SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
LIBER XXX AERUM
VEL SAECVLI
SVB FIGVRA
CCCCXVIII
BEING OF THE ANGELS OF THE 30 AETHYRS
THE VISION AND THE VOICE
A ∴ A ∴ Publication in Class A B.
D.D.S. 7ø = 4 ø Praemonstrator
O.S.V. 6ø = 5 ø Imperator
N.S.F. 5ø = 6 ø Cancellarius
THE VISION AND THE VOICE
THE CRY OF THE THIRTIETH OR INMOST AIRE OR AETHYR,
WHICH IS CALLED TEX
I AM in a vast crystal cube in the form of the Great God Harpocrates. This
cube is surrounded by a sphere. About me are four archangels in black robes,
their wings and armour lined out in white.
In the North is a book on whose back and front are A.M.B.Z. in Enochian
characters.
Within it is written:
I AM, the surrounding of the four.
Lift up your heads, O Houses of Eternity: for my Father goeth forth to
judge the World. One Light, let it become a thousand, and one sword ten
thousand, that no man hide him from my Father's eye in the Day of Judgment of
my God. Let the Gods hide themselves: let the Angels be troubled and flee
away: for the Eye of My Father is open, and the Book of the Aeons is fallen.
Arise! Arise! Arise! Let the Light of the Sight of Time be extinguished:
let the Darkness cover all things: for my Father goeth forth to seek a spouse
to replace her who is fallen and defiled.
Seal the book with the seals of the Stars Concealed: for {3} the Rivers
have rushed together and the Name HB:Heh HB:Vau HB:Heh HB:Yod is broken in a thousand
pieces (against the Cubic Stone).
Tremble ye, O Pillars of the Universe, for Eternity is in travail of a
Terrible Child; she shall bring forth an universe of Darkness, whence shall
leap forth a spark that shall put his father to flight.
The Obelisks are broken; the stars have rushed together: the Light hath
plunged into the Abyss: the Heavens are mixed with Hell.
My Father shall not hear their Noise: His ears are closed: His eyes are
covered with the clouds of Night.
The End! the End! the End: For the Eye of Shiva He hath opened: the
Universe is naked before Him: for the Aeon of Saturn leaneth toward the Bosom
of Death.
{Illustration on page 4 described:
This is an isosceles triangle with height about 7 times the base. It
extends with base on a true vertical from the left. A line extends vertically
upward from the apex, equal to the length of the base. A trefoliate of three
isosceles triangles of base slightly smaller than the first triangle and sides
equal to the first triangle is created at the upper tip of the line. The tree
component triangles of the terfolate meet the upper tip of the line with their
apices --- one vertically and two to right and left.}
The Angel of the East hath a book of red written in letters of Blue
A.B.F.M.A. in Enochian. The Book grows before my eyes and filleth the Whole
Heaven.
Within: "It is Written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God."
I see above the Book a multitude of white-robed Ones from whom droppeth a
great rain of Blood; but above them is a Golden Sun, having an eye, whence a
great Light.
I turned me to the South: and read therein:
Seal up the Book! Speak not that which thou seest and {4} reveal it unto
none: for the ear is not framed that shall hear it: nor the tongue that can
speak it!
O Lord God, blessed, blessed, blessed be Thou for ever!
Thy Shadow is as great Light.
Thy Name is as the Breath of Love across all Worlds.
{Illustration on page 5 approximated:
ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ
}
(A vast Svastika is shewn unto me behind the Angel with the Book.)
Rend your garments, O ye clouds! Uncover yourselves! for the Love of My
Son!
Who are they that trouble thee?
Who are they that slew thee?
O Light! Come thou, who art joined with me to bruise the Dragon's head.
We, who are wedded, and the Earth perceiveth it not!
O that Our Bed were seen of Men, that they might rejoice in My Fertility:
that My Sister might partake of My Great Light.
O Light of God, when wilt thou find the heart of man --- write not! I
would not that men know the Sorrow of my Heart, Amen!
I turned me to the West, and the Archangel bore a flaming Book, on which
was written AN in Enochian. Within was drawn a fiery scorpion, yet cold
withal.
Until the Book of the East be opened!
Until the hour sound! {5}
Until the Voice vibrate!
Until it pierce my Depth;
Look not on High!
Look not Beneath!
For thou wilt find a life which is as Death: or a Death which should be
infinite.
For Thou art submitted to the Four: Five thou shalt find, but Seven is lone
and far.
O Lord God, let Thy Spirit hither unto me!
For I am lost in the night of infinite pain: no hope: no God: no
resurrection: no end: I fall: I fear.
O Saviour of the World, bruise Thou my Head with Thy foot to save the
world, that once again I touch Him whom I slew, that in my death I feel the
radiance and the heat of the moving of Thy Robes!
Let us alone! What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Go! Go!
If I keep silence --- Or if I speak each word is anguish without hope.
And I heard the Aethyr cry aloud "Return! Return! Return! For the work
is ended; and the Book is shut; and let the glory be to God the Blessed for
ever in the Aeons, Amen." Thus far is the voice of TEX and no more.
THE CRY OF THE TWENTY AND NINTH AIRE OR AETHYR,
WHICH IS CALLED RII
The sky appears covered with stars of gold; the background is of green.
But the impression is also of darkness. {6}
An immense eagle-angel is before me. His wings seem to hide all the
Heaven.
He cried aloud saying: The Voice of the Lord upon the Waters: the Terror
of God upon Mankind. The voice of the Lord maketh the Skies to tremble: the
Stars are troubled: the Aires fall. The First Voice Speaketh and saith:
Cursed, cursed be the Earth, for her iniquity is great. Oh Lord! Let Thy
Mercy be lost in the great Deep! Open thine eyes of Flame and Light, O God,
upon the wicked! Lighten thine Eyes! The Clamour of Thy Voice, let it smite
down the Mountains!
Let us not see it! Cover we our eyes, lest we see the End of Man.
Close we our ears, lest we hear the cry of Woman.
Let none speak of it: let none write it: I, I am troubled, my eyes are
moist with dews of terror: surely the Bitterness of Death is past.
And I turned me to the South and lo! a great lion as wounded and perplexed.
He cried: I have conquered! Let the Sons of Earth keep silence; for my
Name is become as That of Death!
When will men learn the Mysteries of Creation?
How much more those of the Dissolution (and the Pang of Fire)?
I turned me to the West and there was a great Bull; White with horns of
White and Black and Gold. His mouth was scarlet and his eyes as Sapphire
stones. With a great sword he shore the skies asunder, and amid the silver
flashes of the steel grew lightnings and deep clouds of Indigo. {7}
He spake: It is finished! My mother hath unveiled herself!
My sister hath violated herself! The life of things hath disclosed its
Mystery.
The work of the Moon is done! Motion is ended for ever!
Clipped are the eagle's wings: but my Shoulders have not lost their
strength.
I heard a Great Voice from above crying: Thou liest! For the Volatile
hath indeed fixed itself; but it hath arisen above thy sight. The World is
desert: but the Abodes of the House of my Father are peopled; and His Throne
is crusted over with white Brilliant Stars, a lustre of bright gems.
In the North is a Man upon a Great Horse, having a Scourge and Balances in
his hand (or a long spear glitters at his back or in his hand). He is clothed
in black velvet and his face is stern and terrible.
He spake saying: I have judged! It is the end: the gate of the beginning.
Look in the Beneath and thou shalt see a new world!
I looked and saw a great abyss and a dark funnel of whirling waters or
fixed airs, wherein were cities and monsters and trees and atoms and mountains
and little flames (being souls) and all the material of an universe.
And all are sucked down one by one, as necessity hath ordained. For below
is a glittering jewelled globe of gold and azure, set in a World of Stars.
And there came a Voice from the Abyss, saying: "Thou seest the Current of
Destiny! Canst thou change one atom in {8} its path? I am Destiny. Dost
thou think to control me? for who can move my course?"
And there falleth a thunderbolt therein: a catastrophe of explosion: and
all is shattered. And I saw above me a Vast Arm reach down, dark and
terrible, and a voice cried: I AM ETERNITY.
And a great mingled cry arose: "No! no! no! All is changed; all is
confounded; naught is ordered: the white is stained with blood: the black is
kissed of the Christ! Return! Return! It is a new chaos that thou findest
here: chaos for thee: for us it is the skeleton of a New Truth!"
I said: Tell me this truth: for I have conjured ye by the Mighty Names of
God, the which ye cannot but obey.
The voice said:
Light is consumed as a child in the Womb of its Mother to develop itself
anew. But pain and sorrow infinite, and darkness are invoked. For this child
riseth up within his Mother and doth crucify himself within her bosom. He
extendeth his arms in the arms of his Mother and the Light becometh fivefold1.
Lux in Luce,
Christus in Cruce;
Deo Duce
Sempiterno.
And be the glory for ever and ever unto the Most High God, Amen!
Then I returned within my body, giving glory unto the Lord of Light and of
the Darkness. In Saecula Saeculorum. Amen!
(On composing myself to sleep, I was shewn an extremely brilliant HB:Dalet in
the Character of the Passing of the River, in an egg of white light. And I
take this as the best of Omens. The letter was extremely vivid and indeed
apparently physical. Almost a Dhyana.)
"November 17, 1900, Die."
A NOTE
Concerning the thirty Aethyrs:
The Visions of the 29th and 30th Aethyrs were given to me in Mexico in
August, 1900, and I am now (23.11.9) trying to get the rest. It is to be
remarked that the last three aethyrs have ten angels attributed to them, and
they therefore represent the ten Sephiroth. Yet these ten form but one, a
Malkuth-pendant to the next three, and so on, each set being, as it were,
absorbed in the higher. The last set consists, therefore, of the first three
aethyrs with the remaining twenty-seven as their Malkuth. And the letters of
the first three aethyrs are the key-sigils of the most exalted interpretation
of the Sephiroth.
I is therefore Kether;
L, Chokmah and Binah;
A, Chesed;
N, Geburah; {10}
R, Tiphereth;
Z, Netzach;
N, Hod;
O, Jesod.
The geomantic correspondences of the Enochian alphabet form a sublime
commentary.
Note that the total angels of the aethyrs are 91, the numeration of Amen.
The Cry of the 28th Aethyr, Which is Called BAG
There cometh an Angel into the stone with opalescent shining garments like
a wheel of fire on every side of him, and in his hand is a long flail of
1 The LVX Cross hidden in the Svastika is probably the Arcanum
here connoted.
Svastika itself adds to 231 = 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + 21, the 21
Keys. The cubical Svastika regarded as composed of this LVX
Cross and the arms has a total of 78 Faces --- Tarot and Mezla.
scarlet lightning; his face is black, and his eyes white without any pupil or
iris. The face is very terrible indeed to look upon. Now in front of him is
a wheel, with many spokes, and many tyres; it is like a fence in front of him.
And he cries: O man, who art thou that wouldst penetrate the Mystery? for
it is hidden unto the End of Time.
And I answer him: Time is not, save in the darkness of Her womb by whom
evil came.
And now the wheel breaks away, and I see him as he is. His garment is
black beneath the opal veils, but it is lined with white, and he has the
shining belly of a fish, and enormous wings of black and white feathers, and
innumerable little legs and claws like a centipede, and a long tail like a
scorpion. The breasts are human, but they are all scored with blood; and he
cries: O thou who hast broken down the veil, knowest thou not that who cometh
where I am must be scarred by many sorrows? {11}
And I answer him: Sorrow is not, save in the darkness of the womb of Her by
whom came evil.
I pierce the Mystery of his breast, and therein is a jewel. It is a
sapphire as great as an ostrich egg, and thereon is graven this sigil:
{Illustration on page 12 described:
This is in the form of two "U" shapes, very elongated in the risers. The
one to the right is lower than the first, and its left riser extends 2/3's of
the way up inside the center of the one to the left. The left "U" turns back
down to the far left, ending 1/5th the way down in a tiny circle. The right
bends abruptly horizontally left across the other and also ends there in a
tiny circle.}
But there is also much writing on the stone, very minute characters carved.
I cannot read them. He points with his flail to the sapphire, which is now
outside him and bigger than himself; and he cries: Hail! warden of the Gates
of Eternity who knowest not thy right hand from thy left; for in the aeon of
my Father is a god with clasped hands wherein he holdeth the universe,
crushing it into the dust that ye call stars.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right eye from thy left; for in the aeon
of my Father there is but one light.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right nostril from thy left; for in the
aeon of my Father there is neither life nor death.
Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right ear from thy left; for in the aeon
of my Father there is neither sound nor silence.
Whoso hath power to break open this sapphire stone shall find therein four
elephants having tusks of mother-of-pearl, and upon whose backs are castles,
those castles which ye call the watch-towers of the Universe.
Let me dwell in peace within the breast of the Angel that is warden of the
aethyr. Let not the shame of my Mother be {12} unveiled. Let not her be put
to shame that lieth among the lilies that are beyond the stars.
O man, that must ever be opening, when wilt thou learn to seal up the
mysteries of the creation? to fold thyself over thyself as a rose in the
embrace of night? But thou must play the wanton to the sun, and the wind must
tear thy petals from thee, and the bee must rob thee of thy honey, and thou
must fall into the dusk of things. Amen and Amen.
Verily the light is hidden, therefore he who hideth himself is like unto
the light; but thou openest thyself; thou art like unto the darkness that
bindeth the belly of the great goddess2.
OLAHO VIRUDEN MAHORELA ZODIREDA! ON PIREDA EXENTASER; ARBA PIRE GAH GAHA
GAHAL GAHALANA VO ABRA NA GAHA VELUCORSAPAX.
2 In the light of the cry of LOE, this passage seems to mean
precisely the
opposite of its apparent meaning.
And the voice of the aeon cried: Return, return, return! the time
sickeneth, and the space gapeth, and the voice of him that is, was and shall
be crowned rattles in the throat of the mighty dragon of eld. Thou canst not
pass by me, except thou have the mystery of the word of the abyss.
Now the angel putteth back the sapphire stone into his breast; and I spake
unto him and said, I will fight with thee and overcome thee, except thou
expound unto me the word of the abyss.
Now he makes as if to fight with me. (It is very horrible, all the
tentacles moving and the flail flashing, and the fierce {13} eyeless face,
strained and swollen. And with the Magic sword I pierce through his armour to
his breast. He fell back, saying: Each of these my scars was thus made, for I
am the warden of the aethyr. And he would have said more; but I cut him
short, saying: expound the word of the Abyss. And he said: Discipline is
sorrowful and ploughing is laborious and age is weariness.
Thou shalt be vexed by dispersion.
But now, if the sun arise, fold thou thine arms; then shall God smite thee
into a pillar of salt.
Look not so deeply into words and letters; for this Mystery hath been
hidden by the Alchemists. Compose the sevenfold into a fourfold regimen; and
when thou hast understood thou mayest make symbols; but by playing child's
games with symbols thou shalt never understand. Thou hast the signs; thou
hast the words; but there are many things that are not in my power, who am but
the warden of the 28th Aethyr.
Now my name thou shalt obtain in this wise. Of the three angels of the
Aethyr, thou shalt write the names from right to left and from left to right
and from right to left, and these are the holy letters:
The first 1, the fifth 2, the sixth 3, the eleventh 4, the seventh 5, the
twelfth 6, the seventeenth 7.
Thus hast thou my name who am above these three, but the angels of the 30th
Aethyr are indeed four, and they have none above them; wherefore dispersion
and disorder.
Now cometh from every side at once a voice, terribly great, crying: Close
the veil; the great blasphemy hath been uttered; the face of my Mother is
scarred by the nails of the devil. Shut the book, destroy the breaker of the
seal! {14}
And I answered: Had he not been destroyed he had not come hither, for I am
not save in the darkness in the womb of Her by whom came evil into the world.
And this darkness swallows everything up, and the angel is gone from the
stone; and there is no light therein, save only the light of the Rose and of
the Cross.
AUMALE, ALGERIA.
"November" 23, 1909, between 8 and 9 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 27TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZAA
There is an angel with rainbow wings, and his dress is green with silver, a
green veil over silver armour. Flames of many-coloured fire dart from him in
all directions. It is a woman of some thirty years old, and she has the moon
for a crest, and the moon is blazoned on her heart, and her sandals are curved
silver, like the moon.
And she cries: Lonely am I and cold in the wilderness of the stars. For I
am the queen of all them that dwell in Heaven, and the queen of all them that
are pure upon earth, and the queen of all the sorcerers of hell.
I am the daughter of Nuit, the lady of the stars. And I am the Bride of
them that are vowed unto loneliness. And I am the mother of the Dog Cerberus.
One person am I, and three gods.
And thou who hast blasphemed me shalt suffer knowing me. For I am cold as
thou art cold, and burn with thy fire. Oh, when shall the war of the Aires
and the elements be accomplished?
Radiant are these falchions of my brothers, invisibly about me, but the
might of the aethyrs beneath my feet beareth me {15} down. And they avail not
to sever the Kamailos. There is one in green armour, with green eyes, whose
sword is of vegetable fire. That shall avail me. My son is he, --- and how
shall I bear him that have not known man?
All this time intolerable rays are shooting forth to beat me back or
destroy me; but I am encased in an egg of blue-violet, and my form is the form
of a man with the head of a golden hawk. While I have been observing this,
the goddess has kept up a continuous wail, like the baying of a thousand
hounds; and now her voice is deep and guttural and hoarse, and she breathes
very rapidly words that I cannot hear. I can hear some of them now.
UNTU LA LA ULULA UMUNA TOFA LAMA LE LI NA AHR IMA TAHARA ELULA ETFOMA UNUNA
ARPETI ULU ULU ULU MARABAN ULULU MAHATA ULU ULU LAMASTANA.
And then her voice rises to a shriek, and there is a cauldron boiling in
front of her; and the flames under the cauldron are like unto zinc flames, and
in the cauldron is the Rose, the Rose of 49 petals, seething in it. Over the
cauldron she has arched her rainbow wings; and her face is bent over the
cauldron, and she is blowing opalescent silvery rings on to the Rose; and each
ring as it touches the water bursts into flame, and the Rose takes new
colours.
And now she lifts her head, and raises her hands to heaven, and cries: O
Mother, wilt thou never have compassion on the children of earth? Was it not
enough that the Rose should be red with the blood of thine heart, and that its
petals should be by 7 and by 7? {16}
She is weeping, weeping. And the tears grow and fill the whole stone with
moons. I can see nothing and hear nothing for the tears, though she keeps on
praying. "Take of these pearls, treasure them in thine heart. Is not the
Kingdom of the Abyss accurst?" She points downward to the cauldron; and now
in it there is the head of a most cruel dragon, black and corrupted. I watch,
and watch; and nothing happens.
And now the dragon rises out of the cauldron, very long and slim (like
Japanese Dragons, but infinitely more terrible), and he blots out the whole
sphere of the stone.
Then suddenly all is gone, and there is nothing in the stone save brilliant
white light and flecks like sparks of golden fire; and there is a ringing, as
if bells were being used for anvils. And there is a perfume which I cannot
describe; it is like nothing that one can describe, but the suggestion is like
lignum aloes. And now all these things are there at once in the same place
and time.
Now a veil of olive and silver is drawn over the stone, only I hear the
voice of the angel receding, very sweet and faint and sorrowful, saying: Far
off and lonely in the secret stone is the unknown, and interpenetrated is the
knowledge with the will and the understanding. I am alone. I am lost,
because I am all and in all; and my veil is woven of the green earth and the
web of stars. I love; and I am denied, for I have denied myself. Give me
those hands, put them against my heart. Is it not cold? Sink, sink, the
abyss of time remains. It is not possible that one should come to ZAA. Give
me thy face. Let me kiss it with my cold kisses. Ah! Ah! Ah! Fall back
from me. The word, the word of the aeon is MAKHASHANAH. And these words
shalt thou say backwards: {17} ARARNAY OBOLO MAHARNA TUTULU NOM LAHARA EN
NEDIEZO LO SAD FONUSA SOBANA ARANA BINUF LA LA LA ARPAZNA UOHULU when thou
wilt call my burden unto appearance, for I who am the Virgin goddess am the
pregnant goddess, and I have cast down my burden even unto the borders of the
universe. They that blaspheme me are stoned, and my veil is fallen about me
even unto the end of time.
Now there arises a great raging of thousands and thousands of mighty
warriors flashing through the aethyr so thickly that nothing is to be seen but
their swords, which are like blue-gray plumes. And the noise is confused,
thousands of battle-cries harmonizing to a roar, like the roar of a monstrous
river in flood. And all the stone is dull, dull gray. The life is gone from
it.
There is no more to see.
SIDI AISSA, ALGERIA.
"November" 24, 1909, 8-9 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 26TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED DES
There is a very bright pentagram: and now the stone is gone, and the whole
heaven is black, and the blackness is the blackness of a mighty angel. And
though he is black (his face and his wings and his robe and his armour are all
black), yet is he so bright that I cannot look upon him. And he cries: O ye
spears and vials of poison and sharp swords and whirling thunderbolts that are
about the corners of the earth, girded with wrath and justice, know ye that
His name is Righteousness in Beauty? Burnt out are your eyes, for that ye
have seen me in my majesty. And broken are the drum-heads of {18} your ears,
because my name is as two mountains of fornication, the breasts of a strange
woman; and my Father is not in them.
Lo! the pools of fire and torment mingled with sulphur! Many are their
colours, and their colour is as molten gold, when all is said. Is not He one,
one and alone, in whom the brightness of your countenance is as 1,728 petals
of fire.
Also he spake the curse, folding his wings across and crying: Is not the
son the enemy of his father? And hath not the daughter stolen the warmth of
the bed of her mother? therefore is the great curse irrevocable. Therefore
there is neither wisdom nor understanding nor knowledge in this house, that
hangeth upon the edge of hell. Thou art not 4 but 2, O thou blasphemy spoken
against 1!
Therefore whoso worshippeth thee is accursed. He shall be brayed in a
mortar and the powder thereof cast to the winds, that the birds of the air may
eat thereof and die; and he shall be dissolved in strong acid and the elixir
poured into the sea, that the fishes of the sea may breathe thereof and die.
And he shall be mingled with dung and spread upon the earth, so that the herbs
of the earth may feed thereof and die; and he shall be burnt utterly with
fire, and the ashes thereof shall calcine the children of flame, that even in
hell may be found an overflowing lamentation.
And now on the breast of the Angel is a golden egg between the blackness of
the wings, and that egg grows and grows all over the aethyr. And it breaks,
and within there is a golden eagle.
And he cries: Woe! woe! woe! Yea, woe unto the world! For there is no
sin, and there is no salvation. My plumes are {19} like waves of gold upon
the sea. My eyes are brighter than the sun. My tongue is swifter than the
lightning.
Yet am I hemmed in by the armies of night, singing, singing prases unto Him
that is smitten by the thunderbolt of the abyss. Is not the sky clear behind
the sun? These clouds that burn thee up, these rays that scorch the brains of
men with blindness; these are heralds before my face of the dissolution and
the night.
Ye are all blinded by my glory; and though ye treasure in your heart the
sacred word that is the last lever of the key to the little door beyond the
abyss, yet ye gloss and comment thereupon; for the light itself is but
illusion. Truth itself is but illusion. Yea, these be the great illusions
beyond life and space and time.
Let thy lips blister with my words! Are they not meteors in thy brain?
Back, back from the face of the accursed one, who am I; back into the night of
my father, into the silence; for all that ye deem right is left, forward is
backward, upward is downward.
I am the great god adored of the holy ones. Yet am I the accursed one,
child of the elements and not their father.
O my mother! wilt thou not have pity upon me? Wilt thou not shield me?
For I am naked, I am manifest, I am profane. O my father! wilt not thou
withdraw me? I am extended, I am double, I am profane.
Woe, woe unto me! These are they that hear not prayer. It is I that have
heard all prayer alway, and there is none to answer "me." Woe unto me! Woe
unto me! Accursed am I unto the aeons!
All this time this brilliant eagle-headed god has been {20} attacked,
seemingly, by invisible people, for he is wounded now and again, here and
there; little streams of fresh blood come out over the feathers of his breast.
And the smoke of the blood is gradually filling the Aethyr with a crimson
veil. There is a scroll over the top, saying: "Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine;"
and there is another scroll below it in a language of which I do not know the
sounds. The meaning is, Not as they have understood.
The blood is thicker and darker now, and it is becoming clotted and black,
so that everything is blotted out; because it coagulates, coagulates. And
then at the top there steals a dawn of pure night-blue, --- Oh, the stars, the
stars in it deeply set! --- and drives the blood down; so that all round the
top of the oval gradually dawns the figure of our Lady Nuit, and beneath her
is the flaming winged disk, and below the altar of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, even as it
is upon the Stele of Revealing. But below is the supine figure of Seb, into
whom is concentrated all that clotted blood.
And there comes a voice: It is the dawn of the aeon. The aeons of cursing
are passed away. Force and fire, strength and sight, these are for the
servants of the Star and the Snake.
And now I seem to be lying in the desert, exhausted.
THE DESERT, NEAR SIDI AISSA.
"November" 25, 1909. 1.10 - 2 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 25TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED VTI
There is nothing in the stone but the pale gold of the Rosy Cross.
Now there comes an Angel with bright wings, that is the Angel of the 25th
Aire. And all the aire is a dark olive about {21} him, like an alexandrite
stone. He bears a pitcher or amphora. And now there comes another Angel upon
a white horse, and yet again another Angel upon a black bull. And now there
comes a lion and swallows the two latter angels up. The first angel goes to
the lion and closes his mouth. And behind them are arrayed a great company of
Angels with silver spears, like a forest. And the Angel says: Blow, all ye
trumpets, for I will loose my hands from the mouth of the lion, and his
roaring shall enkindle the worlds.
Then the trumpets blow, and the wind rises and whistles terribly. It is a
blue wind with silver specks; and it blows through the whole Aethyr. But
through it one perceives the lion, which has become as a raging flame.
And he roareth in an unknown tongue. But this is the interpretation
thereof: Let the stars be burnt up in the fire of my nostrils! Let all the
gods and the archangels and the angels and the spirits that are on the earth,
and above the earth, and below the earth, that are in all the heavens and in
all the hells, let them be as motes dancing in the beam of mine eye!
I am he that swalloweth up death and victory. I have slain the crown?d
goat, and drunk up the great sea. Like the ash of dried leaves the worlds are
blown before me. Thou hast passed by me, and thou hast not known me. Woe
unto thee, that I have not devoured thee altogether!
On my head is the crown, 419 rays far-darting. And my body is the body of
the Snake, and my soul is the soul of the Crowned Child. Though an Angel in
white robes leadeth me, who shall ride upon me but the Woman of Abominations?
Who is the Beast? Am not I one more than he? In {22} his hand is a sword
that is a book. In his hand is a spear that is a cup of fornication. Upon
his mouth is set the great and terrible seal. And he hath the secret of V.
His ten horns spring from five points, and his eight heads are as the
charioteer of the West. Thus doth the fire of the sun temper the spear of
Mars, and thus shall he be worshipped, as the warrior lord of the sun. Yet in
him is the woman that devoureth with her water all the fire of God.
Alas! my lord, thou art joined with him that knoweth not these things.
When shall the day come that men shall flock to this my gate, and fall into
my furious throat, a whirlpool of fire? This is hell unquenchable, and all
they shall be utterly consumed therein. Therefore is that asbestos
unconsumable made pure.
Each of my teeth is a letter of the reverberating name. My tongue is a
pillar of fire, and from the glands of my mouth arise four pillars of water.
TAOTZEM is the name by which I am blasphemed. My name thou shalt not know,
lest thou pronounce it and pass by.
And now the Angel comes forward again and closes his mouth.
All this time heavy blows have been raining upon me from invisible angels,
so that I am weighed down as with a burden greater than the world. I am
altogether crushed. Great millstones are hurled out of heaven upon me. I am
trying to crawl to the lion, and the ground is covered with sharp knives. I
cut myself at every inch.
And the voice comes: Why art thou there who art here? Hast thou not the
sign of the number, and the seal of the name, and the ring of the eye? Thou
wilt not. {23}
And I answered and said: I am a creature of earth, and ye would have me
swim.
And the voice said: Thy fear is known; thine ignorance is known; thy
weakness is known; but thou art nothing in this matter. Shall the grain which
is cast into the earth by the hand of the sower debate within itself, saying,
am I oats or barley? Bond-slave of the curse, we give nothing, we take all.
Be thou content. That which thou art, thou art. Be content.
And now the lion passeth over through the Aethyr with the crowned beast
upon his back, and the tail of the lion goes on instead of stopping, and on
each hair of the tail is something or other --- sometimes a little house,
sometimes a planet, at other times a town. Then there is a great plain with
soldiers fighting upon it, and an enormously high mountain carved into a
thousand temples, and more houses and fields and trees, and great cities with
wonderful buildings in them, statues and columns and public buildings
generally. This goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on all on the
hairs of this lion's tail.
And then there is the tuft of his tail, which is like a comet, but the head
is a new universe, and each hair streaming away from it is a Milky Way.
And then there is a pale stern figure, enormous, enormous, bigger than all
that universe is, in silver armour, with a sword and a pair of balances. That
is only vague. All has gone into stone-gray, blank.
There is nothing.
AIN EL HAJEL.
"November" 25, 1909. 8.40-9.40 p.m. {24}
(There were two voices in all this Cry, one behind the other --- or, one
was the speech, and the other the meaning. And the voice that was the speech
was simply a roaring, one tremendous noise, like a mixture of thunder and
water-falls and wild beasts and bands and artillery. And yet it was
articulate, though I cannot tell you what a single word was. But the meaning
of the voice --- the second voice --- was quite silent, and put the ideas
directly into the brain of the Seer, as if by touch. It is not certain
whether the millstones and the sword-strokes that rained upon him were not
these very sounds and ideas.)
THE CRY OF THE 24TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED NIA
An angel comes forward into the stone like a warrior clad in chain-armour.
Upon his head are plumes of gray, spread out like the fan of a peacock. About
his feet a great army of scorpions and dogs, lions, elephants, and many other
wild beasts. He stretches forth his arms to heaven and cries; In the
crackling of the lightning, in the rolling of the thunder, in the clashing of
the swords and the hurling of the arrows: be thy name exalted!
Streams of fire come out of the heavens, a pale brilliant blue, like
plumes. And they gather themselves and settle upon his lips. His lips are
redder than roses, and the blue plumes gather themselves into a blue rose, and
from beneath the petals of the rose come brightly coloured humming-birds, and
dew falls from the rose-honey-coloured dew. I stand in the shower of it.
And a voice proceeds from the rose: Come away! Our chariot is drawn by
doves. Of mother-of-pearl and ivory is {25} our chariot and the reins thereof
are the heart-strings of men. Every moment that we fly shall cover an aeon.
And every place on which we rest shall be a young universe rejoicing in its
strength; the meadows thereof shall be covered with flowers. There shall we
rest but a night, and in the morning we shall flee away, comforted.
Now, to myself, I have imagined the chariot of which the voice spake, and I
looked to see who was with me in the chariot. It was an Angel of golden hair
and golden skin, whose eyes were bluer than the sea, whose mouth was redder
than the fire, whose breath was ambrosial air. Finer than a spider's web were
her robes. And they were of the seven colours.
All this I saw; and then the hidden voice went on low and sweet: Come away!
The price of the journey is little, though its name be death. Thou shalt die
to all that thou fearest and hopest and hatest and lovest and thinkest and
art. Yea! thou shalt die, even as thou must die. For all that thou hast,
thou hast not; all that thou art, thou art not!
NENNI OFEKUFA ANANAEL LAIADA I MAELPEREJI NONUKA AFAFA ADAREPEHETA PEREGI
ALADI NIISA NIISA LAPE OL ZODIR IDOIAN.
And I said: ODO KIKALE QAA. Why art thou hidden from me, whom I hear?
And the voice answered and said unto me: Hearing is of the spirit alone.
Thou art a partaker of the five-fold mystery. Thou must roll up the ten
divine ones like a scroll, and fashion therefrom a star. Yet must thou blot
out the star in the heart of Hadit. {26}
For the blood of my heart is like a warm bath of myrrh and ambergris; bathe
thyself therein. The blood of my heart is all gathered upon my lips if I kiss
thee, burns in my fingertips if I caress thee, burns in my womb when thou art
caught up into my bed. Mighty are the stars; mighty is the sun; mighty is the
moon; mighty is the voice of the ever-living one, and the echoes of his
whisper are the thunders of the dissolution of the worlds. But my silence is
mightier than they. Close up the worlds like unto a weary house; close up the
book of the recorder, and let the veil swallow up the shrine, for I am arisen,
O my fair one, and there is no more need of all these things.
If once I put thee apart from me, it was the joy of play. Is not the ebb
and flowing of the tide a music of the sea? Come, let us mount unto Nuit our
mother and be lost! Let being be emptied in the infinite abyss! For by me
only shalt thou mount; thou hast none other wings than mine.
All this while the Rose has been shooting out blue flames, coruscating like
snakes through the whole Aire. And the snakes have taken shapes of sentences.
One of them is: "Sub umbra alarum tuarum Adonai quies et felicitas." And
another: "Summum bonum, vera sapientia, magnanima vita, sub noctis nocte sunt."
And another is: "Vera medicina est vinum mortis." And another is: "Libertas"
"evangelii per jugum legis ob gloriam dei intactam ad vacuum nequaquam tendit."
And another is: "Sub aqu? lex terrarum." And another is: "Mens edax rerum, cor"
"umbra rerum; intelligentia via summa." And another is: "Summa via lucis: per"
"Hephaestum undas regas." And another is: "Vir introit tumulum regis, invenit
oleum lucis.
And all round the whole of these things are the letters {27} TARO; but the
light is so dreadful that I cannot read the words. I am going to try again.
All these serpents are collected together very thickly at the edges of the
wheel, because there are an innumerable number of sentences. One is: "tres"
"annos regimen oraculi." And another is: "terribilis ardet rex"
HB:Nun-final HB:Vau HB:Yod HB:Lamed HB:Ayin . And another is: "Ter amb (amp?)" (can't see it) "rosam"
"oleo (?)." And another is: "Tribus annulis regna olisbon." And the marvel is
that with those four letters you can get a complete set of rules for doing
everything, both for white magic and black.
And now I see the heart of the rose again. I see the face of him that is
the heart of the rose, and in the glory of that face I am ended. My eyes are
fixed upon his eyes; my being is sucked up through my eyes into those eyes.
And I see through those eyes, and lo! the universe, like whirling sparks of
gold, blown like a tempest. I seem to swell out again into him. My
consciousness fills the whole Aethyr. I hear the cry NIA, ringing again and
again from within me. It sounds like infinite music, and behind the sound is
the meaning of the Aethyr. Again there are no words.
All this time the whirling sparks of gold go on, and they are like blue
sky, with a lot of rather thin white clouds in it, outside. And now I see
mountains round, far blue mountains, purple mountains. And in the midst is a
little green dell of moss, which is all sparkling with dew that drips from the
rose. And I am lying on that moss with my face upwards, drinking, drinking,
drinking, drinking, drinking of the dew.
I cannot describe to you the joy and the exhaustion of everything that was,
and the energy of everything that is, for it is only a corpse that is lying on
the moss. I am the soul of the Aethyr. {28}
Now it reverberates like the swords of archangels, clashing upon the armour
of the damned; and there seem to be the blacksmiths of heaven beating the
steel of the worlds upon the anvils of hell, to make a roof to the Aethyr.
For if the great work were accomplished and all the Aethyrs were caught up
into one, then would the vision fail; then would the voice be still.
Now all is gone from the stone.
AIN EL HAJEL.
"November" 26, 1909. 2-3.25 p.m.
The Cry of the 23rd Aethyr, Which is Called TOR.
In the brightness of the stone are three lights, brighter than all, which
revolve ceaselessly. And now there is a spider's web of silver covering the
whole of the stone. Behind the spider's web is a star of twelve rays; and
behind that again, a black bull, furiously pawing up the ground. The flames
from his mouth increase and whirl, and he cries: Behold the mystery of toil,
O thou who art taken in the toils of mystery. For I who trample the earth
thereby make whirlpools in the air; be comforted, therefore, for though I be
black, in the roof of my mouth is the sign of the Beetle. Bent are the backs
of my brethren, yet shall they gore the lion with their horns. Have I not the
wings of the eagle, and the face of the man?
And now he is turned into one of those winged Assyrian bull-men.
And he sayeth: The spade of the husbandman is the sceptre of the king.
All the heavens beneath me, they serve me. They are my fields and my gardens
and my orchards and my pastures. {29}
Glory be unto thee, who didst set thy feet in the North; whose forehead is
pierced with the sharp points of the diamonds in thy crown; whose heart is
pierced with the spear of thine own fecundity.
Thou art an egg of blackness, and a worm of poison. But thou hast
formulated thy father, and made fertile thy mother.
Thou art the basilisk whose gaze turns men to stone, and the cockatrice at
the breast of an harlot that giveth death for milk. Thou art the asp that has
stolen into the cradle of the babe. Glory unto thee, who art twined about the
world as the vine that clingeth to the bare body of a bacchanal.
Also, though I be planted so firmly upon the earth, yet is my blood wine
and my breath fire of madness. With these wings, though they be but little, I
lift myself above the crown of the yod, and being without fins I yet swim in
the inviolate fountain.
I disport myself in the ruins of Eden, even as Leviathan in the false sea,
being whole as the rose at the crown of the cross. Come ye unto me, my
children, and be glad. At the end of labour is the power of labour. And in
my stability is concentrated eternal change.
For the whirlings of the universe are but the course of the blood in my
heart. And the unspeakable variety thereof is but my divers hairs, and
plumes, and gems in my tall crown. The change which ye lament is the life of
my rejoicing, and the sorrow that blackeneth your hearts is the myriad deaths
by which I am renewed. And the instability which maketh ye to fear, is the
little waverings of balance by which I am assured.
And now the veil of silver tissue-stuff closes over him, and above that, a
purple veil, and above that, a golden veil, {30} so that now the whole stone
is like a thick mat of woven gold wires; and there come forth, one from each
side of the stone, two women, and grasp each other by both hands, and kiss,
and melt into one another; and melt away.3 And now the veils open again, the
gold parts, and the purple parts, and the silver parts, and there is a crowned
eagle, also like the Assyrian eagles.
And he cries: All my strength and stability are turned to the use of
flight. For though my wings are of fine gold, yet my heart is the heart of a
scorpion.
Glory unto thee, who being born in a stable didst make thee mirth of the
filth thereof, who didst suck in iniquity from the breast of thy mother the
harlot; who didst flood with iniquity the bodies of thy concubines.
Thou didst lie in the filth of the streets with the dogs; thou wast tumbled
and shameless and wanton in a place where four roads meet. There wast thou
defiled, and there wast thou slain, and there wast thou left to rot. The
charred stake was thrust through thy bowels, and thy parts were cut off and
thrust into thy mouth for derision.
All my unity is dissolved; I live in the tips of my feathers. That which I
think to be myself is but infinite number. Glory unto the Rose and the Cross,
for the Cross is extended unto the uttermost end beyond space and time and
being and knowledge and delight! Glory unto the Rose that is the minute point
of its center! Even as we say; glory unto the Rose that is Nuit the
circumference of all, and glory unto the Cross that is the heart of the Rose!
{31}
Therefore do I cry aloud, and my scream is the treble as the bellowing of
the bull is the bass. Peace in the highest and peace in the lowest and peace
in the midst thereof! Peace in the eight quarters, peace in the ten points of
the Pentagram! Peace in the twelve rays of the seal of Solomon, and peace in
the four and thirty whirlings of the hammer of Thor! Behold! I blaze upon
thee. (The eagle is gone; it is only a flaming Rosy Cross of white
brilliance.) I catch thee up into rapture. FALUTLI, FALUTLI!
... O it dies, it dies.
BOU SAADA.
3 These are intended to show symbolically that the Bull is the
same as the Eagle.
"November" 28, 1909. 9.30-10.15 A.M.
THE CRY OF THE 22ND AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LIN
There comes first into the stone the mysterious table of forty-nine
squares. It is surrounded by an innumerable company of angels; these angels
are of all kinds, --- some brilliant and flashing as gods, down to elemental
creatures. The light comes and goes on the tablet; and now it is steady, and
I perceive that each letter of the tablet is composed of forty-nine other
letters, in a language which looks like that of Honorius; but when I would
read, the letter that I look at becomes indistinct at once.
And now there comes an Angel, to hide the tablet with his mighty wing.
This Angel has all the colours mingled in his dress; his head is proud and
beautiful; his headdress is of silver and red and blue and gold and black,
like cascades of water, and in his left hand he has a pan-pipe of the seven
holy metals, upon which he plays. I cannot tell you how wonderful {32} the
music is, but it is so wonderful that one only lives in one's ears; one cannot
see anything any more.
Now he stops playing and moves with his finger in the air. His finger
leaves a trail of fire of every colour, so that the whole Aire is become like
a web of mingled lights. But through it all drops dew.
(I can't describe these things at all. Dew doesn't represent what I mean
in the least. For instance, these drops of dew are enormous globes, shining
like the full moon, only perfectly transparent, as well as perfectly
luminous.)
And now he shows the tablet again, and he says: As there are 49 letters in
the tablet, so are there 49 kinds of cosmos in every thought of God. And
there are 49 interpretations of every cosmos, and each interpretation is
manifested in 49 ways. Thus also are the calls 49, but to each call there are
49 visions. And each vision is composed of 49 elements, except in the 10th
Aethyr, that is accurs?d, and that hath 42.
All this while the dewdrops have turned into cascades of gold finer than
the eyelashes of a little child. And though the extent of the Aethyr is so
enormous, one perceives each hair separately, as well as the whole thing at
once. And now there is a mighty concourse of angels rushing toward me from
every side, and they melt upon the surface of the egg in which I am standing
in the form of the god Kneph, so that the surface of the egg is all one
dazzling blaze of liquid light.
Now I move up against the tablet, --- I cannot tell you with what rapture.
And all the names of God, that are not known even to the angels, clothe me
about.
All the seven senses are transmuted into one sense, and that sense is
dissolved in itself ... (Here occurs Samadhi.) {33} ... Let me speak, O God;
let me declare it ... all. It is useless; my heart faints, my breath stops.
There is no link between me and P . . . I withdraw myself. I see the table
again.
(He was behind the table for a very long time. O.V.)
And all the table burns with intolerable light; there has been no such
light in any of the Aethyrs until now. And now the table draws me back into
itself; I am no more.
My arms were out in the form of a cross, and that Cross was extended,
blazing with light into infinity. I myself am the minutest point in it. This
is "the birth of form."
I am encircled by an immense sphere of many-coloured bands; it seems it is
the sphere of the Sephiroth projected in the three dimensions. This is "the"
"birth of death."
Now in the centre within me is a glowing sun. That is "the birth of hell."
Now all that is swept away, washed away by the table. It is the virtue of
the table to sweep everything away. It is the letter I in this Aethyr that
gives this vision, and L is its purity, and N is its energy. Now everything
is confused, for I invoked the Mind, that is disruption. Every Adept who
beholds this vision is corrupted by mind. Yet it is by virtue of mind that he
endures it, and passes on, if so be that he pass on. Yet there is nothing
higher than this, for it is perfectly balanced in itself. I cannot read a
word of the holy Table, for the letters of the Table are all wrong. They are
only the shadows of shadows. And whoso beholdeth this Table with this
rapture, is light. The true word for light hath seven letters. They are the
same as ARARITA, transmuted. {34}
There is a voice in this Aethyr, but it cannot be spoken. The only way one
can represent it is as a ceaseless thundering of the word Amen. It is not a
repetition of Amen, because there is no time. It is one Amen continuous.
Shall mine eye fade before thy glory? I am the eye. That is why the eye
is seventy. You can never understand why, except in this vision.
And now the table recedes from me. Far, far it goes, streaming with light.
And there are two black angels bending over me, covering me with their wings,
shutting me up into the darkness; and I am lying in the Pastos of our Father
Christian Rosenkreutz, beneath the Table in the Vault of seven sides. And I
hear these words:
The voice of the Crowned Child, the Speech of the Babe that is hidden in
the egg of blue. (Before me is the flaming Rosy Cross.) I have opened mine
eye, and the universe is dissolved before me, for force is mine upper eye-lid
and matter is my lower eye-lid. I gaze into the seven spaces, and there is
naught.
The rest of it comes without words; and then again:
I have gone forth to war, and I have slain him that sat upon the sea,
crowned with the winds. I put forth my power and he was broken. I withdrew
my power and he was ground into fine dust.
Rejoice with me, O ye Sons of the Morning; stand with me upon the Throne of
Lotus; gather yourselves up unto me, and we shall play together in the fields
of light. I have passed into the Kingdom of the West after my Father.
Behold! where are now the darkness and the terror and the lamentation?
For ye are born into the new Aeon; ye shall {35} not suffer death. Bind up
your girdles of gold! Wreathe yourselves with garlands of my unfading
flowers! In the nights we will dance together, and in the morning we will go
forth to war; for, as my Father liveth that was dead, so do I live and shall
never die.
And now the table comes rushing back. It covers the whole stone, but this
time it pushes me before it, and a terrible voice cries: Begone! Thou hast
profaned the mystery; thou hast eaten of the shew-bread; thou hast spilt the
consecrated wine! Begone! For the Voice is accomplished. Begone! For that
which was open is shut. And thou shalt not avail to open it, saving by virtue
of him whose name is one, whose spirit is one, whose individuum is one, and
whose permutation is one; whose light is one, whose life is one, whose love is
one. For though thou art joined to the inmost mystery of the heaven, thou
must accomplish the sevenfold task of the earth, even as thou sawest the
Angels from the greatest unto the least. And of all this shalt thou take back
with thee but a little part, for the sense shall be darkened, and the shrine
re-veiled. Yet know this for thy reproof, and for the stirring up of
discontent in them whose swords are of lath, that in every word of this vision
is concealed the key of many mysteries, even of being, and of knowledge, and
of bliss; of will, of courage, of wisdom, and of silence, and of that which,
being all these, is greater than all these. Begone! For the night of life is
fallen upon thee. And the veil of light hideth that which is.
With that, I suddenly see the world as it is, and I am very sorrowful.
BOU-SAADA.
"November" 28, 1909. 4-6 p.m. {36}
("Note." --- You do not come back in any way dazed; it is like going from one
room into another. Regained normal consciousness completely and immediately.)
THE CRY OF THE 21ST AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ASP.
A mighty wind rolls through all the Aethyr; there is a sense of absolute
emptiness; no colour, no form, no substance. Only now and then there seem as
it were, the shadows of great angels, swept along. No sound; there is
something very remorseless about the wind, passionless, that is very terrible.
In a way, it is nerve-shaking. It seems as if something kept on trying to
open behind the wind, and just as it is about to open, the effort is
exhausted. The wind is not cold or hot; there is no sense of any kind
connected with it. One does not even feel it, for one is standing in front of
it.
Now, the thing opens behind, just for a second, and I catch a glimpse of an
avenue of pillars, and at the end a throne, supported by sphinxes. All this
is black marble.
Now I seem to have gone through the wind, and to be standing before the
throne; but he that sitteth thereon is invisible. Yet it is from him that all
this desolation proceeds.
He is trying to make me understand by putting tastes in my mouth, very
rapidly one after the other. Salt, honey, sugar, assafoetida, bitumen, honey
again, some taste that I don't know at all; garlic, something very bitter like
nux vomica, another taste, still more bitter; lemon, cloves, rose-leaves,
honey again; the juice of some plant, like a dandelion, I think; honey again,
salt, a taste something like phosphorus, honey, laurel, a very unpleasant
taste which I don't know, {37} coffee, then a burning taste, then a sour taste
that I don't know. All these tastes issue from his eyes; he "signals" them.
I can see his eyes now. They are very round, with perfectly black pupils,
perfectly white iris, and the cornea pale blue. The sense of desolation is so
acute that I keep on trying to get away from the vision.
I told him that I could not understand his taste-language, so instead he
set up a humming very much like a big electric plant with dynamos going.
Now the atmosphere is deep night-blue; and by the power of that atmosphere,
the pillars kindle to a dull glowing crimson, and the throne is a dull, ruddy
gold. And now, through the humming, come very clear, bell-like notes, and
farther still a muttering, like that of a gathering storm.
And now I hear the meaning of the muttering: I am he who was before the
beginning, and in my desolation I cried aloud, saying, let me behold my
countenance in the concave of the abyss. And I beheld, and lo! in the
darkness of the abyss my countenance was black, and empty, and distorted, that
was (once) invisible and pure.
Then I closed mine eye, that I might not behold it, and for this was it
fixed. Now it is written that one glance of mine eye shall destroy it. And
mine eye I dare not open, because of the foulness of the vision. Therefore do
I gaze with these two eyes throughout the aeon. Is there not one of all my
adepts that shall come unto me, and cut off mine eyelids, that I may behold
and destroy?
Now I take a dagger, and, searching out his third eye, seek to cut off the
eye-lids, but they are of adamant. And the edge of the dagger is turned. {38}
And tears drop from his eyes, and there is a mournful voice: So it hath
been ever: so must it ever be! Though thou hast the strength of five bulls,
thou shalt not avail in this.
And I said to him: Who shall avail? And he answered me: I know not. But
the dagger of penance thou shalt temper seven times, afflicting the seven
courses of thy soul. And thou shalt sharpen its edge seven times by the seven
ordeals.
(One keeps on looking round to try to find something else because of the
terror of it. But nothing changes at all. Nothing but the empty throne, and
the eyes, and the avenue of pillars!)
And I said to him: O thou that art the first countenance before time; thou
of whom it is written that "He, God, is one; He is the eternal one, without
equal, son or companion. Nothing shall stand before His face"; all we have
heard of thine infinite glory and holiness, of thy beauty and majesty, and
behold! there is nothing but this abomination of desolation.
He speaks; I cannot hear a word; something about the Book of the Law. The
answer is written in the Book of the Law, or something of that sort.
This is a long speech; all that I can hear is: From me pour down the fires
of life and increase continually upon the earth. From me flow down the rivers
of water and oil and wine. From me cometh forth the wind that beareth the
seed of trees and flowers and fruits and all herbs upon its bosom. From me
cometh forth the earth in her unspeakable variety. Yea! all cometh from me,
naught cometh to me. Therefore am I lonely and horrible upon this
unprofitable throne. Only those who accept nothing from me can bring anything
to me. {39}
(He goes on speaking again: I cannot hear a word. I may have got about a
twentieth of what he said.) And I say to him: It was written that his name
is Silence, but thou speakest continually.
And he answers: Nay, the muttering that thou hearest is not my voice. It
is the voice of the ape.
(When I say that he answers, it means that it is the same voice. The being
on the throne has not uttered a word.) I say: O thou ape that speakest for
Him whose name is Silence, how shall I know that thou speakest truly His
thought? And the muttering continues: Nor speaketh He nor thinketh, so that
which I say is true, because I lie in speaking His thoughts.
He goes on, nothing stops him; and the muttering comes so fast that I
cannot hear him at all.
Now the muttering has ceased, or is overwhelmed by the bells, and the bells
in their turn are overwhelmed by the whirring, and now the whirring is
overwhelmed by the silence. And the blue light is gone, and the throne and
the pillars are returned to blackness, and the eyes of him that sitteth upon
the throne are no more visible.
I seek to go up close to the throne, and I am pushed back, because I cannot
give the sign. I have given all the signs I know and am entitled to, and I
have tried to give the sign that I know and am not entitled to, but have not
the necessary appurtenance; and even if I had, it would be useless; for there
are two more signs necessary.
I find that I was wrong in suggesting that a Master of the Temple had a
right to enter the temple of a Magus or an Ipsissimus. On the contrary, the
rule that holds below, holds {40} also above. The higher you go, the greater
is the distance from one grade to another.
I am being slowly pushed backwards down the avenue, out into the wind. And
this time I am caught up by the wind and whirled away down it like a dead
leaf.
And a great Angel sweeps through the wind, and catches hold of me, and
bears me up against it; and he sets me down on the hither side of the wind,
and he whispers in my ear: Go thou forth into the world, O thrice and four
times blessed who hast gazed upon the horror of the loneliness of The First.
No man shall look upon his face and live. And thou hast seen his eyes, and
understood his heart, for the voice of the ape is the pulse of his heart and
the labouring of his breast. Go, therefore, and rejoice, for thou art the
prophet of the Aeon arising, wherein He is not. Give thou praise unto thy
lady Nuit, and unto her lord Hadit, that are for thee and thy bride, and the
winners of the ordeal X.
And with that we are come to the wall of the Aethyr, and there is a little
narrow gate, and he pushes me through it, and I am suddenly in the desert.
THE DESERT, NEAR BOU SAADA.4
"November" 29, 1909. 1.30 - 2.50 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 20TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED KHR
The dew that was upon the face of the stone is gone, and it is become like
a pool of clear golden water. And now the light is come into the Rosy Cross.
Yet all that I see is the night, with the stars therein, as they appear
through a telescope. {41} And there cometh a peacock into the stone, filling
the whole Aire. It is like the vision called the Universal Peacock, or,
rather, like a representation of that vision. And now there are countless
clouds of white angels filling the Aire as the peacock dissolves.
Now behind the angels are archangels with trumpets. These cause all things
to appear at once, so that there is a tremendous confusion of images. And now
I perceive that all these things are but veils of the wheel, for they all
gather themselves into a wheel that spins with incredible velocity. It hath
many colours, but all thrilled with white light, so that they are transparent
and luminous. This one wheel is forty-nine wheels, set at different angles,
so that they compose a sphere; each wheel has forty-nine spokes, and has
forty-nine concentric tyres at equal distances from the centre. And wherever
the rays from any two wheels meet, there is a blinding flash of glory. It
must be understood that though so much detail is visible in the wheel, yet at
the same time the impression is of a single, simple object.
It seems that this wheel is being spun by a hand. Though the wheel fills
the whole Aire, yet the hand is much bigger than the wheel. And though this
vision is so great and splendid, yet there is no seriousness with it, or
solemnity. It seems that the hand is spinning the wheel merely for pleasure,
it would be better to say amusement.
A voice comes: For he is a jocund and a ruddy god, and his laughter is the
vibration of all that exists, and the earthquakes of the soul.
One is conscious of the whirring of the wheel thrilling one, like an
electric discharge passing through one. {42}
Now I see the figures on the wheel, which have been interpreted as the
sworded Sphinx, Hermanubis and Typhon. And that is wrong. The rim of the
wheel is a vivid emerald snake; in the centre of the wheel is a scarlet heart;
and, impossible to explain as it is, the scarlet of the heart and the green of
the snake are yet more vivid than the blinding white brilliance of the wheel.
The figures on the wheel are darker than the wheel itself; in fact, they
are stains upon the purity of the wheel, and for that reason, and because of
the whirling of the wheel, I cannot see them. But at the top seems to be the
Lamb and Flag, such as one sees on some Christian medals, and one of the lower
things is a wolf, and the other a raven. The Lamb and Flag symbol is much
brighter than the other two. It keeps on growing brighter, until now it is
brighter than the wheel itself, and occupies more space than it did.
It speaks: I am the greatest of the deceivers, for my purity and innocence
shall seduce the pure and innocent, who but for me should come to the centre
of the wheel. The wolf betrayeth only the greedy and the treacherous; the
raven betrayeth only the melancholy and the dishonest. But I am he of whom it
is written: He shall deceive the very elect.
For in the beginning the Father of all called forth lying spirits that they
might sift the creatures of the earth in three sieves, according to the three
impure souls. And he chose the wolf for the lust of the flesh, and the raven
for the lust of the mind; but me did he choose above all to simulate the pure
prompting of the soul. Them that are fallen a prey to the wolf and the raven
I have not scathed; but them that have rejected me, I have given over to the
4 This night I took the shew-stone to my breast to sleep, and
immediately a Dhyana arose of the sun, seen more clearly
afterwards as the Star. Exceeding was its brilliance.
wrath of the raven and the wolf. And the jaws of the one have torn them, and
the {43} beak of the other has devoured the corpse. Therefore is my flag
white, because I have left nothing upon the earth alive. I have feasted
myself on the blood of the saints, but I am not suspected of men to be their
enemy, for my fleece is white and warm, and my teeth are not the teeth of one
that teareth flesh; and mine eyes are mild, and they know me not the chief of
the lying spirits that the Father of all sent forth from before his face in
the beginning.
(His attribution is salt; the wolf mercury, and the raven sulphur.)
Now the lamb grows small again, there is again nothing but the wheel, and
the hand that whirleth it.
And I said: "By the word of power, double in the voice of the Master; by
the word that is seven, and one in seven; and by the great and terrible word
210, I beseech thee, O my Lord, to grant me the vision of thy glory." And all
the rays of the wheel stream out at me, and I am blasted and blinded with the
light. I am caught up into the wheel. I am one with the wheel. I am greater
than the wheel. In the midst of a myriad lightnings I stand, and I behold his
face. (I am thrown violently back on to the earth every second, so that I
cannot quite concentrate.)
All one gets is a liquid flame of pale gold. But its radiant force keeps
hurling me back.
And I say: By the word and the will, by the penance and the prayer, let me
behold thy face. (I cannot explain this, there is confusion of
personalities.) I who speak to you, see what I tell you; but I, who see him,
cannot communicate it to me, who speak to you.
If one could gaze upon the sun at noon, that might be like {44} the
substance of him. But the light is without heat. It is the vision of Ut in
the Upanishads. And from this vision have come all the legends of Bacchus and
Krishna and Adonis. For the impression is of a youth dancing and making
music. But you must understand that he is not doing that, for he is still.
Even the hand that turns the wheel is not his hand, but only a hand energized
by him.
And now it is the dance of Shiva. I lie beneath his feet, his saint, his
victim. My form is the form of the God Phtah, in my essence, but the form of
the god Seb in my form. And this is the reason of existence, that in this
dance which is delight, there must needs be both the god and the adept. Also
the earth herself is a saint; and the sun and the moon dance upon her,
torturing her with delight.
This vision is not perfect. I am only in the outer court of the vision,
because I have undertaken it in the service of the Holy One, and must retain
sense and speech. No recorded vision is perfect, of high visions, for the
seer must keep either his physical organs or his memory in working order. And
neither is capable. There is no bridge. One can only be conscious of one
thing at a time, and as the consciousness moves nearer to the vision, it loses
control of the physical and mental. Even so, the body and the mind must be
very perfect before anything can be done, or the energy of the vision may send
the body into spasms and the mind into insanity. This is why the first
visions give Ananda, which is a shock. When the adept is attuned to Samadhi,
there is but cloudless peace.
This vision is particularly difficult to get into, because he is I. And
therefore the human ego is being constantly excited, {45} so that one comes
back so often. An acentric meditation practice like mahasatipatthana ought to
be done before invocations of the Holy Guardian Angel, so that the ego may be
very ready to yield itself utterly to the Beloved.
And now the breeze is blowing about us, like the sighs of love unsatisfied
--- or satisfied. His lips move. I cannot say the words at first.
And afterwords: "Shalt thou not bring the children of men to the sight of
my glory? 'Only thy silence and thy speech that worship me avail.' 'For as I
am the last, so am I the next, and as the next shalt thou reveal me to the
multitude.' Fear not for aught; turn not aside for aught, eremite of Nuit,
apostle of Hadit, warrior of Ra Hoor Khu! The leaven taketh, and the bread
shall be sweet; the ferment worketh, and the wine shall be sweet. My
sacraments are vigorous food and divine madness. Come unto me, O ye children
of men; come unto me, in whom I am, in whom ye are, were ye only alive with
the life that abideth in Light."
All this time I have been fading away. I sink. The veil of night comes
down a dull blue-gray with one pentagram in the midst of it, watery and dull.
And I am to abide there for a while before I come back to the earth. (But
shut me the window up, hide me from the sun. Oh, shut the window!)5
Now, the pentagram is faded; black crosses fill the Aethyr gradually
growing and interlacing, until there is a network.
It is all dark now. I am lying exhausted, with the sharp edge of the shew-
stone cutting into my forehead.
BOU-SAADA.
"November" 30, 1909. 9.15 - 10.50 a.m. {46}
5 It was done. --- O.V.
{Illustration plate facing page 47 partly approximated and partly described:
This is as shown below. The words in the top row are enclosed in bands (not
scrolls) set at a 45ø angle upward from near lower left to upper right in each
of the four sections. The lower part of each band curves slightly upward
behind the band and the upper part curves slightly downward behind the band.
Each of the daggers is composed of four triangles having sides equal and
longer than the base; three small with apexes meeting from the handle and hilt
and one longer the blade with apex as the point. The handle and hilt are
represented here by "+" or "X", the latter showing diagonal daggers. The
blade, hilts and handle all are set at right angles. Sizes vary to
accommodate the configurations within the panels.
É-----------Ñ-----------Ñ-----------Ñ-----------Ñ-----------»
º ³ ³ + ³ ³ º
º ³ ³ + | + ³ ³ º
º The ³ Alphabet ³ | | | ³ of ³ Daggers º
º ³ ³ | | | ³ ³ º
º ³ ³A | | ³ ³ º
Ç___________Å___________Å___________Å___________Å___________¶
º ³ + ³ ------+ ³ X ³ | | º
º ------+ ³ | ³ +------ ³ / X ³ | | | º
º ³ | ³ ------+ ³ / / X ³ | | | º
º ------+ ³ | ³ ³ / / ³ + | + º
ºB ³C ³D ³E / ³F + º
Ç___________Å___________Å___________Å___________Å___________¶
º + ³ + ³ + ³ X ³ X X º
º | + ³ | ³ | ³ / ³ \ / º
º | ³ | ³ +-- ³ | ³ | º
º + ³ + ³ | ³ + ³ + º
ºG | ³H ³I + ³J ³K º
Ç___________Å___________Å___________Å___________Å___________¶
º + + + ³ | ³ ³ X + X ³ + º
º | | | ³ + ³ +-- | ³ \ | / ³ +--|-- º
º | | | ³ /|\ ³ +-- | ³ \ / ³ | º
º +----- ³ X + X ³ +-- + ³ / \ ³ --|--+ º
ºL ³M ³N ³O X X ³P | º
Ç___________Å___________Å___________Å___________Å___________¶
º ³ + X ³ | ³ + + + ³ X º
º X X ³ \| / ³ | ³ | | | ³ / / º
º X \/ ³ |\/ ³ | ³ | | | ³ / / X º
º \/ ³ | \ ³ | ³ | | | ³ X / º
ºQ / ³R + X ³S + ³T ³U / º
Ç___________Å___________Å___________Å___________Å___________¶
º + ³ + + + ³ \ / ³ X X ³ +----- º
º +|+ ³ ||||||| ³ X X ³ / + \ ³ º
º ||| ³ ||||||| ³ X X ³ / | \ ³ +----- º
º ||| ³ + + + + ³ / \ ³ | ³ º
ºV | ³W ³X ³Y ³Z +----- º
È-----------Ï-----------Ï-----------Ï-----------Ï-----------¼}
THE CRY OF THE 19TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED POP
At first there is a black web over the face of the stone. A ray of light
pierces it from behind and above. Then cometh a black cross, reaching across
the whole stone; then a golden cross, not so large. And there is a writing in
an arch that spans the cross, in an alphabet in which the letters are all
formed of little daggers, cross-hilted, differently arranged. And the writing
is: Worship in the body the things of the body; worship in the mind the things
of the mind; worship in the spirit the things of the spirit.
(This holy alphabet must be written by sinners, that is, by those who are
impure.)
"Impure" means those whose every thought is followed by another thought, or
who confuse the higher with the lower, the substance with the shadow. Every
Aethyr is truth, though it be but a shadow, for the shadow of a man is not the
shadow of an ape.
("Note." --- All this has come to me without voice, without vision, without
thought.)
(The shew-stone is pressed upon my forehead and causes intense pain; as I
go on from Aethyr to Aethyr, it seems more difficult to open the Aethyr.
The golden cross has become a little narrow door, and an old man like the
Hermit of the Taro has opened it and come out. I ask him for admission: and
he shakes his head kindly, and says: It is not given to flesh and blood to
unveil the mysteries of the Aethyr, for therein are the chariots of fire. and
the tumult of the horsemen; whoso entereth here may never look on life again
with equal eyes. I insist. {47}
The little gate is guarded by a great green dragon. And now the whole wall
is suddenly fallen away; there is a blaze of the chariots and the horsemen; a
furious battle is raging. One hears nothing but the clash of steel and the
neighing of the chargers and the shrieks of the wounded. A thousand fall at
every encounter and are trampled under foot. Yet the Aethyr is always full;
there are infinite reserves.
No; that is all wrong, for this is not a battle between two forces, but a
"m?l?e" in which each warrior fights for himself against all the others. I
cannot see one who has even one ally. And the least fortunate, who fall
soonest, are those in the chariots. For as soon as they are engaged in
fighting, their own charioteers stab them in the back.
And in the midst of the battlefield there is a great tree, like a chinar-
tree. Yet it bears fruits. And now all the warriors are dead, and they are
the ripe fruits that are fallen -- the ground is covered with them.
There is a laugh in my right ear: "This is the tree of life."
And now there is a mighty god, Sebek, with the head of a crocodile. His
head is gray, like river mud, and his jaws fill the whole Aire. And he
crunches up the whole tree and the ground and everything.
Now then at last cometh forth the Angel of the Aethyr, who is like the
Angel of the fourteenth key of Rota, with beautiful blue wings, blue robes,
the sun in her girdle like a brooch, and the two crescents of the moon shapen
into sandals for her feet. Her hair is of flowing gold, each sparkle as a
star. In her hands are the torch of Penelope and the cup of Circe. {48}
She comes and kisses me on the mouth, and says: Blessed art thou who hast
beheld Sebek my Lord in his glory. Many are the champions of life, but all
are unhorsed by the lance of death. Many are the children of the light, but
their eyes shall all be put out by the Mother Darkness. Many are the servants
of love, but love (that is not quenched by aught but love) shall be put out,
as the child taketh the wick of a taper between his thumb and finger, by the
god that sitteth alone.
And on her mouth, like a chrysanthemum of radiant light, is a kiss, and on
it is the monogram I.H.S. The letters I.H.S. mean In Homini Salus and Instar
Hominis Summus, and Imago Hominis deuS. And there are many, many other
meanings, but they all imply this one thing; that nothing is of any importance
but man; there is no hope or help but in man.
And she says: Sweet are my kisses, O wayfarer that wanderest from star to
star. Sweet are my kisses, O householder that weariest within four walls.
Thou art pent within thy brain, and my shaft pierceth it, and thou art free.
Thine imagination eateth up the universe as the dragon that eateth up the
moon. And in my shaft is it concentrated and bound up. See how all around
thee gather my warriors, strong knights in goodly armour ready for war. Look
upon my crown; it is above the stars. Behold the glow and the blush thereof!
Upon thy cheek is the breeze that stirs those plumes of truth. For though I
am the Angel of the fourteenth key, I am also the Angel of the eighth key.
And from the love of these two have I come, who am the warden of Pop? and the
servant of them that dwell therein. Though all crowns fall, mine shall {49}
not fall; for my plumes reach up unto the Knees of Him that sitteth upon the
holy throne, and liveth and reigneth for ever and ever as the balance of
righteousness and truth. I am the Angel of the moon. I am the veiled one
that sitteth between the pillars veiled with a shining veil, and on my lap is
the open Book of the mysteries of the ineffable light. I am the aspiration
unto the higher; I am the love of the unknown. I am the blind ache within the
heart of man. I am the minister of the sacrament of pain. I swing the censer
of worship, and I sprinkle the waters of purification. I am the daughter of
the house of the invisible. I am the Priestess of the Silver Star.
And she catches me up to her as a mother catches her babe, and holds me up
in her left arm, and sets my lips to her breast. And upon her breast is
written: "Rosa Mundi est Lilium Coeli."
And I look down upon the open Book of the mysteries, and it is open at the
page on which is the Holy Table with the twelve squares in the midst. It
radiates a blaze of light, too dazzling to make out the characters, and a
voice says: "Non haec piscis omnium."
(To interpret that, we must think of 'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma , which does not
conceal "Iesous Christos Theon Uios Soter" as traditionally asserted, but is a
mystery of the letter Nun and the letter Qoph, as may be seen by adding it up.
'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma is only connected with Christianity because it was a
hieroglyph of syphilis, which the Romans supposed to have been brought from
Syria; and it seems to have been confounded with leprosy, which also they
thought was caused by fish-eating. {50}
One important meaning of 'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma : it is formed of the
initials of five Egyptian deities and also of five Greek deities: in both
cases a magic formula of tremendous power is concealed.
As to the Holy Table itself, I cannot see it for the blaze of light; but I
am given to understand that it appears in another Aethyr, of which it forms
practically the whole content. And I am bidden to study the Holy Table very
intently so as to be able to concentrate on it when it appears.
I have grown greater, so that I am as great as the Angel. And we are
standing, as if crucified, face to face, our hands and lips and breasts and
knees and feet together, and her eyes pierce into my eyes like whirling shafts
of steel, so that I fall backwards headlong through the Aethyr --- and there
is a sudden and tremendous shout, absolutely stunning, cold and brutal:
Osiris was a black god!6 And the Aethyr claps its hands, greater than the
peal of a thousand mighty thunders.
I am back.
BOU-SAADA.
"November" 30, 1909 10-11.45 p.m.
The Cry of the 18th Aethyr, Which is Called ZEN
A Voice comes before any vision: Accursed are they who enter herein if
they have nails, for they shall be pierced therewith; or if they have thorns,
for they shall be crowned withal; or if they have whips, for with whips they
shall be scourged: or if they bear wine, for their wine shall be turned to
bitterness; or if they have a spear, for with a spear shall they be pierced
unto the heart. And the nails are desires, of which {51} there are three; the
desire of light, the desire of life, the desire of love.
6 The Doctrine implied is that one must not be the child, but the
Mother.
(And the thorns are thoughts, and the whips are regrets, and the wine is
ease, or perhaps unsteadiness, especially in ecstasy, and the spear is
attachment.)
And now there dawns the scene of the Crucifixion; but the Crucified One is
an enormous bat, and for the two thieves are two little children. It is
night, and the night is full of hideous things and howlings.
And an angel cometh forth, and saith: Be wary, for if thou change so much
as the style of a letter, the holy word is blasphemed. But enter into the
mountain of the Caverns, for that this (how much more then that Calvary which
mocks it, as his ape mocks Thoth?) is but the empty shell of the mystery of
ZEN. Verily, I say unto thee, many are the adepts that have looked upon the
back parts of my father, and cried, "our eyes fail before the glory of thy
countenance."
And with that he gives the sign of the rending of the veil, and tears down
the vision. And behold! whirling columns of fiery light, seventy-two. Upon
them is supported a mountain of pure crystal. The mountain is a cone, the
angle of the apex being sixty degrees. And within the crystal is a pyramid of
ruby, like unto the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.
I am entered in by the little door thereof, and I am come into the chamber
of the king, which is fashioned like unto the vault of the adepts, or rather
it is fitting to say that the vault of the adepts is a vile imitation of it.
For there are four sides to the chamber, which with the roof and the floor and
the chamber itself makes seven. So also is the pastos seven, {52} for that
which is within is like unto that which is without. And there is no
furniture, and there are no symbols.
Light streams from every side upon the pastos. This light is that blue of
Horus which we know, but being refined it is brilliance. For the light of
Horus only appears blue because of the imperfection of our eyes. But though
the light pours from the pastos, yet the pastos remains perfectly dark, so
that it is invisible. It hath no form: only, at a certain point in the
chamber, the light is beaten back.
I lie prostate upon the ground before this mystery. Its splendour is
impossible to describe. I can only say that its splendour is so great that my
heart stops with the terror and the wonder and the rapture of it. I am almost
mad. A million insane images chase each other through my brain... A voice
comes: (it is my own voice -- I did not know it). "When thou shalt know me, O
thou empty God, my little flame shall utterly expire in thy great N.O.X."
There is no answer. ... (20 minutes. O.V.) ...
And now, after so long a while, the Angel7 lifts me, and takes me from the
room, and sets me in a little chamber where is another Angel like a fair youth
in shining garments, who makes me partake of the sacraments; bread, that is
labour; and fire, that is wit; and a rose, that is sin; and wine, that is
death. And all about us is a great company of angels in many-coloured robes,
rose and spring-green, and sky-blue, and pale gold, and silver, and lilac,
solemnly chanting without words. It is music wonderful beyond all that can be
thought.
And now we go out of the chamber; on the right is a pylon, and the right
figure is Isis, and the left figure {53} Nephthys, and they are folding their
wings over, and supporting Ra.
I wanted to go back to the King's Chamber. The Angel pushed me away,
saying: "Thou shalt see these visions from afar off, but thou shalt not
partake of them save in the manner prescribed. For if thou change so much as
the style of a letter, the holy word is blasphemed."
And this is the manner prescribed:
Let there be a room furnished as for the ritual of passing through the
Tuat. And let the aspirant be clad in the robes of, and let him bear the
insignia of his grade. And at the least he shall be a neophyte.
Three days and three nights shall he have been in the tomb, vigilant and
fasting, for he shall sleep no longer than three hours at any one time, and he
7 No Angel has been mentioned. The Seer was lost to being.
shall drink pure water, and eat little sweet cakes consecrated unto the moon,
and fruits, and the eggs of the duck, or of the goose, or of the plover. And
he shall be shut in, so that no man may break in upon his meditation. But in
the last twelve hours he shall neither eat nor sleep.
Then shall he break his fast, eating rich food, and drinking sweet wines,
and wines that foam; and he shall banish the elements and the planets and the
signs and the sephiroth; and then shall he take the holy table that he hath
made for his altar, and he shall take the call of the Aethyr of which he will
partake, which he hath written in the angelic character, or in the character
of the holy alphabet that is revealed in Pop?, upon a fair sheet of virgin
vellum; and therewith shall he conjure the Aethyr, chanting the call. And in
the lamp that is hung above the altar shall he burn the call that he hath
written. {54}
Then shall he kneel before the holy table, and it shall be given him to
partake of the mystery of the Aethyr.
And concerning the ink with which he shall write; for the first Aethyr let
it be gold, for the second scarlet, for the third violet, for the fourth
emerald, for the fifth silver, for the sixth sapphire, for the seventh orange,
for the eighth indigo, for the ninth gray, for the tenth black, for the
eleventh maroon, for the twelfth russet, for the thirteenth green-gray, for
the fourteenth amber, for the fifteenth olive, for the sixteenth pale blue,
for the seventeenth crimson, for the eighteenth bright yellow, for the
nineteenth crimson adorned with silver, for the twentieth mauve, for the
twenty-first pale green, for the twenty-second rose-madder, for the twenty-
third violet cobalt, for the twenty-fourth beetle-brown, blue-brown colour,
for the twenty-fifth a cold dark gray, for the twenty-sixth white flecked with
red, blue, and yellow; the edges of the letters shall be green, for the
twenty-seventh angry clouds of ruddy brown, for the twenty-eighth indigo, for
the twenty-ninth bluish-green, for the thirtieth mixed colours.
This shall be the form to be used by him who would partake of the mystery
of any Aethyr. And let him not change so much as the style of a letter, lest
the holy word be blasphemed.
And let him beware, after he hath been permitted to partake of this
mystery, that he await the completion of the 91st hour of his retirement,
before he open the door of the place of his retirement; lest he contaminate
his glory with uncleanness, and lest they that behold him be smitten by his
glory unto death.
For this is a holy mystery, and he that did first attain to {55} reveal the
alphabet thereof, perceived not one ten-thousandth part of the fringe that is
upon its vesture.
Come away! for the clouds are gathered together, and the Aire heaveth like
the womb of a woman in travail. Come away! lest he loose the lightnings from
his hand, and unleash his hounds of thunder. Come away! For the voice of the
Aethyr is accomplished. Come away! For the seal of His loving-kindness is
made sure. And let there be praise and blessing unspeakable unto him that
sitteth upon the Holy Throne, for he casteth down mercies as a spendthrift
that scattereth gold. And he hath shut up judgment and hidden it away as a
miser that hoardeth coins of little worth.
All this while the Angel hath been pushing me backwards, and now he is
turned into a golden cross with a rose at its heart, and that is the red cross
wherein is set the golden shewstone.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 1, 1909. 2.30 - 4.10 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 17TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED TAN
Into the stone there first cometh the head of a dragon, and then the Angel
Madimi. She is not the mere elemental that one would suppose from the account
of Casaubon. I enquire why her form is different.
She says: Since all things are God, in all things thou seest just so much
of God as thy capacity affordeth thee. But behold! Thou must pierce deeply
into this Aethyr before true images appear. For TAN is that which
transformeth {56} judgment into justice. BAL is the sword, and TAN the
balances.
A pair of balances appears in the stone, and on the bar of the balance is
written: Motion about a point is iniquity.
And behind the balances is a plume, luminous, azure. And somehow connected
with the plume, but I cannot divine how, are these words: Breath is iniquity.
(That is, any wind must stir the feather of truth.)
And behind the plume is a shining filament of quartz, suspended vertically
from the abyss to the abyss. And in the midst is a winged disk of some
extremely delicate, translucent substance, on which is written in the "dagger"
alphabet: Torsion is iniquity. (This means, that the Rashith Ha-Gilgalim is
the first appearance of evil.)
And now an Angel appears, like as he were carven in black diamonds. And he
cries: Woe unto the Second, whom all nations of men call the First. Woe unto
the First, whom all grades of Adepts call the First. Woe unto me, for I, even
as they, have worshipped him. But she is whose paps are the galaxies, and he
that never shall be known, in them is no motion. For the infinite Without
filleth all and moveth not, and the infinite Within goeth indeed; but it is no
odds, else were the space-marks confounded.
And now the Angel is but a shining speck of blackness in the midst of a
tremendous sphere of liquid and vibrating light, at first gold, then becoming
green, and lastly pure blue. And I see that the green of Libra is made up of
the yellow of air and the blue of water, swords and cups, judgment and mercy.
And this word TAN meaneth mercy. And the feather of Maat is blue because the
truth of justice is mercy. And a {57} voice cometh, as it were the music of
the ripples of the surface of the sphere: Truth is delight. (This means that
the Truth of the universe is delight.)
Another voice cometh; it is the voice of a mighty Angel, all in silver; the
scales of his armour and the plumes of his wings are like mother-of-pearl in a
framework of silver. And he sayeth: Justice is the equity that ye have made
for yourselves between truth and falsehood. But in Truth there is nothing of
this, for there is only Truth. Your falsehood is but a little falser than
your truth. Yet by your truth shall ye come to Truth. Your truth is your
troth with Adonai the Beloved one. And the Chymical Marriage of the
Alchemists beginneth with a Weighing, and he that is not found wanting hath
within him one spark of fire, so dense and so intense that it cannot be moved,
through all the winds of heaven should clamour against it, and all the waters
of the abyss surge against it, and all the multitude of the earths heap
themselves upon it to smother it. Nay, it shall not be moved.
And this is the fire of which it is written: "Hear thou the voice of fire!"
And the voice of fire is the second chapter of the Book of the Law, that is
revealed unto him that is a score and half a score and three that are scores,
and six, by Aiwass, that is his guardian, the mighty Angel that extendeth from
the first unto the last, and maketh known the mysteries that are beyond. And
the method and the form of invocation whereby a man shall attain to the
knowledge and conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel shall be given unto thee
in the proper place, and seeing that the word is deadlier than lightning, do
thou meditate straitly thereupon, solitary, in a place where is no living
thing visible, but only the light of the sun. And {58} thy head shall be
bare.8 Thus mayest thou become fitted to receive this, the holiest of the
Mysteries. And it is the holiest of the Mysteries because it is the Next
Step. And those Mysteries which lie beyond, though they be holier, are not
8 This I performed in a sort of cave upon the ridge of a great
mountain in the Desert near Bou-S?ada at 12-3 p.m. on December 2.
holy unto thee, but only remote. (The sense of this passage seems to be, that
the holiness of a thing implies its personal relation with one, just as one
cannot blaspheme an unknown god, because one does not know what to say to
annoy him. And this explains the perfect inefficiency of those who try to
insult the saints; the most violent attacks are very often merely clumsy
compliments.)
Now the Angel is spread completely over the globe, a dewy film of silver
upon that luminous blue.
And a great voice cries: Behold the Queen of Heaven, how she hath woven her
robes from the loom of justice. For as that straight path of the Arrow
cleaving the Rainbow became righteousness in her that sitteth in the hall of
double truth, so at last is she exalted unto the throne of the High Priestess,
the Priestess of the Silver Star, wherein also is thine Angel made manifest.
And this is the mystery of the camel that is ten days in the desert, and is
not athirst, because he hath within him that water which is the dew distilled
from the the night of Nuit. Triple is the cord of silver, that it may be not
loosed; and three score and half a score and three is the number of the name
of my name, for that the ineffable wisdom, that also is of the sphere of the
stars, informeth me. Thus am I crowned with the triangle that is about the
eye, and therefore is my number three. And in me there is no {59}
imperfection, because through me descendeth the influence of TARO. And that
is also the number of Aiwass the mighty Angel, the Minister of Silence.
And even as the shew-stone burneth thy forehead with its intolerable flame,
so he who hath known me, though but from afar, is marked out and chosen among
men, and he shall never turn back or turn aside, for he hath made the link
that is not to be broken, nay, not by the malice of the Four Great Princes of
evil of the world, nor by Chorozon, that mighty Devil, nor by the wrath of
God, nor by the affliction and feebleness of the soul.
Yet with this assurance be not thou content; for though thou hast the wings
of the Eagle, they are vain, except they be joined to the shoulders of the
Bull. Now, therefore, I send forth a shaft of my light, even as a ladder let
down from the heaven upon the earth, and by this black cross of Themis that I
hold before thine eyes, do I swear unto thee that the path shall be open
henceforth for evermore.
There is a clash of a myriad silver cymbals, and silence. And then three
times a note is struck upon a bell, which sounds like my holy Tibetan bell,
that is made of electrum magicum.
I am happily returned unto the earth.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 2, 1909. 12.15 - 2 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 16TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LEA
There are faint and flickering images in a misty landscape, all very
transient. But the general impression is of moonrise at midnight, and a
crowned virgin riding upon a bull. {60}
And they come up into the surface of the stone. And she is singing a chant
of praise: Glory unto him that hath taken upon himself the image of toil. For
by his labour is my labour accomplished. For I, being a woman, lust ever to
mate myself with some beast. And this is the salvation of the world, that
always I am deceived by some god, and that my child is the guardian of the
labyrinth that hath two-and-seventy paths.
Now she is gone.
And now there are Angels, walking up and down in the stone. They are the
Angels of the Holy Sevenfold Table. It seems that they are waiting for the
Angel of the Aethyr to come forth.
Now at last he appears in the gloom. He is a mighty King, with crown and
orb and sceptre, and his robes are of purple and gold. And he casts down the
orb and sceptre to the earth, and he tears off his crown, and throws it on the
ground, and tramples it. And he tears out his hair, that is of ruddy gold
tinged with silver, and he plucks at his beard, and cries with a terrible
voice: Woe unto me that am cast down from my place by the might of the new
Aeon. For the ten palaces are broken, and the ten kings are carried away into
bondage, and they are set to fight as the gladiators in the circus of him that
hath laid his hand upon eleven. For the ancient tower is shattered by the
Lord of the Flame and the Lightning. And they that walk upon their hands
shall build the holy place. Blessed are they who have turned the Eye of Hoor
unto the zenith, for they shall be filled with the vigour of the goat.
All that was ordered and stable is shaken. The Aeon of {61} Wonders is
come. Like locusts shall they gather themselves together, the servants of the
Star and of the Snake, and they shall eat up everything that is upon the
earth. For why? Because the Lord of Righteousness delighteth in them.
The prophets shall prophesy monstrous things, and the wizards shall perform
monstrous things. The sorceress shall be desired of all men, and the
enchanter shall rule the earth.
Blessing unto the name of the Beast, for he hath let loose a mighty flood
of fire from his manhood, and from his womanhood hath he let loose a mighty
flood of water. Every thought of his mind is as a tempest that uprooteth the
great trees of the earth, and shaketh the mountains thereof. And the throne
of his spirit is a mighty throne of madness and desolation, so that they that
look upon it shall cry: Behold the abomination!
Of a single ruby shall that throne be built, and it shall be set upon a
high mountain, and men shall see it afar off. Then will I gather together my
chariots and my horsemen and my ships of war. By sea and land shall my armies
and my navies encompass it, and I will encamp round about it, and besiege it,
and by the flame thereof shall I be utterly devoured. Many lying spirits have
I sent into the world that my Aeon might be established, and they shall be all
overthrown.
Great is the Beast that cometh forth like a lion, the servant of the Star
and of the Snake. He is the Eternal one; He is the Almighty one. Blessed are
they upon whom he shall look with favour, for nothing shall stand before his
face. Accursed are they upon whom he shall look with derision, for nothing
shall stand before his face.
And every mystery that hath not been revealed from the {62} foundation of
the world he shall reveal unto his chosen. And they shall have power over
every spirit of the Ether; and of the earth and under the earth; on dry land
and in the water; of whirling air and of rushing fire. And they shall have
power over all the inhabitants of the earth, and every scourge of God shall be
subdued beneath their feet. The angels shall come unto them and walk with
them, and the great gods of heaven shall be their guests.
But I must sit apart, with dust upon my head, discrowned and desolate. I
must lurk in forbidden corners of the earth. I must plot secretly in the by-
ways of great cities, in the fog, and in marshes of the rivers of pestilence.
And all my cunning shall not serve me. And all my undertakings shall be
brought to naught. And all the ministers of the Beast shall catch me and tear
out my tongue with pincers of red-hot iron, and they shall brand my forehead
with the word of derision, and they shall shave my head, and pluck out my
beard, and make a show of me.
And the spirit of prophecy shall come upon me despite me ever and anon, as
even now upon my heart and upon my throat; and upon my tongue seared with
strong acid are the words: "Vim patior." For so must I give glory to him that
hath supplanted me, that hath cast me down into the dust. I have hated him,
and with hate my bones are rotten. I would have spat upon him, and my spittle
hath befouled my beard. I have taken up the sword against him, and I am
fallen upon it, and mine entrails are about my feet.
Who shall strive with his might? Hath he not the sword and the spear of
the Warrior Lord of the Sun? Who shall contend with him? Who shall lift
himself up against him? {63} For the latchet of his sandal is more than the
helmet of the Most High. Who shall reach up to him in supplication, save
those that he shall set upon his shoulders? Would God that my tongue were
torn out by the roots, and my throat cut across, and my heart torn out and
given to the vultures, before I say this that I must say: Blessing and Worship
to the Prophet of the Lovely Star!
And now he is fallen quite to the ground, in a heap, and dust is upon his
head; and the throne upon which he sat is shattered into many pieces.
And dimly dawning in this unutterable gloom, far, far above, is the face
that is the face of a man and of a woman, and upon the brow is a circle, and
upon the breast is a circle, and in the palm of the right hand is a circle.
Gigantic is his stature, and he hath the Uraeus crown, and the leopard's skin,
and the flaming orange apron of a god. And invisibly about him is Nuit, and
in his heart is Hadit, and between his feet is the great god Ra Hoor Khuit.
And in his right hand is a flaming wand, and in his left a book. Yet is he
silent; and that which is understood between him and me shall not be revealed
in this place. And the mystery shall be revealed to whosoever shall say, with
ecstasy of worship in his heart, with a clear mind, and a passionate body: It
is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
And now all that glory hath withdrawn itself; and the old King lies
prostate, abject.
And the virgin that rode upon the bull cometh forth, led by all those
Angels of the Holy Sevenfold Table, and they are dancing round her with
garlands and sheaves of flowers, loose robes and hair dancing in the wind.
And she smiles upon me {64} with infinite brilliance, so that the whole Aethyr
flushes warm, and she says with a subtle sub-meaning, pointing downwards: By
this, that.
And I took her hand and kissed it, and I say to her: Am I not nearly purged
of the iniquity of my forefathers?
With that she bends down, and kisses me on the mouth, and says: "Yet a
little, and on thy left arm shalt thou carry a man-child, and give him to
drink of the milk of thy breasts. But I go dancing."
And I wave my hand, and the Aethyr is empty and dark, and I bow myself
before it in the sign that I, and only I, may know. And I sink through waves
of blackness, poised on an eagle, down, down, down.
And I give the sign that only I may know.
And now there is nothing in the stone but the black cross of Themis, and on
it these words: Memento: Sequor. (These words probably mean that the
Equinox of Horus is to be followed by that of Themis.)
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 2, 1909. 4.50 - 6.5 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 15TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED OXO
There appears immediately in the Aethyr a tremendous column of scarlet
fire, whirling forth, rebounding, crying aloud. And about it are four columns
of green and blue and gold and silver, each inscribed with writings in the
character of the dagger. And the column of fire is dancing among the pillars.
Now it seems that the fire is but the skirt of the dancer, and the dancer is a
mighty god. The vision is overpowering. {65}
As the dancer whirls, she chants in a strange, slow voice, quickening as
she goes: Lo! I gather up every spirit that is pure, and weave him into my
vesture of flame. I lick up the lives of men, and their souls sparkle from
mine eyes. I am the mighty sorceress, the lust of the spirit. And by my
dancing I gather for my mother Nuit the heads of all them that are baptized in
the waters of life. I am the lust of the spirit that eateth up the soul of
man. I have prepared a feast for the adepts, and they that partake thereof
shall see God.
Now it is clear what she has woven in her dance; it is the Crimson Rose of
49 Petals, and the Pillars are the Cross with which it is conjoined. And
between the pillars shoot out rays of pure green fire; and now all the pillars
are golden. She ceases to dance, and dwindles, gathering herself into the
centre of the Rose.
Now it is seen that the Rose is a vast ampitheatre, with seven tiers, each
tier divided into seven partitions. And they that sit in the Amphitheatre are
the seven grades of the Order of the Rosy Cross. This Amphitheatre is built
of rose-coloured marble, and of its size I can say only that the sun might be
used as a ball to be thrown by the players in the arena. But in the arena
there is a little altar of emerald, and its top has the heads of the Four
Beasts, in turquoise and rock-crystal. And the floor of the arena is ridged
like a grating of lapis lazuli. And it is full of pure quicksilver.
Above the altar is a veiled Figure, whose name is Pan. Those in the outer
tier adore him as a Man; and in the next tier they adore him as a Goat; and in
the next tier they adore him as a Ram; and in the next tier they adore him as
a Crab; {66} and in the next tier they adore him as an Ibis; and in the next
tier they adore him as a Golden Hawk; and in the next tier they adore him not.
And now the light streameth out from the altar, splashed out by the feet of
him that is above it. It is the Holy Twelve-fold Table of OIT.
The voice of him that is above the altar is silence, but the echo thereof
cometh back from the walls of the circus, and is speech. And this is the
speech: Three and four are the days of a quarter of the moon, and on the
seventh day is the sabbath, but thrice four is the Sabbath of the Adepts
whereof the form is revealed in the Aethyr ZID; that is the eighth of the
Aires. And the mysteries of the Table shall not be wholly revealed, nor shall
they be revealed herein. But thou shalt gather of the sweat of thy brow a
pool of clear water wherein this shall be revealed. And of the oil that thou
burnest in the midnight shall be gathered together thirteen rivers of
blessing; and of the oil and the water I will prepare a wine to intoxicate the
young men and the maidens.
And now the Table is become the universe; every star is a letter of the
Book of Enoch. And the Book of Enoch is drawn therefrom by an inscrutable
Mystery, that is known only to the Angels and the Holy Sevenfold Table. While
I have been gazing upon this table, an Adept has come forth, one from each
tier, except the inmost Tier.
And the first drove a dagger into my heart, and tasted the blood, and said:
chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma , chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma ,
chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma , chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma ,
chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma , chi alpha theta alpha rho omicron sigma .
And the second Adept has been testing the muscles of my right arm and
shoulder, and he says: fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis. {67}
And the third Adept examines the skin and tastes the sweat of my left arm,
and says:
TAN, TAN, TAN, TAN.
And the fourth Adept examines my neck, and seems to approve, though he says
nothing; and he hath opened the right half of my brain, and he makes some
examination, and says: "Samajh, samajh, samajh."
And the fifth Adept examines the left half of my brain, and then holds up
his hand in protest, and says "PLA . . ." (I cannot get the sentence, but the
meaning is: In the thick darkness the seed awaiteth spring.)
And now am I again rapt in contemplation of that universe of letters which
are stars.
The words ORLO, ILRO, TULE are three most secret names of God. They are
Magick names, each having an interpretation of the same kind as the
interpretation of I.N.R.I., and the name OIT, RLU, LRL, OOE are other names of
God, that contain magical formulae, the first to invoke fire; the second,
water; the third, air; and the fourth, earth.
And if the Table be read diagonally, every letter, and every combination of
letters, is the name of a devil. And from these are drawn the formulae of
evil magick. But the holy letter I above the triad LLL dominateth the Table,
and preserveth the peace of the universe.
And in the seven talismans about the central Table are contained the
Mysteries of drawing forth the letters. And the letters of the circumference
declare in glory of Nuit, that beginneth from Aries9. {68}
All this while the Adepts must have been chanting as it were an oratorio
for seven instruments. And this oratorio hath one dominant theme of rapture.
Yet it applieth to every detail of the universe as well as to the whole. And
herein is Choronzon brought utterly to ruin, that all his work is against his
will, not only in the whole, but in every part thereof, even as a fly that
walketh upon a beryl-stone.
And the tablet blazeth ever brighter till it filleth the whole Aire. And
behold! there is is one God therein, and the letters of the stars in his
crown, Orion, and the Pleiades, and Aldebaran, and Alpha Centauri, and Cor
Leonis, and Cor Scorpionis, and Spica, and the pole-star, and Hercules, and
Regulus, and Aquila, and the Ram's Eye.
And upon a map of the stars shalt thou draw the sigil of that name; and
because also some of the letters are alike, thou shalt know that the stars
also have tribes and nations. The letter of a star is but the totem thereof.
And the letter representeth not the whole nature of the star, but each star
must be known by itself in the wisdom of him that hath the Cynocephalus in
leash.
And this pertaineth unto the grade of a Magus --- and that is beyond thine.
(All this is communicated not by voice, or by writing; and there is no form in
the stone, but only the brilliance of the Table. And now I am withdrawn from
all that, but the Rosy Cross of 49 petals is set upright upon the summit of a
pyramid, and all is dark, because of the exceeding light behind.)
And there cometh a voice: The fly cried unto the ox, "Beware! Strengthen
thyself. Set thy feet firmly upon the earth, for it is my purpose to alight
between thy shoulders, {69} and I would not harm thee." So also are they who
wish well unto the Masters of the Pyramid.
And the bee said unto the flower: "Give me of thine honey," and the flower
gave richly thereof; but the bee, though he wit it not, carried the seed of
the flower into many fields of sun. So also are they that take unto
themselves the Masters of the Pyramid for servants.
Now the exceeding light that was behind the Pyramid, and the Rosy Cross
that is set thereon, hath fulfilled the whole Aire. The black Pyramid is like
the back of a black diamond. Also the Rosy Cross is loosened, and the petals
of the Rose are the mingled hues of sunset and of dawn; and the Cross is the
Golden light of noon, and in the heart of the Rose there is the secret light
that men call midnight.
And a voice: "Glory to God and thanksgiving to God, and there is no God but
God. And He is exalted; He is great; and in the Sevenfold Table is His Name
writ openly, and in the Twelvefold Table is His Name concealed."
And the Pyramid casts a shadow of itself into the sky, and the shadow
spreads over the whole stone. And an angel clad in blue and scarlet, with
golden wings and plumes of purple fire, comes forth and scatters disks of
green and gold, filing all the Aire. And they become swiftly-whirling wheels,
singing together.
And the voice of the angel cries: Gather up thy garments about thee10, O
thou that hast entered the circle of the Sabbath; for in thy grave-clothes
shouldest thou behold the resurrection. {70}
The flesh hangeth upon thee like his rags upon a beggar that is a pilgrim
to the shrine of the Exalted One. Nevertheless, bear them bravely, and
rejoice in the beauty thereof, for the company of the pilgrims is a glad
company, and they have no care, and with song and dance and wine and fair
9 Note that the corner letters in this table are all B = Leo.
10 Since the examination in the amphitheatre I have been a naked
spirit without garments or anything; by garments he means the
body.
women do they make merry. And every hostel is their place, and every maid
their queen.
Gather up thy garments about thee, I say, for the voice of the Aethyr, that
is the voice of the Aeon, is ended, and thou art absorbed into the lesser
night, and caught in the web of the light of thy mother in the word
ABRADAHARBA.
And now the five and the six are divorced, and I am come again within my
body.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 3, 1909. 9.15 to 11.10 a.m.
THE CRY OF THE 14TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED UTI
There come into the stone a white goat, a green dragon, and a tawny bull.
But they pass away immediately. There is a veil of such darkness before the
Aethyr that it seems impossible to pierce it. But there is a voice saying:
Behold, the Great One of the Night of Time stirreth, and with his tail he
churneth up the slime, and of the foam thereof shall he make stars. And in
the battle of the Python and the Sphinx shall the glory be to the Sphinx, but
the victory to the Python.
Now the veil of darkness is formed of a very great number of exceedingly
fine black veils, and one tears them off one at a time. And the voice says,
There is no light or knowledge or beauty or stability in the Kingdom of the
Grave, whither {71} thou goest. And the worm is crowned. All that thou wast
hath he eaten up, and all that thou art is his pasture until to-morrow. And
all that thou shalt be is nothing. Thou who wouldst enter the domain of the
Great One of the Night of Time, this burden must thou take up. Deepen not a
superficies.
But I go on tearing down the veil that I may behold the vision of UTI, and
hear the voice thererof. And there is a voice: He hath drawn the black bean.
And another voice answers it: Not otherwise could he plant the Rose. And the
first voice: He hath drunk of the waters of death. The answer: Not otherwise
could he water the Rose. And the first voice: He hath burnt himself at the
Fires of life. And the answer: Not otherwise could he sun the Rose. And the
first voice is so faint that I cannot hear it. But the answer is: Not
otherwise could he pluck the Rose.
And still I go on, struggling with the blackness. Now there is an
earthquake. The veil is torn into thousands of pieces that go flying away in
a whirling wind. And there is an all-glorious Angel before me, standing in
the sign of Apophis and Typhon. On his Forehead is a star, but all about him
is darkness, and the crying of beasts. And there are lamps moving in the
darkness.
And the Angel says: Depart! For thou must invoke me only in the darkness.
Therein will I appear, and reveal unto thee the Mystery of UTI. For the
Mystery thereof is great and terrible. And it shall not be spoken in sight of
the sun.
Therefore I withdraw myself. (Thus far the vision upon Da'leh Addin, a
mountain in the desert near Bou-S?ada.)
December 3, 2.50-3.15 p.m.
"The Angel re-appears."
The blackness gathers about, so thick, so clinging, so penetrating, so
oppressive, that all the other darkness that I have ever conceived would be
like bright light beside it.
His voice comes in a whisper: O thou that art master of the fifty gates of
Understanding, is not my mother a black woman? O thou that art master of the
Pentagram, is not the egg of spirit a black egg? Here abideth terror, and the
blind ache of the Soul, and lo! even I, who am the sole light, a spark shut
up, stand in the sign of Apophis and Typhon.
I am the snake that devoureth the spirit of man with the lust of light. I
am the sightless storm in the night that wrappeth the world about with
desolation. Chaos is my name, and thick darkness. Know thou that the
darkness of the earth is ruddy, and the darkness of the air is grey, but the
darkness of the soul is utter blackness.
The egg of the spirit is a basilisk egg, and the gates of the understanding
are fifty, that is the sign of the Scorpion. The pillars about the neophyte
are crowned with flame, and the vault of the Adepts is lighted by the Rose.
And in the abyss is the eye of the hawk. But upon the great sea shall the
Master of the Temple find neither star nor moon.
And I was about to answer him: "The light is within me." But before I
could frame the words, he answered me with the great word that is the Key of
the Abyss. And he said: Thou hast entered the night; dost thou yet lust for
day? Sorrow is my name, and affliction. I am girt about with tribulation.
Here still hangs the Crucified One, and here the Mother weeps over the
children that she hath not borne. Sterility is {73} my name, and desolation.
Intolerable is thine ache, and incurable thy wound. I said, Let the darkness
cover me; and behold, I am compassed about with the blackness that hath no
name. O thou, who hast cast down the light into the earth, so must thou do
for ever. And the light of the sun shall not shine upon thee, and the moon
shall not lend thee of her lustre, and the stars shall be hidden, because thou
art passed beyond these things, beyond the need of these things, beyond the
desire of these things.
What I thought were shapes of rocks, rather felt than seen, now appear to
be veiled Masters, sitting absolutely still and silent. Nor can any one be
distinguished from the others.
And the Angel sayeth: Behold where thine Angel hath led thee! Thou didst
ask fame, power and pleasure, health and wealth and love, and strength, and
length of days. Thou didst hold life with eight tentacles, like an octopus.
Thou didst seek the four powers and the seven delights and the twelve
emancipations and the two and twenty Privileges and the nine and forty
Manifestations, and lo! thou art become as one of These. Bowed are their
backs, whereon resteth the universe. Veiled are their faces, that have beheld
the glory Ineffable.
These adepts seem like Pyramids --- their hoods and robes are like
Pyramids.
And the Angel sayeth: Verily is the Pyramid a Temple of Initiation. Verily
also is it a tomb. Thinkest thou that there is life within the Masters of the
Temple, that sit hooded, encamped upon the Sea? Verily, there is no life in
them.
Their sandals were the pure light, and they have taken {74} them from their
feet and cast them down through the abyss, for this Aethyr is holy ground.
Herein no forms appear, and the vision of God face to face, that is
transmuted in the Athanor called dissolution, or hammered into one in the
forge of meditation, is in this place but a blasphemy and a mockery.
And the Beatific Vision is no more, and the glory of the Most High is no
more. There is no more knowledge. There is no more bliss. There is no more
power. There is no more beauty. For this is the Palace of Understanding: for
thou art one with the Primeval things.
Drink in the myrrh of my speech, that is bruised with the gall of the roc,
and dissolved in the ink of the cuttle-fish, and perfumed with the deadly
nightshade.
This is thy wine, who wast drunk upon the wine of Iacchus. And for bread
shalt thou eat salt, O thou on the corn of Ceres that didst wax fat! For as
pure being is pure nothing, so is pure wisdom pure ---,11 and so is pure
understanding silence, and stillness, and darkness. The eye is called
11 I suppose that only a Magus could have heard this word.
seventy, and the triple Aleph whereby thou perceivest it, divideth into the
number of the terrible word that is the Key of the Abyss.
I am Hermes, that am sent from the Father to expound all things discreetly
in these the last words that thou shalt hear before thou take thy seat among
these, whose eyes are sealed up, and whose ears are stopped, and whose mouths
are clenched, who are folded in upon themselves, the liquor of whose bodies is
dried up, so that nothing remains but a little pyramid of dust.
And that bright light of comfort, and that piercing sword {75} of truth,
and all that power and beauty that they have made of themselves, is cast from
them, as it is written, "I saw Satan like lightning fall from Heaven." And as
a flaming sword is it dropt through the abyss, where the four beasts keep
watch and ward. And it appeareth in the heaven of Jupiter as a morning star,
or as an evening star. And the light thereof shineth even unto the earth, and
bringeth hope and help to them that dwell in the darkness of thought, and
drink of the poison of life. Fifty are the gates of understanding, and one
hundred and six are the seasons thereof. And the name of every season is
Death.
During all this speech, the figure of the Angel has dwindled and flickered,
and now it is gone out.
And I come back in the body, rushing like a flame in a great wind. And the
shew-stone has become warm, and in it is its own light.
BOU-SAADA.
"December" 3, 1909 9.50-11.15 p.m.
THE CRY OF THE 13TH AETHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZIM
Into the Stone there cometh an image of shining waters, glistening in the
sun. Unfathomable is their beauty, for they are limpid, and the floor is of
gold. Yet the sense thereof is of fruitlessness.
And an Angel cometh forth, of pure pale gold, walking upon the water.
Above his head is a rainbow, and the water foams beneath his feet. And he
saith: Before his face am I come that hath the thirty-three thunders of
increase in his hand. From the golden water shalt thou gather corn. {76}
All the Aire behind him is gold, but it opens as it were a veil. There are
two terrible black giants, wrestling in mortal hatred. And there is a little
bird upon a bush, and the bird flaps its wings. Thereat the strength of the
giants snaps, and they fall in heaps to the earth, as though all their bones
were suddenly broken.
And now waves of light roll through the Aethyr, as if they were playing.
Therefore suddenly I am in a garden, upon a terrace of a great castle, that is
upon a rocky mountain. In the garden are fountains and many flowers. There
are girls also in the garden, tall, slim, delicate and pale. And now I see
that the flowers are the girls, for they change from one to another; so
varied, and lucent, and harmonious is all this garden, that it seems like a
great opal.
A voice comes: This water which thou seest is called the water of death.
But NEMO hath filled therefrom our springs.
And I said: Who is NEMO?
And the voice answered: A dolphin's tooth, and a ram's horns, and the hand
of a man that is hanged, and the phallus of a goat. (By this I understand
that nun is explained by shin, and h? by resh, and mem by yod, and ayin by
tau. NEMO is therefore called 165 = 11 x 15; and is in himself 910 = 91 Amen
x 10; and 13 x 70 = The One Eye, "Achad Ayin.")
And now there cometh an Angel into the garden, but he hath not any of the
attributes of the former Angels, for he is like a young man, dressed in white
linen robes.
And he saith: No man hath beheld the face of my Father. Therefore he that
hath beheld it is called NEMO. And know thou that every man that is called
NEMO hath a garden that he tendeth. And every garden that is and flourisheth
hath {77} been prepared from the desert by NEMO, watered with the waters that
were called death.
And I say unto him: To what end is the garden prepared?
And he saith: First for the beauty and delight thereof; and next because it
is written, "And Tetragrammaton Elohim planted a garden eastward in Eden."
And lastly, because though every flower bringeth forth a maiden, yet is there
one flower that shall bring forth a man-child. And his name shall be called
NEMO, when he beholdeth the face of my Father. And he that tendeth the garden
seeketh not to single out the flower that shall be NEMO. He doeth naught but
tend the garden.
And I said: Pleasant indeed is the garden, and light is the toil of tending
it, and great is the reward.
And he said: Bethink thee that NEMO hath beheld the face of my Father. In
Him is only Peace.
And I said: Are all gardens like unto this garden?
And he waved his hand, and in the Aire across the valley appeared an island
of coral, rosy, with green palms and fruit-trees, in the midst of the bluest
of the seas.
And he waved his hand again, and there appeared a valley shut in by mighty
snow mountains, and in it were pleasant streams of water, rushing through, and
broad rivers, and lakes covered with lilies.
And he waved his hand again, and there was a vision, as it were of an oasis
in the desert.
And again he waved his hand, and there was a dim country with grey rocks,