It is identical with he Kundalini of the
Hindu Philosophy, the Kwan-se-on of the Mongolian Peoples, and means the
magical Force in Man, which is the sexual Force applied to the Brain, Heart,
and other Organs, and redeemeth him.
   The gradual Disclosure of these magical Secrets to the Poet may be traced
in these Volumes, which it has been my Privilege to be asked to explain.  It
has been impossible to do more than place in the Hands of any intelligent
Person the Keys which will permit him to unlock the many Beautiful Chambers of
Holiness in these Palaces and Gardens of Beauty and Pleasure.


   Of the results of the method we possess one flawless gem, already printed
in the EQUINOX (Vol {I, No.) II. pp. 163-185), "A Note on Genesis" by V. H.
Fra. I. A.
   From this pleasant, orthodox, and-so-they-all-lived-happy-ever-after view
let us turn for a moment to the critical aspect.  Let us demolish in turn the
qabalistic methods of exegesis; and then, if we can, discover a true basis
upon which to erect an abiding Temple of Truth.
   1. Gematria.
   The number 777 affords a good example of the legitimate and illegitimate
deductions to be drawn.  It represents the sentence AChTh RVCh ALHIM ChIIM,
"One is the Spirit {89} of the Living God," and also OLAHM H-QLPVTh, "The
world of the Shells (excrements --- the demon-world)."
   Now it is wrong to say that this idea of the unity of the divine spirit is
identical with this idea of the muddle of chaos --- unless in that exalted
grade in which "the One is the Many."  But the compiler of Liber 777 was a
great Qabalist when he thus entitled his book; for he meant to imply, "One is
the Spirit of the Living God," "i.e." I have in this book unified all the
diverse symbols of the world; and also, "the world of shells," "i.e."  this book
is full of mere dead symbols; do not mistake them for the living Truth.
Further, he had an academic reason for his choice of a number; for the
tabulation of the book is from Kether to Malkuth, the course of the Flaming
Sword; and if this sword be drawn upon the Tree of Life, the numeration of the
Paths over which it passes (taking HB:Gemel , 3, as the non-existent path from
Binah to Chesed, since it connects Macroprosopus and Microprosopus) is 777.
[See Diagrams 2 and 12.]
   To take another example, it is no mere coincidence that 463, the Staff of
Moses, is HB:Taw , HB:Samekh , HB:Gemel , the paths of the Middle Pillar; no mere
coincidence that 26, HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod , is 1 + 6 + 9 + 10, the Sephiroth of
the Middle Pillar.  But ought we not to have some supreme name for 489, their
sum, the Middle Pillar perfect?  Yet the Sepher Sephiroth is silent.  (We find
only 489 = MShLM GMVL, the avenger.  Ed.)
   Again, 111 is Aleph, the Unity, but also APL, thick Darkness, and ASN,
Sudden Death.  This can only be interpreted as meaning the annihilation of the
individual in the Unity, and the Darkness which is the Threshold of the Unity;
in other words, one must be an expert in Samadhi {90} before this simple
Gematria has any proper meaning.  How, then, can it serve the student in his
research?  The uninitiated would expect Life and Light in the One; only by
experience can he know that to man the Godhead must be expressed by those
things which most he fears.
   We hare purposely avoid dwelling on the mere silliness of many Gematria
correspondences, "e.g.", the equality of the Qliphoth of one sign with the
Intelligence of another.  Such misses are more frequent than such hits as
AChD, Unity, 13 = AHBH, Love, 13.
   The argument is an argument in a circle.  "Only an adept can understand the
Qabalah," just as (in Buddhism) Sakyamuni said, "Only an Arahat can understand
the Dhamma."
   In this light, indeed, the Qabalah seems little more than a convenient
language for recording experience.
   We may mention in passing that Frater P. never acquiesced in the obvious
"cook" of arguing: "x" = "y" + 1  .'. "x" = "y", by assuming that "x" should add one
to itself "for the concealed unity."  Why shouldn't "y" have a little concealed
unity of its own?
   That this method should ever have been accepted by any Qabalist argues a
bankruptcy of ingenuity beyond belief.  In all conscience, it is easy enough
to fake identities by less obviously card-sharping methods!
   2. Notariqon.
   The absurdity of this method needs little indication.  The most
unsophisticated can draw pity and amusement from Mr Mathers' Jew, converted by
the Notariqons of "Berashith."  True, F.I.A.T. is Flatus, Ignis, Aqua, Terra;
showing the Creator as Tetragrammaton, the synthesis of the four elements;
{91} showing the Eternal Fiat as the equilibrated powers of Nature.  But what
forbids Fecit Ignavus Animan Terrae, or any other convenient blasphemy, such
as Buddha would applaud?
   Why not take our converted Jew and restore him to the Ghetto with Ben,
Ruach, Ab, Sheol! --- IHVH, Thora?  why not take the sacred
'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma  of the Christian who thought it meant
'Iota eta sigma omicron upsilon sigma  Chi rho iota sigma tau omicron sigma
Theta epsilon omicron upsilon  'Upsilon iota omicron sigma  Sigma omega tau eta rho  and make him
a pagan with "'Iota sigma kappa delta omicron sigma  Chi alpha rho iota sigma
Theta eta sigma alpha upsilon rho omicron sigma  'Upsilon iota omega nu
Sigma omicron phi iota alpha sigma "?
   Why not argue that Christ in cursing the fig, F.I.G.., wished to attack
Kant's dogmas of Freewill, Immortality, God?
   3. Temurah.
   Here again the multiplicity of our methods makes our method too pliable to
be reliable.  Should we argue that BBL = ShShK (620) by the method of Athbash,
and that therefore BBL symbolises Kether (620)?  Why, BBL is confusion, the
very opposite of Kether.
   Why Athbash?  Why not Abshath? or Agrath? or any other of the possible
combinations?
   About the only useful Temurah is Aiq Bkr, given above.  In this we do find
a suggestive reasoning.  For example, we find it in the attribution of ALHIM
to the pentagram which gives pi .  [See EQUINOX, No. II. p. 184]  Here we
write Elohim, the creative deities, round a pentagram, and read it reverse
beginning with HB:Lamed , Libra, the letter of equilibrium, and obtain an
approximation to pi  3.1415 (good enough for the benighted Hebrews), as if
thereby the finite square of creation was assimilated to the infinite circle
of he Creator.
   Yes: but why should not Berashith 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, give, say, "e"?  The only
answer is, that if you screw it round long enough, it perhaps will!  {92}
   The Rational Table of Tzirup should, we agree with Fra. P., be left to the
Rationalist Press Association, and we may present the Irregular Table of
Commutations to Irregular Masons.
   4.  To the less important methods we may apply the same criticism.
   We may glance in passing at the Yetziratic, Tarot, and significatory
methods of investigating any word.  But though Frater P. was expert enough in
these methods they are hardly pertinent to the pure numerical Qabalah, and we
therefore deal gently with them.  The attributions are given in "777".  Thus
HB:Aleph  in the Yetziratic world is "Air," by Tarot "the Fool," and by
signification "an ox."  Thus we have the famous I.N.R.I. = HB:Yod , HB:Nun , HB:Resh ,
HB:Yod  = Virgo, Scorpio, Sun, Virgo; the Virgin, the Evil Serpent, the Sun,
suggesting the story of Genesis ii. and of the Gospel.  The initials of the
Egyptian names Isis, Apophis, Osiris, which correspond, give in their turn the
Ineffable Name IAO; thus we say that the Ineffable is concealed in and
revealed by the Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Christ; and further the
Sings of Mourning of the Mother, Triumph of the Destroyer, and Rising of the
Son, give by shape the letters L.U.X., Lux, which letters are (again)
concealed in and revealed by the Cross
 ..L   V  \/
   :  .'. /\  the Light of the Cross.  Further examples will be found in "A
Note on Genesis."   One of the most famous is the Mene, Tekel, Upharsin of
Daniel, the imaginary prophet who lived under Belshazzar the imaginary king.
   MNA.  The Hanged Man, Death, the Fool = "Sacrificed
      to Death by thy Folly."    {93}
   ThKL.  The Universe, the Wheel of Fortune, Justice =
      "Thy kingdom's fortune is in the Balance."
   PRSh.  The Blasted Tower, the Sun, the Last Judgment
      = "Ruined is thy glory, and finished."
   But we cannot help thinking that this exegesis must have been very hard
work.
   We could more easily read
   MNA.  To sacrifice to death is folly.
   ThKL.  Thy kingdom shall be fortunate, for it is just.
   PRSh.  The Tower of thy glory shall endure until the Last Day.
   There! that didn't take two minutes; and Belshazzar would have exalted us
above Daniel.
   Similarly AL, God, may be may be interpreted, "His folly is justice," as it
is written: "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."
   Or, by Yetzirah: "The air is His balance," as it is written: "God made the
firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament."
   Or, by meaning: "The ox and the goad," "i.e.", "He is both matter and
motion."
   We here append a sketch MS. by Frater P., giving his explanation by Tarot,
etc., of the letters of the alphabet spelt in full.

                MYSTIC READINGS OF THE LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET
                       ("See" TAROT CARDS, "AND MEDITATE")

ALP.   Folly's Doom is Ruin.
BITh.  The Juggler with the Secret of the Universe.
GML.   The Holy Guardian Angel is attained by Self-Sacrifice and Equilibrium.
                    {94}
DLTh.  The Gate of the Equilibrium of the Universe.  (Note D, the highest
           reciprocal path.)
HH.    The Mother is the Daughter; and the Daughter is the mother.
VV.    The Son is (but) the Son.  (These two letters show the true doctrine
           of Initiation as given in Liber 418; opposed to Protestant
           Exotericism.)
ZIN.   The answer of the Oracles is always Death.
ChITh. The Chariot of the Secret of the Universe.
TITH.  She who rules the Secret Force of the Universe.
IVD.   The Secret of the Gate of Initiation.
KP.    In the Whirlings is War.
LMD.   By Equilibrium and Self-Sacrifice, the Gate!
MIM.   The Secret is hidden between the Waters that are above and the
           Waters that are beneath.  (Symbol, the Ark containing the secret
           of Life borne upon the Bosom of the Deluge beneath the
           Clouds.)
NVN.   Initiation is guarded on both sides by death.
SMK.   Self-control and Self-sacrifice govern the Wheel.
OIN.   The Secret of Generation is Death.
PH.    The Fortress of the Most High.  (Note P, the lowest reciprocal
           path).
TzDI.  In the Star is the Gate of the Sanctuary.
QVP.   Illusionary is the Initiation of Disorder.
RISh.  In the Sun (Osiris) is the Secret of the Spirit.
ShIN.  Resurrection is hidden in Death.
ThV.   The Universe is the Hexagram.

             (Other meanings suit other planes and other grades.)


   Truly there is no en to this wondrous science; and when the sceptic sneers,
"With all these methods one ought to be able to make everything our of
nothing," the Qabalist smiles back the sublime retort, "With these methods One
did make everything out of nothing."
   Besides these, there is still one more method --- a method of some little
importance to students of the Siphra Dzenioutha, namely, the analogies drawn
from the shapes of letters; {95} these are often interesting enough.  HB:Aleph ,
for example, is a HB:Vau  between HB:Yod  and HB:Yod , making 26.  Thus
HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod  26 = HB:Aleph , 1.  Therefore Jehovah is One.  But it would be as
pertinent to continue 26 x 2 x 13, and 13 = Achad = 1, and therefore Jehovah
is Two.
   This then is an absurdity.  Yes; but it is also an arcanum!
   How wonderful is the Qabalah!  How great is its security from the profane;
how splendid its secrets to the initiate!
   Verily and Amen! yet here we are at the old dilemma, that one must know
Truth before one can rely upon the Qabalah to show Truth.
   Like the immortal burglar:

   "Bill wouldn't hurt a baby --- he's a pal as you can trust,
    He's all right when yer know 'im; but yer've got to know 'im fust."

   So those who have committed themselves to academic study of its mysteries
have found but a dry stick: those who have understood (favoured of God!) have
found therein Aaron's rod that budded, the Staff of Life itself, yea, the
venerable Lingam of Mahasiva!
   It is for us to trace the researches of Frater P. in the Qabalah, to show
how from this storehouse of child's puzzles, of contradictions and
incongruities, of paradoxes and trivialities, he discovered the very canon of
Truth, the authentic key of the Temple, the Word of that mighty Combination
which unlocks the Treasure-Chamber of the King.
   And this following is the Manuscript which he has let for our instruction.
{96}




                             AN ESSAY UPON NUMBER

   (May the Holy One mitigate His severities toward His servant in respect of
the haste wherewith this essay hath been composed!
   When I travelled with the venerable Iehi Aour in search of Truth, we
encountered a certain wise and holy man, Shri Parananda.  Children! said he,
for two years must ye study with me before ye fully comprehend our Law.
   "Venerable Sir!" answered Frater I.A., "the first verse of "Our" Law contains
but seven words.  For seven years did I study that verse by day and by night;
and at the end of that time did I presume --- may the Dweller of Eternity
pardon me! -=-- to write a monograph upon the first word of those seven
words."
   "Venerable Sir!" quoth I: "that First Word of our law contains but six
letters.  For six years did I study that word by day and by night; and at the
end of that time did I not dare to utter the first letter of those six
letters."
   Thus humbling myself did I abash both the holy Yogi and my venerable Frater
I. A.  But alas!  Tegragrammaton!  Alas!  Adonai! the hour of my silence is
past.  May the hour of my silence return!  Amen.)


                                    PART I

                            THE UNIVERSE AS IT IS

                                  SECTION I

   0. The Negative --- the Infinite --- the Circle, or the Point.
   1. The Unity --- the Positive --- the Finite --- the Line, derived from 0
by extension.  The divine Being.
   2. The Dyad --- the Superficies, derived from 1 by reflection 1/1, or by
revolution of the line around its end.  The Demiurge.  The divine Will.
   3. The Triad, the solid, derived from 1 and 2 by addition.  Matter.  The
divine Intelligence.
   4. The Quaternary, the solid existing in Time, matter as we know it.
Derived from 2 by multiplication.  The divine Repose.
   5. The Quinary, Force or Motion.  The interplay of the divine Will with
matter.  Derived from 2 and 3 by addition.
   6. The Senary, Mind.  Derived from 2 and 3 by multiplication.
   7. The Septenary, Desire.  Derived from 3 and 4 by addition.  (There is
{97} however a secondary attribution of 7, making it the holiest and most
perfect of the numbers.)
   8. The Ogdoad, Intellect (also Change in Stability).  Derived from 2 and 3
by multiplication, 8 = 23.
   9. The Ennead, Stability in Change.  Derived from 2 and 3 by
multiplication, 9 = 32.
   (Note all numbers divisible by nine are still so divisible, however the
order of the figures is shifted.)
   10.  The Decad, the divine End.  Represents the 1 returning to the 0.
Derived from 1 + 2 + 3 + 4.
   11. The Hendecad, the accursed shells, that only exist without the divine
Tree.  1 + 1 = 2, in its evil sense of not being 1.


                                  SECTION II

   0. The Cosmic Egg.
   1. The Self of Deity, beyond Fatherhood and Motherhood.
   2. The Father.
   3. The Mother.
   4. The Father made flesh --- authoritative and paternal.
   5. The Mother made flesh --- fierce and active.
   6. The Son --- partaking of all these natures.
   7. The Mother degraded to mere animal emotion.
   8. The Father degraded to mere animal reason.
   9. The Son degraded to mere animal life.
  10. The Daughter, fallen and touching with her hands the shells.

   It will be noticed that this order represents creation as progressive
degeneration --- which we are compelled to think of as evil.  In the human
organism the same arrangement will be noticed.


                                 SECTION III

   0. The Pleroma of which our individuality is the monad: the "All-Self."
   1. The Self --- the divine Ego of which man is rarely conscious.
   2. The Ego; that which thinks "I" --- a falsehood, because to think "I" is
to deny "not-I" and thus to create the Dyad.
   3. The Soul; since 3 reconciles 2 and 1, here are placed the aspirations to
divinity.  It is also the receptive as 2 is the assertive self.
   4-9. The intellectual Self, with its branches:
         4. Memory.  {98}
         5. Will.
         6. Imagination.
         7. Desire.
         8. Reason.
         9. Animal being.
   6. The Conscious Self of the Normal Man: thinking itself free, and really
the toy of its surroundings.
   9. The Unconscious Self of the Normal Man.  Reflex actions, circulation,
breathing , digestion, etc., all pertain here.
   10. The illusory physical envelope; the scaffolding of the building.


                                  SECTION IV

   Having compared these attributions with those to be found in 777, studied
them, assimilated them so thoroughly that it is natural and needs no effort to
think "Binah, Mother, Great Sea, Throne, Saturn, Black Myrrh, Sorrow,
Intelligence, etc. etc. etc.," in a flash whenever the number 3 is mentioned
or seen, we may profitably proceed to go through the most important of he
higher numbers.  For this purpose I have removed myself from books of
reference; only those things which have become fixed in my mind (from their
importance) deserve place in the simplicity of this essay.
   12. HVA, "He," a title of Kether, identifying Kether with the Zodiac, and
"home of the 12 stars" and their correspondences.  See 777.
   13. AChD, Unity, and AHBH Love.  A scale of unity; thus 13 x 1 = 1; 26 = 13
x 2 = 2; 91 = 13 x 7 = 7; so that we may find in 26 and 91 elaboration of the
Dyad and the Septenary respectively.
   14.  An "elaboration" of 5 (1 + 4 = 5), Force; a "concentration" or 86 ( 8
+ 6 = 14) Elohim, the 5 elements.
   15. IH, Jah, one of the ineffable names; the Father and Mother united.
Mystic number of Geburah: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5.
   17. The number of squares in the Swastika, which by shape is Aleph, HB:Aleph .
Hence 17 recalls 1.  Also IAV, IAO, the triune Father.  See 32 and 358.
   18. ChI, Life.  An "elaboration" of 9.
   20. IVD, Yod, the letter of the Father.
   21. AHIH, existence, a title of Keter,  Note 3 x 7 = 21.  Also IHV, the
first 3 (active) letters of IHVH.  Mystic number of Tiphereth.
   22. The number of letters in the Hebrew Alphabet; and of the paths on the
Tree.  Hence suggests completion of imperfection.  Finality, the fatal
finality.  Note 2 x 11 = 22, the accursed Dyad at play with the Shells.
   24. Number of the Elders; and 72 ÷ 3.  72 is the "divided Name." {99}
   26. IHVH.  Jehovah, as the Dyad expanded, the jealous and terrible God, the
lesser Countenance.  The God of Nature, fecund, cruel, beautiful, relentless.
   28. Mystic number of Netzach, KCh, "Power."
   31. LA, "not"; and AL, "God."  In this Part I. ("Nature as it is") the
number is rather forbidding.  For AL is the God-name of Chesed, mercy; and so
the number seems to deny that Name.
   32. Number of Sephiroth and Paths, 10 + 22.  Hence is completion of
perfection.  Finality: things as they are in their totality.  AHIHVH, the
combined AHIH and IHVH, Macroprosopus, and Microprosopus, is here.  If we
suppose the 3 female letters H to conceal the 3 mothers A, M, Sh, we obtain
the number 358, Messiach, q.v.  Note 32 = 25, the divine Will extended through
motion.  64 = 26, will be the perfect number of matter, for it is 8, the first
cube, squared.  So we find it a Mercurial number, as if the solidity of matter
was in truth eternal change.
   35. AGLA, a name of God = Ateh Gibor Le Olahm Adonai.  "To Thee by the
Power unto the Ages, O my Lord!"  35 = 5 x 7.  7 = Divinity, 5 = Power.
   36. A Solar Number.  ALH.  Otherwise unimportant, but is the mystic number
of Mercury.
   37. IChIDH.  the highest principle of the soul, attributed to Kether.  Note
37 = 111 ÷ 3.
   38. Note 38 x 11 = 418 q.v. in Part II.
   39. IHVH AChD, Jehovah is one.  39 = 13 x 3.  This is then the affirmation
of the aspiring soul.
   40. A "dead" number of fixed law, 4 x 10, Tetragrammaton, the lesser
countenance immutable in the heaviness of Malkuth.
   41. AM, the Mother, unfertilised and unenlightened.
   42. AMA, the Mother, still dark.  Here are the 42 judges of the dead in
Amennti, and here is the 42-fold name of the Creative God.  See Liber 418.
   44. DM, blood.  See Part II.  Here 4 x 11 = the corruption of the created
world.
   45. MH, a secret title of Yetzirah, the Formative World.  ADM, Adam, man,
the species (not "the first man").  A is Air, the divine breath which stirs
DM, blood, into being.
   49. A number useful in the calculations of Dr. Dee, and a mystic number of
Venus.
   50. The number of the Gates of Binah, whose name id Death (50 = HB:Nun  = by
Tarot, "Death").
   51. AN, pain.  NA, failure.  ADVM, Edom, the country of the demon kings.
There is much in the Qabalah about these kings and their dukes; it never meant
much to me, somehow.  But 51 is 1 short of 52.  {100}
   52.  AIMA, the fertilised Mother, the Phallus (HB:Yod ) thrust into AMA.
Also BN, the Son.  Note 52 = 13 x 4, 4 being Mercy and the influence of the
Father.
   60. Samekh, which in full spells 60 x 2 = 120 (q.v.), just as Yod, 10 in
full spells 10 x 2 = 20.  In general, the tens are "solidifications" of the
ideas of the units which they multiply.  Thus 50 is Death, the Force of Change
in its final and most earthy aspect.  Samekh is "Temperance" in the Tarot: the
6 has little evil possible to it; the worst name one can call 60 is
"restriction."
   61. AIN, the Negative.  ANI, Ego.  A number rather like 31, q.v.
   64. DIN and DNI, intelligences (the twins) of Mercury.  See also 32.
   65. ADNI.  In Roman characters LXV = LVX, the redeeming light.  See the 5°
= 6° ritual and "Konx om Pax."  Note 65 = 13 x 5, the most spiritual form
of force, just as 10 x 5 was its most material form.  Note HS, "Keep silence!"
and HIKL, the palace; as if it were said "Silence is the House of Adonai."
   67. BINH the Great Mother.  Note 6 + 7 = 13, uniting the ideas of Binah and
Kether.  A number of the aspiration.
   70. The Sanhedrin and the precepts of the Law.  The Divine 7 in its most
material aspect.
   72. ChSD, Mercy.  The number of the Shemhamphorasch, as if affirming God as
merciful.  For details of Shemhamphorasch, see 777 and other classical books
of reference.  Note especially I + IH + IHV _ IHVH = 72.
   73. ChKMH, Wisdom.  Also GML, Gimel, the path unitingKether and Tiphereth.
But Gimel, "the Priestess of the Silver Star," is the Female Hierophant, the
Moon; and Chokmah is the Logos, or male initiator.  See Liber 418 for much
information on these points, though rather from the standpoint of Part II.
   78.  MZLA, the influence from Kether.  The number of the cards of the
Tarot, and of the 13 paths of the Beard of Macroprosopus.  Note 78 = 13 x 6.
Also AIVAS, the messenger.  See Part II.
   80. The number of HB:Peh , the "lightning-struck Tower" of the Tarot.  8 =
Intellect, Mercury; its most material form is Ruin, as Intellect in the end is
divided against itself.
   81. A mystic number of the Moon.
   84. A number chiefly important in Buddhism.  84 = 7 x 12.
   85. PH, the letter Pé.  85 = 5 x 17: even the highest unity, if it move or
energise, means War.
   86. ALHIM.  See "A Note on Genesis," EQUINOX, No. II.
   90. Number of Tzaddi, a fishhook = Tanha, the clinging of man to life (9),
the trap in which man is caught as a fish is caught by a hook.  The most
material aspect of animal life; its final doom decreed by its own lust.  also
MIM, Water. {101}
   91. 91 = 7 x 13, the most spiritual form of the Septenary.  AMN, Amen, the
holiest title of God; the Amoun of the Egyptians.  It equals IHVH ADNI
(IAHDVNHI, interlaced), the eight-lettered name, thus linking the 7 to the 8.
Note that AMN (reckoning N as final, 700) = 741 = AMThSh, the letters of the
elements; and is thus a form of Tetragrammaton, a form unveiled.
   100. The number of HB:Qof , the perfect illusion, 10 x 10.  also HB:Peh-final HB:Koph ,
Kaph, the Wheel of fortune.  The identity is that of matter, fatality, change,
illusion.  It seems the Buddhist view of the Samsara-Cakkram.
   106. NVN, Nun, a fish.  The number of death.  Death in the Tarot bears a
cross-handled scythe; hence the Fish as the symbol of the Redeemer.
Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma  = Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.
   108. Chiefly interesting because 108 = 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 x 3 = the square of 2
playing with the cube of 3.  Hence the Buddhists hailed it with acclamation,
and make their rosaries of this number of beads.
   111. AChD HVA ALHIM, "He is One God."
   ALP, Aleph, and ox, a thousand.  The redeeming Bull.  By shape the
Swastika, and so the Lightning.  "As the lightning lighteneth out of the East
even unto the West, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man."  An allusion to
the descent of Shiva upon Shakti in Samahdi.  The Roman A shows the same
through the shape of the Pentagram, which it imitates.
   ASN, ruin, destruction, sudden death.  "Scil.", of the personality in
Samadhi.
   APL, thick darkness.  "Cf." St John of the Cross, who describes these
phenomena in great detail.
   AMO, the Hindu Aum or Om.
   MHVLL, mad --- the destruction of Reason by Illumination.
   OVLH, a holocaust.  "Cf." ASN.
   PLA, the Hidden Wonder, a title of Kether.
   114. DMO, a tear.  The age of Christian Rosencreutz.
   120. SMK, Samech, a prop.  Also MVSDI, basis, foundation.  120 = 1 x 2 x 3
x 4 x 5, and is thus a synthesis of the power of the pentagram.  [Also 1 + 2 +
... + 15 = 120.]  Hence its importance in the 5 = 6 ritual , q.v. "supra"
EQUINOX, No. III.  I however disagree in part; it seems to me to symbolise a
lesser redemption than that associated with Tiphereth.  Compare at least the
numbers 0.12 and 210 in Liber Legis and Liber 418, and extol their
superiority.  For while the first is the sublime formula of the infinite
surging into finity, and the latter the supreme rolling-up of fi9nity into
infinity, the 120 can symbolise at the best a sort of intermediate condition
of stability.  For how can one proceed from the 2 to the 0?  120 is also ON, a
very important name of God.
   124. ODN, Eden.
   131. SMAL, Satan so-called, but really only Samael, the accuser of the
{120} brethren,. unpopular with the Rabbis because their consciences were not
clear.  Samael fulfils a most useful function; he is scepticism, which accuses
intellectually; conscience, which accuses morally; and even that spiritual
accuser upon the Threshold, without whom the Sanctuary might be profaned.  We
must defeat him, it is true; but how should we abuse and blame him, without
abuse and blame of Him that set him there?
   136. A mystic number of Jupiter; the sum of the first 16 natural numbers.
   144. A square and therefore a materialisation of the number 12.  Hence the
numbers in the Apocapyse.  144,000 only means 12 (the perfect number in the
Zodiac or houses of heaven and tribes of Israel) x 12, "i.e." settled x 1-000,
"i.e." on the grand scale.
   148. MAZNIM, Scales of Justice.
   156. BABALON.  See Liber 418.  This number is chiefly important for Part
II.  It is of no account in the orthodox dogmatic Qabalah.  Yet it is 12 x 13,
the most spiritual form, 13, of the most perfect number, 12, HVA.  [It is
TzIVN, Zion, the City of the Pyramids. --- ED.]
   175. A mystic number of Venus.
   203. ABR, initials of AB, BN, RVCh, the Trinity.
   206. DBR, Speech, "the Word of Power."
   207. AVR, Light.  Contrast with AVB, 9, the astral light, and AVD, 11, the
Magical Light.  Aub is an illusory thing of witchcraft ("cf." Obi, Obeah); Aud
is almost = the Kundalini force ("Odic" force).  This illustrates well the
difference between the sluggish, viscous 9, and the keen, ecstatic 11.
   210.  Pertains to Part II.  See Liber 418.
   214. RVCh, the air, the mind.
   220.  Pertains to Part II.  The number of verses in Liber Legis.
   231.  The sum of the first 22 numbers, 0 to 21; the sum of the Key-Numbers
of the Tarot cards; hence an extension of the idea of 22, q.v.
   270. I.N.R.I.  See 5 = 6 ritual.
   280. The sum of the "five letters of severity," those which have a final
form --- Kaph, Men, Nun, Pe, Tzaddi.  Also the number of the squares on the
sides of the Vault 7 x 40; see 5 = 6 ritual.  Also RP = terror.
   300. The letter HB:Shin , meaning "tooth," and suggesting by its shape a
triple flame.  Refers Yetziratically to fire, and is symbolic of the Holy
Spirit, RVCh ALHIM = 300.  Hence the letter of the Spirit.  Descending into
the midst of IHVH, the four inferior elements, we get IHShVH Jeheshua, the
Saviour, symbolised by the Pentagram.
   301. ASH, Fire.
   314. ShDI, the Almighty, a name of God attributed to Yesod.  {103}
   325. A mystic number of Mars.  BRTzBAL, the spirit of Mars, and GRAPIAL,
the intelligence of Mars.
   326. IHShVH, Jesus --- see 300.
   333. ChVRVNZVN, see Liber 418, 10th Aethry.  It is surprising that this
large scale 3 should be so terrible a symbol of dispersion.  There is
doubtless a venerable arcanum here connoted, possibly the evil of Matter
summó.  333 = 37 x 9 the accurséd.
   340. ShM --- the Name.
   341. The sum of the "3 mothers," Aleph, Mem, and Shin.
   345.  MShH, Moses.  Note that by transposition we have 543, AHIH AShR
AHIEH, "Existence is Existence," "I am that I am," a sublime title of Kether.
Moses is therefore regarded as the representative of this particular
manifestation of deity, who declared himself under this special name.
   358. See 32.  MShICh, Messiah, and NChSh, the serpent of Genesis.  The
dogma is that the head of the serpent (N) is "bruised," being replaced by M,
the letter of Sacrifice, and god, the letter alike of virginity (HB:Yod  = Virgo)
and of original deity (HB:Yod  = the foundation or type of all the letters).
Thus the word may be read:
   "The Sacrifice of the Virgin-born Divine One triumphant (HB:Chet , the
Chariot) through the Spirit," while NChSh reads "Death entering the (realm of
the) Spirit."
   But the conception of the Serpent as the Redeemer is truer.  See my
explanation of 5 = 6 ritual (EQUINOX, No. III.).
   361. ADNI HARTz, the Lord of the Earth.  Note 361 denotes the 3 Supernals,
the 6 members of Ruach, and Malkuth.  This name of God therefore embraces all
the 10 Sephiroth.
   365. An important number, though not in the pure Qabalah.  See "The
Cannon."  Mu Epsilon Iota Theta Rho Alpha Sigma  and Alpha Beta Rho Alpha Chi Alpha Sigma  in
Greek.
   370. Really more important for Part II. OSh, Creation.  The Sabbatic Goat
in his highest aspect.  This shows the whole of Creation as matter and spirit.
The material 3, the spiritual 7, and all cancelling to Zero.  also ShLM =
peace.
   400. The letter HB:Taw , "The Universe."  It is the square of 20, "The Wheel
of fortune," and shows the Universe therefore as the Sphere of Fortune --- the
Samsara-Cakkram, where Karma, which fools call chance, rules.
   400 is the total number of he Sephiroth, each of the 10 containing 210 in
itself and being repeated in the 4 worlds of Atziluth, Briah, yetzirah, and
Assiah.  These four worlds are themselves attributed to IHVH, which is
therefore not the name of a tribal fetish, but the formula of a system.
   401.  ATh, "The" emphatic, meaning "essence of," for A and Th are first and
last letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, as Alpha  and Omega  are of the Greek, and A
and Z of the Latin.  Hence the Word Azoth, not to be confused with Azote {104}
(lifeless, asotos), the old name for nitrogen.  Azoth means the sum and
essence of all, conceived as One.
   406. ThV, the letter Tau (see 400), also AThH, "Thou."  Note that AHA (7),
the divine name of Venus (7), gives the initials of Ani, Hua, Ateh --- I, He,
Thou; three different aspects of a deity worshipped in three persons and in
three ways: viz. (1) with averted face; (2) with prostration; (3) with
identification.
   418. Pertains principally to Part., q.v.
   419. TITh, the letter Teth.
   434. DLTh, the letter Daleth.
   440. ThLI, the great dragon.
   441. AMTh, Truth.  Note 441 = 21 x 21.  21 is AHIH, the God of Kether,
whose Will is Truth.
   450. ThN, the great dragon.
   463. NTH HShQD, Moses' Wand, a rod of Almond.  3 + 60 + 400, the paths of
the middle pillar.
   474. DVTh, {WEH NOTE: sic, should be DOTh in the substitutions used in
text} Knowledge, the Sephira that is not a Sephira.  In one aspect the child
of Chokmah and
Binah; in another the Eighth Head of the Stooping Dragon, raised up when the
Tree of Life was shattered, and Macroposopus set cherubim against
Microposopus.  See 4 = 7 ritual "supra."  Also, and very specially, Liber 418.
It is the demon that purely intellectual or rational religions take as their
God.  The special danger of Hinayana Buddhism.
   480. LILITh, the demon-queen of Malkuth.
   543. AHIH AShR AHIH, "I am that I am."
   666. Last of the mystic numbers of the sun.  SVRTh, the spirit of Sol.
Also OMMV SThH, Ommo Satan, the Satanic Trinity of Typhon, Apophis, and Besz;
also ShM IHShVH, the name of Jesus.  The names of Nero, Napoleon, W. E.
Gladstone, and any person that you may happen to dislike, add up the this
number.  In reality it is the final extension of the number 6, both because 6
x 111 (ALPh = 111 = 1) = 6 and because the Sun, whose greatest number it is,
is 6.
   (I here interpolate a note on the "mystic numbers" of the planets.  The
first is that of the planet itself, "e.g." Saturn, 3.  The second is that of the
number of squares in the square of the planet, "e.g." Saturn 9.  The third is
that of the figures in each line of the "magic square" of the planet, "e.g."
Saturn 15.  A "magic square" is one in which each file, rank, and diagonal add
to the same number, "e.g." Saturn is 816, 357, 492, each square being filled in
with the numbers from 1 upwards.
   The last of the magic numbers is the sum of the whole of the figures in the
square, "e.g." Saturn 45.  The complete list is thus:
                               Saturn 3, 9, 15, 45.
                               Jupiter 4, 16, 34, 136.           {105}
                               Mars 5, 25, 65, 325.
                               sol 6, 36, 111, 666.
                               Venus 7, 49, 175, 1225.
                               Mercury 8, 64, 260, 2080.
                               Luna 9, 81, 369, 3321.

   Generally speaking, the first number gives a divine name, the second an
archangelic or angelic name, the third a name pertaining to the Formative
world, the fourth a name of a "spirit" or "blind force."  Fro example, Mercury
has AZ and DD (love) for 8, DIN and DNI for 64, TIRIAL for 260, and
ThPThRThRTh for 2090.  But in the earlier numbers this is not so well carried
out.  136 is both IVPhIL, the Intelligence of Jupiter, and HSMAL, the Spirit.
   The "mystic numbers" of the Sephiroth are simply the sums of the numbers
from 1 to their own numbers.
   Thus (1) Kether = 1.
        (2) Chokmah = 1 + 2 = 3.
        (3) Binah = 1 + 2 + 3 = 6.
        (4) Chesed = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.
        (5) Geburah = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15.
        (6) Tiphereth = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21.
        (7) Netzach = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 28.
        (8) Hod = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = 36.
        (9) Yesod = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45.
        (10) Malkuth = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 = 55.

   The most important attributions of 666, however, pertain to the second
part, q.v.
   671.  ThORA the Law, ThROA the Gate, AThOR the Lady of the Path of Daleth,
RPThA the Wheel.  Also ALPH, DLTh, NUN, IVD, Adeonai (see 65) spelt in full.
   This important number marks the identity of the Augoeides with the Way
itself ("I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life") and shows the Taro as a key;
and that the Law itself is nothing else than this.  For this reason the outer
College of the A.'. A.'. is crowned by this "knowledge and conversation of
the Holy Guardian Angel."
   This number too is that of the Ritual of Neophyte.  See Liber XIII.
   741.  AMThSh, the four letters of the elements.  AMN, counting the N final
as 700, the supreme Name of the Concealed One.  The dogma is that the Highest
is but the Four Elements; that there is nothing beyond these, beyond
Tetragrammaton.  This dogma is most admirably portrayed by Lord Dunsany in a
tale called "The Wanderings of Shaun." {106}
   777. "Vide supra."
   800. AShTh, the Rainbow.  The Promise of Redemption (8) --- 8 as Mercury,
Intellect, the Ruach, Microprosopus, the Redeeming Son --- in its most
material form.
   811. Iota Alpha Omega  (Greek numeration).
   888. Jesus (Greek numeration).
   913. BRAShITh, the Beginning.  See "A Note on Genesis."  This list6 will
enable the student to follow most of the arguments of the dogmatic Qabalah.
It is useful for him to go through the arguments by which one can prove that
any given number is the supreme.  It is the case, the many being but veils of
the One; and the course of argument leads one to knowledge and worship of each
number in turn.  For example.
   Thesis.  The Number Nine is the highest and worthiest of the numbers.
   Scholion alpha .  "The number nine is sacred, and attains the summits of
philosophy," Zoroaster.
   Scholion beta .  Nine is the best symbol of the Unchangeable One, since by
whatever number it is multiplied,the sum of the figures is always 9, "e.g." 9 x
487 = 4383.  4 + 3 + 8 + 3 = 18.  1 + 8 = 9.
   Scholion gamma .  9 = HB:Tet , a serpent.  And the Serpent is the holy Uraeus,
upon the crown of the Gods.
   Scholion delta . 9 = IX = the Hermit of the Tarot, the Ancient One with Lamp
(Giver of Light) and Staff (the Middle Pillar of the Sephiroth).  This, too,
is the same Ancient as in 0, Aleph.
   "The Fool" and Aleph = 1.
   Scholion epsilon . 9 = ISVD = 80 = P = Mars = 5 = HB:Heh  =
                             ┌ = G =GML = 73 = ChKMH =
      the Mother = Binah = 3 ┤ = AB = The Father =
                             └ = ( 1 + 2 ) Mystic Number of Chokmah =
   = Chokmah = 2 = B = the Magus = I = 1.
   Scholion digamma . 9 = the foundation of all things = the Foundation of the
alphabet = Yod = 10 = Malkuth = Kether = 1.
   Scholion zeta . 9 = IX = The Hermit = Yod = 10 = X = The Wheel of Fortune =
K = 20 = XX = The Last Judgment = Sh = 300 = 30 = L = Justice = VIII = 8 = Ch
= The Chariot = VII = 7 = Z = The Lovers = VI = 6 = V (Vau) = The Pope = V = 5
= H = The Emperor = IV = 4 = D = The Empress = III = 3 = G = The High
Priestess = II = 2 = B = The Magus = I = 1 = A = The Fool = 0.  {107}
   Scholion eta . 9 = Luna = G _ 3, etc., as before.
                   ┌ Indigo ┐
   Scholion theta . 9 = ┤        ├ Saturn = 3, etc., as before.
                   └ Lead   ┘
   There are many other lines of argument.  This form of reasoning reminds one
of the riddle "Why is a story like a ghost?"  Answer.  "A story's a tale; a
tail's a brush; a brush is a broom; a brougham's a carriage; a carriage is a
gig; a gig's a trap; a trap's a snare; a snare's a gin; gin's a spirit; and a
spirit's a ghost."
   But our identities are not thus false; meditation reveals their truth.
Further, as I shall explain fully later, 9 is not equal to 1 for the neophyte.
These equivalences are dogmatic, and only true by favour of Him in whom All is
Truth.  In practice each equivalence is a magical operation to be carried out
by the aspirant.



                                   PART II

                      THE UNIVERSE AS WE SEEK TO MAKE IT

        6  The complete dictionary, begun by Fra. I.A., continued by Fra.
          P. and revise by Fra. A. e. G. and others, will shortly be
          published by authority of the A.'. A.'.
   In the first part we have seen all numbers as Veils of the One, emanations
of and therefore corruptions of the One.  It is the Universe as we know it,
the static Universe.
   Now the Aspirant to Magic is displeased with this state of things.  He
finds himself but a creature, the farthest removed from the Creator, a number
so complex and involved that he can scarcely imagine, must less dare to hope
for, its reduction to the One.
   The numbers useful to him, therefore, will be those which are subversive of
this state of sorrow.  So the number 2 represents to him the Magus (the great
Magician Mayan who has created the illusion of Maya) as seen in the 2nd
Aethyr.  And considering himself as the Ego who posits the Non-Ego (Fichte) he
hates this Magus.  It is only the beginner who regards this Magus as the
Wonder-worker --- as the thing he wants to be.  For the adept such little
consolation as he may win is rather to be found by regarding the Magus as B =
Mercury = 8 = Ch = 418 = ABRAHADABRA, the great Word, the "Word of Double
Power in the voice of the Master" which unites the 5 and the 6, the Rose and
the Cross, the Circle and the Square.  And also B is the Path from Binah to
Kether; but that is only important for him who is already in Binah, the
"Master of the Temple."
   He finds no satisfaction in contemplating the Tree of Life, and theorderly
arrangement of the numbers; rather does he enjoy the Qabalah as a means of
juggling with these numbers.  He can leave nothing undisturbed; he is the
Anarchist of Philosophy.  He refuses to acquiesce in merely formal proofs of
{108} the Excellence of things, "He doeth all things well," "Were the World
understood Ye would see it was good," "Whatever is, is right," and so on.  To
him, on the contrary, whatever is, is wrong.  It is part of the painful duty
of a Master of the Temple to understand everything.  Only he can excuse the
apparent cruelty and fatuity of things.  he is of the supernals; he sees
things from above; yet, having come from below, he can sympathise with all.
And he does not expect the Neophyte to share his views.  Indeed, they are not
true to a Neophyte.  The silliness of the New-Thought zanies in passionately
affirming "I am healthy!  I am opulent!  I am well-dressed!  I am happy," when
in truth they are "poor and miserable and blind and naked," is not a
philosophical but a practical silliness.  Nothing exists, says the Magister
Templi, but perfection.  True; yet their consciousness is imperfect.  Ergo, it
does not exist.  For the M.T. this is so: he has "cancelled out" the
complexities of the mathematical expression called existence, and the answer
is zero.  But for the beginner his pain and another's joy do not balance; his
pain hurts him, and his brother may go hang.  The Magister Templi, too,
understands why Zero must plunge through all finite numbers to express itself;
why it must write itself as "n - n" instead of 0; what gain there is in such
writing.  And this understanding will be found expressed in Liber 418 (Episode
of Chaos and His Daughter) and Liber Legis (i. 28-30).
   But it must never be forgotten that everyone must begin at the beginning.
And in the beginning the Aspirant is a rebel, even though he feel himself to
be that most dangerous type of rebel, a King Dethroned.7
   hence he will worship any number which seems to him to promise to overturn
the Tree of Life.  He will even deny and blaspheme the One --- whom, after
all, it is his ambition to be --- because of its simplicity and aloofness.  He
is tempted to "curse God and die."
   Atheists are of three kinds.
   1. The mere stupid man.  (Often he is very clever, as Bolingbroke,
Bradlaugh and Foote were clever.)  He has found out one of the minor arcana,
and hugs it and despises those who see more than himself, or who regard things
        7  And of course, if his revolt succeeds, he will acquiesce in
          order.  The first condition of gaining a grade is to be
          dissatisfied with the one that you have.  And so when you reach
          the end you find order as at first; but also that the law is that
          you must rebel to conquer.
from a different standpoint.  Hence he is usually a bigot, intolerant even of
tolerance.
   2. The despairing wretch, who, having sought God everywhere, and failed to
hind Him, thinks everyone else is as blind as he is, and that if he has failed
--- he, the seeker after truth! --- it is because there is no goal.  In his
cry there is {109} pain, as with the stupid kind of atheist there is smugness
and self-satisfaction.  Both are diseased Egos.
   3. The philosophical adept, who, knowing God, says "There is No God,"
meaning "God is Zero," as qabalistically He is.  he holds atheism as a
philosophical speculation as good as any other, and perhaps less likely to
mislead mankind and do other practical damage than any other.
   Him you may know by his equanimity, enthusiasm, and devotion.  I again
refer to Liber 418 for an explanation of this mystery.  The nine religions are
crowned by the ring of adepts whose password is "There is No God," so
inflected that even the Magister when received among them had not wisdom toe
interpret it.

   1. Mr Daw, K.C.: M'lud, I respectfully submit that there is no such
        creature as a peacock.
   2. Oedipus at Colonus: Alas! there is no sun!  I, even I, have looked and
        found it not.
   3.  Dixit Sultus in corde suo: "Ain Elohim."

   There is a fourth kind of atheist, not really an atheist at all.  He is but
a traveller in the Land of No God, and knows that it is but a stage on his
journey --- and a stage, moreover, no far from the goal.  Daath is not on the
Tree of Life; and in Daath there is no God as there is in the Sephiroth, for
Daath cannot understand unity at all.  If he thinks of it, it is only to hate
it, as the one thing which he is most certainly not (see Liber 418.  10th
Aethyr.  I may remark in passing that this book is the best known to me on
Advanced Qabalah, and of course it is only intelligible to Advanced
Students)).
   This atheist, not in-being but in-passing, is a very apt subject for
initiation.  He has done with the illusions of dogma.  From a Knight of the
Royal Mystery he has risen to understand with the members of the Sovereign
Sanctuary that all is symbolic; all, if you will, the Jugglery of the
Magician.  he is tired of theories and systems of theology and all such toys;
and being weary and anhungred and athirst seeks a seat at the Table of Adepts,
and a portion of the Bread of Spiritual Experience, and a draught of the wine
of Ecstasy.
   It is then thoroughly understood that the Aspirant is seeking to solve the
great Problem.  And he may conceive, as various Schools of Adepts in the ages
have conceived, this problem in three main forms.

    1.  I am not God.  I wish to become God.
              This is the Hindu conception.
        I am Malkuth.  I wish to become Kether.
              This is the qabalistic equivalent.    {110}

    2.  I am a fallen creature.  I wish to be redeemed.
              This is the Christian conception.
        I am Malkuth, the fallen daughter.  I wish to be set upon the throne
                of Binah my supernal mother.
              This is the qabalistic equivalent.

    3.  I am the finite square; I wish to be one with the infinite circle.
              This is the Unsectarian conception.
        I am the Cross of Extension; I wish to be one with the infinite Rose.
              This is the qabalistic equivalent.

   The answer of the Adept to the first form of the problem is for the Hindu
"Thou art That" (see previous chapter, "The Yogi"); for the Qabalist "Malkuth
is in Kether, and Kether is in Malkuth," or "That which is below is like that
which is above" or simply "Yod."  (the foundation of all letters having the
number 10, symbolising Malkuth.)
   The answer of the Adept to the second form of the problem is for the
Christian all the familiar teaching of the Song of Songs and the Apocalypse
concerning the Bride of Christ.8
   For the Qabalist it is a long complex dogma which may be studied in the
Zohar and elsewhere.  Otherwise, he may simply answer "Hé" (the letter alike
of mother and daughter in IHVH).  See Liber 418 for lengthy disquisition on
this symbolic basis.
   The answer of the Adept to the third form of the problem is given by pi ,
implying that an infinite factor must be employed.
   For the Qabalist it is usually symbolised by the Rosy Cross, or by such
formulae as 5 = 6.  That they concealed a Word answering this problem is also
true.  My discovery of this word is the main subject of this article.  All the
foregoing exposition has been intended to show why I sought a word to fulfil
the conditions, and by what standards of truth I could measure things. {111}
   But before proceeding to this Word, it is first necessary to explain
further in what way one expects a number to assist one in the search for
truth, or the redemption of the soul, or the formulation of the Rosy Cross.
(I am supposing that the treader is sufficiently acquainted with the method of
reading a name by its attributions to understand how, once a message is
received, and accredited, it may be interpreted.)  Thus if I ask "What is
knowledge?" and receive the answer "DOTh," I read it Daleth the door, O
matter, Th darkness, by various columns of 777 (To choose the column is a
matter of spiritual intuition.  Solvitur ambulando).  But here I am only
dealing with the "Trying of the spirits, to know whether they be of God."
   Suppose now that a vision purporting to proceed from God is granted to me.
The Angel declares his name.  I add it up.  It comes to 65.  An excellent
number! a blessed angel!  Not necessarily.  suppose he is of a Mercurial
appearance?  65 is a number of Mars.
   Then I conclude that, however beautiful and eloquent he may be, he is a
false spirit.  The Devil does not understand the Qabalah well enough to clothe
his symbols in harmony.
   But suppose an angel, even lowly in aspect, not only knows the Qabalah ---
your own researches in the Qabalah --- as well as you do, but is able to show
you truths, qabalistic truths, which you had sought for long and vainly!  Then
you receive him with honour and his message with obedience.
   It is as if a beggar sought audience of a general, and showed beneath his
rags the signet of the King.  When an Indian servant shows me "chits" signed
by Colonel This and Captain That written in ill-spelt Babu English, one knows
what to do.  On the contrary the Man Who Was Lost rose and broke the stem of
his wineglass at the regimental toast, and all knew him for one of their own.
   In spiritual dealings, the Qabalah, with those secrets discovered by
yourself that are only known to yourself and God, forms the grip, sing, token
and password that assure you that the Lodge is properly tiled.
        8  This Christian teaching (not its qabalistic equivalent) is
          incomplete.  The Bride (the soul) is united, though only be
          marriage, with the son, who then presents her to the Father and
          Mother or Holy Spirit.  These four then complete Tetragrammaton.
          But the Bride is never united to the Father.  in this scheme the
          soul can never do more than touch Tiphereth and so receive the
          ray from Chokmah.  Whereas even St John makes his Son say "I and
          my Father are one."  And we all agree that in philosophy there
          can never be (in Truth) more than one; this Christian dogma says
          "never less that four."  Hence its bondage to law and its most
          imperfect comprehension of any true mystic teaching, and hence
          the difficulty of using its symbols.
   It is consequently of the very last importance that these final secrets
should never be disclosed.  And it must be remembered that an obsession, even
momentary, might place a lying spirit in possession of the secrets of your
grade.  Probably it was in this manner that Dee and Kelly were so often
deceived.
   A reference to this little dictionary of numbers will show that 1, 3, 5, 7,
12, 13, 17, 21, 22, 26, 32, 37, 45, 52, 65, 67, 73, 78, 91, 111, 120, 207,
231, 270, 300, 326, 358, 361, 370, 401, 406, 434, 474, 666, 671, 741, 913,
were for me numbers of peculiar importance and sanctity.  Most of them are
venerable, referring to or harmonious with the One.  Only a few --- "e.g." 120
--- refer to the means.  There {112} are many others --- any others --- just
as good; but not for me.  god in dealing with me would show me the signs which
I should have intelligence enough to understand.  it is a condition of all
intellectual intercourse.
   Now I preferred to formulate the practical problem in this shape; "How
shall I unite the 5 and the 6, Microcosm and Macrocosm?"
   And these are the numbers which seemed to me to bear upon the problem.
   1. Is the goal, not the means.  Too simple to serve a magician's purpose.
   2. "Vide supra."
   3. Still too simple to work with, especially as 3 = 1 so easily.  But, and
therefore, a great number to venerate and desire.
   4. The terrible number of Tetragrammaton, the great enemy.  The number of
the weapons of the Evil Magician.  The Dyad made Law.
   5. The Pentagram, symbol of the squaring of the circle by virtue of ALHIM =
3.1415, symbol of man's will, of the evil 4 dominated by man's spirit.  Also
Pentagrammaton, Jeheshua, the Saviour.  Hence the Beginning of the Great Work.
   6. The Hexagram, symbol of the Macrocosm and Microcosm interlaced, and
hence of the End of the Great Work.  (Pentagram on breast, Hexagram on back,
of Probationer's Robe.)  Yet it also symbolises the Ruach, 214, q.v., and so
is as evil "in viâ" as it is good "in termino."
   7. A most evil number, whose perfection is impossible to attack.
   8. The great number of redemption, because Ch = ChITh = 418, q.v.  this
only develops in importance as my analysis proceeds.  A priori it was of n{o}
great importance.
   9. Most Evil, because of its stability.  AVB, witchcraft, the false moon of
the sorceress.
   10. Evil, memorial of our sorrow.  Yet holy, as hiding in itself the return
to the negative.
   11. The great magical number, as uniting the antitheses of 5 and 6 etc.
AVD the magic force itself.
   12. Useless.  Mere symbol of the Goal.
   13. Helpful, since if we can reduce our formula to 13, it becomes 1 without
further trouble.
   17. Useful, because though it symbolises 1, it does so under the form of a
thunderbolt.  "Here is a magic disk for me to hurl, and win heaven by
violence," says the Aspirant.
   21. As bad, nearly, as 7.
   26. Accursed.  As bad as 4.  Only useful when it is a weapon in your hand;
then --- "if Satan be divided against Satan," etc.   {113}
   28. Attainable; and so, useful.  "My victory," "My power," says the
Philosophus.
   30. The Balance --- Truth.  Most useful.
   31. LA the reply to AL, who is the god of Chesed, 4.  The passionate denial
of God, useful when other methods fail.
   32. Admirable, in spite of its perfection, because it is the perfection
which all from 1 to 10 and Aleph to Tau, share.  Also connects with 6, through
AHIHVH.
   37. Man's crown.
   44. Useful to me chiefly because I had never examined it and so had
acquiesced in it as accursed.  When it was brought by a messenger whose words
proved true I then understood it as an attack on the 4 by the 11.  "Without
shedding of blood (DM = 44) there is no remission."  Also since the messenger
could teach this, and prophesy, it added credit to the Adept who sent the
message.
   45. Useful as the number of man, ADM, identified with MH, Yetzirah, the
World of Formation to which man aspires as next above Assiah.  Thus 45 baffles
the accuser, but only by affirmation of progress.  It cannot help that
progress.
   52. AIMA and BN.  But orthodoxy conceives these as external saviours;
therefore they serve no useful purpose.
   60. Like 30, but weaker.  "Temperance" is only an inferior balance.  120,
its extension, gives a better force.
   65. Fully dealt with in "Knox om Pax," q.v.
   72. Almost as bad as 4 and 26; yet being bigger and therefore further from
1 it is more assailable.  Also it does spell ChSD, Mercy, and this is
sometimes useful.
   73. The two ways to Kether, Gimel and Chokmah.  Hence venerable, but not
much good to the beginner.
   74. LMD, Lamed, an expansion of 30.  Reads "By equilibrium and self-
scrifice, the Gate!"  Thus useful.  Also 74 = 37 x 2.
   So we see 37 x 1 = 37, Man's crown, Jechidah, the highest Soul --- "in
                          termino."
             37 x 2 = 74, The Balance, 2 being the symbol "in viâ."
             37 x 3 = 111, Aleph, etc., 3 being the Mother, the nurse of the
                          soul.
             37 x 4 = 148, "The Balances,: and so on.  I have not yet worked
                          out all the numbers of this important scale.
   77. OZ, the Goat, "scil." of the Sabbath of the Adepts.  The Baphomet of the
Templars, the idol set up to defy and overthrow the false god --- though it is
understood that he himself is false, not an end, but a means.  Note the 77 = 7
x 11, magical power in perfection. {114}
   78. Most venerable because MZLA is shown as the influence descending from
On High, whose key is the Tarot: and we possess the Tarot.  The proper number
of the name of the Messenger of the Most Exalted One.  [The account of AIVAS
follows in its proper place. --- ED.]
   85. Good, since 85 = 5 x 17.
   86. Elohim, the original mischief.  But good, since it is a key of the
Pentagram, 5 = 1 + 4 - 14 - 8 + 6 = 86.
   91. Merely venerable.
   111. Priceless, because of its 37 x 3 sumbolism, its explanation of Aleph,
which we seek, and its comment that the Unity may be found in "Thick darkness"
and in "Sudden death."  This is the most clear and definite help we have yet
had, showing Samadhi and the Destruction of the Ego as gates of our final
victory.
   120. See Part I. and references.
   124. ODN, Eden.  The narrow gate or path between Death and the Devil.
   156. BABALON.  This most holy and precious name is fully dealt with in
Liber 418.  Notice 12 x 13 = 156.  This was a name given and ratified by
Qabalah; 156 is not one of the à priori helpful numbers.  It is rather a case
of the Qabalah illuminating St John's intentional obscurity.
   165. 11 x XV should be a number Capricorni Pneumatici.  Not yet fulfilled.
   201. AR, Light (Chaldee).  Note 201 = 3 x 67, Binah, as if it were said,
"Light is concealed as a child in the womb of its mother."  The occult retort
of the Chaldean Magi to the Hebrew sorcerers who affirmed AVR, Light, 207, is
holy enough.
   206. DBR, the Word of Power.  A useful acquisition = "The Gateway of the
Word of Light."
   210. Upon this holiest number it is not fitting to dilate.  We may refer
Zelatores to Liber VII. Cap. I., Liber Legis Cap. I., and Liber 418.  But this
was only revealed later.  At first I only had ABRAHA, the Lord of the Adepts.
"Cf." Abraha-Melin.
   214. RVCh is one of the most seductive numbers to the beginner.  Yet its
crown is Daath, and later one learns to regard it as the great obstacle.  Look
at its promise 21, ending in the fearful curse of 4!  Calamity!
   216. I once hoped much from this number, as it is the cube of 6.  But I
fear it only expresses the fixity of mind.  Anyhow it all came to no good.
   But we have DBIR, connected with DBR, adding the Secret Phallic Power.
   220. This is the number of the verses of Liber Legis.  It represents 10 x
22, {115} "i.e." the whole of the Law welded into one.  Hence we may be sure
that the Law shall stand as it is without a syllable of addition.
   Note 1022, the modulus of the universe of atoms, men, stars.  See "Two new
worlds."
   222. The grand scale of 2; may one day be of value.
   256. The Eighth power of 2; should should be useful.
   280. A grand number, the dyad passing to zero by virtue of the 8, the
Charioteer who bears the Cup of Babalon.  See Liber 418, 12th Aethyr.  See
also 280 in Part I.
   300. Venerable, but only useful as explaining the power of the Trident, and
the Flame on the Altar.  too stable to serve a revolutionary, except in so far
as it is fire.
   333. See Part I.
   340. Connects with 6 through ShM, the fire and the water conjoined to make
the Name.  Thus useful as a hint in ceremonial.
   358. See Part I.
   361. See Part I.  Connects with the Caduceus; as 3 is the supernal fire, 6
the Ruach, 1 Malkuth.  See illustration of Caduceus in EQUINOX No. II.
   370. Most venerable (see Part I.).  It delivers the secret of creation into
the hand of the Magician.  See Liber Capricorni Pneumatici.
   400. Useful only as finality or material basis.  Being 20 x 20, it shows
the fixed universe as a system of rolling wheels (20 = K, the Wheel of
Fortune).
   401.  See Part I.  But Azoth is the Elixir prepared and perfect; the
Neophyte has not got it yet.
   406. See Part I.
   414. HGVTh, Meditation, the 1 dividing the accursed 4.  Also AIN SVP AVR,
the Limitless Light.
   418. CHITh, Cheth.  ABRAHADABRA, the great Magic Word, the Word of the
Aeon.  Note the 11 letters, 5 A identical, and 6 diverse.  Thus it interlocks
Pentagram and Hexagram.  BITh HA, the House of Hé the Pentagram; see Idra Zuta
Gadisha, 694.  "For H formeth K, but Ch formeth IVD."  Both equal 20.
   Note 4 + 1 + 8 = 13, the 4 reduced to 1 through 8, the redeeming force; and
418 = Ch = 8.
   By Aiq Bkr ABRAHADABRA = 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 22.
Also 418 = 22 x 19 Manifestation.  Hence the word manifests the 22 Keys of
Rota.
   It means by translation Abraha Deber, the Voice of the Chief Seer.
   It resolves into Pentagram and Hexagram as follows: --- {116}

   A
 /   \      [This is by taking the 5 middle letters.]
R-----B
   A        The pentagram is 12, HVA, Macroprosopus.
 /   \
H     D     The hexagram is 406, AThH, Microprosopus.
 \   /
  A-A
 B---R      Thus it connotes the Great Work.
  \ /
   A        Note ABR, initials of the Supernals, Ab, Ben, Ruach.

(2) A              [This is by separating the One (Aleph) from the Many
  /   \    /   \        (diverse letters).]
 A     A  R     H                          ┐ "The Vision and the Voice," a
  \   /   |     |  BRH = 207, Aur, Light   ├  phrase which meant much
   A-A    B     D  DBR = 206, Deber, Voice │  to me at the moment of dis-
           \   /                           ┘  covering this Word.
             R

(3) A        A
  /   \    /   \
 A     A  B     A
  \   /   |     |  [By taking each alternate letter.]
   R-B    H     D
            \  /
              R
                       205 = GBR, mighty.  ┐
                                           ├ This shows Abrahadabra as
                       213 = ABIR, mighty. ┘
the Word of Double Power, another phrase that meant much to me at the time.
AAB at the top of the Hexagram gives AB, AIMA, BN, Father, Mother, Child.
   HDR by Yetzirah gives Horus, Isis, Osiris, again Father, Mother , Child.
This Hexagram is again the human Triad.
   Dividing into 3 and 8 we get the Triangle of Horus dominating the Stooping
Dragon of 8 Heads, the Supernals bursting the Head of Daath.
Also    A
       / \          The Supernals are supported upon two squares ---
      R---B
A--B        A--H       ABAD = DD, Love, 8.
|  |        |  |
A--D        R--A       AHRA = AVR, Light, 207.
   Now 8 x 207 = 1656 = ChI, Living, and 207 = 9 x 23, ChIH, Life.  At this
time "Licht, Liebe, Leben" was the mystic name of the Mother-Temple of the
G.'. D.'.     {117}
   The five letters used in the word are A, the Crown; B, the Wand; D, the
Cup; H, the Sword; R, the Rosy Cross; and refer further to Amoun the Father,
Thoth His messenger, and Isis, Horus, Osiris, the divine-human triad.
   Also 418 = ATh IAV, the Essence of IAO, q.v.
   This short analysis might be indefinitely expanded; but always the symbol
will remain the Expression of the Goal and the Exposition of the Path.
   419. Teth, the number of the "laughing lion" on whom BABALON rideth.  See
Liber 418.  Note 419 + 156 = 23 x 25, occultly signifying 24, which again
signifies to them that understand the interplay of the 8 and the 3.  Blessed
be His holy Name, the Interpreter of his own Mystery!
   434. Daleth, the holy letter of the Mother, in glory as Queen.  she saves
the 4 by the 7 (D = 4 = Venus = 7), thus connects with 28.  Mystic number of
Netzach (Venus), Victory.  Note the 3 sundering the two fours.  This is the
feminine victory; she is in one sense the Delilah to the divine Samson.  Hence
we adore her from full hearts.  It ought to be remembered, by the way, that
the 4 is not so evil when it has ceased to oppress us.  The square identified
with the circle is as good as the circle.
   441. Truth, the square of 21.  Hence it is the nearest that our dualistic
consciousness can conceive of 21, AHIH, the God of Kether, 1.  Thus Truth is
our chiefest weapon, our rule.  Woe to whosoever is false to himself (or to
another, since in 441 that other is himself), and seven times woe to him that
swerves from his magical obligation in thought, word or deed!  By my side as I
write wallows in exhaustion following an age of torment one who did not
understand that it is a thousand times better to die than to break the least
tittle of a magical oath.
   463.  Shows that the Wand ought to represent.  Not 364; so we should hold
it by the lower end.  The Wand is also Will, straight and inflexible,
pertaining to Chokmah (2) as a Wand has two ends.
   474. See Part I.  To the beginner, though, Daath seems very helpful.  He is
glad that the Stooping Dragon attacks the Sanctuary.  He is doing it himself.
hence Buddhists make Ignorance the greatest fetter of all the ten fetters.
But in truth Knowledge implies a Knower and a Thing Known, the accursed Dyad
which is the prime cause of misery.
   480. Lilith.  See Liber 418.  So the orthodox place the legal 4 before the
holy 8 and sublime Zero.  "And therefore their breaths stink."
   543. Good, but only carries us back to the Mother.
   666. Chosen by myself as my symbol, partly for the reasons given in Part
I., partly for the reasons given in the Apocalypse.  I took the Beast to be
the Lion (Leo my rising sign) and Sol, 6,666, the Lord of Leo on which Babalon
should ride.  And there were other more intimate considerations, unnecessary
{118} to enter upon in this place.  Note however that the Tarot card of Leo,
Strength, bears the number XI., the great number of the Magnum Opus, and its
interchange with Justice, VIII.; and the key of 8 is 418.
   This all seemed to me so important that no qabalistic truths were so firmly
implanted in my mind at the time when I was ordered to abandon the study of
magic and the Qabalah as these: 8, 11, 418, 666; combined with the profoundest
veneration for 1, 3, 5, 7, 13, 37, 78, 91, 111.  I must insist on this at the
risk of tautology and over-emphasis; for it is the key to my standard of
Truth, the test-numbrs which I applied to the discernment of the Messenger
from the Sanctuary.
   That such truths may seem trivial I am well aware; let it be remembered
that the discovery of an identity may represent a year's toil.  But this is
the final test; repeat my researches, obtain your own holy numbers; then, and
not before, will you gully understand their Validity, and the infinite wisdom
of the Grand Arithmetician of the Universe.
   671. Useful, as shown in Part I.
   741. Useful chiefly as a denial of the Unity; sometimes employed in the
hope of tempting it from its lair.
   777. Useful in a similar way, as affirming that the Unity is the Qliphoth.
But a dangerous tool, especially as it represents the flaming sword that drove
Man out of Eden.  A burnt child dreads the fire.  "The devils also believe,
and tremble."  Worse than useless unless you have it by the hilt.  Also 777 is
the grand scale of 7, and this is useless to anyone who has not yet awakened
the Kundalini, the female magical soul.  Note 7 as the meeting-place of 3, the
Mother, and 10, the Daughter; whence Netzach is the Woman, married but no
more.
   800. Useful only in 5 = 6 symbolism, p.v.
   888. The grad scale of 8.  In Greek numeration therefore
Iota Eta Sigma Omicron Upsilon Sigma  the Redeemer, connecting with 6 because of its 6
letters.  This links Greek and Hebrew symbolism; but remember that the mystic
Iesous and Yeheshua have no more to do with the legendary Jesus of the
Synoptics and the Methodists than the mystic IHVH has to do with the false God
who commanded the murder of innocent children.  The 13 of the Sun and the
Zodiac was perhaps responsible for Buddha and his 12 disciples, Christ and his
12 disciples, Charlemagne and his 12 peers, &c., &c., but to disbelieve in
Christ or Charlemagne is not to alter the number of the signs of the Zodiac.
Veneration for 666 does not commit me to admiration for Napoleon and
Gladstone.

   I may close this paper by expressing a hope that I may have the indulgence
of students.  The subject is incomparably difficult; it is almost an unworked
{119} vein of thought; and my expression must be limited and thin.  It is
important that every identity should be most thoroughly understood.  No mere
perusal will serve.  This paper must be studied line by line, and even to a
great extent committed to memory.  And that memory should already be furnished
with a thorough knowledge of the chief correspondences of 777.  It is hard to
"suffer gladly" the particular type of fool who expects with a twenty-third-
rate idle brain to assimilate in an hour the knowledge that it has cost me
twelve years to acquire.  I may add that nobody will ever understand this
method of knowledge without himself undertaking research.  Once he has
experienced the joy connecting (say) 131 and 480 though 15, he will
understand.  Further, it is the work itself, not merely the results, that is
of service.  We teach Greek and Latin, though nobody speaks either language.
   And thus I close: Benedictus sit Dominus Deus Noster qui nobis dedit
Scientiam Summam.
                                    Amen!

   We may now return to Frater P.'s experiences.  It will be remembered that
he found Yoga practices of any kind very difficult in the cold climate of his
home; for he was now sufficiently advanced to need long spells of continuous
concentration --- very different from the early days of practice when twenty
minutes in the morning and again in the evening sufficed fro the day.
   Further, he had entered on the third stage of life, and from a Brahmachari
became a householder.  It was in the course of the journey undertaken by him
shortly after his marriage that occurred the event which we shall proceed to
relate.
   And to that end we must ask the reader to accompany us in imagination to
the sovereign nursery of wisdom and initiation, to the holy land of the Uraeus
serpent, to the land of Isis and Osiris, of the Pyramids and the Nile, even to
Khem, more magnificent in ruin than all other lands are in plenitude of their
glory.
{120}






                                  A NOCTURNE

   IN the little cleft of the rocks whence life first sprang
   To birth, by the secret shadowy molten sea,
   Where Aphrodite sprang to greet the sun,
   Low voices murmur: shadowy under-world
   In the void of time; light song of Erebus
   On the lips of a courtesan of Rome --- ah! list!
   A wandering singer caught the light o' the stars
   On his lips, and the sun-dawn of the world in his heart.

      For I that dwelt within the city of Time
   Was lost in a cloudy dawn; the silken veil
   Of dew that clothed the green grass of the fields
   Was the veil of Olympus; now the shadowy night
   That sang to me, that sand, that sang to me,
   Sprang from the underworld of Eld: the moon
   That circled in the heavens sang to me,
   And I that heard the olden monstrous lays
   Of Eld, the dreaming wonders of the dawn,
   Died, and still lie imprisoned in the rocks
   By the salt sea, knowing of the doom of man,
   But being dumb, as is the doom of man,
   For nightfall is delight of Eld, and I
   Wander bareheaded under the dark sky;  {121}
   Calling and calling from the windy deeps,
   The olden night still draws me; moonlight weeps
   Fro sunlight faded in the dark; the sea
   Is under the dark clouds; still one by one
   Soft, silver stars creep silently upon me,
   Leaving soft trails of light; O wonder dawn
   Of the inverted thunder of the skies!
   Back to the gardens of old Babylon,
   The hanging lamps, the slow, enchanted moon,
   The gold-eyed stars, the pillars of the sea,
   And the call of her forgotten! --- Oh, I lie
   Under the stars, upon the dewy sward;
   And all around me is the silent city,
   The soft white city, softened by the dawn;
   And I hear the sistron, and I hear the songs
   Sung to the hanging moon, and thou, Istar,
   Radiantly comest on the brains of men
   To the slow illumination of desire;
   The old enchanted palace of the Will
   Is thine, and god-like dreams of Eld are thine,
   Of the underworld of the stars, beneath the sea,
   Beyond the cloudy palaces of the hills.
   Ah!  Never hath the dawn been nearer thee!

      Fallen to idle sleep, and borne within
   The Temple of Mind, the soul of Night is bared
   Under the starry canopy of the worlds,
   And the lamp is set upon her bier; let be,
   Let her still slumber!  Oh, my radiant one,
   Thou that art born of the dew and of the stars, {122}
   come thou to me, while that the soft night sleeps,
   O thou far inmost and supernal Dawn,
   O thou that bearest the torch for the feast o' the gods!
   In the core of Night I found thee, and a rose
   Was thy heart, and thorns were thy crown, and tiny rosebuds.
   Girt thy green mantle, and thy yellow hair
   Glittered with the dust of the stars!  By the river-side
   Thou camest unto me; ho, the secret night
   When I stared into the water under the moon,
   Singing and tumbling on its way to the sea!
   The soft stream flowed under the milky stars,
   And there were poplars by the water-side,
   Gazing upon themselves; but I was blind,
   Blinder than wood, more silent than the moon;
   And so thou camest to me!  Oh, my darling,
   My little rose-lipped darling, fountain-cool
   Thy hands, and thine eyes bright with celestial fire
   Drawn from the world's heart!  Oh, my little one,
   Come to me here in the great slow silences,
   In the radiant dimness of the after-glow
   Of the passionate ache of the world; I am Pan no more,
   But the Virgin of the starlight of the world.
   Her in the silence, in the great, green woods,
   Lie thou with me!  Slumber with me to-night
   Under the stars, and the yellow drifting moon.
   We ill love no more as Syrinx and Pan; Diana!
   Come unto me, and I will grant the thing
   Thou cravest!  Oh! the foaming milk of the stars!
"   "I bear the red-tipped lilies under the moon!"    {123}

      Rosa Ignota!  Ah! the pale moon flowers;
   The soft shy glances, and the virgin unwon!
   Oh! the sweet burden of the sunless hours:
   Love! I am conquered!  Nay, love! I have won!
   Oh, feeble moon-light!  Oh sweet stars undone
   By the pale longing of Eld!  O Virgin word,
   Under the silent moon I bear the Sword!
   Oh, the soft burden of the sunken sun
"   "I bear a chalice of lilies under the moon!"
   "I bear the red-tipped lilies under the moon!"

      Light is no more; oh! let us swoon and die!
   And the secret way is starlit, star-bestrewn,
   Star-guarded, star-set under the starry moon!
   Is there no way but this beneath the sky?
   Oh, moon of Eld, ah! shall we die or swoon?
   O Rose eclipsed, O Rose, my rose of roses,
   The night is pale to death; the lyre reposes
   Under the star-shot glamour of the moon
   And all her palest roses.
                                  VICTOR B. NEUBURG.

{124}



                                  THE VIXEN

                                           "To and from N. I. L. B. W."

PATRICIA FLEMING threw the reins to a groom, and ran up the steps into the
great house, her thin lips white with rage.
   Lord Eyre followed her heavily.  "I'll be down in half an hour," she
laughed merrily, "tell Dawson to bring you a drink!"  Then she went straight
through the house, her girlish eyes the incarnation of a curse.
   For the third time she had failed to bring Geoffrey Eyre to her feet.  She
looked into her hat; there in the lining was the talisman that she had tested
--- and it had tricked her.
   What do I need? she thought.  Mut it be blood?
   She was a maiden of the pure English strain; brave, gay, honest, shrewd ---
and there was not one that guessed the inmost fire that burnt her.  For she
was but a child when the Visitor came.
   The first of the Visits was in a dream.  She woke choking; the air ---
clear, sweet, and wholesome as it blew through the open window from the
Chilterns --- was fouled with a musty stench.  And she woke her governess with
a tale of a tiger.
   The second Visit was again at night.  She had been hunting, was alone at
the death, had beaten off the hounds.  That night she heard a fox bark in her
room, She spent a {125} sleepless night of terror; in the morning she found
the red hairs of a fox upon her pillow.
   The third Visit was nor in sleep nor waking.
   But she tightened her lips, and would have veiled the hateful gleam in her
eyes.
   It was that day, though, that she struck a servant with her riding=whip.
   She was so sane that she knew exactly wherein her madness lay; and she set
all her strength not to conquer but to conceal it.
   Two years later, and Patricia Fleming, the orphan heiress of Carthwell
Abbey, as the county toast, Diana of the Chilterns.
   Yet Geoffrey Eyre evaded her.  His dog's fidelity and honesty kept him true
to the little north-country girl that three months earlier had seduced his
simplicity.  He did not even live her; but she had made him think so for an
hour; and his pledged word held him.
   Patricia's open favour only made him hate her because of its very
seduction.  It was really his own weakness that he hated.
   Patricia ran, tense and angry, through the house.  The servants noticed it.
The mistress has been crossed, they thought, she will go to the chapel and get
ease.  Praising her.
   True, to the chapel she went; locked the door, dived behind the altar,
struck a secret panel, came suddenly into a priest's hiding-hole, a room large
enough to hold a score of men if need be.
   At the end of the room was a great scarlet cross, and on it, her face to
the wood, her wrists and ankles swollen over the whip lashes that bound her,
hung a naked girl, big-boned, voluptuous.  Red hair streamed over her back.
{126}
   What, Margaret! so blue? laughed Patricia.
   I am cold, said the girl upon the cross, in an indifferent voice.
   Nonsense, dear! answered Patricia, rapidly divesting herself of her riding-
habit.  There is no hint of frost; we had a splendid run, and a grand kill.
You shall be warm yet, for all that.
   This time the girl writhed and moaned a little.
   Patricia took from an old wardrobe a close-fitting suit of fox fur, and
slipped it on her slim white body.
   Did I make you wait, dear? she said, with a curious leer.  I am the keener
for the sport, to be sure!
   She took the faithless talisman from her hat.  It was a little square of
vellum, written upon in black.  She took a hairpin from her head, pierced the
talisman, and drove the pin into the girl's thigh.
   They must have blood, said she.  Now see how I will turn the blue to red!
Come! don't wince: you haven't had it for a month.
   Then her ivory arm slid like a serpent from the furs, and with the cutting
whip she struck young Margaret between the shoulders.
   A shriek rang out: its only echo was Patricia's laugh, childlike, icy,
devilish.
   She struck again and again.  Great weals of purple stood on the girl's
back; froth tinged with blood came from her mouth, for she had bitten her lips
and tongue in agony.
   Patricia grew warm and rosy --- exquisitely beautiful.  Her babe-breasts
heaved; her pips parted; her whole body and soul seemed lapped in ecstasy.
   I wish your were Geoffrey, girlie! she panted. {127}
   Then the skin burst.  Raw flesh oozed blood that dribbled down Margaret's
back.
   Still the fair maid struck and struck in the silence, until the tiny
rivulets met and waxed great and touched the talisman.  She threw the bloody
whalebone into a corner, and went upon her knees.  She kissed her friend; she
kissed the talisman; and again kissed the girl, the warm blood staining her
pure lips.
   She took the talisman, and hid it in her bosom.  Last of all she loosened
the cords, and Margaret sank in a heap to the floor.  Patricia threw furs over
her and rolled her up in them; brought wine, and poured it down her throat.
She smiled, kindly, like a sister.
   "Sleep now awhile, sweetheart!" she whispered, and kissed her forehead.
   It was a very demure and self-possessed little maiden that made dinner
lively for poor Geoffrey, who was thinking over his mistake.
   Patricia's old aunt, who kept house for her, smiled on the flirtation.  it
was not by accident that she left them alone sitting over the great fire.
"Poor Margaret has her rheumatism again," she explained innocently; "I must go
and see how she is."  Loyal Margaret!
   So it happened that Geoffrey lost his head.  "The ivy is strong enough"
(she had whispered, ere their first kiss had hardly died).  "Before the moon
is up, be sure!" and glided off just as the aunt returned.
   Eyre excused himself; half a mile from the house he left his horse to his
man to lead home, and ten minutes later was groping for Patricia in the dark.
{128}
   White as a lily in body and soul, she took him in her arms.
   Awaking as from death, he suddenly cried out., "Oh God!  What is it?  Oh
God! my God!  Patricia!  Your body!  Your Body!"
   "Yours!" she cooed.
   "Why, you're all hairy!" he cried.  "And the scent! the scent!"
   From without came sharp and resonant the yap of a hound as the moon rose.
   Patricia put her hands to her body.  he was telling the truth.  "The
Visitor!" she screamed once with fright, and was silent.  he switched the
light on, and she screamed again.
   There was a savage lust upon his face.
   "This afternoon," he cried, "you called me a dog.  I looked like a dog and
thought like a dog; and, by God!  I am a dog.  I'll act like a dog then!"
   Obedient to some strange instinct, she dived from the bed for the window.
   But he was on her; his teeth met in her throat.
   In the morning they found the dead bodies of both hound and fox --- but how
did that explain the wonderful Elopement of Lord Eyre and Miss Fleming?  For
neither of them were ever seen again.
   I think Margaret understands; in the convent which she rules to-day there
hangs beside a blood-stained cutting-whip the silver model of a fox, with the
inscription:
         "Patricia Margaritae vulpis vulpem dedit."
                                        FRANCIS BENDICK.   {129}







                                 THE PILGRIM

               AT the dawn of the bout
               Of my life I set out
                   For the Palace of Light.
               At the end of the road
               I have found an abode
                   In the Tavern of Night.

               Ever on! ever on!
               Said the day-star, and shone!
                   Ever on! and above!
               Said the even-star: rest
               In the night on my Breast!
                   Beyond light there is love.

               But I stayed not; I feared
               A false witch in her weird.
                   I went on, ever on,
               Till the day and the night
               And the love and the light
                   Were, suddenly, gone.

               Came the Voice of the Lord:
               "Now receive the reward                 {130}
                   Of the laughers at Life,
               Who, faint, have not failed;
               Who, weak, have not wailed:
                   My one jewel --- a wife.

               "Since the ape stood erect
               For a sign of his sect
                   There have only been ten.
               So perfect were they
               That their names are to-day
                   Forgotten of men."

               I took her, and still
               Through the wit and the will
                   And the way and the word
               And the crown of all these,
               By the water at ease
                   Sings our bliss as a bird.

               Together! together!
               The wage of the weather          {131}
                   I liberty, light;
               Is loyalty, love;
               Is laughter, above
                   The caprices of night.

               From ocean emergent
               Springs splendid, assurgent,
                   The strenuous sun.
               The shadows are gone,
               But the tune ripples on,
                   And the word is but one.

               Let all that is living
               Unite in thanksgiving
                   To Heaven above,
               For the Heaven within,
               That a woman may win
                   For a man --- that is love.

               At the end of the road
               I have found an abode
                   In the Tavern of Night;
               And behold! it is one
               With the House of the Sun
                   And the Palace of Light!
                                    ALEISTER CROWLEY.












                         MY CRAPULOUS CONTEMPORARIES

                                    NO. IV

                            WISDOM WHILE YOU WAITE


   [The hibernation of A. Quiller, senior, and the approaching marriage of A.
Quiller, junior, have prevented either of them from contributing their columns
as usual. --- ED.]






                            WISDOM WHILE YOU WAITE

           THE BOOK OF CEREMONIAL MAGIC.   A. E. WAITE.  Wm. Rider
                              & Son, Ltd., 15s.


IT would ill become us to review this book; which, when it was called "The
Book of Black Magic and of Pacts," was dismissed by the Editor of the "Goetia"
as "a farrago of twenty-fifth-rate shoddy schoolboy journalism."  And we are
glad to see that in the new edition Mr Waite has corrected his logic by that
Editor's light.  But the introduction is new, and deserves comment.
   Mr Waite still talks as if his mouth were full of hot potatoes.  The length
and obscurity of his archaisms renders him almost unintelligible to me, an
affectation which I find intolerable.  Such fools as it may impress are not
worth having as followers, unless on is a swindler.  In fact (let me whisper
in Mr Waite's ear) no follower is worth having.
   Mr Waite's central doctrine appears identical with that to which I
personally assent; but I think he ruins its simplicity by his insistence on
sectarian symbols and on the literalism which he would be the first to condemn
in a Methodist.
   As to the rituals of ceremonial magic which he condemns, he is right.  But
the Mass itself is a Magical Ceremony, {135} and he does not condemn the Mass.
The ceremonies which might be practised by, say, a neophyte of the A.'.
A.'. would be as sublime as, and less tainted than, the services of the
Church.  Of such rituals Mr Waite is ignorant, more ignorant than the author
of "The King's Dole" should be, unless such ignorance be the result of envy,
malice, and all uncharitableness.
   Further, ceremonial magic, even of the low angelic order, may be a sort of
divine trap.  The utterance of the Logos is one, but he is heard by divers
nations in divers languages.  Cannot God deal with a soul even by allowing him
to pass through the "Houses of Sin"?  Mr Waite blasphemes if he denies it.
   As a practical example, I know of a man who took up the blackest magic from
sheer hatred of God and Christ, a hatred Shelleyan and Thomsonian.  What
happened?  He found by practice that to call forth an evil spirit you must
identify yourself with the god that commands him.
   he then saw no use for the demon, and continued with the god.  Reason next
said: " If with the small god, why not with the great God of all?"  And in the
upshot he found himself practising exactly the same method as Molinos, St
Teresa, Buddha, Father Poulain, St Paul, Meredith Starr, A. E. Waite, Aleister
Crowley, and the rest --- and getting the very same results.
   Oh, my dear sir, a man is a man, and if you give whisky to A, B, and C,
they all get drunk, with minor variations for the personal equation; and god
is one, and when A, B, and C pray, meditate, concentrate, invoke, chant,
utter, watch, resign themselves, it is all one thing in different words.  One
is a little better, perhaps, for A; and another suits B.  But God rewards all
alike, in The End.  {136}
   Mr Waite's grammar is as slovenly as ever: "The said three persons will
draw lots among each other."
   Mr Waite's scholarship is as slovenly as ever.  He refers to Molinos as a
Jesuit.                                                             I. Biss.
                *        *        *        *        *        *
   I am learning Scotch (for legal purposes) at present.  I know the meaning
of "lovite," "compear," "furthcoming," "reponed," "Edictal," "the matter
libelled," "effeirs," "teind," "condescendence," "decderned," "arrestments
have been used," "diligence of arrestment," "addebted," "averments," "proof
was led," "oath of calumny," "sist," "mandatory," "runrig and rundale," "the
Record has been placed in the Roll for adjustment" (Not said of a Pianola).
   So that I have no time to learn Waitese, such as "palmary," "the imputed
standpoint," "scattermeal," "a writer of my known dedications," "in respect of
diluted views," "in respect of the mystic term," "in fine," "signal
presentations," "it offers an experiment in integration," "casually literate,"
"some more withdrawn condition," "ineffable typology," "an essence so
uttermost," "anywise," "dilucid," "hypostatic," "super-incession," "all
antecedents and warrants of precursors," and so on.
   but where I can understand Mr Waite I am surprised to find him (as soon as
he wishes to speak of the high states) borrowing without acknowledgment from
my published works.

              WAITE (1911)           │               CROWLEY
   The act or "state of being lost"    │    Man's vision goes, dissolves in
in God is that which I have else-    │ God's.                "AHA!" 1909.
where described in a perfection of   │    All the illusion gone, behold The
all similitudes --- which is of my   │ One that is.                Ib.  {137}
adaptation but not of my making      │ "Thou fastenest on
(Is this his apology to me? A.C.)    │ This soul of mine, that it is gone,
 when Christ delivers up the King-   │ Gone from all life, and rapt away." Ib.
dom of each soul to His Father,      │ "This I know, that I am gone
and God is all in all.               │ To the heart of God's great diamond."
                                     │                  "The Ladder," 1909.
                                     │ "I climbed still inwards.  At the
                                     │   moveless point.
                                     │ Where all power, life, light, motion
                                     │   concentrate.
                                     │ I found God dwelling ...
                                     │      He drank my breath,
                                     │ Absorbed my life in His, dispersed me,
                                     │   gave me death."
                                     │                    "Aceldama," 1898.
                                     │   "The First House ("i.e." the Father's
                                     │ House) is so brilliant that you can't
                                     │ think; and there, too, is my lover (the
                                     │ Son) and I (the soul) when we are one.
                                     │              "The Wake-World," 1907.
_____________________________________┼________________________________________
   This is the state beyond the      │ "reverent gaze
state when it is said that "they"     │ Upon the ancient One of Days,
shall see His face"                  │ Beyond which fancy lies the Truth."
                                     │                  "Pentecost," 1902.
                                     │ "to us the rites of Eleusis should open
                                     │ the doors of Heaven, and we shall enter
                                     │ in and see God face to face!
                                     │                   "Eleusis," 1906.
                                     │ "ye also shall see God face to face."
                                     │                                   Ib.
                                     │ "they do lead one to the Vision of God
                                     │ face to face."                    Ib.
                                     │ "initiates --- men who have themselves
                                     │ seen god face to face, and lived." Ib.
                                     │ "the three ways to the Holy House
                                     │ of the Old King ... so that is his
                                     │ House, he is the Old King himself, and
                                     │ so are you."
                                     │              "The Wake World," 1907.
{138}                                │   Leaping all the lesser bars, I shall
                                     │ become the One and All ... and lose
                                     │ myself.      "Konx Om Pax," 1907.
                                     │ This were my guerdon; to fade utterly
                                     │ Into the rose-heart of that sanguine
                                     │     vase,
                                     │ And lose my purpose in its silent sea,
                                     │ And lose my life, and find my life, and
                                     │     pass
                                     │ Up to the sea that is as molten glass.
                                     │                  "Tannhäuser," 1901.
                                     │ "the ego is altogether abased,
                                     │ absorbed, in the Beloved."
                                     │                   "Time," 1906.
_____________________________________┼________________________________________
"In that love and in that joining    │ (Of Dhyana)
together there is "no passage longer"  │   "The absolute identity
"from subject to object."  But this is │   Of the beholder and the Vision."
the Godhead."                        │                    "Pentecost," 1904.
   "The Most Secret, Most Holy       │   "If a single state of consciousness
Temple, into which God and the       │ persist unchanged for a period
soul go in (sic! I don't acknowledge │ exceeding a very few seconds, its
Mr Waite as a disciple in grammar)   │ duality is annihilated."
and only one comes out."             │        "Science and Buddhism," 1904.
                                     │   The object ("scil." of meditation)
                                     │ disappears; in its stead arises a great
                                     │ glory, characterised by a feeling of
                                     │ calm, yet of intense, unimaginable
                                     │ bliss ... it might be absurd to assert
                                     │ that either subject or object
                                     │ disappears in Dhyana to the
                                     │ disadvantage of the other.
                                     │          "Time," 1906.
                                     │   He (the Black Magician) works in a
                                     │ circle. ... He says: I am inside, and
                                     │ you can't get at me.  He says One and
                                     │ One are Two!  (By the "Black Magician"
                                     │ is here symbolised any person with the
                                     │ normal dualistic consciousness.)
                                     │            "Ali Sloper," 1907.
                                     │   "Destroy him, or be he!  That is
                                     │ enough; there is no more to say."
                                     │             "Konx Om Pax," 1907.
                                     │   "Prostrate I wait upon Thy will,
                                     │     Mine Angel, for this grace of
                                     │        union."              Ib.
                                     │ "nothing is                   {139}
                                     │ But the intensity of bliss.
                                     │ Being is blasted.  That exists."
                                     │                  "Aha!"  1909.
                                     │ "All thoughts are evil. Thought is two:
                                     │  The seer and the seen.  Eschew
                                     │  That supreme blasphemy, my son,
                                     │  Remembering that God is One."
                                     │                 "Aha!" 1909.
                                     │   "In the astral visions the
                                     │ consciousness is hardly disturbed; in
                                     │ magical evocations it is intensely
                                     │ exalted; but it is still bound by its
                                     │ original conditions.  The Ego is still
                                     │ opposed to the Non-Ego. ... all true
                                     │ mystical phenomena contradict these
                                     │ conditions.  In the first place, the
                                     │ Ego and the Non-Ego unite explosively
                                     │ ... &c., &c."
                                     │ --- "The Psychology of Hashish," 1909.
                                     │   Samadhi (is) that state of mind in
                                     │ which subject and object, becoming One,
                                     │ have disappeared."            Ib.
                                     │   "The uniting of subject and object
                                     │ which is Samadhi."            Ib.
                                     │ "O thou sun
                                     │  Of thought, of bliss transcending
                                     │     thought,
                                     │  Rise "where division dies!"  Absorb
                                     │  In glory of the glowing orb
                                     │  Self and its shadow!"
                                     │              "Pentecost," 1904.
                                     │   He (Huxley) denies the assertion of
                                     │ duality; he has no datum to assert the
                                     │ denial of duality.  I have.
                                     │         "Science and Buddhism," 1904.
_____________________________________┼________________________________________
  "Whosoever goes inward to find     │ "Miracles follow as a dower.
anything but the Divine in his       │  But ah! they used the fatal power
centre is working on the side of his │  And lost the Spirit in the act."
own loss ... those who are seek-     │             "Pentecost," 1904.
ing to exercise the powers of the    │   "Let then the student contradict
soul apart from its graces are tread-│  every vision and refuse to enjoy it."
ing the downward path."              │      "Postcards to Probationers," 1909.
                            {140}    │
"the quest of miraclous power        │   "It is waste of power (the most
(pertains to) the sciences of the    │ expensive kind of power) to 'make the
abyss."                              │ spirits bring us all kinds of food,
                                     │ etc."    "John St John," 1908.
   "The tradition à rebours is de-   │ "divination should be discarded from
finitely and clearly that of mira-   │ the start."                     Ib.
culous power in the quest and        │ "to use the spiritual forces to secure
attainment thereof."                 │ health is the vilest black magic." Ib.
                                     │ "He asked him (i.e. the Adept)
                                     │ frequently to dine,
                                     │  Forgetting purposely the wine
                                     │  (Though the Arcana of Nibbana
                                     │  Ignore the very name of Cana).
                                     │  He could not pass a heard of swine
                                     │  Without a hint; in fact, in fine,
                                     │  He took His Silence as a sign:
                                     │  This is an enemy of mine!"
                                     │         "Konx Om Pax," 1907.
                                     │    "Fifth House, and mostly dream at
                                     │ that."  (The Fifth House is that of
                                     │ Geburah, the house of Magical Power).
                                     │                               Ib.
_____________________________________┼________________________________________
  "But after all these wonders,      │   "Then subtly, easily, imperceptibly
rank after rank of the Blessed       │ gliding, I passed away into nothing.
Angels, after all visions of the     │ And I was wrapped in the black
Great White Throne, it is as if a    │ brilliance of my Lord, that
quiet centre opened unawares and     │ interpenetrated me in every part,
through an immeasurable silence      │ fusing its light with my darkness, and
drew down the soul --- from one      │ leaving there no darkness, but pure
many splendours into the one         │ light.  ... At once, automatically, the
splendour ... as if the soul saw     │ interior trembling began again, and
there the one God and itself as the  │ again the subtle brilliance flowed
one worshipper.  But after a little  │ through me.  The consciousness again
while the worshipper itself has      │ died and was reborn as the divine,
dissolved, and from henceforth and   │ always without shock or stress. ...
for ever it has the consciousness of │ Being entered into the Silence, let me
God only. ..."                       │ abide in Silence!"
                                     │                  "John St John," 1909.
                                     │ "O petty purities and pale,
                                     │  These visions I have spoken of!
                                     │  The Infinite Lord of Light and Love
                                     │  Breaks on the soul like dawn. ...
                                     │  In that fire the soul burns up. {141}
                                     │     One drop from that celestial cup
                                     │     Is an abyss, an infinite sea
                                     │     That sucks up immortality."
                                     │                    "Aha!" 1909.
                                     │ "Lie open, a chameleon cup,
                                     │   And let Him suck thine honey up." Ib.

   Dozens and scores of other parallel passages could be adduced; but I have
sat up half the night already.
   It follows that: "either" Mr Waite is a disciple of my own, "or" "the devil is
quoting Holy Writ."
   I'll risk a bob that he would rather be the devil!
                                            ALEISTER CROWLEY.

                         ____________________________

                          X-RAYS ON EX-PROBATIONERS

RATS leave sinking ships; but you cannot be sure that a ship will sink because
you see a rat running away from it.  The captain may have given orders about
it.

                         ____________________________

   Persecution is like Keating's Powder.  It does not injure the most delicate
skin, but it removes all vermin.

                         ____________________________

   "Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted lifted up his heel against me"
--- and then I saw it was the hoof of an ass.
                                                    PERDURABO.

{142}






                                 THE VAMPIRE

   I DREAM in strange laughterless Mazes;
   I wake at the set of the sun;
   All poppied the paean of praise is
   That lives on the lives it has won.
   And crimson grow cheeks that are ashen,
   And gold gleam the locks that are grey,
   For I live --- and bright blood is my passion,
   Hot-veined in the heart of the day!

   Aha!  For the rapture that dazes!
   Wine-drained as the breast of a nun
   Droops the throat that my savage soul raises,
   Thirsting yet for the life that is done!
   Sharp as rocks where strong billows have thundered,
   Calm as seas where strange tempests have run,
   Strong as Death; were the Derelicts sundered
   Feed the Soul without Hope, which is One.

   In the Vault of the Infinite Spaces,
   By the Moon of a mirrorless Sea,
   I lie, while Eternity races ---
   Dream-bound in the visions of me.
   See poppied lips pale in the star-light,
   The lustiest swoon at my breath,
   Till the were-wolves howl --- ho! 'tis the far light! ---
   Even so --- I caress --- it is Death!
                                           ETHEL ARCHER.

   {143}








                                THE BIG STICK

A DREAMER'S TALES.  By LORD DUNSANY.
   Lord Dunsany's prose is like Baudelaire's.  I can only criticise five of
these tales; for the others I have not yet read forty times!
   "Poltarnees" is the best tale ever written of the lure of the Sea.  I wish
I could think that my "Anima Lunae" helped to inspire it.
   "Bethmoora" and "The Hashish Man" are really one tale.  Words really fail
me here; if I quote one half sentence all who really understand English will
know that this is the perfection of the sublime in its simplicity.  "Away we
went from that small, pale, "heinous" man."
   "Pore Ole Bill" seems derived from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and
"the Yarn of the Nancy Bell."  Mixed.  What could be more ridiculous?  Yet I
read it again and again, and the oftener I read it the keener does its
fascination grip me.
   And what shall I say of "The Sword and the Idol"?  Only this; that it is
true.  Lord Dunsany has really beheld the dawn of the Iron Age, and the
conquest of the King by the Priest.  G. W. Foote ought to publish this tale as
an atheistic pamphlet; it is the best ever written.  And yet to me "The
Silence of Ged" (Oh bold my Lord Dunsany!) came as a voice in the wood at
midnight, when the sword-holder raises his steel against Ged.  Ged neither hit
nor shrank --- in the end the sword was laid as an offering upon his knees.
   So let the adept sit smiling through all that may befall him; then those
that hate him shall wonder at his strength; in the end they shall worship him.
And He, an He speak, shall by speaking save; an He yet keep silence, shall by
keeping silence, bless.  Amen.                       ALEISTER CROWLEY.

                        THE MESSAGE OF THUBA MLEEN

                                   I

               Far beyond Utnar Véhi, far beyond
                    The Hills of Hap,
               Sits the great Emperor crowned with diamond,
                    Twitching the rosary in his lap ---         {144}
               The rosary whose every bead well-conned
                    With sleek unblinking bliss
               Was once the eyeball of an unborn child of his.

                                   II

               He drank the smell of living blood, that hissed
                    On flame-white steel.
               He tittered while his mother's limbs were kissed
                    By the fish-hooks on the Wheel
               That shredded soul and shape, more fine than mist
                 Is torn by the bleak wind
               That blows from Kragua and the unknown lands behind.

                                    III

               As the last flesh was flicked, he wearied; slaves
                    From bright Bethmoora
               Sprang forward with carved bowls whose crimson craves
                    Green wine of hashish, black wine of datura,
               Like the Yann's earlier and its latter waves!
                    These wines soothed well the spleen
               Of the Desert's bastard brother Thuba Mleen.

                                     IV

               He drank, and eyed the slaves.  "'Mwass, Dagricho,
                    Xu-XCulgulura,
               Saddle your mules!" he whispered, "ride full slow
                    Unto Bethmoora
               And bid the people of the city know
                   That that most ancient snake,
               The Crone of Utnar Véhi, is awake."

                                     V

               Thus twisted he his dagger in the hearts
                    Of those two slaves
               That bore him wine; for they knew well the arts
                    Of Utnar Véhi --- what the grey Crone craves! ---
               Knew how their kindred in the vines and marts
                    Of bright Bethmoora, thus accurst,
               Would rush to the mercy of the Desert's thirst.       {145}

                                     VI

               I would that Mana-Yood-Sushai would lean
                    And listen, and hear
               The tittering , thin-bearded, epicene,
                    Dwarf, fringed with fear,
               Of the Desert's bastard brother Thuba Mleen!
                    For He would wake, and scream
               Aloud the Word to annihilate the dream.

THE TRIUMPH OF PAN.  By VICTOR B. NEUBURG.  The Equinox 5"s"

               Shame, Mr Neuburg!  Also fie! and tut!
               No dog-nosed and blue-faced baboon in rut
               Feels as you feel; or if he does, God's mercies
               Deny him power to tell his thoughts in verses.

               This is a most regrettable collection
               Of songs; they deal with unrestrained affection
               Unlicensed by the Church and State; what's worse
               There's no denying they are first-rate verse.
               It surely cannot be that Pan's in clover
               And England's days of Sunday-school are over!
                                                   PERCY FLAGE.

THE GRACES OF INTERIOR PRAYER.  FATHER POULAIN, S. J.

   It would be easy, and was tempting, to dismiss Father Pulain and his 650
pages with a jest --- I have done harder things --- for the mountains of his
prejudice are difficult to approach across the abyss of his ignorance.
   For example, he devotes just a paragraph to "Yogis."  These persons he
describes as "Hindu Buddhists" who are "Pantheists," and endeavour to produce
"a state of stupefaction" in "their mental powers which are very low" and a
"comatose condition" of their body, whose joints they dislocate.  How well
this describes such people as the Buddha and the author of the Bhagavadgita!
   What a ring fence is Romanism against not merely truth but information!
   We then examine Father Poulain on the scientific side.  How does levitation
of the Saints take place?
   "The simplest explanation, and that most in conformity with the order of
Providence, consists in saying: Since the angels have power to move corporeal
bodies, God makes use of their ministry, so as to avoid intervening Himself
without necessity."  {146}
   (This is not the translator's blundering, though perhaps much more may be
hoped from a lady who says that "Socrates remained for twenty-four hours lost
in thought in the camp the Potidaea was besieging."  It was Potidaea's way of
doing her back hair that made her so generally admired.)

   No; this is the real Poulain, 50 per cent. above proof.
   I am sorry for this hobble-skirted Atalanta.  He must not study mystic
facts; all he is allowed to do is to arrange, invent, delete as may suit
dogma.  He is obliged to accept the nymphomaniac nun Gertrude, and treat her
blasphemous maunderings with reverence, or ascribe some peculiarly foul
outburst to an "early temptation."  He must accept every orthodox levitation,
and explain it by weight-lifting competitions among the angels; he must deny
every heterodox levitation, or explain it by demonic power.  And as one's
bitterest enemies are always one's nearest relations, so his bitterest
polemics are against the Quietists who are absolutely indistinguishable from
the orthodox, and in favour at Rome until the intrigues of the beast of blood
of the Society of Jesus destroyed Molinos.  Father Poulain even repeats the
Catholic Truths about Molinos's confession.  But Father Poulain is a Jesuit.
   At this stage a reviewer wants to get up and stamp such people into pulp.
But the hour is not yet, though Ferrer's blood adds its cry to that of his
fellow-martyrs.  Rather let us consider the good points in Father Poulain's
poultice.
   He understand the mysticism of his own system fairly well, and his book
forms a most useful document in comparative Occultism.           A. C.

ALCHEMY, ANCIENT AND MODERN.  By H. STANLEY REDGRAVE.

   A most admirable treatise on the little-understood and misunderstood
science of Alchemy.   More, the only treatise.  Clarity and good sense mark
every line.  A book entirely essential to anyone who wishes to study the
subject, and to understand, (1) how the alchemists conceived of hierarchical
monism, (2) how they preserved mysticism, (3) how they made chemistry
possible.
   The book is a complete refutation alike of the Pooh-Pooh and the Holy
Timmie schools of critics.                             LEO VIRIDIS.

LOTUS LEAVES.  By ALICE l. HEAD.  Elkin Mathews.
   I really enjoyed these charming poems.
   Now, you know, I don't often say a thing like that!   ALICE L. FOOTE.

AN ADVENTURE.                                 Anonymous.
   This little book appears to be the production of an extremely clever young
man.     {147}
   But he should have taken more pains to make the literary style of "Miss
Morrison" different from that of "Miss Lamond"; and he should have shown the
MS. to a lady.  The most improbable event recorded is this: one of two modern
ladies, walking at Versailles, sees a woman dressed in the clothes of the
period of Louis XVI. --- and makes no remark!
   I don't think!                                       S. HOLMES.

   The Porch.  Vol. I. NO. 5.  John G. Gichtel (Extracts).

   Outside 21 Cecil Court I don't suppose one could find a holier man than
John G. Gichtel.
   He writes likes a Magister Templi, does John G.; and does indeed
communicate a little that may be of use to an Adeptus of any kind.  But there
is nothing for naughty Neophytes, or for poor putrid Probationers.  Why
doesn't Mr. Watkins issue easy simple straightforward instructions, like the
EQUINOX?                                       PROBATIONER.

   Ib. No. 6.  THE SEVEN VALLEYS.  by FARIDUDDIN ATTAR.  3"d".
   A man of good repute who loved God saw Majnun sifting earth in the middle
of the road, and said to him: "Oh Majnunj!  What art thou seeking thus?"  "I
seek Laylah."  "Can a pearl so pure be found in that dust?"  "I seek Laylah
everywhere, in the hope of finding her one day somewhere."
   This was my toil, and the reward is mine.
   Of such gems the volume is full.                        A. C.

Ib. No. 7.  A SERMON FOR WHIT SUNDAY.  By JOHN TAULER.
   Awful good, but awful dull.  Mr Crowley's "Pentecost" is much livelier.
                                                           H. G.

SPIRITISM AND INSANITY.  By Dr MARCEL VIOLLET.

   The worst type of cocksure medical dogmatising rendered into pitiably
Frenchified English.  This is (I am told) not the fault of the translator, but
of Dr Viollet's arrogance.  Good English is not good enough for him.  It
sounds to me like incipient G.P.I.                      TARR, M.B.

DIVORCE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY.  E. S. P. HAYNES.
   Divorce Law Reform Union.  1"s."
   These papers are learned and acute, but also wise and broad-minded.
   Mr. Haynes' suggestions go about as far as practical politics allow.
Polygynous Monogamy is the natural state of the Briton, and we cannot sweep it
away to pleas a few idealistic cranks.  And marriage is a matter too serious
to be treated as Houdini treats handcuffs, popping in and out at will.  On the
other hand, {148} everybody is not a Houdini, and we must help the weaker
brethren.  No life should be irrevocably accurst.  Marriage bonds should be
bonds of roses; and if the roses fade, they should be thrown away.
   As for me, I feel at present like a cross between Galahad and St Paul.
Henry VIII. is but a memory.
                   MOHAMMED (dated from his suspended coffin).

THE HISTORY OF A SOUL.  By GEORGE RAFFALOVICH.  The Equinox.
     3"s." 6"d."
   this admirable study of a modern temperament, a thoughtful and generous
mind at sea in the whirl of these new forces, so difficult to understand at
all, so impossible to rate at their real value is a monument of our late
colleague's earlier manner.
   The book is almost as abstract as Kant, more abstract than Erewhon.  Mr
Raffalovich when he wrote this had not that lightning flash, the concentration
of infinite light into a single lucid symbol, which distinguishes his later
work.
   The light is calm and cool.  If I had to compare this book to another, I
should select one of Jane Austen's; and if it is pointed out that I have never
read any of Jane Austen's I can retort that neither have I read "The History
of a Soul."                             ALEISTER CROWLEY.

PSYCHISM.  By M. HUME.
   Mrs Hume is a female M......h S....r.  She begins by a long hypothesis full
of big words whose meaning she shows no sign of understanding, though the
sentence "Lunatics abound" can hardly be denied.  The body of the book is made
up of rambling statements (unsupported by any sort of evidence) of psychic
powers that she possesses, the least of which, if substantiated, would be
sufficient to overturn the entire universe; and still more Starry are the
"inspirational" poems which disconnectedly impregnate the other rubbish.
                    "Nay, take her up gently,
                     Dry thou her tears,
                     Wind thine arm round her,
                     Soothe thou her fears."
   This seems as obviously borrowed from Hood as her great male analogue
borrows from any book that he has been reading recently.
                  "Nature's law rules supreme
                   Because it is God's.
                   He framed it,
                   It must be,
                   And men are his 'lords.'"           {149}
   At this point, as Mrs Hume observes, "the strong man reeled in his
anguish."                                                N. W.

   THE HUMAN CHORD.  By ALGERNON BLACKWOOD.
   If we were right in suggestion as de did in September, that Mr Edgar Jepson
had stolen fire from Mr Blackwood, we must now admit that Mr Blackwood has got
more than even.  For the "Human Chord" has a plot so like that of No. 19 that
we can hardly help thinking that Mr Blackwood must have been studying the
methods of William Somerset Maugham, Esq., M.D.  In both books we have a
lonely place, and a strong man of the magician type, and the beautiful young
lady, and the nice young gentleman, who agree after a little experience that
it is much better to give up any aspiration higher than that of checking race
suicide.  Even the incidents in the "Human Chord" suggest "No,. 19."  The
horrible creature coming out of the dark is very like Mr Blackwood's
personified sounds, and the final smash-up if of very much the sametype.  Mr
Blackwood's other sources are the Qabalah, which he appears to have taken from
the preface to Mathers, and if he had only added to his library a shilling
handbook on sound, he would have avoided some of the more absurd blunders.
The distinguishing difference between "No. 19" and the "Human Chord," is that
Edgar Jepson is a first-rate story-teller, while Algernon Blackwood is
suffering from indigestion brought on be a surfeit of ill-cooked Theosophy.
The theories spring up and choke the narrative, and it becometh unfruitful.
                                                             GEORGOS.

THE DEUCE AND ALL.  By GEORGE RAFFLOVICH.  Published by the EQUINOX.
   Price 3"s." 6"d." and 1"s." net.
   I can find no words of any known language strong and emphatic enough to
express my admiration of this extraordinary volume.  Twelve tales!  The twelve
Pointed Star of Genius!  An introduction that is a Revelation!  Magical
knowledge thrown away!  Psychology never at fault!  Truly the Book to read
again and again.
   But, mind you, do not let it fall into the hands of elderly people.  "They"
"would never die."                                GEORGE RAFFALOVICH.

POEMS.  By VICTOR RATCLIFFE.  Cambridge, 1910.
   The title of this little volume is misleading.              CANTAB.

BRACKEN.  By JOHN TREVENA.
   This is a very fine study of west country life.  Jaspar Ramridge is a
schoolmaster, and can see nothing but discipline.
   Cuthbert Orton is a schoolboy, and can see nothing but revolt against that
discipline.  {150}
   Neither grows up.  So when they start to create, the boy produces a
creature of naked emotion and no more; the man a creature of naked intellect
and no more.  The first is an animal, the second a devil.
   This is our own doctrine; but never have I seen it better expressed.
   It is not the province of man to create, but to beget.  The father of the
girl who is in turn obsessed by Orton and Ramridge is a perfect ass; but he
made a very good job once in his life.
   Let this admirable book be a warning to all those who seek magical power,
or to teach pupils.
   If you obtain magical powers, as is easy, you can only use it to destroy
both yourself and your victims, unless by a greater miracle than the magic
itself.  If you seek to teach, your pupils are almost sure to misunderstand.
   The alternative is to initiate; and this can only be done by those who are
no longer men or magicians.
   Let me congratulate Mr Trevena upon a most enthralling and instructive
book.                                                     O. H.

THE WHIRLPOOL.  By ETHEL ARCHER.  The Equinox.  1"s." net.
   I can add nothing to the appreciation which I have written for preface to
this volume, which all should read.                   ALEISTER CROWLEY.
   Look at the cover, and shudder!
   In this masterpiece of illustration dwells the very soul of the book, ---
the virgin emaciated with insatiable passion; the verminous, illicit night-
bird of a prehistoric age (the only conceivable steed for such an one!); the
turbid waters of imagery; the lurid sky to which tentacular arms appeal to
loves too luscious for this world, are all embodied in this simple design.
The artist has seized the loathsome horror of the book, --- I feared even to
sign it.
   Look at the cover and shudder; then read it if you dare!
                                                       E. J. WIELAND
   The obsurer phases of love, the more mystic side of passion, have never
been more enchantingly delineated than they are by Ether Archer, in this
delightfully vicious book.
   Terrible in its naïveté, astounding in its revelations, "The Whirlpool" is
the complete morbid expression of that infinite disease of the spirit spoken
of in Thelema.
   For my own personal opinion I refer readers to my exquisite introductory
sonnet to the volume.                                   VICTOR.
   The first thing one wishes to know on completing this extraordinary volume
is: --- What is the author's definition of Art?  Some say that the definition
of Art is to please; I say Art is artifice; Phil May said something which
conveys nothing {151} if translated into Latin, and is unprintable in English.
If the author holds Phil Mar's opinion she has, of course, ever right to
continue printing such books; if, however, her idea of Art is to please, then
Ether Archer's idea of pleasure is as warped as her nature.
   To the Philistine Public this book will have but one use --- it contains
just sufficient paper to set the drawing-room fire agoing in event of
returning home after the domestics have retire to rest.  Those, however, who
appreciate good verse, with find just sufficient warmth therein to read it
though the fire be out.                                BUNCO.
   Especially after a last glance at the wonderful cover, I think that The
World's Pool of Sound suggests itself as an alternative title to this thin
volume.  This but bony --- nor could sweeter marrow be found elsewhere.  The
volume has, I am afraid, an unfortunate horoscope, owing no doubt to some
affliction in Virgo, with no correspondingly strong influence from the house
of Taurus.  Let use leave it at that.                 GEORGE RAFFALOVICH.
   Babes of the Abyss! behold Form without Soul!  Of womanhood (philosophical
Weininger-womanhood!) Ether Archer is the supreme expression.  She is passion
à rebours; Là-bas in excelsis.  One can imagine her writhing away from even
the infamies and hysterics of Canon Docre; or, having won her broomstick,
declining to go to the Sabbath.  hers is the glass fruit of Murano, with its
tinkling bells; hers that obscene chastity which blasphemes love and holds the
candle to vice.  Hers is the prudery and respectability which can pass through
all fires unscorched, unwarmed.  Hers is the soul of the real succuba, as that
was before man idealised it away into a vampire of voluptuousness.
   Miss Archer (God help her!) is still young; her verse halts and her
technique is faulty; it is amateurish.  But she only needs a little hard work
and experience to produce the vilest ravings that ever foamed upon the
fleshless lips of a lost soul.
   Unless that work redeems her.  For she is as idle as she is vicious.  The
book is a masterpiece of horror, in its way; every one should read it and
shudder.                                                LAURA GRAHAME.



                    HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE!


                                                 ETHEL ARCHER.  {152}

THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA, etc.   BERNARD SHAW.

   The preface to the first of these plays is a pointless hotchpotch of
ignorant balderdash, the eavesdropping of a doctor's flunky translated to a
suburban layman.  sometimes it hits the marks; the law of chance provides for
this event.
   The play is even worse rubbish.
   Follows a dull, dirty stupid, prolix, foolish farrago about marriage.  "By
George!" cried Somerset, "Three days of you have transformed me into an
ancient Roman!"  Bernard Shaw is the nearest approach to the redoubtable Zero
that seems possible.  I have had doubts about marriage,and troubles in
marriage; but Shaw has made me feel partly like St Paul and partly like Queen
Victoria.
   But there is no need to take Shaw seriously.  He has lived so long as cock-
of-the-walk of his mattoid dunghill of sexless and parasexual degenerates that
he has lost sight of the world altogether.  Probably a sewer-rat thinks that
fresh air smells nasty.  Nor, one may add, is much consideration due to a
person so ignorant as to write "dumbfoundered" for "dumfoundered" and
"laudatores tempori acti."  "Til" for "till" is doubtless only a foolish
faddism intended to irritate, like the Old Philadelphia Lady in the "New York"
"Herald," but he has not here sense of humour.
   There is some ground, though, for hoping that the "Doctor's Dilemma" and
"Getting Married" merely mark the temporary eclipse of a great mind.  for the
remarks on the Censor are quite informed and sensible, and Blanco Posnet is
really quite good.  The characters are human and living --- a welcome change
indeed from the dogmatic dummies of the other two plays.           A. C.

CAGLIOSTRO.  By W. H. TROWBRIDGE.

   I have a prejudice against memoirs of a century ago.  They are usually
pornographic tittle-tattle, absolutely pointless, the favourite reading of a
Colonel Glumley.  One expects to see them in a still-life whose other
ingredients are birches tied up with blue ribbons, and imitations of the
Inimitable.
   What, then, was my pleasure in finding this study of Cagliostro a well-
written and profoundly interesting book!
   The man problem of Cagliostro's identity is discussed with marvellous power
and fascination.
   Mr Trowbridge's review of eighteenth-century occultism is strikingly sane
and intelligent.  Knowing nothing of the causes à priori, he has judged by the
effects, and these have not betrayed him.  Indeed, had Mr Trowbridge sworn
secrecy to the modern Illuminati, I am afraid that he might have his s...l
{153} s..n across, and his b....s exposed to the s........g r..s of the s.n
before now!
   I think Mr Trowbridge is too ready to assume that the initiations of
Egyptian Masonry were ridiculous.  On what documents does he base his
description?  It is always open to a Mason to reply to an "exposure" that
those who tell don't know, and those who know don't tell.  My own small
knowledge of the matter assures me that the accounts given on pp. 111 and 112,
120 and 121 are entirely foreign to that knowledge and à priori most unlikely.
It is incredible that one to whom so many impressive rites were accessible
should found his system on tomfoolery.
   I wish Mr Trowbridge could have found time to study intimately fro a month
the life of a modern master.
   As it is, the most natural phenomena perturb him.  The periodical
disappearances of his hero annoy the historian; yet this is the first
condition of the life of a Magus, like the disappearance of salmon from
rivers.  Unless one went back to the sea pretty often, those silver scales
would blacken.
   Many other matter, too, would have suggested their own explanation.
However, the historian's native with has gone very far to supply him with
motives for Cagliostro.  What puzzles fools, whether they be Jewish, Russian,
French, or naturalised Englishmen, in estimating the actions of an adept, is
this; they have not the smallest notion of what he loves, or even of what he
sees.  Cagliostro is fortunate in finding a student with good sense and
perspicacity.  It is only a step from Cagliostro's vindication (successfully
accomplished in this book) to his triumph.  Mr Trowbridge will come one day to
see that his high mission was not a failure, recognise that Dumas is the most
illuminated of historians as well as the most fascinating of novelists.
                                                    ALEISTER CROWLEY.

THE WAY OF THE SOUL, a legend in line and verse.  By WILLIAM T. HORTON.
   A little while ago I begged the Deity to forbid that William T. Horton
should become vocal.  My prayer was not heard.
   Again, William T. Horton begged the Deity not to let the Equinox review his
book.
   His prayer has not been heard.
   Enough to shake anybody's faith!
   There is a most illuminated forward by Ralph Shirley, a thing I could wish
to have written myself.
   And now for the Reverse of the Medal.
   The principal subject of illustration is a series of accordion-pleated
cliffs {154} made of Sunlight soap, waters made of vermicelli, suns indicated
by circles drawn with a compass surrounded by lines drawn with a very unsteady
hand to represent rays --- surely a ruler would have been neater? --- moons
cut out of cardboard probably by his little sister, trees rather well done as
they are accurately copied from Morris & Co., flaming swords like fly-
switches, roses and stars and the rest, all conceived and executed with
inconceivable coarseness, banality, and an absolute lack of any sense of
beauty on the one hand and technical skill on the other.  Such drawing would
be rejected by the vulgarest comic papers; the best examples do not reach the
standard of Ally Sloper, though the feeling approximates to that journal's at
its nadir.
   I did not mention that there are numerous attempts to represent divine,
angelic, and human forms; the subject is beyond my power of expression.
   As it is, I can only beg my readers to buy this book, for these drawings
must be seen to be believed.  And even then?  Their existence is incompatible
with that of god.
   The only other way to save my credit is to quote (without comment; I am
only human) the "verse"; it is better tan the drawings, but it will give an
idea of what William T. Horton really can do.
                    Isis-Osiris, Lo! on Thy throne
                    Two-in-One, apart, alone,
                    Breathe on us of Thy might;
                    Ruler of Love an Light
                    Isis-Osiris on Thy golden throne
                    Two-in-One, apart, alone.
                    .    .    .    .
                    The Future hid,
                      The Soul, in Love,
                    Goes where 'tis bid.
                      By Love above.
                    .    .    .    .    .    .
                    Within a cold and barren land,
                      Whereon, at times, a moon doth shine
                    A tree of Life doth upright stand,
                      Close by a gap, near a deep mine.
                    .    .    .    .    .    .
                    I know that over there,
                      Behind the crescent moon,
                    There waits for me somewhere,
                      One I shall meet full soon.
                    .    .    .    .    .    .          {155}
                    Thy heart shall weary
                      And thy Soul shall cry,
                    Till thou findest me,
                      Thy Bride from on high.
                    .    .    .    .    .
                    Star of my Hope to thee I call
                    Upon the way I stumbling fall
                    Shine thou upon my weary soul
                    Disperse the clouds that o'er me roll.

                    I faint for thee with dear desire
                    My heart with longing oft doth tire
                    To thee I climb --- ah! shine on me
                    Disclose thyself, revealed be.

                    Why hidest thou from me thy face?
                    Come forth, thy hand in mine, Sweet, place;
                    I stand where many coss roads meet
                    Oh! guide and guard my faltering feet
                    .    .    .    .    .    .
                    Within it's Crystal House the Soul,
                      Made perfect, sits enthroned in joy,
                    Around it all Earth's clouds may roll,
                      But nought can harm it, or annoy.
                    .    .    .    .    .    .
                    Isis, Mother of all the gods,
                      By Thee th' aspiring Soul doth rise;
                    No more on Earth it blindly plods
                      But, Spirit-freed, mounts to the skies.
                      .    .    .    .    .    .
   The late Leonard Smithers once told me an anecdote, for whose truth I do
not vouch.
    William T. Horton was walking across a moor (I think it was Clapham
Common) at night to be an architect, when he heard a voice,
                           "Turn again, Hor-ton,
                            Ar-tist of Lon-don!"
He turned.  But I don't agree with Leonard Smithers' comment that William T.
Horton could have made a good architect; I prefer the sober judgment of Ethel
Archer that he might have been trained to be a bricklayer.
                                               ALEISTER CROWLEY   {156}

NEW EVIDENCES IN PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.  By J. ARTHUR HILL.

   A very interesting record, written fairly and conceived clearly.  There is
absolutely none of the sentimentality which degrades 99.9 per cent. of
Spiritistic "research."
   I must confess that "Watson" does not impress me.  He is too terribly
correct in his facts.  To admit the supernormal hypothesis here would be to
betray all good sense.  However unlikely it may appear, Watson must have known
the facts.
   For otherwise, if he can describe and name some fifteen relatives of "F.
K.," he ought --- in the course of a lifetime --- to do as much for many
others.  But he doesn't
   The argument is this.  Suppose my aeroplane does just manage to leave the
ground for a few yards, one can explain it away.  But if I fly from London to
New York, I show such power that it is reasonable to insist on my flying at
least a few miles to order.
   I challenge Watson to give me the name of one relative of a stranger that I
bring him.
   the cross-correspondences are more satisfactory.  But the hypothesis of
spirits is quite unnecessary.
   If we admit, as any Pantheist would admit, that subliminal Mrs Verral is
identical with or in communication with subliminal Mrs Piper, there is no
mystery left, no suggestion of Myers to pit against the blank failure of the
sealed letter test.  Further, I distrust "Mrs Holland."  I cannot believe that
any one is so imbecile as not to solve the Hodgson cipher at a single glance.
But a grande hystérique forging the script might pretend to be unable to
decipher it.
   I have seen more fraud from the vanity of amateurs than from the cupidity
of professionals.  So, in the end, to this record as to all others, I enter
the Scotch verdict.                                      A. C.

THE ALTAR IN THE WILDERNESS.  By ETHELBERT JOHNSON.

   A charming little book, a book of understanding.  But this one thing he
does not understand, that He who should come hath indeed come.  "For we have
seen His Star in the West, and are come to worship Him."     L. T.    {157}


                                CORRESPONDENCE

                           "THE PERFECT SHOPKEEPER"


                                               25 OLD BOND STREET,
                                             LONDON, W., 11"th Feb. 1911."

DEAR SIR, --- I have heard from our Lawyers (to whom you compelled us to go to
obtain payment from you) that you have paid "£"6 into court in settlement of our
account of "£"9, 10"s.", of which "£"8, 10"s.", is for repairs to a suit case brought
to us in very bad state, the remaining "£"1 being simply money paid out of
pocket to our workman for watch and coffee-pot repairs, etc.
   In instructing our Lawyers to accept such payment, we think it best to
state that had you at any time told us you objected to any of the charges we
should at once have tried to have met your wishes and pleased you, but you
never have complained, simply ignoring all our applications for payment as on
previous occasions with your accounts.  The write, you may possibly remember,
had an interview with you here in June 1906, when he remonstrated with you
strongly on your very shabby treatment; you there and then, to make up for it
perhaps, gave us an order, selecting the very fine suit case over which your
were, by the special instructions of the writer, put on most liberal terms for
cash.
   Perhaps having treated us so shabbily again you will give us another order,
for if letting people in for needless Lawyers' expense is your idea of right
from wrong it is very different from

                                      Yours faithfully,

                                             A. ELLIOTT of

                                                    J. W. BENSON LTD.

   "P.S." --- if calling, kindly ask for the writer, who will be pleased to see
you again.

   E. A. CROSLEY, Esq.,
      124 Victoria Street, S. W.

   [This letter (a masterpiece of autopsychography) should be read in the
light of the article published in No. iv. pp. 311-313.  A.C.]
   [This correspondence must "not" now cease. --- ED.]

{158}