Liber 418

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 Æons 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 the Rivers have rushed together and the Name hwhy 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 Æon of Saturn leaneth toward the Bosom of Death. 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 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.

 (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!

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 Æthyr 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 Æons, Amen.” Thus far is the voice of TEX and no more.

THE CRY OF THE TWENTY AND NINTH AIRE OR ÆTHYR, WHICH

IS CALLED RII

The sky appears covered with stars of gold; the background is of green. But the impression is also of darkness.

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.

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 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 fivefold.

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 Sæcula Sæculorum. Amen!

(On composing myself to sleep, I was shewn an extremely brilliant D 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 Æthyrs:

The Visions of the 29th and 30th Æthyrs 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 æthyrs 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 æthyrs

with the remaining twenty-seven as their Malkuth. And the

letters of the first three æthyrs are the key-sigils of the most

exalted interpretation of the Sephiroth.

I is therefore Kether;

L, Chokmah and Binah;

A, Chesed;

N, Geburah;

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 æthyrs are 91, the numeration

of Amen.

THE CRY OF THE 28 TH ÆTHYR, 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 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?

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:

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 æon 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 æon of my Father there is but one light.

Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right nostril from thy left;

for in the æon of my Father there is neither life nor death.

Hail unto thee who knowest not thy right ear from thy left;

for in the æon 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 æthyr. Let not the shame of my Mother be 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 goddess.

OLAHO VIRUDEN MAHORELA ZODIREDA! ON

PIREDA EXENTASER; ARBA PIRE GAH GAHA

GAHAL GAHALANA VO ABRA NA GAHA VELUCORSAPAX.

And the voice of the æon 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 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 æthyr. 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 Æthyr.

Now my name thou shalt obtain in this wise. Of the three angels of the Æthyr, 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 Æthyr 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!

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 ÆTHYR, 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 manycoloured 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 æthyrs beneath my feet beareth me 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?

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 æon is MAKHASHANAH. And these words shalt thou

say backwards:

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 æthyr 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 ÆTHYR, 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 Righteous-ness in Beauty?

Burnt out are your eyes, for that ye have seen me in my majesty.

And broken are the drum-heads of 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 æthyr. 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 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

praises 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

æons!

All this time this brilliant eagle-headed god has been

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 Æthyr 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 æon. The

æons 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 ÆTHYR, 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 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 Æthyr. 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 crownèd 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 Abom-inations? Who

is the Beast? Am not I one more than he? In 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.

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 Æthyr 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.

(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 ÆTHYR, 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

our chariot and the reins thereof are the heart-strings of men.

Every moment that we fly shall cover an æon. 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 MAEL-PEREJI

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.

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 aquâ 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 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 }wylu. 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 Æthyr. 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 Æthyr. 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

Æthyr.

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 Æthyr.

For if the great work were accomplished and all the Æthyrs

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 ÆTHYR, 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 bullmen.

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.

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,

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.* 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

* These are intended to show symbolically that the Bull is the same as the

Eagle.

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!

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 Penta-gram!

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 SÂADA.

November 28, 1909. 9.30-10.15 a.m.

THE CRY OF THE 22ND ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LIN

There comes first into the stone the mysterious table of fortynine

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 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

Æthyr, that is accursèd, 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 Æthyr 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.)

. . . 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 Æthyrs 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 Æthyr 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.

There is a voice in this Æthyr, 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 Æon; ye shall 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.

 (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 ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ASP

A mighty wind rolls through all the Æthyr; 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, 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 æon. 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.

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.

(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 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 Æon 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 Æthyr, and there

is a little narrow gate, and he pushes me through it, and I am

suddenly in the desert.

THE DESERT, NEAR BOU SÂADA.*

November 29, 1909. 1.30-2.50 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 20TH ÆTHYR, 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. 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.

* 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.

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.

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 wrath of the raven and the wolf. And the jaws of the one

have torn them, and the 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 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 herefore the human ego is being constantly excited, 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!)*

Now, the pentagram is faded; black crosses fill the Æthyr

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-SÂADA.

November 30, 1909. 9.15-10.50 a.m.

* It was done.—O. V.

THE CRY OF THE 19TH ÆTHYR, 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 Æthyr 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 Æthyr to Æthyr, it seems more

difficult to open the Æthyr.)

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

Æthyr, 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.

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 Æthyr is always

full; there are infinite reserves.

No; that is all wrong, for this is not a battle between two

forces, but a mélée 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 Æthyr, 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.

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 Popé and the servant of them that dwell therein.

Though all crowns fall, mine shall 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 'IcqÚj, 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.

'IcqÚj 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.

One important meaning of 'IcqÚj: 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

Æthyr, 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 Æthyr—and there is a sudden and

tremendous shout, absolutely stunning, cold and brutal: Osiris

was a black god!* And the Æthyr 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 Doctrine implied is that one must not be the child, but the Mother.

THE CRY OF THE 18TH ÆTHYR, 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 there

are three; the desire of light, the desire of life, the desire of love.

(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, 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 Angel* 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.

* No angel has been mentioned. The Seer was lost to being.

And now we go out of the chamber; on the right is a pylon,

and the right figure is Isis, and the left figure 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 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 Æthyr 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 Popé, upon a fair sheet of

virgin vellum; and therewith shall he conjure the Æthyr, chanting

the call. And in the lamp that is hung above the altar shall he

burn the call that he hath written.

Then shall he kneel before the holy table, and it shall be

given him to partake of the mystery of the Æthyr.

And concerning the ink with which he shall write; for the first

Æthyr 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 beetlebrown,

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 Æthyr. 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 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 Æthyr 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-SÂADA.

December 1, 1909. 2.30-4.10 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 17TH ÆTHYR, 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 Æthyr before true images

appear. For TAN is that which transformeth 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 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 thy head shall be bare.* 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 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.

* This I performed in a sort of cave upon the ridge of a great mountain in the

Desert near Bou-Sâada at 12-3 p.m. on December 2.

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 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-SÂADA.

December 2, 1909. 12.15-2 a.m.

THE CRY OF THE 16TH ÆTHYR, 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.

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 Æthyr 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 Æon. 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 Æon of

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 Æon 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

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? 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 with infinite

brilliance, so that the whole Æthyr 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 manchild,

and give him to drink of the milk of thy breasts. But I go

dancing.”

And I wave my hand, and the Æthyr 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-SÂADA.

December 2, 1909. 4.50-6.5 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 15TH ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED OXO

There appears immediately in the Æthyr 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 over-powering.

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; 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 Æthyr 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: caqarÒj, caqarÒj, caqarÒj, caqarÒj, caqarÒj, caqarÒj.

And the second Adept has been testing the muscles of my

right arm and shoulder, and he says: fortis, fortis, fortis, fortis,

fortis.

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 Aries*.

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, 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,”

* Note that the corner letters in this table are all B = >.

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 thee, * O thou that hast entered the circle of the Sabbath;

for in thy grave-clothes shouldest thou behold the resurrection.

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 women do they make

merry. And every hostel is their place, and every maid their

queen.

* Since the examination in the amphitheatre I have been a naked spirit

Gather up thy garments about thee, I say, for the voice of the

Æthyr, that is the voice of the Æon, is ended, and thou art

absorbed into the lesser night, and caught in the web of the light

of thy mother in the word ARBADAHARBA.

And now the five and the six are divorced, and I am come

again within my body.

BOU-SÂADA.

December 3, 1909. 9.15 to 11.10 a.m.

THE CRY OF THE 14TH ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED UTA

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 Æthyr 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

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 UTA, 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 UTA. 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-Sâada.)

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 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 them

from their feet and cast them down through the abyss, for this

Æthyr 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 ——,* and so is pure understanding silence, and

stillness, and darkness. The eye is called seventy, and the triple

Aleph whereby thou perceivest it, divideth into the number of the

* I suppose that only a Magus could have heard this word.

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

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-SÂADA.

December 3, 1909 9.50-11.15 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 13TH ÆTHYR, 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.

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 Æthyr, 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 hé by

resh, and mem by yod, and ayin by tau. NEMO is therefore

called 165 = 11 ´ 15; and is in himself 910 = 91 Amen ´ 10; and

13 ´ 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 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 fruittrees,

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, and heather, and gorse, and bracken.

And he waved his hand yet again, and there was a park, and a

small house therein, surrounded by yews. This time the house

opens, and I see in it an old man, sitting by a table. He is blind.

Yet he writeth in a great book, constantly. I see what he is

writing: “The words of the Book are as the leaves of the flowers

in the garden. Many indeed of these my songs shall go forth as

maidens, but there is one among them, which one I know not,

that shall be a man-child, whose name shall be NEMO, when he

hath beheld the face of the Father, and become blind.”

(All this vision is most extraordinarily pleasant and peaceful,

entirely without strength or ecstasy, or any positive quality, but

equally free from the opposites of any of those qualities.) And

the young man seems to read my thought, which is, that I should

love to stay in this garden and do nothing for ever; for he sayeth

to me: Come with me, and behold how NEMO tendeth his

garden.

So we enter the earth, and there is a veiled figure, in absolute

darkness. Yet it is perfectly possible to see in it, so that the

minutest details do not escape us. And upon the root of one

flower he pours acid so that that root writhes as if in torture.

And another he cuts, and the shriek is like the shriek of a

mandrake, torn up by the roots. And another he chars with fire,

and yet another he anoints with oil.

And I said: Heavy is the labour, but great indeed is the

reward.

And the young man answered me: He shall not see the

reward, he tendeth the garden.

And I said: What shall come unto him?

And he said: This thou canst not know, nor is it revealed by

the letters that are the totems of the stars, but only by the stars.

And he says to me, quite disconnectedly: The man of earth is

the adherent. The lover giveth his life unto the work among

men. The hermit goeth solitary, and giveth only of his light unto

men.

And I ask him: Why does he tell me that?

And he says: I tell thee not. Thou tellest thyself, for thou hast

pondered thereupon for many days, and hast not found light.

And now that thou art called NEMO, the answer to every riddle

that thou hast not found shall spring up in thy mind, unsought.

Who can tell upon what day a flower shall bloom?

And thou shalt give thy wisdom unto the world, and that shall

be thy garden. And concerning time and death, thou hast naught

to do with these things. For though a precious stone be hidden in

the sand of the desert, it shall not heed for the wind of the desert,

although it be but sand. For the worker of works hath worked

thereupon; and because it is clear, it is invisible; and because it is

hard, it moveth not.

All these words are heard by everyone that is called NEMO.

And with that doth he apply himself to understanding. And he

must understand the virtue of the waters of death, and he must

understand the virtue of the sun and the wind, and of the worm

that turneth the earth, and the stars that roof in the garden. And

he must understand the separate nature and property of every

flower, or how shall he tend his garden?

And I said to him: Concerning the Vision and the Voice, I

would know if these things be of the essence of the Æthyr, or of

the essence of the seer.

And he answers: It is of the essence of him that is called

NEMO, combined with essence of the Æthyr, for from

the 1st Æthyr to the 15th Æthyr, there is no vision and no voice,

save for him that is called NEMO. And he that seeketh the

vision and the voice therein is led away by dog-faced demons

that show no sign of truth, seducing from the Sacred Mysteries,

unless his name be NEMO.

And hadst thou not been fitted, thou too hadst been led away,

for before the gate of the 15th Æthyr, is this written: He shall

send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. And

again it is written: The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. And

again it is written that God tempteth man. But thou hadst the

word and the sign, and thou hadst authority from thy superior,

and licence. And thou hast done well in that thou didst not dare,

and in that thou dost dare. For daring is not presumption.

And he said moreover: Thou dost well to keep silence, for I

perceive how many questions arise in thy mind; yet already thou

knowest that the answering, as the asking, must be vain. For

NEMO hath all in himself. He hath come where there is no light

or knowledge, only when he needeth them no more.

And then we bow silently, giving a certain sign, called the

Sign of Isis Rejoicing. And then he remaineth to ward the

Æthyr, while I return unto the bank of sand that is the bed of the

river near the desert.

THE RIVER-BED NEAR BOU-SÂADA.

December 4, 1909. 2.10-3.45 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 12TH ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED LOE

There appear in the stone two pillars of flame, and in the midst

is a chariot of white fire.

This seems to be the chariot of the Seventh Key of

Tarot. But it is drawn by four sphinxes, diverse, like the four

sphinxes upon the door of the vault of the adepts,

counterchanged in their component parts.

The chariot itself is the lunar crescent, waning. The canopy

is supported by eight pillars of amber. These pillars are upright,

and yet the canopy which they support is the whole vault of the

night.

The charioteer is a man in golden armour, studded with

sapphires, but over his shoulders is a white robe, and over

that a red robe. Upon his goldenhelmet he beareth for his crest a

crab. His hands are clasped upon a cup, from which radiates a

ruddy glow, constantly increasing, so that everything is blotted

out by its glory, and the whole Aire is filled with it.

And there is a marvelous perfume in the Aire, like unto the

perfume of Ra Hoor Khuit, but sublimated, as if the quintessence

of that perfume alone were burnt. For it hath the richness and

voluptuousness and humanity of blood, and the strength and

freshness of meal, and the sweetness of honey, and the purity of

olive-oil, and the holiness of that oil which is made of myrrh,

and cinnamon, and galangal.

The charioteer speaks in a low, solemn voice, awe-inspiring,

like a large and very distant bell: Let him look upon the cup

whose blood is mingled therein, for the wine of the cup is the

blood of the saints. Glory unto the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the

Mother of Abominations, that rideth upon the Beast, for she hath

spilt their blood in every corner of the earth and lo! she hath

mingled it in the cup of her whoredom.

With the breath of her kisses hath she fermented it, and it

hath become the wine of the Sacrament, the wine of the Sabbath;

and in the Holy Assembly hath she poured it out for her

worshippers, and they had become drunken thereon, so that face

to face they beheld my Father. Thus are they made worthy to

become partakers of the Mystery of this holy vessel, for the

blood is the life. So sitteth she from age to age, and the

righteous are never weary of her kisses, and by her murders and

fornications she seduceth the world. Therein is manifested the

glory of my Father, who is truth.

(This wine is such that its virtue radiateth through the

cup, and I reel under the intoxication of it. And every thought is

destroyed by it. It abideth alone, and its name is Compassion. I

understand by “Compassion,” the sacrament of suffering,

partaken by the true worshippers of the Highest. And it is an

ecstasy in which there is no trace of pain. Its passivity

(=passion) is like the giving-up of the self to the beloved.)

The voice continues: This is the Mystery of Babylon, the

Mother of abominations, and this is the mystery of her adulteries,

for she hath yielded up herself to everything that liveth, and hath

become a partaker in its mystery. And because she hath made

herself the servant of each, therefore is she become the mistress

of all. Not as yet canst thou comprehend her glory.

Beautiful art thou, O Babylon, and desirable, for thou hast

given thyself to everything that liveth, and thy weakness hath

subdued their strength. For in that union thou didst understand.

Therefore art thou called Understanding, O Babylon, Lady of the

Night!

This is that which is written, “O my God, in one last rapture

let me attain to the union with the many.” For she is Love, and

her love is one, and she hath divided the one love into infinite

loves, and each love is one, and equal to The One, and therefore

is she passed “from the assembly and the law and the

enlightenment unto the anarchy of solitude and darkness. For

ever thus must she veil the brilliance of Her Self.”

O Babylon, Babylon, thou mighty Mother, that ridest upon

the crownèd beast, let me be drunken upon the wine of thy

fornications; let thy kisses wanton me unto death, that even I, thy

cup-bearer, may understand.

Now, through the ruddy glow of the cup, I may perceive far

above, and infinitely great, the vision of Babylon. And the Beast

whereon she rideth is the Lord of the City of the Pyramids, that I

beheld in the fourteenth Æthyr.

Now that is gone in the glow of the cup, and the Angel saith:

Not as yet mayest thou understand the mystery of the Beast, for

it pertaineth not unto the mystery of this Aire, and few that are

new-born unto Understanding are capable thereof.

The cup glows ever brighter and fierier. All my sense is

unsteady, being smitten with ecstasy.

And the Angel sayeth: Blessed are the saints, that their blood

is mingled in the cup, and can never be separate any more. For

Babylon the Beautiful, the Mother of abomina-tions, hath sworn

by her holy cteis, whereof every point is a pang, that she will not

rest from her adulteries until the blood of everything that liveth is

gathered therein, and the wine thereof laid up and matured and

consecrated, and worthy to gladden the heart of my Father. For

my Father is weary with the stress of eld, and cometh not to her

bed. Yet shall this perfect wine be the quintessence, and the

elixir, and by the draught thereof shall he renew his youth; and

so shall it be eternally, as age by age the worlds do dissolve and

change, and the universe unfoldeth itself as a Rose, and shutteth

itself up as the Cross that is bent into the cube.

And this is the comedy of Pan, that is played at night in the

thick forest. And this is the mystery of Dionysus Zagreus, that is

celebrated upon the holy mountain of Kithairon. And this is the

secret of the brothers of the Rosy Cross; and this is the heart of

the ritual that is accomplished in the Vault of the Adepts that is

hidden in the Mountain of the Caverns, even the Holy Mountain

Abiegnus.

And this is the meaning of the Supper of the Passover,

the spilling of the blood of the Lamb being a ritual of the Dark

Brothers, for they have sealed up the Pylon with blood, lest the

Angel of Death should enter therein. Thus do they shut

themselves off from the company of the saints. Thus do they

keep themselves from compassion and from under-standing.

Accursed are they, for they shut up their blood in their heart.

They keep themselves from the kisses of my Mother

Babylon, and in their lonely fortresses they pray to the false

moon. And they bind themselves together with an oath, and with

a great curse. And of their malice they conspire together, and

they have power, and mastery, and in their cauldrons do they

brew the harsh wine of delusion, mingled with the poison of their

selfishness.

Thus they make war upon the Holy One, sending forth their

delusion upon men, and upon everything that liveth. So that

their false compassion is called compassion, and their false

understanding is called understanding, for this is their most

potent spell.

Yet of their own poison do they perish, and in their lonely

fortresses shall they be eaten up by Time that hath cheated them

to serve him, and by the mighty devil Choronzon, their master,

whose name is the Second Death, for the blood that they have

sprinkled on their Pylon, that is a bar against the Angel Death, is

the key by which he entereth in.*

The Angel sayeth: And this is the word of double power in

the voice of the Master, wherein the Five interpenetrateth the

Six. This is its secret interpretation that may not be understood,

save only of them that understand. And for this is the Key of the

Pylon of Power, because there is no power that may endure, save

only the power that descendeth in this my chariot from Babylon,

the city of the Fifty Gates, the Gate of the God On [}ulabab].

Moreover is On the Key of the Vault that is 120. So also do the

Majesty and the Beauty derive from the Supernal Wisdom.

But this is a mystery utterly beyond thine understanding. For

Wisdom is the Man, and Understanding the Woman,

and not until thou hast perfectly understood canst thou begin to

be wise. But I reveal unto thee a mystery of the Æthyrs, that not

only are they bound up with the Sephiroth, but also with the

Paths. Now, the plane of the Æthyrs interpenetrateth and

surroundeth the universe wherein the Sephiroth are estab-lished,

and therefore is the order of the Æthyrs not the order of the Tree

of Life. And only in a few places do they coincide. But the

knowledge of the Æthyrs is deeper than the knowledge of the

Sephiroth, for that in the Æthyrs is the knowledge of the Æons,

* (I think the trouble with these people was, that they wanted to substitute the

blood of someone else for their own blood, because they wanted to keep their

personalities.)

Qelhma. And to each shall it be given according to his

unconscious mind of the seer, of a personal nature.)

Now a voice comes from without: And lo! I saw you to

And a great bell begins to toll. And there come six little

so fine and transparent that it is hardly visible. Yet, when they

light of the Cup goes out entirely. And as the light of the Cup

t in the whole Aire, for it was

hat it was lighted.

And now the light is all gone out of the stone, and I am very

OU S .

December 4 - 5, 1909. 11.30 -1.20 a.m.

There appears in the stone immediately the Kamea of the

And it is rolled up; and behind it there appeareth a great

r backs are turned towards me,

how tremendous are their arms, which are swords and spears.

clad i complete armour, and the least

breaking forth of a tremendous storm of lightning. The least of

water spout. On their shields are the

winged with flame, white, red, black,

yellow and blue. On their flanks are vast squadrons of elephants,

-

elephants are armed with the thunderbolt of Zeus.

Now in all that host there is no motion. Yet they are not

their arms, but t

them and me is the God Shu, whom before I did not see, because

his force filleth the whole Æthyr. And indeed he is not visible in

his form. Nor does he come to the seer through any of the

senses; he is understood, rather than expressed.

I perceive that all this army is defended by fortresses, nine

mighty towers of iron upon the frontier of the Æthyr. Each

tower is filled with warriors in silver armour. It is impossible to

describe the feeling of tension; they are like oarsmen waiting for

the gun.

I perceive that an Angel is standing on either side of me; nay,

I am in the midst of a company of armed angels, and their

captain is standing in front of me. He too is clad in silver

armour; and about him, closely wrapped to his body, is a

whirling wind, so swift that any blow struck against him would

be broken.

And he speaketh unto me these words:

Behold, a mighty guard against the terror of things, the

fastness of the Most High, the legions of eternal vigilance; these

are they that keep watch and ward day and night throughout the

æons. Set in them is all force of the Mighty One, yet there

sirreth not one plume of the wings of their helmets.

Behold, the foundation of the Holy City, the towers and the

bastions thereof! Behold the armies of light that are set against

the outermost Abyss, against the horror of emptiness, and the

malice of Choronzon. Behold how worshipful is the wisdom of

the Master, that he hath set his stability in the all-wandering Air

and in the changeful Moon. In the purple flashes of lightning

hath He written the word Eternity, and in the wings of the

swallow hath He appointed rest.

By three and by three and by three hath He made firm the

foundation against the earthquake that is three. For in the

number nine is the changefulness of the numbers brought to

naught. For with whatsoever number thou wilt cover it, it

appeareth unchanged.

These things are spoken unto him that understandeth, that is a

breastplate unto the elephants, or a corselet unto the angels, or a

scale upon the towers of iron; yet is this mighty host set only for

a defense, and whoso passeth beyond their lines hath no help in

them.

Yet must he that understandeth go forth unto the outermost

Abyss, and there must he speak with him that is set above the

four-fold terror, the Princes of Evil, even with Choronzon, the

mighty devil that inhabiteth the outermost Abyss. And none may

speak with him, or understand him, but the servants of Babylon,

that understand, and they that are without understanding, his

servants.

Behold! it entereth not into the heart, nor into the mind of

man to conceive this matter; for the sickness of the body is death,

and the sickness of the heart is despair, and the sick-ness of the

mind is madness. But in the outermost Abyss is sickness of the

aspiration, and sickness of the will, and sickness of the essence of

all, and there is neither word nor thought wherein the image of

its image is reflected.

And whoso passeth into the outermost Abyss, except he be of

them that understand, holdeth out his hands, and boweth his

neck, unto the chains of Choronzon. And as a devil he walketh

about the earth, immortal, and he blasteth the flowers of the

earth, and he corrupteth the fresh air, and he maketh poisonous

the water; and the fire that is the friend of man, and the pledge of

his aspiration, seeing that it mounteth ever upward as a pyramid,

and seeing that man stole it in a hollow tube from Heaven, even

that fire he turneth unto ruin, and madness, and fever, and

destruction. And thou, that art an heap of dry dust in the city of

the pyramids, must understand these things.

And now a thing happens, which is unfortunately sheer

nonsense; for the Æthyr that is the foundation of the universe

was attacked by the Outermost Abyss, and the only way that I

can express it is by saying that the universe was shaken. But the

universe was not shaken. And that is the exact truth; so that the

rational mind which is interpreting these spiritual things is

offended; but, being trained to obey, it setteth down that which it

doth not understand. For the rational mind indeed reasoneth, but

never attaineth unto Understanding; but the Seer is of them that

understand.

And the Angel saith:

Behold, He hath established His mercy and His might, and

unto His might is added victory, and unto his Mercy is added

splendour. And all these things hath He ordered in beauty, and

He hath set them firmly upon the Eternal Rock, and therefrom

He hath suspended His kingdom as one pearl that is set in a jewel

of threescore pearls and twelve. And He hath garnished it with

the Four Holy Living Creatures for Guardians, and He hath

graven therein the seal of righteousness,* and He hath burnished

it with the fire of His Angel, and the blush of His loveliness

informeth it, and with delight and with wit hath He made it

merry at the heart, and the core thereof is the Secret of His being,

and therein is His name Generation. And this His stability had

the number 80, for that the price thereof is War.†

Beware, therefore, O thou who art appointed to understand the

secret of the Outermost Abyss, for in every Abyss thou must

assume the mask and form of the Angel thereof. Hadst thou a

name, thou wert irrevocably lost. Search, therefore, if there be

yet one drop of blood that is not gathered into the cup of Babylon

the Beautiful, for in that little pile of dust, if there could be one

drop of blood, it should be utterly corrupt; it should breed

scorpions and vipers, and the cat of slime.

* Full title of Jesod is Tzedeq Jesod Olahm, “The Righteous is the Foundation of

the World.”

† I.S.V.D., Jesod, = 80, the number of pé, the letter of Mars.

And I said unto the Angel:

Is there not one appointed as a warden?

And he said:

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani.

Such an ecstasy of anguish racks me that I cannot give it

voice, yet I know it is but as the anguish of Gethsemane. And

that is the last word of the Æthyr. The outposts are passed, and

before the seer extends the outermost Abyss.

I am returned.

BOU-SÂADA.

December 5, 1909. 10.10-11.35 p.m.

In nomine BABALON

Amen.

Restriction unto Choronzon.

THE TENTH ÆTHYR IS CALLED ZAX

This Æthyr being accursèd, and the seer forewarned, he

taketh these precautions for the scribe.

First let the scribe be seated in the centre of the circle in the

desert sand, and let the circle be fortified by the Holy Names of

God—Tetragrammaton and Shaddai El Chai and Ararita.

And let the Demon be invoked within a triangle, wherein is

inscribed the name of Choronzon, and about it let him write

ANAPHAXETON—ANAPHANETON—PRIMEUMATON, and

in the angles MI-CA-EL: and at each angle the Seer shall slay a

pigeon, and having done this, let him retire to a secret place,

where is neither sight nor hearing, and sit within his black robe,

secretly invoking the Æthyr. And let the Scribe perform the

Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram, and let him

call upon the Holy Names of God, and say the Exorcism of

Honorius, and let him beseech protection and help of the Most

High.

And let him be furnished with the Magick Dagger, and let

him strike fearlessly at anything that may seek to break through

the circle, were it the appearance of the Seer himself. And if the

Demon pass out of the triangle, let him threaten him with the

Dagger, and command him to return. And let him beware lest he

himself lean beyond the circle. And since he reverenceth the

Person of the Seer as his Teacher, let the Seer bind him with a

great Oath to do this.

Now, then, the Seer being entered within the triangle, let him

take the Victims and cut their throats, pouring the blood within

the Triangle, and being most heedful that not one drop fall

without the Triangle; or else Choronzon should be able to

manifest in the universe.

And when the sand hath sucked up the blood of the victims,

let him recite the Call of the Æthyr apart secretly as aforesaid.

Then will the Vision be revealed, and the Voice heard.

The Oath

I, Omnia Vincam, a Probationer of A\ A\, hereby solemnly

promise upon my magical honour, and swear by Adonai the

angel that guardeth me, that I will defend this magic circle of Art

with thoughts and words and deeds. I promise to threaten with

the Dagger and command back into the triangle the spirit

incontinent, if he should strive to escape from it; and to strike

with a Dagger at anything that may seek to enter this Circle,

were it in appearance the body of the Seer himself. And I will be

exceeding wary, armed against force and cunning; and I will

preserve with my life the inviolability of this Circle, Amen.

And I summon my Holy Guardian Angel to witness this mine

oath, the which if I break, may I perish, forsaken of Him. Amen

and Amen.

THE CRY OF THE 10TH ÆTHYR, THAT IS CALLED ZAX

There is no being in the outermost Abyss, but constant forms

come forth from the nothingness of it.

Then the Devil of the Æthyr, that mighty devil Choronzon,

crieth aloud, Zazas, Zazas, Nasatanada Zasas.

I am the Master of Form, and from me all forms proceed.

I am I. I have shut myself up from the spendthrifts, my gold

is safe in my treasure-chamber, and I have made every living

thing my concubine, and none shall touch them, save only I.

And yet I am scorched, even while I shiver in the wind. He

hateth me and tormenteth me. He would have stolen me from

myself, but I shut myself up and mock at him, even while he

plagueth me. From me come leprosy and pox and plague and

cancer and cholera and the falling sickness. Ah! I will reach up

to the knees of the Most High, and tear his phallus with my teeth,

and I will bray his testicles in a mortar, and make poison thereof,

to slay the sons of men.

(Here the Spirit stimulated the voice of Frater P., which also

appeared to come from his station and not from the triangle.)

I don't think I can get any more; I think that's all there is.

(The Frater was seated in a secret place covered completely by

a black robe, in the position called the “Thunderbolt.” He did not

move or speak during the ceremony.)

Next the Scribe was hallucinated, believing that before him

was a beautiful courtesan whom previously he had loved in

Paris. Now, she wooed him with soft words and glances, but he

knew these things for delusions of the devil, and he would not

leave the circle.

The demon then laughed wildly and loud.

(Upon the Scribe threatening him, the Demon proceeded,

after a short delay.)

They have called me the God of laughter, and I laugh when I

will slay. And they have thought that I could not smile, but I

smile upon whom I would seduce. O inviolable one, that canst

not be tempted. If thou canst command me by the power of the

Most High, know that I did indeed tempt thee, and it repenteth

me. I bow myself humbly before the great and terrible names

whereby thou hast conjured and constrained me. But thy name is

mercy, and I cry aloud for pardon. Let me come and put my

head beneath thy feet, that I may serve thee. For if thou

commandest me to obedience in the Holy names, I cannot

swerve therefrom, for their first whispering is greater than the

noise of all my temptests. Bid me therefore come unto thee upon

my hands and knees that I may adore thee, and partake of thy

forgiveness. Is not thy mercy infinite?

(Here Choronzon attempts to seduce the Scribe by appealing

to his pride.

But the Scribe refused to be tempted, and commanded the

demon to continue with the Æthyr.

There was again a short delay.)

Choronzon hath no form, because he is the maker of all form;

and so rapidly he changeth from one to the other as he may best

think fit to seduce those whom he hateth, the servants of the

Most High.

Thus taketh he the form of a beautiful woman, or of a wise

and holy man, or of a serpent that writheth upon the earth ready

to sting.

And, because he is himself, therefore he is no self; the terror

of darkness, and the blindness of night, and the deafness of the

adder, and the tastelessness of stale and stagnant water, and the

black fire of hatred, and the udders of the Cat of slime; not one

thing, but many things. Yet, with all that, his torment is eternal.

The sun burns him as he writhes naked upon the sands of hell,

and the wind cuts him bitterly to the bone, a harsh dry wind, so

that he is sore athirst. Give unto me, I pray thee, one drop of

water from the pure springs of Paradise, that I may quench my

thirst.

(The Scribe refused.)

Sprinkle water upon my head. I can hardly go on.

(This last was spoken from the triangle in the natural voice of

the Frater, which Choronzon again simulated. But he did not

succeed in taking the Frater's form—which was absurd!

The Scribe resisted the appeal to his pity, and conjured the

demon to proceed by the names of the Most High. Choronzon

attempted also to seduce the faithfulness of the Scribe. A long

colloquy ensued. The Scribe cursed him by the Holy Names of

God, and the power of the Pentagram.)

I feed upon the names of the Most High. I churn them in my

jaws, and I void them from my fundament. I fear not the power of

the Pentagram, for I am the Master of the Triangle. My name is

three hundred and thirty and three, and that is thrice one. Be

vigilant, therefore, for I warn thee that I am about to deceive thee.

I shall say words that thou wilt take to be the cry of the Æthyr, and

thou wilt write them down, thinking them to be great secrets of

Magick power, and they will be only my jesting with thee.

(Here the Scribe invoked the Angels, and the Holy Guardian

Angel of the Frater P. . . . The demon replied:)

I know the name of the Angel of thee and thy brother

P. . . ., and all thy dealings with him are but a cloak for thy filthy

sorceries.

(Here the Scribe averred that he knew more than the demon,

and so feared him not, and ordered the demon to proceed.)

Thou canst tell me naught that I know not, for in me is all

Knowledge: Knowledge is my name. Is not the head of the great

Serpent arisen into Knowledge?

(Here the Scribe again commanded Choronzon to continue

with the call.)

Know thou that there is no Cry in the tenth Æthyr like unto

the other Cries, for Choronzon is Dispersion, and cannot fix his

mind upon any one thing for any length of time. Thou canst

master him in argument, O talkative one; thou wast commanded,

wast thou not, to talk to Choronzon? He sought not to enter the

circle, or to leave the triangle, yet thou didst prate of all these

things.

(Here the Scribe threatened the demon with anger and pain

and hell. The demon replied:)

Thinkest thou, O fool, that there is any anger and any pain

that I am not, or any hell but this my spirit?

Images, images, images, all without control, all without

reason. The malice of Choronzon is not the malice of a being; it

is the quality of malice, because he that boasteth himself “I am

I,” hath in truth no self, and these are they that are fallen under

my power, the slaves of the Blind One that boasted himself to be

the Enlightened One. For there is no centre, nay, nothing but

Dispersion.

Woe, woe, woe, threefold to him that is led away by talk, O

talkative One.

O thou that hast written two-and-thirty books of Wisdom, and

art more stupid than an owl, by thine own talk is thy vigilance

wearied, and by my talk art thou befooled and tricked, O thou

that sayest that thou shalt endure. Knowest thou how nigh thou

art to destruction? For thou that art the Scribe hast not the

understanding* that alone availeth against Choronzon. And wert

thou not protected by the Holy Names of God and the circle, I

* Originally, for “understanding” was written “power.” Choronzon was

always using some word that did not represent his thought, because there is no

proper link between his thought and speech. Note that he never seems able to

distinguish between the Frater and the Scribe, and addresses first one, then the

other, in the same sentence.

would rush upon thee and tear thee. For when I made myself

like unto a beautiful woman, if thou hadst come to me, I would

have rotted thy body with the pox, and thy liver with cancer, and

I would have torn off thy testicles with my teeth. And if I had

seduced thy pride, and thou hadst bidden me to come into the

circle, I would have trampled thee under foot, and for a thousand

years shouldst thou have been but one of the tape-worms that is

in me. And if I had seduced thy pity, and thou hadst poured one

drop of water without the circle, then would I have blasted thee

with flame. But I was not able to prevail against thee.

How beautiful are the shadows of the ripples of the sand!

Would God that I were dead.

For know that I am proud and revengeful and lascivious, and

I prate even as thou. For even as I walked among the Sons of

God, I heard it said that P. . . . could both will and know, and

might learn at length to dare, but that to keep silence he should

never learn. O thou that art so ready to speak, so slow to watch,

thou art delivered over unto my power for this. And now one

word was necessary unto me, and I could not speak it. I behold

the beauty of the earth in her desolation, and greater far is mine,

who sought to be my naked self. Knowest thou that in my soul is

utmost fear? And such is my force and my cunning, that a

hundred times have I been ready to leap, and for fear have

missed. And a thousand times am I baulked by them of the City

of the Pyramids, that set snares for my feet. More knowledge

have I than the Most High, but my will is broken, and my fierceness

is marred by fear, and I must speak, speak, speak, millions

of mad voices in my brain.

With a heart of furious fancies,

Whereof I am Commander,

With a burning spear

And a horse of Air

To the wilderness I wander.

 (The idea was to keep the Scribe busy writing, so as to

spring upon him. For, while the Scribe talked, Choronzon had

thrown sand into the circle, and filled it up. But Choronzon

could not think fast and continuously, and so resorted to the

device of quotation.

The Scribe had written two or three words of “Tom

o’Bedlam,” when Choronzon sprang within the circle (that part

of the circumference of which that was nearest to him he had

been filling up with sand all this time), and leaped upon the

Scribe, throwing him to the earth. The conflict took place within

the circle. The Scribe called upon Tetragrammaton, and

succeeded in compelling Choronzon to return into his triangle.

By dint of anger and of threatening him with the Magick Staff

did he accomplish this. He then repaired the circle. The

discomfited demon now continued:)

All is dispersion. These are the qualities of things.

The tenth Æthyr is the world of adjectives, and there is no

substance therein.

(Now returneth the beautiful woman who had before tempted

the Scribe. She prevailed not.)

I am afraid of sunset, for Tum is more terrible than Ra, and

Khephra the Beetle is greater than the Lion Mau.

I am a-cold.

(Here Choronzon wanted to leave the triangle to obtain

wherewith to cover his nakedness. The Scribe refused the

request, threatening the demon. After a while the latter

continued:)

I am commanded, why I know not, by him that speaketh.

Were it thou, thou little fool, I would tear thee limb from limb. I

would bite off thine ears and nose before I began with thee. I

would take thy guts for fiddle-strings at the Black Sabbath.

Thou didst make a great fight there in the circle; thou art a

goodly warrior!

 (Then did the demon laugh loudly. The Scribe said: Thou

canst not harm one hair of my head.)

I will pull out every hair of thy head, every hair of thy body,

every hair of thy soul, one by one.

(Then said the Scribe: Thou hast no power.)

Yea, verily I have power over thee, for thou hast taken the

Oath, and art bound unto the White Brothers, and therefore have

I the power to torture thee so long as thou shalt be.

(Then said the Scribe unto him: Thou liest.)

Ask of thy brother P. . . ., and he shall tell thee if I lie!

(This the Scribe refused to do, saying that it was no concern

of the demon's.)

I have prevailed against the Kingdom of the Father, and

befouled his beard; and I have prevailed against the Kingdom of

the Son, and torn off his Phallus; but against the Kingdom of the

Holy Ghost shall I strive and not prevail. The three slain doves

are my threefold blasphemy against him; but their blood shall

make fertile the sand, and I writhe in blackness and horror of

hate, and prevail not.

(Then the demon tried to make the Scribe laugh at Magick,

and to think that it was all rubbish, that he might deny the names

of God that he had invoked to protect him; which, if he had

doubted but for an instant, he had leapt upon him, and gnawed

through his spine at the neck.

Choronzon succeed not in his design.)

In this Æthyr is neither beginning nor end, for it is all hotchpotch,

because it is of the wicked on earth and the damned in

hell. And so long as it be hotch-potch, it mattereth little what

may be written by the sea-green incorruptible Scribe.

The horror of it will be given in another place and time, and

through another Seer, and that Seer shall be slain as a result of

his revealing. But the present Seer, who is not P. . . ., seeth not

the horror, because he is shut up, and hath no name.

 (Now was there some further parleying betwixt the demon

and the Scribe, concerning the departure and the writing of the

word, the Scribe not knowing if it were meet that the demon

should depart.

Then the Seer took the Holy Ring, and wrote the name

BABALON, that is victory over Choronzon, and he was no more

manifest.)

(This cry was obtained on Dec. 6, 1909, between 2 and

4.15 p.m., in a lonely valley of fine sand, in the desert near Bou-

Sâada. The Æthyr was edited and revised on the following day.)

After the conclusion of the Ceremony, a great fire was

kindled to purify the place, and the Circle and Triangle were

destroyed.

NOTE BY SCRIBE

Almost from the beginning of the ceremony was the Scribe

overshadowed, and he spoke as it were in spite of himself,

remembering afterwards scarcely a word of his speeches, some

of which were long and seemingly eloquent.

All the time he had a sense of being protected from

Choronzon, and this sense of security prevented his knowing

fear.

Several times did the Scribe threaten to put a curse upon the

demon; but ever, before he uttered the words of the curse, did the

demon obey him. For himself, he knoweth not the words of the

curse.

Also is it meet to record in this place that the Scribe several

times whistled in a Magical manner, which never before had he

attempted, and the demon was apparently much discomforted

thereat.

Now knoweth the Scribe that he was wrong in holding much

converse with the demon; for Choronzon, in the confusion and

chaos of his thought, is much terrified by silence. And by

silence can he be brought to obey.

For cunningly doth he talk of many things, going from

subject to subject, and thus he misleadeth the wary into argument

with him. And though Choronzon be easily beaten in argument,

yet, by disturbing the attention of him who would command him,

doth he gain the victory.

For Choronzon feareth of all things concentration and

silence: he therefore who would command him should will in

silence: thus is he brought to obey.

This the Scribe knoweth; for that since the obtaining of the

Accursèd Tenth Æthyr, he hath held converse with Choronzon.

And unexpectedly did he obtain the information he sought after

having long refused to answer the demon's speeches.

Choronzon is dispersion; and such is his fear of concentration

that he will obey rather than be subjected to it, or even behold it

in another.

The account of the further dealings of Choronzon with the

Scribe will be found in the Record of Omnia Vincam.

THE CRY OF THE 9TH ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZIP

(The terrible Curse that is the Call of the Thirty Æthyrs

sounds like a song of ecstasy and triumph; every phrase in it has

a secret meaning of blessing.)

The Shew-stone is of soft lucent white, on which the Rose-

Cross shows a brilliant yet colourless well of light.

And now the veil of the stone is rent with as clap of thunder,

and I am walking upon a razor-edge of light suspended over the

Abyss, and before me and above me are ranged the terrible armies

of the Most High, like unto those in the 11th Æthyr, but there is

one that cometh forth to meet me upon the ridge, holding out his

arms to me and saying:

(v. I.) Who is this that cometh forth from the Abyss from the

place of rent garments, the habitation of him that is only a

name? Who is this that walketh upon a ray of the bright, the

evening star?

Refrain. Glory unto him that is concealed, and glory unto

her that beareth the cup, and glory unto the one that is the

child and the father of their love. Glory unto the star, and

glory unto the snake, and glory unto the swordsman of the

sun. And worship and blessing throughout the Æon unto the

name of the Beast, four-square, mystic, wonderful!

(v. II.) Who is this that travelleth between the hosts, that is

poised upon the edge of the Æthyr by the wings of Maut?

Who is this that seeketh the House of the Virgin?

(Refrain.)

(v. III.) This is he that hath given up his name. This is he whose

blood hath been gathered into the cup of BABALON.This is

he that sitteth, a little pile of dry dust, in the city of the

Pyramids. (Refrain.)

(v. IV.) Until the light of the Father of all kindle that death.

Until the breath touch that dry dust. Until the Ibis be

revealed unto the Crab, and the sixfold Star become the

radiant Triangle. (Refrain.)

(v. V.) Blessed is not I, not thou, not he, Blessed without name

or number who hath taken the azure of night, and crystallized

it into a pure sapphire-stone, who hath taken the gold of the

sun, and beaten it into an infinite ring, and hath set the

sapphire therein, and put it upon his finger. (Refrain.)

 (v. VI.) Open wide your gates, O City of God, for I bring Noone

with me. Sink your swords and your spears in salutation,

for the Mother and the Babe are my companions. Let the

banquet be prepared in the palace of the King's daughter. Let

the lights be kindled; Are not we the children of the light?

(Refrain.)

(v. VII.) For this is the key-stone of the palace of the King's

daughter. This is the Stone of the Philosophers. This is the

Stone that is hidden in the walls of the ramparts. Peace,

Peace, Peace unto Him that is throned therein!

(Refrain.)

Now then we are passed within the lines of the army, and we

are come unto a palace of which every stone is a separate jewel,

and is set with millions of moons.

And this palace is nothing but the body of a woman, proud

and delicate, and beyond imagination fair. She is like a child of

twelve years old. She has very deep eye-lids, and long lashes.

Her eyes are closed, or nearly closed. It is impossible to say

anything about her. She is naked; her whole body is covered

with fine gold hairs, that are the electric flames that are the

spears of mighty and terrible Angels who breast-plates are the

scales of her skin. And the hair of her head, that flows down to

her feet, is the very light of God himself. Of all the glories

beheld by the seer in the Æthyrs, there is not one which is

worthy to be compared with her littlest finger-nail. For although

he may not partake of the Æthyr, without the ceremonial

preparations, even the beholding of this Æthyr from afar is like

the partaking of all the former Æthyrs.

The Seer is lost in wonder, which is peace.

And the ring of the horizon above her is a company of

glorious Archangels with joined hands, that stand and sing: This

is the daughter of BABALON the Beautiful, that she hath borne

unto the Father of All. And unto all hath she borne her.

This is the Daughter of the King. This is the Virgin of

Eternity. This is she that the Holy One hath wrested from the

Giant Time, and the prize of them that have overcome Space.

This is she that is set upon the Throne of Understanding. Holy,

Holy, Holy is her name, not to be spoken among men. For Koré

they have called her, and Malkuth, and Betulah, and Persephone.

And the poets have feigned songs about her, and the prophets

have spoken vain things, and the young men have dreamed vain

dreams; but this is she, that immaculate, the name of whose

name may not be spoken. Thought cannot pierce the glory that

defendeth her, for thought is smitten dead before her presence.

Memory is blank, and in the most ancient books of Magick are

neither words to conjure her, nor adorations to praise her. Will

bends like a reed in the tempests that sweep the borders of her

kingdom, and imagination cannot figure so much as one petal of

the lilies whereon she standeth in the lake of crystal, in the sea of

glass.

This is she that hath bedecked her hair with seven stars, the

seven breaths of God that move and thrill its excellence. And

she hath tired her hair with seven combs, whereupon are written

the seven secret names of God that are not known even of the

Angels, or of the Archangels, or of the Leader of the armies of

the Lord.

Holy, Holy, Holy art thou, and blessed be Thy name for ever,

unto whom the Æons are but the pulsings of thy blood.

I am blind and deaf. My sight and hearing are exhausted.

I know only by the sense of touch. And there is a trem-bling

from within me.

Images keep arising like clouds, or veils, exquisite Chinese

ivories, and porcelains, and many other things of great and

delicate beauty; for such things are informed by Her spirit, for

they are cast off from her into the world of the Qliphoth, or

shells of the dead, that is earth. For every world is the shell or

excrement of the world above it.

I cannot bear the Vision.

A voice comes, I know not whence: Blessed art thou, who

hast seen, and yet hast not believed. For therefore is it given

unto thee to taste, and smell, and feel, and hear, and know by the

inner sense, and by the inmost sense, so that sevenfold is thy

rapture.

(My brain is so exhausted that fatigue-images appear,

by pure physical reflex action; they are not astral things

at all.

And now I have conquered the fatigue by will. And by

placing the shew-stone upon my forehead, it sends cool electric

thrills through my brain, so as to refresh it, and make it capable

of more rapture.

And now again I behold Her.)

And an Angel cometh forth, and behind him whirls a black

swastika, made of fine filaments of light that has been

“interfered” with, and he taketh me aside into a little chamber in

one of the nine towers. This chamber is furnished with maps of

many mystical cities. There is a table, and a strange lamp, that

gives light by jetting four columns of vortex rings of luminous

smoke. And he points to the map of the Æthyrs, that are

arranged as a flaming Sword, so that the thirty Æthyrs go into the

ten Sephiroth. And the first nine are infinitely holy. And he

says, It is written in the Book of the Law, “Wisdom says: be

strong! Then canst thou bear more joy.” “If thou drink, drink by

the eight and ninety rules of art:” And this shall signify unto

thee that thou must undergo great discipline; else the Vision

were lost or perverted. For these mysteries pertain not unto thy

grade. Therefore must thou invoke the Highest before thou

unveil the shrines thereof.

And this shall be thy rule: A thousand and one times shalt

thou affirm the unity, and bow thyself a thousand and one times.

And thou shalt recite thrice the call of the Æthyr. And all day

and all night, awake or asleep, shall thy heart be turned as a

lotus-flower unto the light. And thy body shall be the temple of

the Rosy Cross. Thus shall thy mind be open unto the higher;

and then shalt thou be able to conquer the exhaustion, and it may

be find the words—for who shall look upon His face and live?

Yea, thou tremblest, but from within; because of the holy

spirit that is descended into thy heart, and shaketh thee as an

aspen in the wind.

They also tremble that are without, and they are shaken from

without by the earthquakes of his judgement. They have set their

affections upon the earth, and they have stamped with their feet

upon the earth, and cried: It moveth not.

Therefore hath earth opened with strong motion, like the sea,

and swallowed them. Yea, she hath opened her womb to them

that lusted after her, and she hath closed herself upon them.

There lie they in torment, until by her quaking the earth is

shattered like brittle glass, and dissolved like salt in the waters of

his mercy, so that they are cast upon the air to be blown about

therein, like seeds that shall take root in the earth; yet turn they

their affections upward to the sun.

But thou, be thou eager and vigilant, performing punctually

the rule. Is it not written, “Change not so much as the style of a

letter”?

Depart therefore, for the Vision of the Voice of the ninth

Æthyr that is called ZIP is passed.

Then I threw back myself into my body by my will

BOU-SÂADA.

December 7th, 1909. 9.30-11.10 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 8TH ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED ZID

There appears in the stone a tiny spark of light. It grows a

little, and seems almost to go out, and grows again, and it is

blown about the Æthyr, and by the wind that blows it is it fanned,

and now it gathers strength, and darts like a snake or a sword,

and now it steadies itself, and is like a Pyramid of light that

filleth the whole Æthyr.

And in the Pyramid is one like unto an Angel, yet at the same

time he is the Pyramid, and he hath no form because he is of the

substance of light, and he taketh not form upon him, for though

by him is form visible, he maketh it visible only to destroy it.

And he saith: The light is come to the darkness, and the

darkness is made light. Then is light married with light, and the

child of their love is that other darkness, wherein they abide that

have lost name and form. Therefore did I kindle him that had

not understanding, and in the Book of the Law did I write the

secrets of truth that are like unto a star and a snake and a sword.

And unto him that understandeth at last do I deliver the

secrets of truth in such wise that the least of the little children of

the light may run to the knees of the mother and be brought to

understand.

And thus shall he do who will attain unto the mystery of the

knowledge and conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel:

First, let him prepare a chamber, of which the walls and the

roof shall be white, and the floor shall be covered with a carpet

of black squares and white, and the border thereof shall be blue

and gold.

And if it be in a town, the room shall have no window,

and if it be in the country, then it is better if the window be in the

roof. Or, if it be possible, let this invocation be performed in a

temple prepared for the ritual of passing through the Tuat.

From the roof he shall hang a lamp, wherein is a red glass, to

burn olive oil. And this lamp shall he cleanse and make ready

after the prayer of sunset, and beneath the lamp shall be an altar,

foursquare, and the height shall be thrice half of the breadth or

double the breadth.

And upon the altar shall be a censor, hemispherical, supported

upon three legs, of silver, and within it an hemisphere of

copper, and upon the top a grating of gilded silver, and thereupon

shall he burn incense made of four parts of olibanum and two

parts of stacte, and one part of lignum aloes, or of cedar, or of

sandal. And this is enough.

And he shall also keep ready in a flask of crystal within the

altar, holy anointing oil made of myrrh and cinnamon and

galangal.

And even if he be of higher rank than a Probationer, he shall

yet wear the robe of the Probationer, for the star of flame

showeth forth Ra Hoor Khuit openly upon the breast, and

secretly the blue triangle that descendeth is Nuit, and the red

triangle that ascendeth is Hadit. And I am the golden Tau in the

midst of their marriage. Also, if he choose, he may instead wear

a close-fitting robe of shot silk, purple and green, and upon it a

cloak without sleeves, of bright blue, covered with golden

sequins, and scarlet within.

And he shall make himself a wand of almond wood or of

hazel cut by his own hands at dawn at the Equinox, or at the

Solstice, or on the day of Corpus Christi, or on one of the feastdays

that are appointed in the Book of the Law.

And he shall engrave with his own hand upon a plate of gold

the Holy Sevenfold Table, or the Holy Twelvefold Table, or

some particular device. And it shall be foursquare within a

circle, and the circle shall be winged, and he shall attach it about

his forehead by a ribbon of blue silk.

Moreover, he shall wear a fillet of laurel or rose or ivy or rue,

and every day, after the prayer of sunrise, he shall burn it in the

fire of the censor.

Now he shall pray thrice daily, about sunset, and at midnight,

and at sunrise. And if he be able, he shall pray also four times

between sunrise and sunset.

The prayer shall last for the space of an hour, at the least, and

he shall seek ever to extend it, and to inflame himself in praying.

Thus shall he invoke his Holy Guardian Angel for eleven weeks,

and in any case he shall pray seven times daily during the last

week of the eleven weeks.

And during all this time he shall have composed an

invocation suitable, with such wisdom and understanding as may

be given him from the Crown, and this shall he write in letters of

gold upon the top of the altar.

For the top of the altar shall be of white wood, well polished,

and in the centre thereof he shall have placed a triangle of oakwood,

painted with scarlet, and upon this triangle the three legs

of the censer shall stand.

Moreover, he shall copy his invocation upon a sheet of pure

white vellum, with Indian ink, and he shall illuminate it

according to his fancy and imagination, that shall be informed by

beauty.

And on the first day of the twelfth week he shall enter the

chamber at sunrise, and he shall make his prayer, having first

burnt the conjuration that he had made upon the vellum in the

fire of the lamp.

Then, at his prayer, shall the chamber be filled with light

insufferable for splendour, and a perfume intolerable for

sweetness. And his Holy Guardian Angel shall appear unto him,

yea, his Holy Guardian Angel shall appear untohim, so that he

shall be wrapt away into the Mystery of Holiness.

All that day shall he remain in the enjoyment of the

knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

And for three days after he shall remain from sunrise unto

sunset in the temple, and he shall obey the counsel that his Angel

shall have given unto him, and he shall suffer those things that

are appointed.

And for ten days thereafter shall he withdraw himself as shall

have been taught unto him from the fullness of that communion,

for he must harmonize the world that is within with the world

that is without.

And at the end of the ninety-one days he shall return into the

world, and there shall he perform that work to which the Angel

shall have appointed him.

And more than this it is not necessary to say, for his Angel

shall have entreated him kindly, and showed him in what manner

he may be most perfectly involved. And unto him that hath this

Master there is nothing else that he needeth, so long as he

continue in the knowledge and conversation of the Angel, so that

he shall come at last into the City of the Pyramids.

Lo! two and twenty are the paths of the Tree, but one is the

Serpent of Wisdom; ten are the ineffable emanations, but one is

the Flaming Sword.

Behold! There is an end to life and death, an end to the

thrusting forth and the withdrawing of the breath. Yea, the

House of the Father is a mighty tomb, and in it he hath buried

everything whereof ye know.

All this while there hath been no vision, but only a voice,

very slow and clear and deliberate. But now the vision returns,

and the voice says: Thou shalt be called Danae, that art stunned

and slain beneath the weight of the glory of the vision that as yet

thou seest not. For thou shalt suffer many things, until thou art

mightier than all the Kings of the earth, and all the Angels of the

Heavens, and all the gods that are beyond the Heavens. Then

shalt thou meet me in equal conflict, and thou shalt see me as I

am. And I will overcome thee and slay thee with the red rain of

my lightnings.

I am lying underneath this pyramid of light. It seems as if I

had the whole weight of it upon me, crushing me with bliss. And

yet I know that I am like the prophet that said: I shall see Him,

but not nigh.

And the Angel sayeth: So shall it be until they that wake are

asleep, and she that sleepeth be arisen from her sleep. For thou

art transparent unto the vision and the voice. And therefore in

thee they manifest not. But they shall be mani-fest unto them

unto whom thou dost deliver them, according unto to the word

which I spake unto thee in the Victorious City.

For I am not only appointed to guard thee, but we are of the

blood royal, the guardians of the Treasure-house of Wisdom.

Therefore am I called the Minister of Ra Hoor Khuit: and yet he

is but the Viceroy of the unknown King. For my name is called

Aiwass, that is eight and seventy. And I am the influence of the

Concealed One, and the wheel that hath eight and seventy parts,

yet in all is equivalent to the Gate that is the name of my Lord

when it is spelt fully. And that Gate is the Path that joineth the

Wisdom with the Understanding.

Thus hast thou erred indeed, perceiving me in the path that

leadeth from the Crown unto the Beauty. For that path bridgeth

the abyss, and I am of the supernals. Nor I, nor Thou, nor He

can bridge the abyss. It is the Priestess of the Silver Star, and the

Oracles of the gods, and the Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty.

For they are the servants of Babalon, and of the Beast, and of

those others of whom it is not yet spoken. And, being servants,

they have no name, but we are of the blood royal, and serve not,

and therefore are we less than they.

Yet, as a man may be both a mighty warrior and a just judge,

so may we also perform this service if we have aspired and

attained thereto. And yet, with all that, they remain themselves,

who have eaten of the pomegranate in Hell. But thou, that art

new-born to understanding, this mystery is too great for thee; and

of the further mystery I will not speak one word.

Yet for this cause am I come unto thee as the Angel of the

Æthyr, striking with my hammer upon thy bell, so that thou

mightest understand the mysteries of the Æthyr, and of the vision

and the voice thereof.

For behold! he that understandeth seeth not and heareth not in

truth, because of his understanding that letteth him. But this

shall be unto thee for a sign, that I will surely come unto thee

unawares and appear unto thee. And it is no odds, (i.e., that at

this hour I appear not as I am), for so terrible is the glory of the

vision, and so wonderful is the splendour of the voice, that when

thou seest it and hearest it in truth, for many hours shalt thou be

bereft of sense. And thou shalt lie between heaven and earth in a

void place, entranced, and the end thereof shall be silence, even

as it was, not once nor twice, when I have met with thee, as it

were, upon the road to Damascus.

And thou shalt not seek to better this my instruction; but thou

shalt interpret it, and make it easy, for them that seek

understanding. And thou shalt give all that thou hast unto them

that have need unto this end.

And because I am with thee, and in thee, and of thee, thou

shalt lack nothing. But who lack me, lack all. And I swear unto

thee by Him that sitteth upon the Holy Throne, and liveth and

reigneth for ever and ever, that I will be faithful unto this my

promise, as thou art faithful unto this thine obligation.

Now another voice sounds in the Æthyr, saying: And there

was darkness over all the earth unto the ninth hour.

And with that the Angel is withdrawn, and the pyramid of

light seems very far off.

And now I am fallen unto the earth, exceeding weary.

Yet my skin trembles with the impact of the light, and all my

body shakes. And there is a peace deeper than sleep upon my

mind. It is the body and the mind that are weary, and I would

that they were dead, save that I must bend them to my work.

And now I am in the tent, under the stars.

THE DESERT BETWEEN BOU-SÂADA AND BISKRA.

December 8, 1909. 7.10-9.10 p.m.

THE CRY OF THE 7TH ÆTHYR, WHICH IS CALLED DEO

The stone is divided, the left half dark, the right half light,

and at the bottom thereof is a certain blackness, of three

divergent columns. And it seems as if the black and white halves

are the halves of a door, and in the door is a little

key-hole, in the shape of the Astrological symbol of Venus. And

from the key-hole issue flames, blue and green and violet, but

without any touch of yellow or red in them. It seems as if there

were a wind beyond the door, that is blowing the flame out.

And a voice comes: “Who is he that hath the key to the gate

of the evening star?”

And now an Angel cometh and seeketh to open the door by

trying many keys. And they are none of any avail. And the

same voice saith: “The five and the six are balanced in the word

Abrahadabra, and therein is the mystery disclosed. But the key

unto this gate is the balance of the seven and the four; and of this

thou hast not even the first letter. Now there is a word of four

letters that containeth in itself all the mystery of the

Tetragrammaton, and there is a word of seven letters which it

concealeth, and that again concealeth the holy word that is the

key of the abyss.* And this thou shalt find, revolving it in thy

mind.

Hide therefore thine eyes. And I will set my key in the lock,

and open it. Yet still let thine eyes be hidden, for thou canst not

bear the glory that is within.

So, therefore, I covered mine eyes with my hands. Yet

* These words are probably BABALON, ChAOS, TARO.

through my hands could I perceive a little of those bowers of

azure flame.

And a voice said: It is kindled into fire that was the blue

breast of ocean; because this is the bar of heaven, and the feet of

the Most High are set thereon.

Now I behold more fully: Each tongue of flame, each leaf of

flame, each flower of flame, is one of the great love-stories of

the world, with all its retinue of mise-en-scène. And now there is

a most marvelous rose formed from the flame, and a perpetual

rain of lilies and passion-flowers and violets. And there is

gathered out of it all, yet identical with it, the form of a woman

like the woman in the Apocalypse, but her beauty and her

radiance are such that one cannot look thereon, save with

sidelong glances. I enter immediately into trance. It seems that

it is she of whom it is written, “The fool hath said in his heart

‘there is no God.’ ” But the words are not Ain Elohim, but La

(=nay!) and Elohim contracted from 86 to 14, because La is 31,

which ´ 14 is 434, Daleth, Lamed, Tau. This fool is the fool of

the Path of Aleph, and sayeth, which is Chokmah, in his heart,

which is Tiphereth, that she existeth, in order first that the

Wisdom may be joined with the Understanding; and he affirmeth

her in Tiphereth that she may be fertile.

It is impossible to describe how this vision changeth from

glory unto glory, for at each glance the vision is changed. And

this is because she transmitteth the Word to the Understanding,

and therefore hath she many forms, and each goddess of love is

but a letter of the alphabet of love.

Now, there is a mystery in the word Logos, that containeth

the three letters whose analogy hath been shown in the lower

heavens, Samech, and Lamed, and Gimel, that are 93, which is

thrice 31, and in them are set the two eyes of Horus. (Ayin

means an eye.) For, if it were not so, the arrow could not pierce

the rainbow, and there could be no poise in the balance, and the

Great Book should never be unsealed. But this is she that

poureth the Water of Life upon her head, whence it floweth to

fructify the earth. But now the whole Æthyr is the most brilliant

peacock blue. It is the Universal Peacock that I behold.

And there is a voice: Is not this bird the bird of Juno, that is

an hundred, and thirty, and six? And therefore is she the mate of

Jupiter.*

And now the peacock's head is again changed into a woman's

head sparkling and coruscating with its own light of gems.

But I look upwards, seeing that she is called the footstool of

the Holy One, even as Binah is called His throne. And the whole

Æthyr is full of the most wonderful bands of light,—a thousand

different curves and whorls, even as it was before, when I spake

mysteries of the Holy Qabalah, and so could not describe it.

Oh, I see vast plains beneath her feet, enormous deserts

studded with great rocks; and I see little lonely souls, running

helplessly about, minute black creatures like men. And they

keep up a very curious howling, that I can compare to nothing

that I have ever heard; yet it is strangely human.

And the voice says: These are they that grasped love and

clung thereto, praying ever at the knees of the great goddess.

These are they that have shut themselves up in fortresses of

Love.

Each plume of the peacock is full of eyes, that are at the same

time 4 ´ 7. And for this is the number 28 reflected down into

Netzach; and that 28 is Kaph Cheth (Kach), power. For she is

Sakti, the eternal energy of the Concealed One. And it is her

eternal energy that hath made this eternal change. And this

explaineth the call of the Æthyrs, the curse that was pronounced

in the beginning being but the creation of Sakti. And this

mystery is reflected in the legend of the Creation, where Adam

* The fourth of the mystic numbers of Jupiter is 136.

represents the Concealed One, for Adam is Temurah of MAD,

the Enochian word for God, and Eve, whom he created for love,

is tempted by the snake, Nechesh, who is Messiah her child.

And the snake is the magical power, which hath destroyed the

primordial equilibrium.

And the garden is the supernal Eden, where is Ayin, 70, the

Eye of the Concealed One, and the creative Lingam; and Daleth,

love; and Nun the serpent. And therefore this constitution was

implicitly in the nature of Eden (cf. Liber L., I., 29, 30), so that

the call of the Æthyrs could not have been any other call than

that which it is.

But they that are without understanding have interpreted all

this askew, because of the Mystery of the Abyss, for there is no

Path from Binah unto Chesed; and therefore the course of the

Flaming Sword was no more a current, but a spark. And when

the Stooping Dragon raised his head unto Däath in the course of

that spark, there was, as it were, an explosion, and his head was

blasted. And the ashes thereof were dispersed throughout the

whole of the 10th Æthyr. And for this, all knowledge is

piecemeal, and it is of no value unless it be co-ordinated by

Understanding.

And now the form of the Æthyr is the form of a mighty Eagle

of ruddy brass. And the plumes are set alight, and are whirled

round and round until the whole heaven is blackness with these

flying sparks therein.

Now it is all branching streams of golden fire tipped with

scarlet at the edges.

And now She cometh forth again, riding upon a dolphin.

Now again I see those wandering souls, that have sought

restricted love, and have not understood that “the word of sin is

restriction.”

It is very curious; they seem to be looking for one another or

for something, all the time, constantly hurrying about. But they

knock up against one another and yet will not see one another,

or cannot see one another, because they are so shut up in their

cloaks.

And a voice sounds: It is most terrible for the one that

hath shut himself up and made himself fast against the universe.

For they that sit encamped upon the sea in the

city of the Pyramids are indeed shut up. But they have

given their blood, even to the last drop, to fill the cup of

BABALON.

These that thou seest are indeed the Black Brothers, for it is

written: “He shall laugh at their calamity and mock when their

fear cometh.” And therefore hath he exalted them unto the plane

of love.

And yet again it is written: He desireth not the death of a

sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness. Now,

if one of these were to cast off his cloak he should behold the

brilliance of the lady of the Æthyr; but they will not.

And yet again there is another cause wherefore He hath

permitted them to enter thus far within the frontiers of Eden, so

that His thought should never swerve from compassion. But do

thou behold the brilliance of Love, that casteth forth seven stars

upon thine head from her right hand, and crowneth thee with a

crown of seven roses. Behold! She is seated upon the throne of

turquoise and lapis lazuli, and she is like a flawless emerald, and

upon the pillars that support the canopy of her throne are

sculptured the Ram, and the Sparrow, and the Cat, and a strange

fish. Behold! How she shineth! Behold! How her glances have

kindled all these fires that have blown about the heavens! Yet

remember that in every one there goeth forth for a witness the

justice of the Most High. Is not Libra the House of Venus? And

there goeth forth a sickle that shall reap every flower. Is not

Saturn exalted in Libra? Daleth, Lamed, Tau.

And therefore was he a fool who uttered her name in his

heart, for the root of evil is the root of breath, and the speech in

the silence was a lie.

Thus is it seen from below by them that understand not. But

from above he rejoiceth, for the joy of dissolution is ten

thousand, and the pang of birth but a little.

And now thou shalt go forth from the Æthyr, for the voice of

the Æthyr is hidden and concealed from thee because thou hadst

not the key of the door thereof, and thine eyes were not able to

bear the splendour of the vision. But thou shalt meditate upon

the mysteries thereof, and upon the lady of the Æthyr; and it may

be by the wisdom of the Most High that the true voice of the

Æthyr, that is continual song, may be heard of thee.

Return therefore instantly unto the earth, and sleep not for a

while; but withdraw thyself from this matter. And it shall be

enough.

Thus then was I obedient unto the voice, and returned into

my body.

W’AIN-T-AISSHA, ALGERIA.

December 9, 1909. 8.10-10 p.m.

...tbc